It
had been my intention to relate events that occurred after Paul Brunton left
India. But on
reflection I now feel that, for the time being, sufficient information has been
provided for any serious re-evaluation of Brunton’s critical chapters on Meher
Baba in A Search in Secret India. I have simply offered a wider
perspective in attempt to set the record straight. Time will tell how successful
this has been. Doubtless there are scholars out there who can do a far better
job, and I would be the first to invite them to do so.
The
fact is Meher Baba did make avatar claims. Yet Charles Purdom reports: “When I
was with [Meher Baba] at Poona in
1954, he said to me unexpectedly, ‘You are bothered about the idea of Avatar.
There is no need to be, for we are all Avatars.…’ He followed this
remark ten days later by a declaration which read as follows:
When
I say I am the Avatar, there are few who feel happy, some who feel
shocked, and many who take me for a hypocrite, a fraud, a supreme egotist, or
just mad. If I were to say every one of you is Avatar, a few would be
tickled and many would consider it blasphemy or a joke. The fact that God being
One, indivisible and equally in us all, we can be nought else but one, is too
much for the duality-conscious mind. Yet each of us is what the other is. I
know I am the Avatar in every sense of the word, and that each one of
you is an Avatar in one sense or another.…”
Purdom
comments: “What we are intended to understand is that if it be granted that men
contain the principle of divinity then the Avatar as such and men as
such are essentially one. The difference between the Avatar and other
men is that he is conscious of ‘descent’, while they … become conscious of
ascent” (Purdom, 1994: 391–92).
According
to Charles Haynes: “The starting point for any discussion of Meher Baba is his
declaration that he is the Avatar, the manifestation of God in human form who
comes age after age to awaken all life to the love of God” (1993: 11). But that
is a devotee statement. Kevin Shepherd states more realistically: “To define
whether or not Meher Baba was a literal avatar is beyond my range of
competence, and I have seldom seen this done satisfactorily even one fraction.
I must leave that subject for theologians to argue over” (1988: 5).
A
much-needed neutral and objective assessment of Meher Baba requires an
interdisciplinary approach—a scholarly appraisal not influenced by belief or
disbelief. I can only conclude by again quoting from Shepherd, an independent
scholar whose books and contributions to studies related to Meher Baba (see for
example. http://www.citizenthought.net/Meher_Baba_Movement.html)
have been a significant inspiration for this blog:
“Meher
Baba definitely did claim to be the avatar. An inspection of various statements
he made on this subject leaves no room for doubt. He also used the Persian term
sahib-e-zaman, but that was not popular amongst Hindu devotees. The term
avatar is variously interpreted in India;
Meher Baba employed the Sanskrit word to denote a cosmic spiritual function
occurring at cyclical intervals of time. Reactions to this are usually very
hostile from religious parties, while his devotees defend this claim rather
enthusiastically, sometimes adding things that he never said. It is surely
possible to discuss [Meher Baba] more rationally, outside the very rigid ‘I
believe it/don’t believe it’ biases attendant upon messianism. The
ethnographic, sociological, and mystical material contained in Meher Baba’s
case history can be studied without becoming a dogmatic spokesperson for or
against” (2005: 139).
See also articles of interest by Kevin R D Shepherd:
Investigating Meher Baba in
“Secret India”
Meher Baba and Paul Brunton
Hazrat Babajan, a Pathan
(Pashtun) Sufi
Hazrat Babajan, Faqir of Poona
Hazrat Babajan
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