THE BURNING OF SANSKARAS

 
The Avatar suffers like no other human being. The Avatar has a universal body and a universal mind. The forms of all beings are contained in his universal body, as the minds of all beings are contained in his universal mind. The Avatar suffers physically through all the individual bodies, and he suffers mentally through all individual minds.

The Avatar is responsible for every being in creation until that individual attains realization of its true divine nature. The Avatar suffers physically while he is working on earth, because the universal work in the gross universe requires tremendous physical exertion.

Through the exertion of his physical body while alive, he is directly at work for all physical beings in the universe. Even now that the Avatar has dropped his body, he remains responsible for every being in the creation.

Therefore, even when he is not physically present, he is still working to bring about the results of the work he did while physically on earth. He continues to exert, but not physically; he exerts mentally, thus he suffers mentally, even while he is not in a human body, until the final results of his work manifest.

Why must the Avatar, who is God, suffer even after he has dropped his body? He suffers mentally to bring about the results of his work, which is to burn the sanskaras of our minds through the fire of his love, and this happens during the period of his manifestation.

That consuming fire of love exists in his universal mind. All individual minds are contained in his universal mind, but also contained in that universal mind is his work and love for each being, because his universal mind feels the pressure of responsibility for every being from the beginning to the end.

This pressure of responsibility for all beings, combined with the resistance of their individual egos, is the factor that causes the Avatar to suffer mentally. The Avatar's responsibility is to maintain an inner connection with each individual ego-mind, and to work for that individual mind through all of its evolution and involution in creation, until that limited mind becomes ready, as a result of the Avatar's efforts, for ego-annihilation.

The annihilation of the ego-mind is planned within the Avatar's universal mind. It is that fire of love in the universal mind that consumes the sanskaras of the limited mind. The preparation for this annihilation is seen to while the Avatar is physically present on earth, but the result of that work is accomplished whether he is in a physical form or not.

This burning up of each being's sanskaras is now taking place in the Avatar's universal mind. This burning and the results of this fire — mental annihilation — are both aspects of Meher Baba's manifestation.