Osho on Meher Baba
One of the greatest Masters of this age, Meher Baba, did it. He was also here in Poona, and the Poona people were as much against him as they are against me, for the same reasons -- because he would not fulfill their expectations. He was a man of God. He did something so tremendously valuable that it is rarely done, but no history books will ever mention it because histories are written by fools about other fools. Histories are written by people who don't know anything about the deeper phenomenon that goes on happening. Histories are written about politicians, stupid politicians, Adolf Hitler and so many books....
If you want to see all the books about Adolf Hitler, you can go to Samarpan's room. He has them all, he is the expert; so many books. And people go on writing as if there is something important. Can't you forget these stupid, neurotic people? Is there any need to keep their memory alive forever? It will be very good to drop them out of history. They are wounds! But flowers are not talked about, only wounds.
Meher Baba is not part of history. Nobody has tried to see the great experiment that he did. He travelled all over the country to catch hold of all kinds of majzubs, madmen, because they are just very close to God. Only one thing is needed: somebody is needed who can shake them back to their sanity. Then they can become great Masters. Just a little sanity will be needed; then their madness will have a method in it. Right now they are only mad without any method; they cannot help. And to follow them may be dangerous, hazardous. To follow them, you will be only following yourself because they will never give you any clue. And whatsoever they will say, if you follow it, can lead you astray. It can throw you into deep pitfalls, because they are not in their consciousness; they have drowned themselves in God so much that they are drunk, they are drunkards. They have known God but they have no way to relate it to you. They cannot be Masters.
Each Master becomes a majzub before he becomes a Master -- he goes through great madness -- but all majzubs are not Masters. If a majzub dies as a majzub, he will attain to God but without helping anybody at all.
-Osho, "The Secret, #19"
And these are the two possibilities: whenever enlightenment happens, either a person becomes absolutely silent or he bursts into song. These are the two possibilities. When Meher Baba attained he became silent. Then his whole life he remained silent. When Meera attained she started dancing and singing. These are the two possibilities: either one becomes absolutely silent or one’s whole life becomes a song. Kabir’s life is that of song.
But remember, in his song there is silence. And always remember also, in Meher Baba or people like that there is song in their silence. If you listen attentively to Meher Baba’s silence, you will be full of a song, you will feel it showering on you. And if you listen to Kabir silently, you will see that his song is nothing but a message for silence.
-Osho, "Ecstasy - The Forgotten Language, #1"
The madman, if in the hands of enlightened people, can achieve enlightenment faster than your so-called sane people. In the East there has been a longstanding tradition… in this century one man revived it again — his name was Meher Baba. He went all over India seeking and searching for mad people. In all the madhouses, anywhere that he heard there was a madman, he would go. He traveled all over India his whole life, searching for mad people.His disciples asked him, “Why are you wasting your time with mad people when sane people are available to work upon, and they want your time?”
Meher Baba said, “You don’t understand. To bring a sane person out of his sanity is very difficult. But to bring out a madman is very easy because in a way he is already out, but from the back door. He has tasted something of the outside; we have only to show him the right door and say, “Please don’t go out from the wrong door, go from the right door. Being out is perfectly right, but choose the right door.” And Meher Baba turned many mad people into enlightened people.
It is a strange world. Here, really great things are never rewarded. Nobody has bothered about Meher Baba. Mother Teresa will get a Nobel prize because she looks after poor orphan children, and nobody thought of giving a Nobel prize to Meher Baba who really did a miraculous job — and he was the on]y man, after centuries.
Sufis call the madman masta; masta means intoxicated. The madman and the enlightened man both have to pass through a certain stage, that is, getting out of reason, out of their mind. They have to cross the same boundary: by the wrong door or right door, they both cross the same boundary, and while they are crossing the boundary they both become mastas — intoxicated.
But the enlightened person soon regains his balance because he has made the effort to get out of the mind; he is prepared to get out of the mind, he is ready to get out of the mind. The madman has got out of his mind unprepared. He was not ready. He has simply fallen out of his mind — it is an accident. Enlightenment is never an accident.
-Osho, "From Personality to Individuality, Ch 7, Q 1"
One of the greatest works Meher Baba did in his life — he lived just near Poona and he is one of the greatest masters — and never has it been done before: he traveled all over India for years, just making contact with such mad people. Not doing anything else, just doing one thing: moving from one village to another, making contact with such people who have gone mad, who are on a better ground than you but some help is needed — just a push. Just a push so that again rivers become rivers, mountains become mountains; again they achieve a new identity.
-Osho, "The Hidden Harmony, #4"
Just here in this city a few years ago was a man, Meher Baba. He lived more than thirty years in silence. He was announcing every year that he would be speaking. The date would come, his disciples would gather, they would come from faraway lands — and again he would not speak. He could not manage a connection between silence and language.
-Osho, "The Rebel, #2, Q3"
Meher Baba is trying to console this country's mind, so he accepts both possibilities: either man can rise and become God, or God can come down and become man. But he is not aware of a simple fact: that man rising towards God has an evolutionary purpose, there is some meaning.
God descending and becoming a man -- that is a fall! Why should this be done? And whatever your God wants to do, he can do without becoming a man. He could create the whole world without becoming a man; now, what is the need?
On the one hand, the religious people say, "Without God's will, not even a single leaf on a tree can waver." If this is the situation, then for all the sins and for all ugly things that go on happening -- God is responsible. If even a leaf cannot move without his support, how can a man be murdered without his support? How can a woman be raped without his support? And what is the purpose for him to come here? Because he has not done anything. So many times, so many incarnations but humanity has not grown up, it has not been enhanced by their presence.
So Meher Baba is simply trying so that the Hindu masses will be satisfied with him. And in India, Jainas are very few -- negligible, not even one-percent. The number of Buddhists is negligible; just forty years ago there was not a single Buddhist. Even in the temple of Bodhgaya where Gautam Buddha became enlightened, the priest is a brahmin, because there was no Buddhist even to be a priest in their holiest place. This is their holiest place, their Kaaba; Buddhists come from all over the world to worship there. And strangely enough, Buddha was continuously fighting against brahminism and the priest is a brahmin! And the priest is not only a brahmin today, he has been there for fifteen hundred years -- the same family. Because for fifteen hundred years, Buddhism disappeared.
So there is no problem about satisfying the Jains and the Buddhists. This country is basically Hindu -- and you must be made aware that Meher Baba was not a Hindu, he was a Parsee. And because he was a Parsee, he was condemned by the Parsees -- just the natural law.... So the Parsees were not ready to accept him. Now who is going to accept this man?
Jainas and Buddhists are out of the question. They are such small minorities, even if they accept him it is not going to make much difference. Moreover, it is not easy for them to accept him for the simple reason that he was proclaiming, "Up to now, God has sent only his messengers, but I myself am God." Only Hindus might be persuaded to accept the idea that God has become man. Mohammedans cannot be persuaded, because even Hazrat Mohammed is not a reincarnation but only a messenger. Christians cannot be convinced; they have their God and they have the only begotten son of God, Jesus Christ. Whenever God needs, he sends his own son; that shows his concern.
Meher Baba was in difficulty. He had to fall on the side of the Hindus, that was the only possibility. Parsees had renounced him and nobody else would accept him; only Hindus could give him scope. So he says, "There are two types. First -- man becoming God; Gautam Buddha comes in that category. And second -- God becoming man." And he says, "I fall into the second category."
But I say to you, there is no possibility of two categories.
Life knows only evolution; it never goes backwards.
And a god becoming a man is simply stupid. For what should God become man? What will be the purpose? All that he wants to do he can do from wherever he is. But he is nowhere -- and that gives the chance to a few charlatans to proclaim that they are God, reincarnations of God.
Meher Baba is certainly an enlightened person.
But every enlightened person finds himself in different situations. Meher Baba's situation was very unique, because in the history of Parsees there is no such thing as enlightenment. The Parsees were very angry when he declared that he is God himself, because to Parsees, to Mohammedans, to Christians, this declaration that "I am God" hurts very much.
They want their God to remain as far away as possible, so they can go on doing whatsoever they are doing. God standing just there... and you were going to hit your husband with the pillow... it doesn't look right. But he is standing there -- that's what millions of believers think, that he is everywhere present. So remember: when you are hitting, look around and hit some suspicious place where you think God might be, rather than hitting a poor husband!
Meher Baba lived in a strange situation. Parsees were denying him, Jainas and Buddhists would not accept him; Mohammedans, Christians, Jews would deny him because he was saying he is the whole God, what to say about the only begotten son? The only possibility was that a few Hindus may gather around him, and that's what happened. Finally, only a few Hindus were around him. And as he died, his movement died too. Because he could not manage to be a master. He remained a mystic. He tried, but as a master, he was a failure.
As a mystic, he succeeded. As far as he is concerned, he has arrived, but alone -- no fellow travelers, no friends, no lovers. It has not been a celebrating procession of many enlightened people, moving with him into the universal life sources. He has moved alone.
-Osho, "Sermons in Stones, #16, Q2"
Meher Baba is not finished with the world in the same sense as Raman Maharshi. But he is interested only in your spiritual growth -- as if spiritual growth is something separate from the whole structure of society, religion, education, past, all the traditions, conventions.
So he remains interested in your spiritual growth, but spiritual growth is a complex phenomenon -- it is connected with many other things. Unless your conditionings are changed, unless your belief systems are changed, unless your mind is unburdened of the past -- there are so many things to be cleaned -- only then can the still small voice of your being be heard.
Meher Baba takes spiritual growth out of context. Naturally nobody is against it. In fact, all the vested interests are tremendously respectful of such people, because they are continuously giving -- without any intention on their part -- opium to the people. They are giving the idea -- which is false -- that your spiritual growth is possible without going through a deep psychological revolution.
Secondly, Meher Baba remained silent his whole life; he never spoke. All that is written in the name of Meher Baba is written by his secretary. Now, there is no way to know whether the secretary is writing from his own mind.
He had come to see me, and I looked directly into his eyes when I asked, "Are you certain that whatever you have written is not from your mind? Can you give me any evidence that these messages have been telepathically given to you by Meher Baba?"
He felt a little embarrassed and he said, "I cannot say it with absolute certainty, but this is how I felt -- that these were messages given by Meher Baba."
"But your feeling.... Have you ever tried in some way to get the consent of Meher Baba, his signature? He was not speaking, that is true, but he used to give his autograph. You could have taken your book.... He was not speaking, but he could hear. You could have asked him: `I have written this book in your name, and my feeling is that this is your message. Just give it your signature so that I can tell world that Meher Baba agrees with me.' This would have been a simple method."
Meher Baba used to have a small board with the whole alphabet on it just for small messages and things. You would ask for his blessings, and he would put his finger on the letters, "b-l-e-s-s-i-n-g" -- blessings are given.
If he could give blessings on the board, he could have said yes or no on the same board, but he was never asked. In fact, the secretary may have been afraid he might say no.
Now, who will be against this man? -- who has not spoken, who is not against anything, anybody. His whole business is to help you spiritually -- and that too only in silence; you can sit with him in silence.
Now, there are very few people in the world who can understand silence. A master first needs to teach you how to be silent, and unless he is satisfied that now you are capable of listening in silence, listening to that which is not being said vocally, verbally, but only telepathically....
Meher Baba had never prepared anybody for telepathic transference of ideas. And to me it seems to be absurd. What is the need? -- because even in telepathy you will have to use the same language. If I want to say something to you -- whether I say it aloud so that you can hear or I say it silently so that you can hear only telepathically, it makes no difference. Unless I am trying to give messages which are secret, unless there is a certain conspiracy....
But around Meher Baba, nothing has happened.
The man himself was of great importance, but he remained silent for the same reason as Raman Maharshi.
But he could not stay in one place. He did not abandon the world completely. He was still thinking that some way could be found to approach seekers. He moved around the world in search of seekers, but I don't think he found any. He found only worshippers who sang devotional songs to him, because they had their desires.
And in the East it is believed that if the person who is enlightened blesses you, any desire is bound to be fulfilled. Existence can never say no to the enlightened consciousness. For the enlightened man, existence is always `yes'; there is a deep synchronicity.
So the people who gathered around Meher Baba were not seekers, they were people who wanted position, power, money, prestige -- all the wrong kinds of people. And because he was engaging people in wishful dreaming and not saying anything, he was not against the vested interests. Why should any government be against him? Why should any religion be against him?
There was no question -- these people were harmless people.
-Osho, "Sermons in Stones, #1, Q1"
※ Meher Baba (25 February 1894 – 31 January 1969), born Merwan Sheriar Irani in Pune, India, to Zoroastrian parents.
He maintained he was the Avatar, God in human form, and lived in silence from 10 July 1925 to the end of his life. He communicated by means of an alphabet board or by unique hand gestures.
Meher Baba spent long periods in seclusion, during which time he often fasted. He traveled widely, held public gatherings and engaged in works of charity with lepers, the poor and the mentally ill. In 1931, he made the first of many visits to the West, attracting many followers. Starting in 1949, along with selected mandali, he traveled incognito about India in an enigmatic and still largely unexplained period he called the “New Life.”
After being injured as a passenger in two serious automobile accidents, his ability to walk became severely limited. Despite deteriorating health, he continued what he called his “Universal Work,” which included fasting and seclusion, until he left his body.
Meher Baba gave numerous teachings on the cause and purpose of life, including teaching reincarnation and that the phenomenal world is an illusion. He taught that the Universe is imagination, that God is what really exists, and that each soul is really God passing through imagination to realize individually His own divinity. He gave practical advice for the aspirant wishing to attain self-realization and thereby escape the wheel of births and deaths and taught about the concept of Perfect Masters, the Avatar. His teachings are most importantly recorded in his principal books ‘Discourses’ and ‘God Speaks’. His influence on pop-culture artists is well established and also the introduction of common expressions such as “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”