THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE ATTAINMENT

 
Referring to the spiritual potentiality of saints after disembodiment, Meher Baba said:

"After the death of a saint, he enjoys eternal bliss and the Power is there with him, but not the authority to use it which he had during life-time.

"Wherever there is a shrine or Samadhi of a Master, there the spiritual power is and it is the faith of people in that spiritual power which becomes a medium and utilizes it for one's benefit. The benefit accruing from such sources and drawn upon by the individual's faith in the disembodied saint, is invariably material in character.

"Spiritual benefit can only be imparted when the Master is in bodily presence on the material plane. A Master gives the aspirant nothing that was not already latent in him; he is only instrumental in rousing the aspirant to the consciousness of the Divine Treasure already in him.

"There have been some rare instances of people deriving spiritual benefit from shrines and disembodied saints. Spiritual benefit is derived from enshrined saints in special cases only, where the earthly connection of the receiver and the giver of spiritual benefit has been cut short by unavoidable circumstances. But such instances are very rare and far between. Material benefit from disembodied saints is more common and is in accordance with the faith of the receiver."

"Jeenay se marna bhala, marnay se darna bhala, darnay se bharnay bhala, bharnay se karna bhala." (It's better to die than to live, better to fear than to die, better to fill than to fear and better to do or make than to fill.)

Baba uttered these words at random and when requested by those around to explain, he laid bare in his own inimitable way the esoteric import of the above saying.

He said, "To die here means not the ordinary death that men die, but real death of the ego, i.e., to die before death which amounts to becoming one with God.

"To fear is not to be interpreted literally. To fear is to be in the state of a banda (devotee), i.e., the created one in spite of realizing oneness with the Creator or God. This state of spirituality is superior to that of a Mazjoob — one who remains immersed eternally in the ocean of Divinity.

"To fill means to inundate the hearts of people with the wine of Divine Knowledge.

"The perfect state is to make others as thoroughly complete as one's own self. This is the highest possible attainment, i.e., to make others perfect in power, duty, authority and Realization. This is the stage of Qutub or Sadguru."