HIS PREVIOUS BIRTHS

 
Before Meher Baba was Meher Baba he was Mohammed, and his father was Abdulla and his mother Amina; and his wife was Khadija who was fifteen years older than he. After she died (when he was forty years) he married several other women, but they were either tribal alliances or widows of his captains killed in battle. But he especially loved Aisha, the daughter of Abu Bakr, his chief disciple.

Once when some of his Companions asked him who he was he said: 'I am what Abraham my father prayed for and the Good News of Jesus my brother. When my mother was carrying me she saw a light proceeding from her which lit up the whole land. When I was a small boy shepherding the lambs with a brother of mine behind the tents two men dressed in shining white came and seized me and threw me to the ground, took out my heart and split it and took out a black drop which they threw away. Then they washed my heart thoroughly with snow they had brought in a gold bowl.

Then one said to the other, "Weigh him against ten of his people": they did so and I outweighed them. Then they weighed me against a hundred, and a thousand and I outweighed them. He said, "Let it be now, for if we weighed him against his whole tribe he would outweigh them."'

People said of Mohammed that he was the first of his people in manliness, the best in character, most noble in lineage, the best neighbour, the most kind, truthful and reliable. And they called him The Trustworthy.

And before Mohammed, Meher Baba was Jesus, whose father was Joseph and whose mother was Mary as everyone knows. He had no wife. He was a wanderer and his earth-stay was short. Before he dropped his body he told the people — though some say that he only told his immediate disciples — that he would come again. This he did, AD 570, and stayed with us until AD 632. Once he wept, and the whole world was drowned.

And before Jesus he was the Buddha, who was born a prince and married, but soon left his wife for the Road with a begging bowl. His ministry was the longest of all — fifty years.

And before the Buddha he was Krishna and his father was Vasudeva who was a great chief of a pastoral people dwelling along the river Yamuna or Jumna as it is now called, and his mother was Devaki, but he was suckled by Yashoda.

While still a boy he liquidated various and many obstructive and antisocial elements in the community or, as they put it in their primitive language, he slew many demons. He was also exceedingly mischievous and plagued his foster-mother to distraction. One day she caught him stealing butter, but he denied it. She said, 'Open your mouth.' He did so and the poor woman saw the universe therein with all its burning suns. At another time she tied him to a tree and he walked off dragging the tree with him.

He grew into an incredibly handsome youth whose charm none could resist. One night he danced with sixteen thousand girls, accompanying the dances with his 'magic' flute — and the night itself stood still in ecstasy.

He became the greatest warrior not only of his own people but of all the tribes around. He was Dharma or divine law personified and so never hesitated to break the law to suit his purposes. And when things were quiet on the military and legal fronts, he would carry off another willing royal maiden for his love satisfaction and as a sure way of starting up another war.

On the eve of the great battle that ended all battles for a long time, and in which Krishna did not fight but was Prince Arjuna's charioteer, he delivered his 'Song of the Lord' proclaiming his God Is state and urging us to love the divine Beloved and remember his Name in our daily work.

And before Krishna, beloved Baba was Rama whose father was King Dasharatha, which means Ten Chariots, which means that his rule extended to the ten points of the world. His mother was Queen Kaushalya. His wife was peerless Sita. He was the perfect Warrior-King.

And before that Baba was Zoroaster; his father was Pourushaspa, which means 'with grey horses', and, his mother was Dughdhova, or 'Who has milked cows'.

It is said that when he was born he laughed, and the laughter illuminated the whole house. His father was astonished at him, at his laughter and beauty and loveliness, and he said in his heart, 'This is the glory of God. Save this child, every infant born into the world has wept.' But all who were unclean and evil were stung to the heart by that laughter and hated the Light-bringer. There was a king who, like Herod, determined to do away with a possible rival, but when he struck at the child with his dagger his arm became withered.

Like Jesus he began his ministry at the age of thirty, preaching the same One Eternal Existent One. At first, because he owned only a few cattle the people did not listen to him; but then he won the ear and heart of King Vishaspa who sent out his armies and converted the people that way. (Not so cruel really when one considers that to deny the Avatar is to suffer the hell of remorse after one dies, and so it does not matter much whether one meets death by the sword or in bed.)

Beyond Zoroaster beloved Baba did not go — for with him we are already back seven thousand years (although some authorities say it was only six thousand) and are dealing with things in a language no one any longer can understand.

Once, when talking to us about these previous Incarnations, Baba said that each time, despite his perfect Perfection he showed one weakness: That of Mohammed was that he said he was only a Messenger, instead of telling the truth that he was God; that of Jesus was in his calling upon his 'Father', which limited him to Sonship; that of the Buddha was in his explaining the Path only as far as Nirvana (passing away) and saying nothing about the I-Am-God state (Nirvikalpa); that of Krishna was in not being able to protect his gopis, and he himself, the Great Archer, dying from the poisoned arrow of an aboriginal; that of Rama was in his listening to village gossip and putting away faultless Sita. Baba did not say what was Zoroaster's weakness — but perhaps that was because of reverence for himself as the first Avatar shining through the mists of time.

Someone asked Baba what was his weakness this time, and he said he would answer that question when he came next time, in seven hundred years.