Meher Roshani The Effulgence Of Meher Bhau Kalchuri Oh Meher, God-Incarnate these ghazals inspired by You are dedicated to the longing of the love of your lovers, inspired by You.

CONTENTS 1984 © Bhau Kalchuri. All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ORIGINAL PUBLISHING INFORMATION INTRODUCTION FORWARD INDEX TO GHAZALS MEHER ROSHANI GHAZALS COMMENTARY ON GHAZALS BACK COVER

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The source of Meher Roshani is Avatar Meher Baba, the Beloved of all. And to acknowledge the Source is to remain bowed down at His feet. He is all great — all mighty — and He is above all praise. For Meher Roshani David Fenster, Peter Booth and Lawrence Reiter took great care in editing the English translation and in typing the manuscript, assisted by Eric Nadel and Ralph Brown. Lawrence Reiter also organized the final manuscript for publication, helped select many of the titles for the ghazals, and designed the book. Lois Breger and Nancy Wurzel did the final copyediting; Dede Eaton did the proofreading. It is difficult for me to acknowledge those who helped, as they have made these efforts to please their Beloved. I therefore salute their love for Him and I also salute the love of the Baba-lovers who urged me to translate the ghazals into English. Appreciation and gratitude is expressed, as always, to the supporters of Manifestation, Inc., and to all readers who will enjoy the language of wine which came from the Source, Avatar Meher Baba. Bhau Kalchuri Ahmednagar, India July, 1984 contents

ORIGINAL PUBLISHING INFORMATION Manifestation Inc. COPYRIGHT AND ORIGINAL PUBLISHING INFORMATION: Published originally by Manifestation, Inc. Printed here with permission of Bhau Kalchuri Original copyright: Bhau Kalchuri Ahmednagar, India Registration TXU 163-472 filed with Library of Congress Registered August, 1984 Copyright of photographs, Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Charitable Trust contents

INTRODUCTION The one hundred and seventeen ghazals of Meher Roshani by Bhau Kalchuri contain numerous lines from Meher Baba (italicized below) which reflect the force of the sound of Meher Baba’s breaking of His Silence. The force of this sound, out of the vacuum of Silence, then establishes the forces of His manifestation. “The world is dancing every moment to the signs of Your fingers.” “Everyone says that You are here, there, everywhere, And that only You exist.” “Life is from Him and for Him; He is the only support of every life.” The manifestation of Meher Baba comes from within, by the very power of longing to realize who Meher Baba is. This power of longing is the only power left to the helpless. This longing is the only thing of value left to the hopeless. This longing is the longing for Reality since one is helpless to escape illusion by oneself, and it is hopeless to try to escape without Meher. Longing erupts out of this situation of helplessness and hopelessness and makes one seek the Goal of Life; that is, to realize God and be united with the Infinity of the Eternal One — the Ocean. “If I have a pure heart I am certain I will see You.” “I make my birth and death one to find Him.” Love is fire, and longing is the fuel that keeps it burning. During the process of Realization of God, this longing is unfulfilled until the ultimate Union reaches levels of intensity and suffering that bring forth the new consciousness that is the result of the manifestation of Meher Baba. “If it was easy to find God, who would face such calamities?” “What a desolate life is this without You!” “How to see you in this darkness is my sole concern these days.” While reading these poems, one discovers that the Beloved’s manifestation is first felt in our hearts. Then gradually, through the awakening of the Beloved in our hearts, we see Him manifesting in the world. “When Your remembrance fills the heart, light is found in darkness.” “I asked Him, ‘Where are You?’ and He said, ‘Look within, You are your own veil. Wipe out your self and see your Self as Me.’” Those who are looking for a change in the world before there is a change in themselves — in their consciousness — are not only fooling themselves but will also find that this attitude obstructs the purpose of all consciousness, the “I am God” state. “Know well that you are shedding tears at just the beginning of love!” “Drunkards are lying at Your threshold shedding tears.” “My tears shed in love alone express my condition.” Bhau tells us that during Meher Baba’s manifestation the veil is gradually lifted, and the Beloved cannot be compared to anything previously conceived. “There are thousands of veils, but none can ever veil You!” “Oh veil-less Beloved, what do You expect from me? What can I give you but my veil? You have such veil-lessness that it has become a veil for me!” Although Meher Baba is no longer physically present on earth, He lives on! He lives on in the world by living in the hearts of the lovers of God. This is His manifestation and He will continue to live on until, in Bhau’s words, “His love floods the world.” The ghazals of Meher Sarod gave the key to His manifestation, while the ghazals of Meher Roshani open the door to His manifestation. These profound verses usher in the feelings of love that Meher Baba worked for in such unfathomable ways to prepare the world to accept His Being. “Where is there any drop in the Ocean? When the shore is removed, this secret is revealed. The drop then hears the Ocean, ‘You are not different from Me and I am not different from You!’” During Meher Baba’s manifestation, the world will gradually accept Him as the Avatar (the Incarnation of God) and as Absolute God (the Impersonal, Infinite, Eternal Being — the Soul of souls) who has no equal, yet whose infinite attributes are revealed through the inspiration of poetic utterances. This inspiration, which reveals both the Personal and Impersonal God, is the breath that turned to fire in Meher Sarod and continues in Meher Roshani. “Bhau has surrendered himself to You; You are the traceless print.” “Catch hold of the Perfect Master’s feet and the angel of death can do you no harm.” “You have shaped destiny so that it can never be changed unless You wish it.” There is profound sorrow expressed in Meher Roshani since most of the ghazals were composed after Meher Baba dropped His physical form. But a profound joy is also expressed in these ghazals, for one discovers that Meher Baba is manifesting, and the points that Bhau Kalchuri was inspired to express about Meher Baba’s manifestation lay in the depths of the lines directly from Meher Baba Himself. “You are manifest in every particle and thus I am attracted toward Your beauty.” “You are manifest in every particle and grain in creation.” “You are the Question and the Answer, both manifest and unmanifest.” Meher Roshani means the Effulgence of Meher. It is the Effulgence of Meher Baba that will erase the darkness of our ignorance during His manifestation, and it is the sound of His Sarod that has produced this Effulgence, giving us a glimpse of Reality. “Oh Bhau, you are ready; now listen to what the Beloved speaks through His Silence!” “The universes and worlds do not exist. They are illusory.” “There is one thing which cannot be forgotten — You!” Bhau Kalchuri, writing in the language of wine, ushers in Meher Baba’s manifestation and turns our eyes toward the Wineshop at Meherabad, urging us to drink, as he does, the wine of Meher. In the words of the poet, “This consciousness is nothing but intoxication!” Lawrence Reiter Myrtle Beach, South Carolina July, 1984 contents

Avatar Meher Baba in Poona, India, 1960

FORWARD Meher Baba’s Compassion and Love are so great that all His lovers desire to remain bowed down at His feet with the longing to clean His threshold with our very eyelashes. He is great and mighty, and His Compassion is beyond our imagination. I recall the following ghazal which Baba dictated to me in 1960 when I was on nightwatch: ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS SECRET Do not attach yourself with Maya; it makes you a grimy beggar. Maya keeps you away from love divine and turns you into a pauper. Catch hold of the Perfect Master’s feet; His is the One who will make your life Real Life. The Perfect Master will adorn you with the jewels of spirituality and make you infinitely wealthy. Catch hold of the Perfect Master’s feet and the angel of death can do you no harm. Oh Bhau, it is befitting for you to always remember this secret. The next night Baba dictated another ghazal to me and placed my name at the end of this one also: TALK ONLY OF LOVE Drink the nectar of love and become mast-like for the Beloved. Make a kabob of your heart and eat it; then drink its blood. How long will you go on sewing stained patches of sins to the daaman? Have the pieces of your heart stitched by the Master Tailor of love. Die such a death which makes you live after dying — Die to your self and live only for others. Surrender your all to the Perfect Master and receive all from Him. Bhau says if you want to talk about anything, talk only of love and nothing else! At the time, Baba didn’t explain anything to me about either of these ghazals. Previously, He had given me the gift of writing songs in Hindi and I had written many, but I had no idea how to write ghazals. I didn’t even know that ghazal meters are different from the meters used in Hindi songs. But based on the knowledge I had of Hindi songs, when I read the two ghazals that Baba had dictated to me, I thought that their poetic meters were wrong. One day, Baba asked me what I thought about the two ghazals. I told him that I thought the meters were wrong. Baba smiled and gestured, “The meters of the ghazals are exactly correct.” But still I insisted that they were wrong! Baba then asked me to send the ghazals to Keshav Nigam in Hamirpur, and ask his opinion. As Keshav was also writing songs in Hindi, he knew their meters. He responded by also saying that the meters in the ghazals were wrong! I felt very proud that I had been right in pointing out the errors in the ghazals. When I read out Keshav’s letter to Beloved Baba, He didn’t say anything. I said, “Didn’t I point out that the meters were incorrect?” Baba acknowledged that I had, and He looked as if He had accepted His mistake. What I didn’t realize at the time was that because of His Compassion He forgave my ignorance. The all-Knowing One knew that I did not know, and because I did not know, He did not insist that I accept the ghazals as correct. Years later, He expressed His wish that I should write ghazals, and He taught me how to write them in His own way(1). In time, I understood the meters of ghazals and I realized that the two ghazals Baba had dictated to me were correct. Then I felt how great was the Compassion of the Beloved for ignoring my error. After Baba taught me how to write them, I completed my first book of ghazals, entitled Meher Sarod in July of 1968(2). After its completion, Baba continued to give me lines for ghazals during nightwatch. During this time, when I would massage Him, I would feel that Baba was at a great distance from me. I would forget that I was massaging Him. He would create in me the feeling that He had virtually disappeared, and I began to experience the vacuum of separation. Separation leads to the longing for Union with the Beloved. Without the feeling of separation there can be no Union. Although I was close to Beloved Baba’s physical form, I was not close to His Divine Form. In order to draw close to it, longing for Union is necessary through the pain of separation. Beloved Baba continued to give me lines for ghazals during nightwatch until the 29th of January, 1969. The last line He gave me was: “What will we do, living, when You have gone away?” On the morning of the 30th of January, Baba wanted to give me another line, but He was unable to do so because when He tried to gesture with His fingers, He would have spasms. Because of this, I said to Him, “Baba, please don’t give me any lines today.” He looked at me very lovingly, and I looked at Him with tears in my eyes. Most of the ghazals were originally composed in Hindi in the early 1970s. When some of the Western Baba-lovers showed interest in them, I translated them into English, recalling Baba’s words, “Your writing will be read throughout the world.” These ghazals express the voice of the heart, the pain of separation, the longing for Union, the attitude of the Beloved, and the game of love between the lover and the Beloved. When Baba was physically present, whatever I would write I would read aloud to Him. But when He was no longer physically present, my tears sang these ghazals to Him, and my tears merged with His Silence. I hope that the lovers of God will be touched by these ghazals, and that their hearts will seek the tune of the original ghazal which He sang at the beginning of creation. I also hope that He cannot ignore the singing of my tears without being touched, and that my song will merge with His Word. Bhau Kalchuri Ahmednagar, India June, 1984 (1) See Foreword in Meher Sarod (2) Published by Manifestation, Inc., 1984 RETURN

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MEHER ROSHANI BHAU KALCHURI INDEX TO GHAZALS Couplets in the ghazals of Meher Roshani from Meher Baba appear in italics     1  ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS SECRET     2  OH BELOVED, YOUR EXCUSES     3  A PURE HEART WILL SEE YOU     4  THAT SHORE ON WHICH THE OCEAN WAS SEEN     5  HE IS THE ONLY SUPPORT OF EVERY LIFE     6  LIKE A MOTH I AM BURNING     7  TEARS REMIND ME OF YOUR COMMAND     8  SOMEWHERE YOU SPEAK; ELSEWHERE YOU ARE SILENT     9  OH BELOVED, APPEAR FOR ALL ETERNITY BEFORE MY EYES   10  YOU HAVE SHAPED DESTINY   11  THE BELOVED ALLOWS ONLY THE WEIGHTLESS INTO HIS KINGDOM   12  YOU ARE HERE, THERE, EVERYWHERE   13  THE ASH THAT SEES NOTHING BUT YOU   14  I MAKE MY BIRTH AND DEATH ONE TO FIND HIM   15  MY HEART IS RESTLESS FOR HIM   16  INSCRUTABLE BUSINESS OF THE WORLD   17  THE QUESTION OF MY LIFE BELONGS TO YOU COMPLETELY   18  TO SEE YOU IN ALL YOUR GLORY   19  I FIND MY LOVE IN YOUR ANGER   20  IF IT WAS EASY TO FIND GOD   21  HOW CAN I FIND HIM WHO IS EVERYTHING?   22  THE MOST TERRIBLE STATE OF ALL   23  PAIN AND STRIFE TEARING AT MY HEART   24  I WILL NOT LEAVE YOUR THRESHOLD   25  WHAT A DESOLATE LIFE IS THIS WITHOUT YOU!   26  WHAT DIFFICULTY MY HEART IS FACING   27  HOW TO SEE YOU IN THIS DARKNESS   28  YOU ARE IN EVERYONE   29  HOW CAN WE KNOW THE SECRET   30  I AM WOUNDING MY HEART   31  I CARE ONLY FOR THE BELOVED   32  LIFE HAS BECOME LIFELESS   33  YOU HAVE NOW GONE AND HIDDEN YOUR FORM   34  THE WORLD IS DANCING TO THE SIGNS OF YOUR FINGERS   35  WHEN YOUR REMEMBRANCE FILLS THE HEART   36  OH MEHER, VICTORY IS ALWAYS YOURS!   37  HOW FORTUNATE YOU ARE TO HAVE THE BELOVED   38  SHEDDING TEARS AT JUST THE BEGINNING OF LOVE   39  OH BELOVED, IT WAS YOU   40  THE ONE WHO IS BOTH QUESTION AND ANSWER   41  ASSURANCE FROM YOU   42  THE BELOVED MADE ME DESIRELESS   43  THE TRACELESS PRINT   44  WORDS DON’T EXIST   45  WHY DID I FIND YOU HOMELESS?   46  WHAT PARADISE EXISTS FOR ALL?   47  AS IF DEATH WERE STANDING BEFORE ME   48  WHAT WAS HERE BEFORE AND WHAT IS HERE NOW?   49  ONE PASSES FROM HERE; ANOTHER COMES   50  THE EFFECT OF LOVE   51  INCOMPARABLY DIFFICULT IS THIS PATH OF LOVE   52  YOU MADE ME FALSE THROUGH YOUR WHIM   53  YOU FALSIFIED MY EXISTENCE   54  THE PAIN OF LONGING HAS NO TONGUE   55  THE LAW OF THIS PATH OF ANNIHILATION   56  I MET THE SAKI   57  LOOK WITHIN, YOU ARE YOUR OWN VEIL   58  I LONG TO BE THE DUST OF YOUR FEET   59  NO ALTERNATIVE BUT TO HEAR THE WORD   60  LISTEN TO WHAT THE BELOVED SPEAKS THROUGH HIS SILENCE   61  SHED TEARS AT EVERY STEP BUT BE HAPPY IN EVERY SITUATION   62  WHAT CAN I GIVE YOU BUT MY VEIL?   63  WHAT ANSWER CAN BE GIVEN?   64  IF YOU WILL ANNIHILATE YOURSELF YOU WILL BECOME GOD!   65  I DIED AND BEGAN TO LIVE   66  I FIND ONLY YOU IN MY HEART   67  BECAUSE OF YOUR OPPRESSIONS   68  YOU CANNOT BE FORGOTTEN   69  YOU ARE NOT DIFFERENT FROM ME, AND I AM NOT DIFFERENT FROM YOU   70  I SHOULD EXPECT NO MERCY FROM THE COMPLETE TYRANT   71  WHAT WILL HAPPEN UNTIL THE DAWN BREAKS?   72  YOUR VEIL-LESSNESS BECOMES A VEIL FOR ME   73  IN THE SECRET DEPTHS OF LOVE IS FOUND A SLAVE   74  I BEFRIENDED THE ONE WHO MURDERS   75  THE ONLY BEFITTING WORK NOW THAT HE HAS GONE   76  OH MEHERABAD, YOU ARE THE ABODE OF LORD MEHER!   77  EVERYTHING IS BINDING EXCEPT OUR LOVE FOR LORD MEHER   78  THE CITY OF MEHER   79  THE ABODE OF MEHER IS GLORIOUS   80  TO THE ABODE OF MEHER   81  CALL HIM THROUGH THIS SONG   82  WHEREVER THERE IS LONGING YOU APPEAR AS FIRE   83  DRINK WINE AND ESTABLISH THE ABODE OF MEHER   84  OH MEHER, POUR INFINITY   85  UNTIL HE MANIFESTS   86  YOU WILL ONE DAY MANIFEST   87  THAT TYRANT WILL NOT LET ME LIVE OR DIE   88  WE WILL SING MEHER’S NAME AND AWAKEN   89  OH MEHER, MY KING   90  MY HEART IS LOST IN YOU   91  COME OH MEHER, MANIFEST TODAY   92  MY TEARS ARE CALLING YOU TO MANIFEST   93  SHOW ME YOUR SWEET SMILE   94  SUFFERING THE DESIRE FOR UNION WITH YOU   95  A VOICE ONLY HE CAN HEAR   96  YOUR LOVE IS A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD   97  THERE IS NO SUPPORT EXCEPT MEHER   98  FEW PAY THE PRICE OF COMPLETE SURRENDERANCE   99  WHEN YOUR DAAMAN CAME INTO MY HAND 100  HOW LONG SHOULD I SEEK YOUR PLEASURE? 101  I AM BURNING MY HEART 102  IS LOVE A JOKE OR CHILD’S PLAY? 103  STAY AWAY FROM LOVE IF YOU DO NOT HAVE COURAGE 104  TALK ONLY OF LOVE 105  YOUR REMEMBRANCE IS A MADNESS 106  WILDEST DREAMS 107  WHAT A LIGHT THERE IS IN YOUR SILENCE 108  THE SECRET OF SILENCE 109  THE SHOWERS OF RESIGNATION 110  I HEAR YOUR VOICE IN MY TEARS 111  YOU BREAK YOUR SILENCE WITH A SMILE OF COMPASSION 112  WHY NOT PASS OVER? 113  FOR THE SAKE OF LOVE 114  FROM YOUR OCEAN OF SILENCE 115  THE UNIVERSES AND THE WORLDS DO NOT EXIST 116  AVATAR, YOU ALONE EXIST 117  WHEN YOU HAVE GONE AWAY contents

MEHER ROSHANI GHAZALS ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS SECRET Do not attach yourself with Maya; it makes you a grimy beggar. Maya keeps you away from love divine and turns you into a pauper. Catch hold of the Perfect Master’s feet; His is the One who will make your life Real Life. The Perfect Master will adorn you with the jewels of spirituality and make you infinitely wealthy. Catch hold of the Perfect Master’s feet and the angel of death can do you no harm. Oh Bhau, it is befitting for you to always remember this secret. GHAZAL ONE index ******* OH BELOVED, YOUR EXCUSES Oh Meher, my life without You Is like a lamp burning without a flame. The moth being consumed by the flame Now lies half-burnt in the ash. If the head which is bowed at Your threshold lifts, Then it is neither surrenderance nor dedication, and hence no salutation to You. Oh Beloved, my cup has been empty for ages. Can’t You take a moment and fill it with wine? The more helpless I became in Your love, the more strength I gained. But who will believe this first tasting of the wine of love? Oh Beloved, I want to see You now since my longing has crossed the limit. I am fed-up and through with your excuses; see how I have aged while waiting. Oh Bhau, on this path never accept the support of the intellect at any time— Know well that this path is one of helplessness and hopelessness. GHAZAL TWO index ******* A PURE HEART WILL SEE YOU Oh Meher, You abandoned me with a wounded heart, what should I do? Where can I find a Beloved like You—You are the Only One. You are matchless; You are Khuda and Yezdan. What eye can I create to see You? When You went to sleep, dry summer burned the greenery from my life To leave me weeping for the rest of my life for that spring. The world laughs at my madness and the sight of my tears. Now should I heal my wounded heart or make the wounds deeper? Oh Beloved, sprinkle salt on my wounds and make them deeper. My only prayer is for this since I know that the pain attracts You. Oh Lord, see that no want or desire remains in any corner of my heart If I have a pure heart I am certain I will see You. Oh Beloved, fulfill my last desire and my only request— Look at me and let me gaze into Your eyes! Oh Bhau, my Beloved won’t come to see me and I don’t know what to do. Oh Beloved, what’s the next step For a man who can neither live nor die? GHAZAL THREE index ******* THAT SHORE ON WHICH THE OCEAN WAS SEEN Oh Beloved, what has happened to me because of Your departure? My life is barren and vacant, so my living on has become burdensome. Oh Meher, I have seen You in human form— As God, You took human form for us, so why this separation from us? I have no concern with Godhood or with anything else divine. I only love You, oh Beloved, but You are also separated from me. How can I speak about the Ocean while living on the shore? What has happened to the shore on which the Ocean was seen? My heart has been broken into pieces and blood is flowing. I do not know what is destined in my fate on this path of love. Oh Beloved, You always exist and are here now, but I am bound up with the non-existent self. I am involved with the beginning. I have not been able to find the end. Oh Beloved, You deceived the parrot; You put it in the cage and closed the door. Oh Bhau, what will you gain by weeping? Whatever had to happen has happened. GHAZAL FOUR index ******* HE IS THE ONLY SUPPORT OF EVERY LIFE Whether anyone becomes ours or not, what do we care, for Meher is ours. He gives us His love and accepts our love and He alone is dear to all. Today every corner of the world looks void Yet to fill this emptiness the whole world has His support. The shore which contained the Ocean has left, no longer required — But how sweet that shore was to spread the Ocean’s waves. Sinners and saints are equal in His eyes; Meher alone liberates sinners. But I do not know which I am because He is completely indifferent to me. Oh nightingale of my heart, why are you weeping today? How can He who has become the blinding star of my eyes ever leave? How can one who has not experienced real love know what it is? Life is from Him and for Him; He is the only support of every life. Meher’s human form has left His footprints on the path for us to follow. Oh Bhau, take it as certainty that He is found when You find His footprints. GHAZAL FIVE index ******* LIKE A MOTH I AM BURNING Oh Meher, You have made my heart become a house of longing and pain, And You made me stark mad in the eyes of the ordinary people. I wanted to hide my secret treasure of pain and longing for You, But the world thought I was mad and drew the secret out of me. The lamp is neither extinguished nor burning, And Beloved, like a moth I am burning ever more slowly! When Your wineshop was open, I had no thirst. It was You who made me thirsty, but then You closed the door. You gave me the thorns, and the roses to others, But the thorns are far more valuable—intoxicating me in Your love. The world laughs at me and I laugh at it. The world does not know the wisdom You have given by making me mad. Oh Bhau, look around you and observe that the Saki has turned the garden into a wineshop. He has watered every flower in the garden with the wine of His wineshop. GHAZAL SIX index ******* TEARS REMIND ME OF YOUR COMMAND Oh Meher, my consciousness is engulfed by the pain of separation. The pain of waiting for You has become the name of my life. You told me, “Don’t worry even slightly, no matter what happens.” And now the tears flowing from my eyes remind me of Your command. These ashes are building from the burning in my heart. Oh Beloved, did You leave out of disgust from living with me? The wave from Your Silent Ocean stops the noisy movements of the world, But it does not embrace my ash because some sound is left in its burning. I do not want anything of this world—I only want You; Nothing else can give me satisfaction. If You do not want to meet me, then I want to die— but with Your Name on my lips. Oh Bhau, I will find everything if I find my Beloved. Still I cannot reach Him until I become completely silent. GHAZAL SEVEN index ******* SOMEWHERE YOU SPEAK; ELSEWHERE YOU ARE SILENT Oh Meher, since the time my life was attracted toward Your beauty, Your pleasure became my pleasure and sealed my lips. How can I draw You away from Your indifferent attitude? You have hidden Your pleasure and I don’t know what You want. Who can know Your game? Who can know Your secret? Somewhere You speak; elsewhere You are silent. Oh Beloved, my heart has become madly intoxicated with the wine of Your love. Come before this night passes into dawn. I bowed down at Your feet and saluted You with every breath, But you did not like it because I could not renounce the desire to bow at Your feet. Are you ashamed of me Beloved, or am I ashamed of You? There must be some discord, otherwise why is a veil between us? Your coming and embracing me is possible in every way, Because everything is in Your hand and nothing is in mine. Oh Bhau, whether you laugh or weep it is just the same — What is left under your control when you have surrendered your life to the Beloved? GHAZAL EIGHT index ******* OH BELOVED, APPEAR FOR ALL ETERNITY BEFORE MY EYES Oh Meher, one moment of waiting for You is an era of restlessness — My ruined heart longs for You to manifest this very moment. You made my heart a dilapidated hovel and then walked out the door. Oh heart, full of pain; what should I do? Oh heart, full of wounds, what should I do? I cannot find You, so my wounded heart calls all the more. How can I go on living Beloved, without You before my eyes? Why didn’t Your dagger finish me off before You left? How can I live and love You in a half-dead state? My heart is tearing through this chest from unbearable pain. How can I console what You captured long ago? Your indifference appeared the moment You had me under Your control. Now I am so renowned for my madness, who will listen to my complaint? I cannot live without You even for a minute. Oh Beloved, appear for all eternity before my eyes! My heart has been torn from my hands by one desire. Oh world of desirelessness; what should I do? What should I do? Oh Bhau, why has my life become a living death? Oh my wounded, painful heart; what should I do? What should I do? GHAZAL NINE index ******* YOU HAVE SHAPED DESTINY Oh Meher, tell me why the burden of my life has not been lifted? Unbroken links bind together the chains of my life. Innumerable links are in the chain of unending life And death breaks only one at a time. Oh Beloved, You are my life and my every breath. Until real existence is found this veiled living does not end. Although You have left Your form, oh Meher, Your light remains in the world. You take form and drop it, but Your light ever remains. Do you have the eyes now to see my tears or the ears to hear my crying heart? You have shaped destiny so that it can never be changed unless You wish it. You are both wax and stone at one and the same time, But before my eyes I find You harder than granite now. Oh Bhau, be alert; the Beloved may come at any time to lift the veil. But you will find out when the veil is lifted one’s nature under the veil does not end. GHAZAL TEN index ******* THE BELOVED ALLOWS ONLY THE WEIGHTLESS INTO HIS KINGDOM Beloved Meher is about to break His Silence Here and Now. Listen to what He is going to speak Here and Now. This Now is always Now—ever this moment and always this moment. The Beloved is always in this Now doing His Universal Work. Here means always Here, unlimited by time and space—remain established in it. The Beloved keeps His Treasure in this Here and Now for everyone. Keep your feet firmly established Here, and don’t wander here and there. The Beloved is planning to give you the cup of Dawn Here and Now. One whose self wanes and becomes air-thin is loved by the Beloved. The Beloved weighs everyone Here and Now, and allows only the weightless into His Kingdom. Everyone has to lose weight and stop all movements completely. Oh Bhau, the Beloved is about to break His Silence and give His secret Here and Now. GHAZAL ELEVEN index ******* YOU ARE HERE, THERE, EVERYWHERE Oh Meher, my Beloved, I am ashamed to reveal to anyone about Your attitude. I have been faithful to You, but You have been unfaithful to me. I only wanted Your company; I never wanted to attain Your Godhood, But You deceived me and turned me into a ruin. What kind of God are You? I have looked everywhere for You; what should I do now to find You? Yet everyone says that You are here, there, everywhere and that only You exist. My heart is calling You through a shower of tears. Seeing You is the only cure for the wounds in my heart. You went to sleep after making me just slightly aware of You. I am tired but unless I become fully aware, You won’t awaken from Your sleep. You want me to awaken You, but You have taken away all my strength. Now my breath is failing me at every step and I am dying. Oh Bhau, my longing for the Beloved has turned to abuse and criticism. But the wounds of my heart love Him intensely and praise Him for His benediction. GHAZAL TWELVE index ******* THE ASH THAT SEES NOTHING BUT YOU Oh Meher, don’t You remember the promises You gave me? Don’t You remember them? Don’t You know that every one of Your promises remains unfulfilled? You have turned me into ash by burning me in the fire of love. Don’t You remember Your promise to give my ash that one kiss? How can I live after feeling Your presence, and knowing now that You are gone? Don’t You remember Your promise to speak to me? Previously my heart was eating my pain, but now the pain is eating my heart. Don’t You remember that it was You who said You would manifest in such a heart? In order to become worthy of your kiss I have become ash. Don’t You remember that You gave life to the ash that sees nothing but You? Oh Bhau, death is a thousand times better than a life of separation from the Beloved. Oh Beloved, have You forgotten to bestow that Final Death for which I long? GHAZAL THIRTEEN index ******* I MAKE MY BIRTH AND DEATH ONE TO FIND HIM Oh Meher, I must die in the pain of longing for You. Then my death will bestow a free life to me, limited by nothing. If Your arrow had passed through my chest it would have taken this sea of pain I enjoy so much. But stuck in my heart, the song from the pain of the arrow calls and calls You. My Friend, all of my days have been marred by incidents of Your unfaithfulness to me. Oh Beloved, why break a friend’s duty to maintain friendship at all cost? At first You were my dearest companion, but now Your attitude surpasses my worst enemy’s. If only in the beginning You had given me a hint of what was to come! Your indifference has ruined every ounce of joy in my life. The lamp is supposed to be in front of the moth, not hidden from it. Your aloofness appeared the moment I was lying helplessly wounded. Oh Beloved, I accept that You have Your eye on me, but I must know it. What should I do to find my Beloved when I am crippled by helplessness? Should I make my birth and death one to find Him? Oh Bhau, even my death won’t stop to embrace this helpless one. How to pass the days of separation; what must I do to seek His pleasure? GHAZAL FOURTEEN index ******* MY HEART IS RESTLESS FOR HIM Oh Meher, my prayers and salutations to You appear like a ceremony— Anything done to You should be only for You, and not done to make a show. My life is drowning in the blood of my heart— I thought You would at least respond to a drowning man’s cries. You departed the moment after I felt You were my every breath. You made a fool of me, but still I must seek Your pleasure, as I remain Your slave. You departed and all my letters were returned unanswered. Still I willingly treat You as my best Friend. Oh Beloved, where can I go when I am captured in Your net? There is no flaw in the net’s threading and no cure for the pain of drowning. If I have the eye to see You, You will be found Here—not elsewhere, But my head is one place and my feet, somewhere else. Oh Bhau, my mischievous Beloved stays hidden and I don’t know what I should do. My heart is restless day and night for Him without a moment’s pause GHAZAL FIFTEEN index ******* INSCRUTABLE BUSINESS OF THE WORLD I cannot understand the inscrutable business of the world. One visits the world for four days, and leaves it for the same time, not knowing why one has visited it all. Visiting here is not an easy task, and one visit makes preparations for the next. One purchases some goods on credit, sells others on loan, and keeps an open account. As soon as one is involved in the business of buying and selling, He is helplessly bound with credits and debts. To do business one has to visit the world frequently. Since one is ignorant of profit and loss, there is no end to these business trips. Go to the feet of Meher, the aim of life is at His feet. Do business at His feet and balance all profit with complete loss. Oh Bhau, give up your business concern and accept the deal of His wish. Do this at Lord Meher’s feet and see what you lose and what you find! GHAZAL SIXTEEN index ******* THE QUESTION OF MY LIFE BELONGS TO YOU COMPLETELY Oh Meher, I am too helpless to reveal my state in Your love. The day You departed I found the light of my heart had also gone. Oh Beloved, do not leave after giving me Your sweet embrace— It is the question of my life which belongs to You completely. In seeking You, all that I have found is my own ugliness. But I know that if I shed what is ugly Your hidden face will appear. Oh Beloved, everything is in Your hand; mine is totally empty. You declare that my great gain is the loss of all prestige. The tears You see flowing from my eyes are the pieces of my broken heart. In His love, my life has become nothing but restless pain from head to foot. Oh Beloved, You are my life and everything for me— But I doubt You have accepted me completely since Your attitude towards me is unbearable. Oh Bhau, even my enemies shed tears at seeing my plight— Even they have some sympathy for me, but my Beloved has none! GHAZAL SEVENTEEN index ******* TO SEE YOU IN ALL YOUR GLORY The gathering of my heart’s desire is dispersed— Now my life is at least worth living. My only longing is for You to awaken smiling in my heart. That will be my destination to see You in all Your glory. You broke my heart and spoke, “Now your life is worth living.” I have no control over my heart in Your love— Neither this life nor my heart is any longer mine. How can I recognize You Meher, oh my Beloved, When I am attached to manyness and You are attached to Oneness? How can I find the address of the gathering of Your lovers? Perhaps they gather at the wineshop’s door. Oh Beloved, You gave me thousands of promises and broke every one, But You still insist that my allegation is false, for You are the Truth. Oh Bhau, remember that the Beloved is the Truth and always speaks the Truth. If you don’t understand, it is your fault because you are attached to illusion. GHAZAL EIGHTEEN index ******* I FIND MY LOVE IN YOUR ANGER Oh Meher, what pain of longing is Your separation! It is eating my heart and swallowing blood. My heart is drowning in the tears of Your love, and it is now frightened Because it knows I must drown myself in the Ocean of fire to reach You, Beloved. I came to You in life’s springtime, but now I am a helpless old fool. I follow the dust of Your footsteps and long for kick after kick. You made me a ruin and then went away, But my heart cannot tolerate this and calls, “Wait! I am coming to You.” Words can never reveal my disgust with this cursed love— There is nothing in it but helplessness and hopelessness at every step. I have reached a state that no disciple has ever described— You are angry with me, but I find love in Your anger! Wherever I am, You are not, and wherever I am not, You are there! Oh Bhau, tell the Beloved, “Come! Please come! I’ll go so that You may come.” GHAZAL NINETEEN index ******* IF IT WAS EASY TO FIND GOD Who will ever fall in love with the Beloved of love’s ruination? What torture! What use is heaven after all this suffering? I am a slave in Your love; but You bound me in Your indifference. I am no fool, for Your labored aloofness belies Your care and concern. Oh Meher, cast Your glance on me and give me the Pearl. When one has to lead the life of the shell, why should he seek Your company? I have tread the earth to dust and come to Your door— Who will respect You if You throw me out into illusion again? I have made You divine! Without my praising Your Name every moment who would take You as God? Being completely Yours gives me the right to complain. Who has the courage to perform such worship? The fortunate slave of God becomes God Himself! Who will rule over himself every moment to find this secret? Oh Bhau, on the path of love you must devour yourself! If it was easy to find God, who would face such calamities? GHAZAL TWENTY index ******* HOW CAN I FIND HIM WHO IS EVERYTHING? Oh Meher, why jeopardize my heart on the needle of a joke? Why hide Your face from me and thereby crush my life? I no longer have any care or concern for my life— Let it be crushed to pieces, but leave a grain of dust to salute You. Pieces of my heart flow through my eyes as tears— I know that they have yet to become perfectly clear. I don’t find any way to console my heart in its madness for You— How can I pass the rest of my life in separation? Why should I continue to live when there is no joy in my life? As soon as You departed the light faded from my heart. If I had become the dust at Your feet I would not have wept like this, But I have yet to acquire the simplicity of dust. Oh Bhau, my heart cannot be consoled. What should I do? How can I find Him who is my life and everything for me? GHAZAL TWENTY-ONE index ******* THE MOST TERRIBLE STATE OF ALL Oh heart, full of pain, what should I do? Oh heart, full of wounds, what should I do? Oh Meher, You made room in my heart and then went away. You created palpitations for me and now You are resting. You made my heart the treasure of Your worship— What can I say? You made me fight myself within. Oh Meher, You rest and remain aloof, and allow me to drown in restlessness for You! Oh heart, full of pain, what should I do? Oh heart, full of wounds, what should I do? Oh Meher, my heart cries that You are Here and here now. But my eyes are searching, calling, “Where, where, where?” Yet my spirit knows that You are here, there and everywhere. Who will take me where I cannot go on my own? Who will console my heart in its utter madness for You? Oh heart, full of pain; what should I do? Oh heart, full of wounds; what should I do? I cannot live and I cannot die—this is the most terrible state of all. How can I forget Your remembrance embedded so deep in my heart? End my patience with the warmth of Your smile— Your mercy is not bled by seeing my state. Oh Bhau, I am a broken-hearted man; tell me, what should I do? Tell me, what should I do? What should I do when there is no cure? GHAZAL TWENTY-TWO index ******* PAIN AND STRIFE TEARING AT MY HEART That gathering of lovers seen until now is not seen today. That shore which once embraced the ocean is not seen today. Nothing happened, nothing happens and nothing will every happen. So what then is this pain and strife tearing at my heart? I would have forgotten everything and also forgotten this suffering, But the dilemma is that I have not become unconscious of my consciousness. Oh Meher, why did You turn away and hide Yourself from me? Do You think that my heart is a stone without feeling? Remain before me so that I may continue to gaze at You. This is the only destination to reach—I have no other. All these years I have been seeing spring and feeling its freshness, But now I know that the roasting summer too is a part of my destiny to reach You. Oh Bhau, I bowed my neck for the Executioner’s blow But alas! He turned away and hid His sword. GHAZAL TWENTY-THREE index ******* I WILL NOT LEAVE YOUR THRESHOLD Oh Meher, reveal to me where I should go after leaving Your threshold. I am sitting here only to die; I will not leave it under any circumstances. The movements of Your Silence guided me toward the path. What have I to do with God? I long to see the movements of Your Silence. I do not want to become the Ocean, I only care about the Shore; For that Shore will take me back to the Beyond. How can I describe the crumbling of my foundations? My heart neither burns nor is extinguished—my life, like a moth, is choking. Oh Meher, where have You hidden Yourself in my terribly wounded heart? You call it a blessing— but it is now impossible for me to live anymore. You accepted me and embraced me, then kicked me out. Oh Bhau, how can I complain to Him when He is completely deaf to me? GHAZAL TWENTY-FOUR index ******* WHAT A DESOLATE LIFE IS THIS WITHOUT YOU! What a desolate life is this without You! Without You there is nothing but insufficience and deficiency. What a light exists in Your Silence! It is seen infinitely in Oneness. How can I know the attribute of Your Silence? My mind has not become completely still and quiet. Wine flows from Your Silence, But the noisy world is not thirsty to drink it. The rays of Your wine are spreading throughout the chaotic world. The moment the world’s thirst drinks these rays then it will be the beginning of NOW. There are some who carry a bowl full of wine for others, Knowing that to make others drink wine is the duty of love. When the noisy world drinks wine, it will experience that Your Silence speaks, And speaks to silence the minds of all. Oh Meher, Your Silence contains the Word of words— But Your Silence is the Ocean, not the shore. Oh people, quiet down—stop moving— And see what His Silence speaks. Oh Meher, listen to my heart! Lift the veil from my form! Oh Bhau, His Silence is also veiled; without lifting it you cannot hear its sound. GHAZAL TWENTY-FIVE index ******* WHAT DIFFICULTY MY HEART IS FACING Oh Meher, You have stolen the friendship of my only companion, And now my heart has become a murderer to me. The arrow of all arrows has pierced my chest, But since it has come from You, my mad heart enjoys its company. Walking in the Beloved’s footsteps turns life into fire, Yet my heart finds rest in the burning pain of longing. What wonderful wine is flowing through Your beautiful glance, oh Beloved! By only one taste of that wine my heart has become mad. Oh Beloved, don’t bestow this life of love even to my enemies— At first the pain was eating my heart, but now my heart is eating me. Oh Meher, be gentle and take me to the destination with care. What a calamity! What tribulation! What difficulty my heart is facing! Pain is now my rest and every breath in life. I have no choice—I am going where my heart is taking me. The wine of restlessness alone is the wine that gives rest. I am a drunkard unaware of everything but my heart’s awareness of Meher. Oh Bhau, what can I tell you about the burning of this love? My heart has drowned me in an Ocean of fire but continues to beat. GHAZAL TWENTY-SIX index ******* HOW TO SEE YOU IN THIS DARKNESS Oh Meher, these days I remember You and no one except You, But still You never ask what I am passing through these days. You embraced me, made me Yours, then turned Your back— These days I cannot see You through this veil of tears. You are never separate from anyone; You are in all. My only problem these days is to find the eye to see You. When You went away, spring faded in blazing summer before my eyes. How to see You in this darkness is my sole concern these days. When You went away I later realized that You had manifested But I was asleep and missed the dawning of Your glory. Oh Purest of the pure! You are stainless, but I am stained. Cleanse me so I can be united with You these days. Oh Bhau, why ask me what the Beloved is like? He is matchless! How can I say that He is like “this” or “that?” GHAZAL TWENTY-SEVEN index ******* YOU ARE IN EVERYONE Oh Meher, You are formless and with form! Victory to You! You are Ram, You are Krishna, You are the Avatar. Victory to You! You are Khuda, Yezdan, and Prabhu. You are Allah, God, and Paigambar. You are Ahurmazda. You are the Doer. Oh Meher, victory to You! You are Buddha, and Jesus the Christ. You are Ishwar, and Paramatma. You are the only Protector. Oh Meher, victory to You! You ever were, ever are and ever will be. You are in everyone. You are the Beginning and the End, and You are also beyond both. Oh Meher, victory to You! You are Brahma, and Parabrahma. You are Abraham and You are the only Beloved. You are worthy of worship. You are within everyone. Oh Meher, victory to You! Because You ever are, all animate and inanimate exist. You are the Lord of the Divine Game. Oh Meher, victory to You! Oh Bhau, play with Him in His game, And you will see His victory. GHAZAL TWENTY-EIGHT index ******* HOW CAN WE KNOW THE SECRET Though You are in form, You are truly formless. So why did You maintain my form when You dropped Yours? Burn my body and my clothes and make me Eternal and Imperishable. Oh Lord Meher, the Ocean of Silence! Listen to my prayer. You are birthless yet You are born age after age. How can we know this secret through the links of the chain? Oh Lord, shower Your grace on us; we are full of sins. Oh Lord Meher, the Ocean of Silence! Listen to my prayer. We welcome You, oh Lord, with our tears. Burn the knot into ash and take birth in us. Oh Bhau, follow the Beloved at the cost of your life— Die completely so that He can take birth in You. Oh Lord, Meher, the Ocean of Silence! Listen to my prayer. GHAZAL TWENTY-NINE index ******* I AM WOUNDING MY HEART Why did You turn Your face away? What did I do? I gave my heart to You and made You mine. I do not understand this mystery, though I have tried and tried. Who is the one with the veil—You or I? I find every grain withered and rotting without Your light. I am fully convinced of this after observing every grain minutely. Oh Gardener, where did You go? The beds are barren without You. Come again and manifest! I have repented—bring spring to this desert of my faults. Oh Lord where are You? Oh my Beloved Meher, where are You? As a call to You, I am wounding my heart. Oh Bhau, no medicine can cure me now or give me relief Because I have made pain itself my dearest companion. GHAZAL THIRTY index ******* I CARE ONLY FOR THE BELOVED If the world discards me what do I care? The world does not know that I care only for the Beloved in my heart. I don’t know how to pass the roasting days of summer that You have destined for me. My every breath aches, “Oh Beloved, I am waiting for You.” All my companions turned against me when You went away, And I am living knowing fully well that You created the situation. These days I am fated with poison from all sides— All I can do, in my helplessness, is drink it as my fate. Oh Meher, I am living now, thinking and knowing in faith that You trust me, So I do not hesitate to drink the poison. Oh Bhau , you have surrendered your life to the Beloved. Now what right do you have left to your own life? GHAZAL THIRTY-ONE index ******* LIFE HAS BECOME LIFELESS Oh Meher, my life has left me since the day You went away. What has this life become without You, except completely worthless? This is not life, but I do not perceive what else it is. Tears neither fall from my eyes, nor do I smile. What joy can there be in a life not worth living? I breathe without blood—calling You with every breath. Who will now tease me? Who will now love me? My life is saved only by the remembrance of my Beloved. I have not yet become a well-baked clay pot— Oh Beloved, I am afraid that the slightest touch will break it. I am standing at Your wineshop’s door, longing to bow down to You. Oh Beloved, make me bow since I have no strength to do so. Oh Beloved, only the blazing summer is before me since You have gone away. Oh Bhau, this life has become a burden to me and I cannot bear it without Him. GHAZAL THIRTY-TWO index ******* YOU HAVE NOW GONE AND HIDDEN YOUR FORM Oh Meher, now that You have gone away, what will I become by remaining alive? How will I see Your graceful movements which I have seen until now? There never seems to be an end to the wounding in my heart. I do not know how to pass the days of my life in Your separation. You do not appear to me in the form that I have seen and loved. Where will I see Your sweet and loving smile? How can I voice to You the words of my heart When You have gone and hidden Your form? You caught me, but now You have forgotten me— How long must I remain struggling in Your net? Neither does my breath stop nor is it possible for me to live. Oh Bhau, what happened to pity; I don’t know how long I can pass through such a dreadful punishment! GHAZAL THIRTY-THREE index ******* THE WORLD IS DANCING TO THE SIGNS OF YOUR FINGERS Oh Meher, I have no place in this world without You— Bestow death and end this lost life of pain. Oh Beloved, I realize You are helpless to come near me— Your coming will only be when I go away. I made You famous throughout the world and stayed with You. So why do You now feel ashamed to show Your face? My madness on Your path invites the world’s scorn; I swear You are compassionate, but the world laughs at You. I have been clothed of different colors that I cannot shed— Only You can easily pull my arms from the sleeves. Oh Meher, everything is in Your hands; You are truly matchless. Don’t forget the world is dancing every moment to the signs of Your fingers. Oh Bhau, what should I do? How long can I remain patient? The Beloved has gone away, leaving only excuses for coming back soon. GHAZAL THIRTY-FOUR index ******* WHEN YOUR REMEMBRANCE FILLS THE HEART Oh Meher, why don’t You manifest? My tears are calling You. I have been buried alive and won’t survive much longer without You. You won’t come and meet me, and I cannot die though it is my desire. It must be the punishment of my death that makes me live. When Your remembrance fills the heart, light is found in darkness. But without Your remembrance light appears as darkness. What wonder and bewilderment for darkness has devoured light. How difficult it is now for me to find Your light. Peace always reigns when there are no wants, But because of my wants, I am swimming in a sea of troubles. I am helplessly caught like a fly in a spider’s web. I would rather die, but my struggle in the web keeps me bound and alive. Oh Bhau, remember that there is a secret in His being cruel— He once embraced You, but now He forgets you. GHAZAL THIRTY-FIVE index ******* OH MEHER, VICTORY IS ALWAYS YOURS! What mischief! You have only turned on Your side, But You have disappeared from the range of my sight. Your departure shocked my spirit, but You still live in my heart. You left the shore to live in the Ocean as the Ocean, but I shed tears seeing Your absence on the shore. What should I do? I am in shock without You. How should I pass through the path now? Victory is Yours! Oh Meher, victory is always Yours! My tears are calling You. Why don’t You come and manifest? Won’t You make me separate from myself? Won’t You come and live in me? My life has become a barren desert without You. Oh Beloved, how long will You let my thirst burn? Oh Beloved, come, my tears are entreating— Manifest and give me wine to drink. Victory is Yours! Oh Meher, victory is always Yours! Oh Beloved, my tears have dried and my eyes have become fire, But You are still sleeping in me. Longing for You does not allow me to live— There are only thorns in this path without a path. Oh Beloved, what should I do? How can I come to You? Oh Bhau, I am burning day and night in the fire of separation. Only this longing is in me to merge in my Beloved. Victory Is Yours! Oh Meher, victory is always Yours! GHAZAL THIRTY-SIX index ******* HOW FORTUNATE YOU ARE TO HAVE THE BELOVED Oh Meher, the gathering of Your lovers has become lifeless without You. They have forgotten the location of the Ocean the shore, and Your Abode. You have neither kept me alive nor allowed me to die. Oh Murderer, who taught You how to cut off a head inch by inch? You burned the moth only half way, then hid the lamp and became stone-hearted. How can the half-dead moth find the lamp and be completely consumed? Avoid me if You must, but at least leave behind Your footprints. I will come to You by following them and thereby wipe out my false existence. I can no longer tolerate this empty life on the shore. I will surrender thousands of my lives at Your feet to drown in the Ocean. What did I do to make You hide Your beautiful face? Oh Meher, why did You steal my heart before going away? Oh Bhau, when you are helpless and hopeless from longing’s pain, How fortunate you will be to have the Beloved who is all-Love and Compassion. GHAZAL THIRTY-SEVEN index ******* SHEDDING TEARS AT JUST THE BEGINNING OF LOVE I am tired from calling You—how long can my patience last? Yet You enjoy my burning separation in the fire of love. Oh Meher, I completely accept my defeat before Your infinitely subtle tricks— Your stone-heartedness makes me laugh while weeping inside. What a dream the Ocean sees, thinking it is a drop, While in fact the drop is the Ocean all the time. Since You are always with me, why don’t I find spring in the summer of my life? At least for once You could forget Your age-old habit of remaining hidden. Oh Meher, how helpless and hopeless love has made me! You kick me, yet I bow down to You and seek only Your pleasure. Many set out in the Ocean to meet the Beloved, but who ever does? One has to drown himself like ash in the Ocean of fire to meet Him. Only the men of God can pass through this path taking their lives in their palms. Oh Bhau, know well that you are shedding tears at just the beginning of love! GHAZAL THIRTY-EIGHT index ******* OH BELOVED, IT WAS YOU Who has ears to hear my life’s complaint? It has become impossible for me—How can I live when I cannot die in Your love? Oh Meher, my tears have gained the courage to ask this question: “Have You, who are Infinite Compassion forever, forgotten me?” You must have forgotten me because I am so helpless That I can think of nothing but You. I know that I am a despicable sinner and a ruthless scoundrel, So if You accept me with my shortcomings it will be Your greatness. The world is thriving with life, but what use is such living? Real living is dying every moment in love for the Beloved. The greatness of military conquest is nothing Compared to the victory over one’s own anger. You should learn to bless the pain of separation, not curse it, For union with the Beloved would never be possible without passing through it. Oh Beloved, it was You who gave me this miserable illness. I tell you Bhau, He never asked me how my health was. GHAZAL THIRTY-NINE index ******* THE ONE WHO IS BOTH QUESTION AND ANSWER Oh Meher, there is one thing I know which is impossible for You to do— Your infinite greatness is that You would never harm the worst of sinners. Why isn’t the answer to every question in the Ocean of your Silence? How can any answer be beyond the One who is both Question and Answer? Your tongue is quiet, but Your Silence is infinitely active— The light of Your Silence speaks in a thousand ways. Truth’s tongue is always silent, for Truth can never be expressed through words. One who drowns in the Ocean of Silence becomes incomparable. Your slave’s only concern is serving You and nothing else. If You want to know what real pain is, ask those who serve You. What do the lovers at Your threshold have to do with the intellect? They have no concern with questions, union examples or glory. You made my heart ill, and then left. What care do You have for me? Oh Bhau, He never even asked me, “Tell me, how do you feel?” GHAZAL FORTY index ******* ASSURANCE FROM YOU You are my life but what assurance from You do I have of this? Nevertheless, I am fulfilling the duty of a worthy slave. You order me to stay awake and to go to sleep at the same time— How can an ordinary man like myself obey orders like these? If the heart ever has the thirst to drink the Ocean, How can there be any fear of the ocean’s storms? Oh Meher, You have graced me with the pain of longing— How can I express what my heart is passing through? One’s existence does not end simply with the physical death— One’s life continues until the chain of accounts is finally broken. If one remains alive by dying, then Death turns into Life. Only the men of God experience this, and no one else. Oh Meher, You left and now my death punishes me with more life. What can I do with the accounts that chain me to living? This love neither allows me to breathe, nor allows me to die— Oh Bhau, this love has become the enemy of my life. GHAZAL FORTY-ONE index ******* THE BELOVED MADE ME DESIRELESS Oh Meher, You put me to sleep in such a way That You awakened me from the dream of creation. You broke thousands of promises, But in doing so You taught me to serve only You. I thought You tried to help me by removing the lamp when I was burning, But now as I lay half scorched, I realize it was Your punishment. Oh Meher, You made me mad in Your love, But what wisdom my madness now contains! You drowned me totally in Your remembrance, And my heart forgot everything except You. Your arrow has given my heart the wound of wounds— Yet the deeper the pain, the more relief I find. You helped me to establish such relations That I do not remain attached to anyone or anything. You never gave me anything I asked for, But You gave me the Pearl without my asking. Oh Bhau, tell me honestly, what did you lack When the Beloved made you desireless? GHAZAL FORTY-TWO index ******* THE TRACELESS PRINT Oh Meher, where should I seek You now? Oh Lord of the Universe, where are You? Oh Beloved, I have no rest with You—You are the glory of my painful heart. You are manifest in every particle and grain in creation. You are the Question and the Answer, both manifest and unmanifest. There is no one else except You as Majnun; there is no one else except You as Leila. You are the prayer and its words, its expression and the prayer’s tongue. There are thousands of veils, but none can ever veil You! What is hidden from the eye of the Abode and its Lord? Drunkards are lying at Your threshold shedding tears, If you will not give them wine, at least think of them now and again. You are the wine, the drinker, and the cup. You are Saki, the Server of love’s wine. Oh Beloved, reveal to me where You are not from the beginning to the end. You are manifest even where there is self, although there You remain unmanifest. There is no one like You; only You are like You. Bhau has surrendered himself to You; You are the traceless point. GHAZAL FORTY-THREE index ******* WORDS DON’T EXIST Oh Meher, did You forget my love for You? Kindly cast a glance and You’ll see that I am digging my grave. I am kicked at every step in Your path, Words don’t exist to describe the disaster that is my life. And the name of my life is now nothing but calamity! I am a drunkard, with no concern even for heaven. Heaven itself was obstructing my path. Although You tried to leave me forever, My love has imprisoned You in my heart. With every breath I die a little more in Your love, But my longing increases and seeks union with You. My value is such that although the world is laughing at me, The world itself is under the control of my dust-like existence. You are kicking me, but see my courage— I am following You without any fear. How can the infinitely compassionate One show only indifference towards me, And not pity my condition in the pain of longing for Him? The world laughs at me and thinks I am a fool, But from my perspective it is only paying its respects. Oh Bhau, you do not know what this love is— It has taught me how to live my life in fire! GHAZAL FORTY-FOUR index ******* WHY DID I FIND YOU HOMELESS? I sought and sought You and then found You without name, or color, or sign. Your Home is in every heart; why then did I find You homeless? Oh Meher, thousands of restless drunkards are thirsty at Your door. When You are the Saki, why don’t You offer cups of wine to them? Everything is found if one finds Your footprints. But except for the men of God, who has found them? On the one You love, calamities fall at every step, But no one can imagine the compassion Your stone-heartedness bestows. As long as the Inner eye remains closed, the Ocean is a useless drop. But when the eye opens, the drop disappears and knows It was the Ocean all the time. The light of Your Silence renders all words of the world meaningless. I became silent, gained a new tongue and language, and experienced the glory of Your Silence. I do not know how many of my births produced the fortune of finding You— I searched here and there, but I never found a Guide like You. Oh Bhau, although you have been searching for Him for ages, You could not find the first station on this path of annihilation until you found Him. GHAZAL FORTY-FIVE index ******* WHAT PARADISE EXISTS FOR ALL? The expression of Your love for all Is the difficulties You give to all. Oh Meher, why did You break our hearts and leave? You are the only hope for all. Our hearts have become blood, also our spirits— But what paradise exists for all? How can they speak of their longing When it has become the enemy of all? Life is laughing at their corpses, Revealing t his is not the time of leisure for all. Death presents them with an invitation To live a life free of all desires. If not for You, what use is life? Light is then darkness for all! The Goal of life is found in dust; What treasure lies in it for all! Oh indifferent One, You came and then went away; What careless negligence on the part of all! Oh Bhau, we are dying in love every moment. What a boon such a death is for all! GHAZAL FORTY-SIX index ******* AS IF DEATH WERE STANDING BEFORE ME My life is faced with such tribulations It is as if death were standing before me. When has anything happened? When will anything happen? Everything happens only Now—this very moment! Why are people so frightened by death When one link in the chain of life is less? Oh Meher, why treat me with the hand of indifference? Why do You sleep when my dangers are at their height? The world is blind and so am I, But I have the Beloved as a cane. When You went away, spring’s freshness became summer’s heat, But summer is spring when Your presence is felt. Oh Bhau, I am prepared to die at this moment, But link after link is hooked on the chain of my life. GHAZAL FORTY-SEVEN index ******* WHAT WAS HERE BEFORE AND WHAT IS HERE NOW? What of the world and its affairs? What was here before and what is here now? It is the sport of two days. What was here before and what is here now? Nothing happened, nothing has happened and nothing will happen— It is all a vacant dream. What was here before and what is here now? Unless the self is annihilated by Your loving nazar, It sees what was here before and what is here now. Oh Meher, what an understanding You have given! But even that is a dream too, so why try to understand what was here before and what is here now? Oh Cruel One, why did You change Your attitude from the time I bowed my head at Your feet; Why did You change from what You were before to what You are now? Thousands of lovers are lying at Your threshold, having become dust— They have no consciousness of what was before or what is now. The Truth is always the Truth and can never be changed. Why do you ask then, oh Bhau, what was here before and what is here now? GHAZAL FORTY-EIGHT index ******* ONE PASSES FROM HERE; ANOTHER COMES One passes on from here; another comes. One drinks blood while another eats the heart. One becomes involved in the world; another renounces it. One helps others, while another harms. One is beyond the three worlds; another lives in every heart. One creates the world’s paraphernalia, while another brings wine. One is jealous of others; another shows generosity and kindness One tries to lessen suffering, while another ruthlessly hurts the other’s feelings. One leads a life for Meher, another serves his own self-interest. One serves the world, while another is a spiritual hypocrite. One is an intellectual gymnast; another forgets everything and loses his mind. One finds everything after losing all, while another increases the nothings of nothingness. One always incurs debts; another collects loans. One renounces the transactions of giving and taking while another attains liberation. One does everything for the sake of name; another renounces name and fame. One is aloof from all entanglement, while another involves himself in the world. Oh Bhau, there is only One who does all these different things! That One sees all, but who sees Him? GHAZAL FORTY-NINE index ******* THE EFFECT OF LOVE Worldly service is religion’s business for the enhancement of self. The effect of love is the renunciation of self at every step. Oh Meher, You have deceived me by becoming indifferent, But I do not worry because the pain of longing is safe within me. You have discarded me, You have kicked me— Yet my love for You is so great that I follow You willingly and love Your every kick. You have tricked people into thinking that You are very kind to me. No one knows that I die at every step from Your harsh attitude. It is so difficult to enter this path of love When the Beloved’s dagger brings death at every step. What do You expect from me? You asked me to sleep and at the same time to remain awake. Who can embody the contradictions of love’s path? The pain of longing has sealed my lips— How can I now complain about You to the world? You are both my Beloved and my Murderer— How can I then ask You to have mercy on me? Oh Bhau, this Murderer is now standing before me with a sword in hand— The nobility He has bestowed upon me bends my neck for Him to strike. GHAZAL FIFTY index ******* INCOMPARABLY DIFFICULT IS THIS PATH OF LOVE Oh Meher, if any man declares that You are not God, He may be anything, but he is not a man of wisdom. The world asks now what Your commandment is, And has found it to be Your Silence. Your Silence is the medium to absorb all sounds and reach the Goal of Silence. But who has the courage to drown all sound in Your Ocean of Silence? It is Your Silence that is now speaking in the world, But the faithless cannot hear the sound of Your Soundless Word. Your Avataric advent is itself an infinite obligation to the world But You are so great that You take it as Your responsibility. One who has no thirst in his heart for You does not recognize his own heart, And does not know what his heart was made for. How incomparably difficult is this path of love! It is so infinitely easy that it is not easy at all! Love has made my heart unimaginably restless While finding rest in its own restlessness. The one who knowingly appears as if he knows not, Becomes God and is never ignorant again. Oh Beloved, my obligation to You Is the storm You created in my heart. Oh cruel One, the arrow You shot into my heart Made my heart oblivious of even the desire for union with You. Oh Bhau, I am a desireless beggar, worry-free at the door of My Beloved. I have no belongings with me, so I have become worthy of begging. GHAZAL FIFTY-ONE index ******* YOU MADE ME FALSE THROUGH YOUR WHIM I was the Ocean, why did You make me the shore? I was Reality, why did You make me false through Your whim? See how my intellect has changed my form— It has veiled me with the sight of illusion. Oh Meher, You have given everyone a heart, But the real heart is that one on which Your glance falls. Love has made me take on the dress of madness, But in doing so love has made me wise. My intellect is constantly creating problems for me, But the power of love has strengthened my heart, leaving it unaffected. In the eyes of the world I am quite useless and worthless, But oh Beloved, in Your eyes I am the most useful and worthy of Your love. One end of the thread of love was in Your hand and the other in mine, But I foolishly pulled the thread and made what was very easy very difficult. I laugh at my ash’s helpless plight, But my Beloved has blessed it with seeing the Ocean. My heart, having been murdered by the pain of longing in this storm of love, Has become a murderer itself and is now murdering me! Oh Bhau, when your heart’s abode is barren from the Beloved’s showered grace— Know well that it will be lighted by the presence of the Beloved. GHAZAL FIFTY-TWO index ******* YOU FALSIFIED MY EXISTENCE What did You do to Me? I was the Ocean and You made me the shore. You gave me this life and then falsified my existence. Where am I going and what is this journey for? Oh Beloved, why do You make me so unaware of my soul’s existence? I am dying—but it is only the beginning of love to You. You have fatally wounded my heart with separation’s pain. Oh cruel One, You have stolen my heart and taken it into Your fold. Your once comforting smile became a double-edged sword. What a plight I am passing through in Your separation, oh Meher! Why have You thrown this ocean-happy fish into the desert? One who has firmly caught hold of Your daaman Has received from Your ocean the water of Eternal life. Oh Beloved, there is an Ocean of mercy in Your stone heart, And those who suffer in Your love are made worthy of experiencing it. Your loving glance burned my heart into ashes, But You kissed the ashes and made me worthy of being. This path is very easy and at the same time very difficult. Oh Bhau, what did you do? You yourself made this easy path very difficult! GHAZAL FIFTY-THREE index ******* THE PAIN OF LONGING HAS NO TONGUE The only place where there is never talk of You Is where Your lovers aren’t gathered. Oh Meher, reveal to me where You have gone— My heart has no rest at all without You. My helplessness will soon disguise me as a speck of dust, How can the plight of my heart ever be expressed? My tears shed in love alone express my condition, For the pain of longing has no tongue. Raging summer has entered my life since You departed. Why isn’t this life annihilated in Your love? How long can my pained heart be patient? My restlessness can no longer be hidden. Your advent on earth brings a spring freshness That endures through the hottest summer. Oh Beloved, come and manifest now! I have no strength to call You. Oh Bhau, my silence is the only sign of calling Him. GHAZAL FIFTY-FOUR index ******* THE LAW OF THIS PATH OF ANNIHILATION In shariat there is room for vice and virtue, but in a clean heart there is none. In Reality even nothing does not exist; there is no question and no answer. Oh Meher, when I wasn’t thirsty You called me and made me drink, But now when I am thirst there is no wine served to me in Your tavern. In this world of illusion everyone exists as a bubble, But when the inner eye opens the bubble bursts and becomes the Ocean. At every step on the path of love one has to die— Yet my pleasure is my pain of longing for the Beloved. Oh Bhau, what simplicity You have that You are everyone in everyone! There are thousands of veils in everyone but You have no veil. I searched for You here and there and from place to place, But I found You Here when my veil was lifted! The religions of the world make their adherents wear ill-fitting clothes. Truly they must be lost in a dream to wear the wrong size. My account is so full that my life has to face thousands of deaths, But if Your glance falls on me, my entire account will be settled in a moment. Oh Bhau, why shed tears, when the law of this path of annihilation is such That one who loses everything becomes the King of kings and there is none like him. GHAZAL FIFTY-FIVE index ******* I MET THE SAKI What a wonderful dream my world-loving eyes have been seeing, Having forgotten my ocean form I discovered I am a bubble in the world of illusion. I met the Saki one day who gave me a cup of wine— I felt great joy when I drank it, but then found myself ruined. When I was thoroughly disgusted with my life I called out to Death, But Death saw that many deaths were left in my life. I saw thousands of games at every step on the path of love— I saw springs and summers; I experienced rest and pain. Oh Meher, when You accepted me and I became Yours, somehow You became indifferent to me. Very, very few have ever experienced such pain as I in Your friendship as my dear Beloved. When I became Your slave, You spread thorns on my pathway, While I observed You giving roses to those free of Your bondage. Oh Bhau, how can I tell you the greatness of my Beloved? He is so infinitely veil-less that I always found Him veiled. GHAZAL FIFTY-SIX index ******* LOOK WITHIN, YOU ARE YOUR OWN VEIL I asked Him, “Where are You?” and He said, “Look within, you are your own veil. Wipe out your self and see your self as Me.” Oh Meher, give the gift of Your mercy to my tears — Wipe out my self and manifest, thus see Your face in my heart. Oh Preacher of religion, you are in prison yourself and you preach about freedom. Create the pain of longing for the Beloved; forget your self and see your Self. The world, heavens and planes, and all of creation are a curtain in the mind— The Self is not seen unless the mind is completely annihilated. Oh Preacher, why point out the holes in other’s garments? Stitch the holes in your own before pointing to others. My awakened consciousness is laughing mockingly at my dead body, revealing a secret: “Merge your self, not your corpse, with the earth and see Your Self!” Oh Bhau, I am at that state in the Beloved’s love where nothing but the pain of longing gives me relief. However I have yet to reach that stage of restlessness that brings the Beloved’s final kiss! GHAZAL FIFTY-SEVEN index ******* I LONG TO BE THE DUST OF YOUR FEET Oh Meher, what is happening to me in Your friendship? The world thinks that I am the worst kind of mindless fool. It is a great help along the path that the world thinks I am crazy and does not care for me. I wanted to renounce the world, but through Your kindness the world renounced me. Oh Beloved, if You are with me, what worry have I? What do I lack with You? As soon as I turned into the dust of Your feet, I felt the whole world come under my command. The world just thinks I am mad, but it does not know that my madness sees You In every particle of the creation in Your full glory. Oh Meher, You kick me abusingly, remain indifferent to me, and the world laughs, But it does not understand the value of Your kicks as I follow You more and more. What a calamity is this love and my longing for it— I wanted to be Your great favorite but now I long to be the dust of Your feet. Oh Beloved, if You don’t want to see me at least make my wounds deeper. Since I have learned to enjoy the pain of my wounds which gives me relief. My helplessness has reached that stage where I laugh at it, And the more I follow You, the more You are indifferent toward me. Oh Bhau, who will believe that the deeper the wounds of my heart become The more I remain bowed down at his feet. GHAZAL FIFTY-EIGHT index ******* NO ALTERNATIVE BUT TO HEAR THE WORD Oh Lord Meher, what am I doing now that You have gone? I am listening to the sweet melody of Your Silence. What an infinite sound is in Your Silence! When I lost all the sounds in my self and became silent, I could hear It! You live only where there is Silence. Silence is the Infinite Ocean, and only You are that—and no one else. What a game I am witnessing while remaining imprisoned in the prison of this noisy world! I have forgotten my own Self and I have become a stranger. The aim of life is to drown oneself in the Ocean of Silence. Yet I am talking and talking, and do not feel ashamed of my talking. Oh Beloved, You do not speak and yet You do speak! You speak in each heart—and when I finally became silent I could hear You. What a powerful sound You have in Your Silence! I was asleep for ages, but since I heard Your sound, I am awakening and awakening from the sleep. I do not hear the Word which had come out of Your Silence in the beginning— I hear something else and therefore I am something else! This life is to hear the Word and to become the Word. But how can I become the Word when I am becoming flesh? Oh Beloved, You are here to awaken the world and to make it hear the Word. There is no alternative for us but to hear the Word. Now I know this. There can never be room for any thought in the state of Silence. Oh Bhau, listen and stop thinking and thereby forget everything to achieve this state of Silence. GHAZAL FIFTY-NINE index ******* LISTEN TO WHAT THE BELOVED SPEAKS THROUGH HIS SILENCE Oh Meher, make me Yours and teach me something That I can wipe out the existence of my mind. I am trying and trying to keep my head bowed at Your feet. I am fulfilling my duty as Your slave, but oh Beloved, are You fulfilling Yours to me? My bowed head has no right to complain against Your oppressions If You continue to give roses to others, while giving only thorns to me. No one sees You shooting Your arrows at my heart, And if I weep, who will believe that it is because of their wounds? I can only pray to You now; at least listen to my prayers please. Do not kill me inch by inch—kill me with one stroke! Oh Beloved, my whole life has become Your worship— Break Your indifference with at least one embrace. The more indifferent You become toward me, the thirstier I become. Trouble me to any extent, harass me if You must, but at least give me another cup of wine to drink. I am fed up listening to spiritual discourses and sermons from priests and preachers of different religions. Oh Bhau, you are ready; now listen to what the Beloved speaks through His Silence! GHAZAL SIXTY index ******* SHED TEARS AT EVERY STEP BUT BE HAPPY IN EVERY SITUATION Oh Meher, I am so utterly attracted to Your beauty That my heart has forgotten the world and remembers only You. What a peculiar situation I am facing at this stage in the path of love; I find no rest, but I find relief through the pain of longing. How can anyone understand this path of love? The gain of life is in its complete ruination! Your beauty fulfills my life; Your commandments are my light. What simplicity there is in the exposition of Your beauty! I have given so many answers and have so many more to reveal, But tell me, does Your simple question, “Who am I” require so many answers? My pleasure is no pleasure; Your pleasure has become my life. I shed tears at every step, but I am happy in every situation. What calamities I am facing, one after another, in this path of love— Yet all the wealth and pleasures of the world could not give me the comfort and security I derive from the pain of longing. Oh Bhau, what a life you are leading in His separation since the day He departed! But never forget to obey His commands whatever may happen. GHAZAL SIXTY-ONE index ******* WHAT CAN I GIVE YOU BUT MY VEIL? Oh Meher, since You asked how to give me wine without my having thirst, May I then ask how I can surrender my account book to You for burning? In between the Question and its Answer are innumerable answers, So why give meaningless answers and not search for the right Answer to the right Question. This business of giving and taking loans seems never-ending, And now it has become impossible for me to settle my account. You are manifest in every particle, and thus I am attracted toward Your beauty. Oh veil-less Beloved, what do You expect from me? What can I give You but my veil? Though I shed tears day and night, Your pain is more precious to me than life. This secret is hidden from the world; how can I possibly explain it? Even my enemies shed tears seeing me in such a painful state, But You tell the world You do not give roses because I like thorns. Oh Bhau, my Beloved has given the world the opportunity to laugh at me. He says to the world, “What name should I give him except mad?” GHAZAL SIXTY-TWO index ******* WHAT ANSWER CAN BE GIVEN? What type of rest is this; what type of comfort? What type of relief is this; what type of dream? They cannot be answered. And when they are beyond question, what answer can be given? You are not near, You are not far. Where is that place where You are? You are me and I am You; how has this veil come between us? Oh Meher, since I became Yours, You became indifferent toward me. I am thirsty, but how can I ask You for wine when You are indifferent? You are stone-hearted toward me and prick me with thorns, But for others You are like wax and give them roses. I cannot sleep, I cannot eat, I am restless from the pain of longing— But because my rest lies in this pain I remain quiet. Oh Bhau, you renounced the world for the Beloved but now He has no concern for you. His acts are hidden, and you have no idea what He is doing for you behind the veil. GHAZAL SIXTY-THREE index ******* IF YOU WILL ANNIHILATE YOURSELF YOU WILL BECOME GOD! If you annihilate yourself, you will become God! You will find your destination and become the destination for all. You are your own abode, and you are the path leading to it— Leave your self behind and see what you become! Why do you always express your anger with others? You will become a Perfect Man if you become angry with your self. Oh Meher, why should anyone be afraid of anything in the world when the one whom You are with has the whole world under His command? You are in everyone; You are never separate from anyone. Whoever understands this becomes one with You and separate from his self. Oh Bhau, if Meher’s glance falls on you, Your mind will be annihilated in a moment and you will become God! GHAZAL SIXTY-FOUR index ******* I DIED AND BEGAN TO LIVE This desirelessness of my heart has at last become useful; My name was erased and Your Name came into existence! I was withering from thirst while sitting in Your court, But when I finally became aware of it, You gave me the cup of dawn. Your kindness deepened the wound in my heart and quieted me, But those around me thought the wound was at last healed by Your charity. Oh Meher, when I completely surrendered my life at Your feet, I died and began to live; then found the destination. The only cure You had for my restless longing was to increase it beyond limit, So I could rest without a break. Oh Bhau, the Beloved spread grain to capture your heart in His cage, Then He just stopped caring for it and now the parrot is restless for freedom. GHAZAL SIXTY-FIVE index ******* I FIND ONLY YOU IN MY HEART Oh Meher, what work have You taught me that I have no work to do? You have given me such rest that I have no rest. You are angry with me and I am angry with You— Still I find no release without talking to You. Oh Beloved, You have become stone-hearted in Your constant harassment. Don’t You have something better to do than this? I do not remember anything in this life of love. I forgot what was day, what was night, what was morning and what was evening. At first, love was my life—now my life is love. What should I do? Without restlessness I cannot find rest. There are thousands of drunkards gathered at Your wineshop’s door, helpless in every way— Yet, it is this which causes them to drown their helplessness because of more and more wine. I am so tired in the path of love that my exhaustion is giving me strength. I am now doing that work which is not considered work in the eyes of the world. The world is now receiving a message from Your Silence, But it is not for those who like to listen to themselves speak! After years of journeying, what destination have I finally come to? I find You only in my heart, but Your name is not on my lips! You made me quite useless to the world and now it curses me, But I am happy that no one is blaming You! Oh Bhau, what can I tell you about this life of love? The world knows my madness, but the condition of my heart is forever hidden to others. GHAZAL SIXTY-SIX index ******* BECAUSE OF YOUR OPPRESSIONS What a life it was, and what a life it has now become! Oh Beloved, my life is because of the pain of longing for You! Now I feel that I love Your pain more than You! My self is frightened because of the pain of longing I have acquired for You. Why should I perform ceremonial worship by bowing down at Your feet, When I have bowed at Your feet in such a manner that allows Your pleasure to be mine? Oh Meher, Your praise ended when You had at last imprisoned me— Now I am dying because Your oppressions have replaced Your praise. In actuality, all Your harshness is not less than Your kindness, But I took so long to realize this, and that was my shortcoming. Either unite with me or make the wound in my heart deeper still— The restlessness of pain has become my worship to You. For such a long time I have been fashioning robes that fit me, But now my thirst can be quenched only when a suitable fakir’s rag is ready. My heart has become blood and so has my spirit, But I am quiet in love; this is my only simplicity. Oh Bhau, my Beloved is truly merciless even as I keep my head bowed at His feet. What is this love of mine? What is this helplessness? GHAZAL SIXTY-SEVEN index ******* YOU CANNOT BE FORGOTTEN I am not aware of where I am going— In truth, I must admit that I have become unconscious. What longing is this that I have for the Beloved? I am following the One who does not even care for me! Oh Meher, I have forgotten everything in Your longing— I have become so conscious of You that I have lost all other consciousness. The heart has forgotten everything in Your love, But still there is one thing which cannot be forgotten—You! Your work is to shower Your kindness on all, But Your kindness to some is considered Your cruelty. Oh Bhau, the world is under the feet of my ash, But I tell you the truth—I am not aware of anything. GHAZAL SIXTY-EIGHT index ******* YOU ARE NOT DIFFERENT FROM ME, AND I AM NOT DIFFERENT FROM YOU Oh Meher, You always told me, “You are not different from Me and I am not different from you,” But how can I experience that You are not different from me, and I am not different from You? As long as the inner eye remains closed the Ocean remains just a drop, But when the eye opens it sees that You are not different from me and I am not different from You. There are thousands and thousands of lovers who have turned into dust for Your one kiss, But only a few find that You are not different from them, and they are not different from You. There are many who read holy books, become very learned and preach to the masses, But they do not gain the awareness that You are not different from them and they are not different from You. This path of love is not easy—alas, there is nothing in it except fire. Only the One burnt to ash can claim that He is not different from me, and I am not different from Him. Where is there any drop in the Ocean? When the shore is removed, this secret is revealed. The drop then hears from the Ocean, “You are not different from Me and I am not different from you!” Oh Bhau, what have you been looking for? Didn’t you hear the Beloved’s voice? Close your illusory eyes forever and see that you are not different from Him and He is not different from you! GHAZAL SIXTY-NINE index ******* I SHOULD EXPECT NO MERCY FROM THE COMPLETE TYRANT I pray to the Guide day and night To take me from where I have come to where I belong. Where is there any path? Where is there any station? I am always standing from where I have come. Oh Meher, I do not want anything, especially not even Your mercy! I am in the abyss of pain because of Your blessings! What a light shines from within You! What simplicity! I am struck by its radiance and purity. My helplessness and hopelessness has reached such a state That night and day I find relief in Your oppressions. After many years of discipleship with You, I am fully convinced That I should expect no mercy from Him who is a complete tyrant toward me! Oppress me as much as it pleases You, even without any mercy— I am at Your feet and my faith will not be shaken. He is killing me with His kindness, but the world thinks He is compassionate toward me. How can I explain the effect of His kindness when I have lost my mind in His love? Whether You kick me or kill me, I will not leave Your threshold until my mind is annihilated. Oh Bhau, remember this: His oppressions are not less than His kindness. This is what I have experienced in the depths of His tyranny. GHAZAL SEVENTY index ******* WHAT WILL HAPPEN UNTIL THE DAWN BREAKS? Until my tears become fire in love, what will happen to me? Until my heart becomes blood, what will happen to me? Oh Meher, I do not want any benefit— Is any gain possible until there is loss? I cannot pass the night because of the pain of longing for You. I will die and continue to die until Your grace descends upon me. I accept the fact that my tears will have some effect on You, But it will take ages and ages for You to finally act. Since I became Yours my plight has remained quite unknown to You— What will happen to me until You finally receive the news of my state? This drop is being pushed on by the fire, But what will happen to it until it becomes the pearl? The moth is being burned by the candle— What will happen to it until the dawn breaks? What has happened, what is happening, and what will happen? Nothing! It is a dream! Oh Bhau, you are dreaming, but what will happen to you until you awaken? GHAZAL SEVENTY-ONE index ******* YOUR VEIL-LESSNESS BECOMES A VEIL FOR ME Oh Saki, what kind of wine have You given me to drink? One sip filled my life with pain! Oh Meher, how can I ask anything of You? Your Silence is the answer to every question. Every particle of creation sees the dream day and night; Otherwise every particle is full of His glory. No one has any attachment with his own form— It is only a dream that every drop sees. Only that one is worthy of living in the world Who is thirsty and holds a cup of wine in his hand. The world may ridicule me, thinking I am useless, Not knowing that the pain of longing in my heart is priceless. Every breath casts my life into flames of yearning, But I do not know how much residue still remains to be burned. Although my eyes have glanced deeply into Yours, You have such veil-lessness that it has become a veil for me! My death beats me into living, otherwise I would have perished— Oh Bhau, you have no idea of the restlessness I am suffering. GHAZAL SEVENTY-TWO index ******* IN THE SECRET DEPTHS OF LOVE IS FOUND A SLAVE Real living is dying in the life of love; To awaken one day and live for all time. Oh Meher, my every breath kisses Your pleasure, And in the secret depths of love it is my worship to You. If You are not given room in one’s heart, of what use is bowing to You? Thousands of times I have experienced that true worship is simply making room for You in my heart. So long as the inner eye remains closed, the Ocean remains a drop, But as soon as it was opened by You I found I was the Infinite Ocean. If one leaves the world it is not always renunciation— Real renunciation is self-loss in Self-gain. The Ocean is before everyone, but thirst is necessary to drink it. When the heart itself becomes thirst, it consumes every drop. What kind of madness I am suffering in love! I have become detached from my self, and now solely belong to You. What fun You have created for Yourself through Your whim— The Ocean finds Itself as innumerable drops. When I was living only for myself, I was worried all the time, But in surrendering my life to You, I found freedom from every worry. Oh Bhau, He embraced me and accepted me as His slave, but now He is kicking me at every step. Still I cannot leave Him because the slave has no thought for his own pleasure. GHAZAL SEVENTY-THREE index ******* I BEFRIENDED THE ONE WHO MURDERS How can I describe what I am doing for the sake of love? I have passed my days drinking the blood of my heart! Although union with the Beloved has not been achieved, I have yet to die. My love is punishing my death by prolonging it. My heart has been torn into a million pieces in love for my Beloved, But the secret of the pain of longing has stitched my lips. Oh Meher, where have You gone? Where have You gone, my Beloved? You left me living with a cup of tears. There is no life in any particle without You, Yet it is my fate to burn and die in the fire of separation. Now I am living with the faint expectation That You, at some whimsical moment, might remember me. What is the difference between living and dying now? I am lugging my dead body with me, like some useless baggage. Oh Bhau, stop and see the madness of this love— I am befriending the One who is murdering me! GHAZAL SEVENTY-FOUR index ******* THE ONLY BEFITTING WORK NOW THAT HE HAS GONE Awakened consciousness is the song of the beauty of the times— The sun of our Beloved Lord Meher has risen on earth! That Dawn has come again! Oh dark night, come to an end! The voice of Your Silence is calling us to surrender at Your feet. Oh Protector of the universe, our submission is our only worship. How can we sing Your glory when we are ashamed of ourselves? Your glory can be sung only when we are lost in Your love! That Dawn has come again! Oh dark night, come to an end! Witnessing the death of self is the beginning of Your welcome, And to take birth in You is to sing Your praise. Oh Lord, victory to You! Victory always to You! May we always remain Your slaves free from the ugly rags of desire. Where have You gone? Oh Beloved, come and manifest! My heart has no peace without You. Oh Beloved Meher, come and manifest! Where did You go? Oh dark night, fade away! That Dawn has come again! Oh Bhau, listen carefully; we have to seek His pleasure at any cost. This is the only befitting work now that He has gone! GHAZAL SEVENTY-FIVE index ******* OH MEHERABAD, YOU ARE THE ABODE OF LORD MEHER! Meherabad! Meherabad! Salutations to you, oh Meherabad! You are the abode of Lord Meher! The wineshop’s trade will continue here for ages, and he who drinks the cup of defeat will be victorious. Oh Meherabad, here loss is the only gain, And defeat is the only victory. To bow down at the Beloved’s feet is not easy, Since bowing the head swings an axe through the self. Here at Meherabad one has to wipe out name and fame with the eternal wine that flows from this tavern. Meherabad! Meherabad! Salutations to you, oh Meherabad! You are the abode of Lord Meher! The Beloved Tailor has stitched the perfect fit for everyone, but it can be only worn when the old clothing is removed. Each one’s dress is ugly and old; beauty is to burn it in the fire of love at Meherabad. All dealings at Meherabad are transacted through the language of the heart. Oh Bhau, you became a fool by using the language of your mind. The only work is to forget everything—rest resides in total forgetfulness. The memory of the days of spring never fades at Meherabad, For the Beloved’s garden is the wineshop of love. Oh people of the world, come here to Meherabad to drink; come here to kiss the only Beloved. Meherabad! Meherabad! Salutations to you, oh Meherabad! You are the abode of Lord Meher! GHAZAL SEVENTY-SIX index ******* EVERYTHING IS BINDING EXCEPT OUR LOVE FOR LORD MEHER Salutations to Meherabad! It is the Abode of Lord Meher. Here every particle is awakened by receiving the rays of the Beloved’s light. Here every particle is worshipping the Beloved through self-forgetfulness. Here at Meherabad is the Ocean, but the secret of thirst is hidden in it. Pilgrimage here means dying, as the Beloved is in our hearts. Salutations to Meherabad! It is the Abode of Lord Meher. Ask any particle here about the Beloved’s movements; Ask any being about His game of smile and pain. Ask the lovers here of the Beloved’s indifference and how He once embraced. Ask them of the Beloved’s playfulness while they burn in a fire of tears. Here is the cup of everlasting dawn—all darkness of night has been drunk away. Life is found by kissing His threshold without the slightest impurity in the heart. Here He has kept His door open but only simplicity gains entrance. Outward show is quite useless; the purity of life lies in nakedness. Here moths will gain victory in the lamp’s company— The lamp’s purity will wipe out all strains. Life is a war, but this war is also a dream. Here the war of awakening from age up on age of sleep is won. Salutations to Meherabad! It is the Abode of Lord Meher! Oh Bhau, everything is binding except our love for Lord Meher. Love Him, and though your heart is broken, every chain will also break. GHAZAL SEVENTY-SEVEN index ******* THE CITY OF MEHER That love is love which gains entry to the city of Meher. That love is love which sheds manyness in the foundation of Oneness. To gain entry to the city of Meher is each one’s duty. The Beloved has kept the doors open for those with naked hearts. Oh love, take me—take me to the city of Meher! Oh love, take me to Meherabad! Oh love, take me to the Beloved! It is no joke to enter the city of Meher, The city of Meher is where I am not. The path leading to the city of Meher is full of thorns, but to enter that city is the aim of life. The heart is the way there but it is frightened of going. Oh love, take me—take me to the city of Meher! Oh love, take me to Meherabad! Oh love, take me to the Beloved! The distance of the path is from here to Here, And the only rule is that one sits permanently at His feet along the way. Only the shattered mind sees the effulgence of Meher’s city. Oh limited mind, stop deceiving; don’t play our tricks! Oh love, take me—take me to the city of Meher! Oh love, take me to Meherabad! Oh love, take me to the Beloved! When the Infinite Ocean is filled with the tears of ash, The Beloved’s kiss removes all duality from it. The Song of ash reaches the door of Meher, And its language is the only words the Beloved hears. Let us defeat our false selves in Him and gain the victory of life. Now let our song burn and our tears flow! Oh love, take us—take us to the city of Meher! Oh love, take us to Meherabad! Oh love, take us to the Beloved! Oh Meher, let Your glory be sung throughout the world! May the world know that You are the only support for each and all. May the world come to remember You with its every movement. May we truly worship You, oh Lord Meher! What kind of worship is affected by duality? His worship is done by one who has fire in his heart. Oh Bhau, You cannot go to the city of Meher without fire! Burn yourself in His fire and thus remember the Beloved every moment! GHAZAL SEVENTY-EIGHT index ******* THE ABODE OF MEHER IS GLORIOUS The Abode of Meher is glorious— Only one can enter because of its Oneness. I have thousands of enemies with me, remaining attached to me like friends. Singing the song of Meher will kill them and lose the self. Awaken humanity! Awaken and gather strength from love. We have to go to the door of Meher. Any trace of self keeps God separate, otherwise every particle is not a particle, but God. God’s beauty is in everything, and everyone is destined to see Him. In surrendering one’s life to Meher, God’s companionship is sought. This path is full of fire! Only one detached from the world can tread it. One who becomes the slave of the Beloved finds His abode in Him. Awaken, humanity! Awaken and gather strength from love. We have to go to the door of Meher. Oh Meher, come; come and manifest soon! Light the lamp in my heart. I sent You the voice of my heart in tears, but You did not give me the cup of dawn. How long can I wait for You? Now please ease Your oppressions. You are the wealth of my life and You are my Lord. Of what use is that life which does not keep Your company? Now I should clean my heart and establish the abode of Meher, but first I must make my heart a barren wasteland. That abode is finally established when He alone lives! Oh Bhau, have the Beloved’s darshan in that abode. Victory to You, oh Meher, Your Abode is full of attributes— Your Name is beyond comparison and is pure. Oh Lord, be in my heart always— this is the only prayer which is my every breath. Wipe out the limit of duality and find your abode in Meher. Awaken, humanity! Awaken and gather strength from love. We have to go to the door of Meher. GHAZAL SEVENTY-NINE index ******* TO THE ABODE OF MEHER Oh Meher, I bow down at Your feet and salute You— Make me live for You and make me die for You. May we enjoy Your company in such a way that even if we die, we will not let go of Your hand. Awaken! Come and awaken! Oh my heart, awaken! The Eternal water of life flows from the Abode of Meher. Without thirst, the mirror of the heart cannot be cleansed. Dirty messengers will not sleep unless one becomes detached from them. The Beloved is present in thirst; without thirst no one can lose his finite self. Burn! Burn! Oh my heart, burn! Know well that becoming ash is burning’s end. What a wonderful thirst this is! It cannot be understood. The more water I drink, the thirstier I become— even death won’t relieve the torture of this thirst. My breath is choked, and my heart suffers pain. Oh Beloved, why have You established Your Abode so far away? The path leading to it is very painful. If the inner eye is opened the abode is Here. If closed, it is not anywhere. Because Your Abode is infinitely near, it is infinitely far, And the path leading to it is infinitely painful. Only a few can enter this path; they tread this path to die with every moment. Shed, shed tears! Oh my mind, shed tears! Shed tears until you die! My prayer is to keep my head bowed at Your door, My only words ask to become silent in pain. May I wipe out all wants by wanting only You! My work is only this, and now this is my search. Victory, victory to You, oh Lord! Victory to You! Oh Lord, shed Your grace on me and be with me. I do not know the path; let me proceed holding your hand. Oh Bhau, when you are able to sleep in a bed of thorns, you will find the Abode of Meher. Crush! Crush your lower self! Crush it mercilessly! Receive water from the Lord to cleanse your heart. GHAZAL EIGHTY index ******* CALL HIM THROUGH THIS SONG Love is weeping today; fire is becoming more aflamed. Breath is choking; love is losing expectation. But do not lose patience. Call Him through this song. Continue singing, singing and singing, “Oh Meher! Meher! Meher!” The pain you feel is real prayer. Stay awake in the Beloved—this is true prayer. Cleanse your heart and make it a mirror. Continue singing, singing, singing, “Oh Meher! Meher! Meher!” The Lord comes when the mind goes; the Beloved is then not far. And the infinite song of Meher becomes life itself. Ruin yourself and establish Him. The life of love is worship day and night. Continue singing, singing and singing, “Oh Meher! Meher! Meher!” Oh Bhau, either reach the light or offer the pain of longing. Wipe out your self in this light and turn to ash. GHAZAL EIGHTY-ONE index ******* WHEREVER THERE IS LONGING YOU APPEAR AS FIRE Oh Meher, the Beloved of all—victory to You, oh Lord! May the world be awakened and recognize You as the Avatar. Your Abode is everywhere, but the difference for us is this: Wherever there is longing You appear as fire. Oh Beloved, do not forget those in ignorance who forget You. Age after age for the sake of awakening them You take form. Oh Beloved, You alone exist and there is no one besides You. You are always formless, but sometimes You appear in form. Oh Bhau, the longing of my heart is weeping, but affirms, “Oh Beloved, You give me pain, but You are nothing but love!” GHAZAL EIGHTY-TWO index ******* DRINK WINE AND ESTABLISH THE ABODE OF MEHER Drink wine day and night, and thus establish the Abode of Meher. Wipe out your own pleasure and seek the pleasure that is His. In the Abode of Meher is only His picture; In order to see it burn the picture of your self. On this peculiar path there is pain at every step! Oh Beloved, give some relief by sprinkling salt on my wounds. The life of love is that which becomes His worship— Let your false self sleep, and your Real Self awaken forever. Oh Meher, either manifest or increase the pain beyond awareness; Do not leave me conscious of longing only for You. It is impossible to live, but I am not dying— Oh Bhau, my every breath is calling, “Oh Beloved, come and manifest soon!” GHAZAL EIGHTY-THREE index ******* OH MEHER, POUR INFINITY Oh Meher, make my heart Your Abode— Dispel the darkness obstructing the sight of You. In bowing to You, I pray for the destruction of the limitedness of my heart. Pour in Infinity so that Your Abode may be established in my heart. The only medicine for my pain is uniting with the Beloved. But He is cruel—how will He give me such a tonic? Oh Tyrant, You left me after catching me in Your net. My heart is left wounded and cannot think of anything other than abusing You. You live in me, but still make Yourself to be far, far away. Who else should I ask to lift the veil so that I may see You? This living, separated, is nothing but dying and drunken tears. Oh death, why inflict the pain of life on me? Oh Bhau, thousands lay in the dust of the Beloved’s feet crying, “Oh Beloved, let us see Your Abode; let us be with You!” GHAZAL EIGHTY-FOUR index ******* UNTIL HE MANIFESTS The flow of love from Meher is the support of all As the stream of Everlastingness for us to be immersed in forever. The moon is smiling and the sun is smiling, Yet I am still filled with pain for the Beloved. My pain sings, oh Meher, come! Oh Meher, manifest! The light of Your effulgence is hidden behind the darkness. I am full of pain—where can I find You? How empty life is without You! Only my pain can fill the emptiness. Where have You gone? Oh Meher, come and manifest soon! My longing and pain are calling You. You are my wealth. You are my life. Wherever You are is Eternal Spring. Oh Beloved, Meher! Oh Beloved, Meher, why don’t You manifest? Oh Bhau, He will never manifest until you leave His Abode! GHAZAL EIGHTY-FIVE index ******* YOU WILL ONE DAY MANIFEST Without Him nothing in life brings me pleasure— Any type of pleasure in life avoids me. With Him I find pleasure even in the darkness of misery’s ignorance, But if He is hidden I find no pleasure even in heaven’s bliss. Oh Meher, I have reached that stage of disillusioned disgust Where I do not find pleasure even in Your worship. Death is even angry with me, and is pleased to see me alive. There is no pleasure now even being Your lover, leading a life of separation in pain. Although You were veiled I was attracted to You, thinking You would one day manifest. But now my tears drown my sorrow from disgust with the veil. How active Your Silence was before; how much it spoke every day! Now even Your Silence disgusts me, since I have no strength to hear its voice. Oh Bhau, fill this emptiness with His presence— This is the only work He has left you with! GHAZAL EIGHTY-SIX index ******* THAT TYRANT WILL NOT LET ME LIVE OR DIE Oh Meher, the wound of my heart is calling You. If Only You were not indifferent, it would reach You. Who would believe how I pass my life these days? I cannot sleep unless I am on a bed of thorns! You are my life, You are my light; You are everything for me! Was my complete acceptance wrong that drove You far from me? You left, but You did not kill me, although it was what I wanted. You left me half-dead, and now I cannot live or die. When You left, I searched for You in every particle day and night— Now every particle sheds tears on seeing my plight. What helplessness is this! What hopelessness! You still kick me and my heart feels pleased. I have nothing in my hand; You have the whole creation in Yours! What will You lose if You turn Your loving glance on me? Oh Bhau, you have no idea what a calamity this love is! I am following more closely that Tyrant who is killing me inch by inch. GHAZAL EIGHTY-SEVEN index ******* WE WILL SING MEHER’S NAME AND AWAKEN To lose ourselves in Meher is to find Him; The departure of the false self is His arrival. To empty the heart is to establish His dwelling. And to keep awake in sleep is to find His Abode. We carry a lamp to find Him in the darkness of our ignorance. We will sing, will sing, we will sing Meher, Meher, Meher! The world is a dream into a dream— Nothing belongs to us in this world. Do not dream; do not be attracted to the world’s allurements— If you long to awaken you should not follow the ways of the world. We will awaken; we will find Meher in everything by following His ways. We will sing, we will sing, we will sing Meher, Meher, Meher! Those who are ruined at every step Are flourishing at His feet. They smell the wine and drink it; In becoming broken they become strong. Oh Bhau, we will sit here forever and we will reach Meher. We will sing, we will sing, will sing Meher, Meher, Meher! GHAZAL EIGHTY-EIGHT index ******* OH MEHER, MY KING My King, I have no strength to surrender to You— I have no devotion to take strength from You. My life! My King, show me the path! Oh Lord Meher, do not leave me! Empty the satchel of my heart and fill it with your Divine Treasure My life! My King, show me the path! Oh Lord Meher, do not leave me! I have no rest and find no sleep because You have not come to me. Without seeing You face to face how can I find any rest? Where have You hidden Yourself? Oh Meher, come to me! The sleep of ignorance is always where You are not. My life! My King, show me the path! Oh Lord Meher, do not leave me! Oh Bhau, awaken! Awaken, the King is here! Listen: Oh love! Oh love, light the lamp of love in my heart! GHAZAL EIGHTY-NINE index ******* MY HEART IS LOST IN YOU The lamp of my heart is weeping and is making my heart lost in You. Oh God! Oh God, pay heed to my call! Oh Meher, give the gift of Your love. Why don’t You pay heed, oh Lord? Accept me as Yours! Oh God! Oh God, pay heed to my call! Oh Meher, give the gift of Your love. Manifest and live in my heart! Let me keep watch near You and fill my heart with love. Oh God! Oh God, pay heed to my call! Oh Meher, give the gift of Your love. Oh Bhau, listen: Lord, wipe out my sins and free me from bondage. Oh Lord, let me enjoy the suffering of Your companionship. GHAZAL NINETY index ******* COME OH MEHER, MANIFEST TODAY Oh Beloved, light the lamp of love in my heart today, And create a storm in the illusion of my mind. Awaken in my life the longing to find You, and absorb me in the sweet music of Your drum. Come, come oh Meher, come today! Manifest, manifest oh Meher, manifest today! My heart is weeping, but I am happy that it seeks Your company. Come, come oh Meher, come today! Manifest, manifest oh Meher, manifest today! My heart is losing my name, And my self is losing courage. I feel thirsty now for only Your wine— every breath of my mind is restless. Come, come oh Meher, come today! Manifest, manifest oh Meher, manifest today! Oh Bhau, what type of intoxication is this? I am suffering, still I crave for more. Oh Lord, make me drink the wine of love! Make me drink love! GHAZAL NINETY-ONE index ******* MY TEARS ARE CALLING YOU TO MANIFEST Oh Beloved, I am thirsty—shower the rain of Your grace. My breathing is choked, thus I am suffering. Stop Your cruelty and come. Come, oh Lord Meher, manifest! My tears are calling You. Show me Your wine-faced beauty And end Your enmity with an embrace. I do not want liberation or any power in heaven or earth! I only want You my Lord. Come and come soon! Come, oh Lord Meher, manifest! My tears are calling You. I cannot bear this separation; I remember You and want Your company again. Come, oh Lord Meher, manifest! My tears are calling You. Oh Bhau, you are weeping day and night for Him, Still He does not end your tears with an embrace. GHAZAL NINETY-TWO index ******* SHOW ME YOUR SWEET SMILE Oh Meher, I am longing to see Your sweet smile One more time before I die. How attractive is the beauty of Your smile! I am prepared to pay any price to see it. Oh Lord, listen to my prayer and let me see You smiling. My heart is restless day and night—my life is suffering; There is emptiness without You so I pray for Your kindness. Show me Your sweet smile— oh Meher, I am longing to see it one more time before I die. I do not want any occult powers or miracles; I do not want name, fame or prestige. I only want to see You smiling. Show me Your sweet smile— oh Meher, I am longing to see it and I am restless. Oh Bhau, your tears have been singing His song for ages, But your Beloved has become deaf to its words. GHAZAL NINETY-THREE index ******* SUFFERING THE DESIRE FOR UNION WITH YOU Love occurs in a natural way—it can never be taught. Whatever happens in the heart through love can never be expressed. Oh Meher, at least once You could have wiped my tears. My life is this complaint, but I cannot bring it to my lips. How helpless I am that love has sealed my lips! I am restless, but my restlessness is beyond all form. Your Silence quiets me and keeps me mute. The plight I am passing through in love cannot be explained. How firmly the bird of my heart is caught in Your cage— In spite of imprisonment it avoids escape. The lesson You taught me made me forget everything, Except the suffering born of the desire for union with You. Oh Bhau, my heart is burning in the fire of love That leaves no other longing except the desire to die. GHAZAL NINETY-FOUR index ******* A VOICE ONLY HE CAN HEAR Oh Lord Meher, why are You ashamed of me? If You don’t like my veil, then light the pure light in my heart to burn it. Without You I have no comfort and life is not worth living. I find emptiness in everything and no support for living. I use no custom, ritual or ceremony— I only know to call You with the silent, secret voice of my heart. The dirt of my heart will burn as fuel if You light the lamp. No one can light my lamp but You, and for this You have come. Oh Bhau, your tears are calling in a voice only He can hear. Let your tears light the fire—then see whether or not He comes. GHAZAL NINETY-FIVE index ******* YOUR LOVE IS A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD Oh Meher, my only gain is losing everything for You. When the illusory nothing is lost, the Real Everything is found as You. Oh Beloved, I tried to remain detached from the world but could not, Until You made me useless and it discarded me as without worth. How selfish is the way of the world! As long as I was useful to the world I was respected, But when I became useless it turned its eyes away from me. Oh Beloved, Your love is a double-edged sword— Ruining me and yet making me useful to You. Oh worldly people, don’t laugh at me, thinking always I am a fool. I am useless in the eyes of illusion, but I have a place in the eyes of Reality. How incredibly difficult it was for me to become worthless. Love for the Beloved is the only medium that makes one a wreck in the eyes of the world. Oh Bhau, you will be a fool if you don’t give up this useless world; it is under the sway of illusion. One has to become useless to the world and become of worth to the Beloved. GHAZAL NINTY-SIX index ******* THERE IS NO SUPPORT EXCEPT MEHER I love the treasure of my helplessness; it makes me follow Him without question of “why” or “what”. There is no support except Meher! Without Him there is no substance or joy in life. Oh Beloved, Your gift made me as completely helpless as a speck of dust, But more powerful than the treasure of the three worlds. Don’t laugh at my dust-like existence—you have no idea how precious it is. By following the wish of the Beloved I will one day rule over the three worlds! The gift of helplessness is obeying my Beloved’s command without thought. Oh Beloved, I suffer, but I am thankful that You let me dance to Your tune. There is no support except Meher! Without Him there is no substance or joy in life. My helplessness requires the penance of births and births to achieve. The dust born of helplessness is not weak, but strong. My helplessness erodes my self’s control over me while exhaling And it carries out the Beloved’s wish while inhaling. Oh Bhau, helplessness cannot be understood; it is achieved only through love. Let your mind be defeated by love and achieve the helplessness I have described. There is no support except Meher! Without Him, there is no substance or joy in life. GHAZAL NINETY-SEVEN index ******* FEW PAY THE PRICE OF COMPLETE SURRENDERANCE Oh Meher, my only work in Your companionship is this: The pain of longing, shedding tears, restlessness and no relief. How helpless I have become in Your love— Longing for more and more pain is my only relief. Words no longer form on my tongue and lips. Love itself is my message which has no message. When I ruined myself for You I did not leave any trace of my self— You filled my heart with Your presence and darkness was engulfed by light. You made me quite useless and solely attracted to Your whims. Now love is doing all work and there is no work left for me. You would give flowers to others while handing me dirt, But there is a secret in this matter and it is not for all. Oh Bhau, this love is not cheap! Thousands desire it, But few pay the price of complete surrenderance to the Beloved. GHAZAL NINETY-EIGHT index ******* WHEN YOUR DAAMAN CAME INTO MY HAND I find tears at every step in the path of love; How can I express what is happening to me now? What tribulations of death this helplessness brings! The Beloved kicks me, and though I feel pain I am pleased. Oh Meher, when Your daaman came into my hand and my head bowed at Your feet, I found that You were quite changed and did not care for me. I am now in that state where I prefer dying to living. Now I always feel frightened when I hear the name of love! I remember death at every step on my journey— How I attained life from death, I cannot describe. People of the world are dying for more life, But I am dying in order to die in Life. Oh Bhau, what should I do with this life of love? My ash is weeping and weeping at my pain of longing. GHAZAL NINETY-NINE index ******* HOW LONG SHOULD I SEEK YOUR PLEASURE? Oh Meher, because of You I am dying. What is the worth of my living on now? How long should I seek Your pleasure when it is impossible to achieve? Nothing is easy on the path of love— Stepping on it is to court death with every breath. In the pursuit of love, only death is life. When death is always with me why should I be afraid to die? I have concern only with One in the world, But that One has become indifferent to me! Since You left I do not want Godhood, I simply want death. I am so disgusted with this life that I want to die in any way. What is Your mercy that constantly draws my tears? Oh Beloved, don’t have such mercy even for my enemies! Oh Bhau, the world thinks I am stark raving mad, While the Beloved kicks me in this path of love. GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED index ******* I AM BURNING MY HEART What is happening to me in the dawn-light attraction of love? I am weeping day and night—thus burning my heart. Oh Meher, how useless You have made me! I am so completely Yours, I can never turn away. The pain of love has removed all sense of balance— I bow down at Your feet with the craving for You to kick me. The path of love dissipates all energy of self, But somehow I become strong while dancing to Your tune. The whole world is destined to laugh at me, thinking me mad, But by becoming mad for the sake of love I am gaining true wisdom. I long for death and am interested only in that, But the life I am living has been given to me by my death! Oh Bhau, I am seated at His threshold with the determination That I will never leave it after bowing down at His feet. GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED-ONE index ******* IS LOVE A JOKE OR CHILD’S PLAY? What must leave the heart in a natural way? The limited self must go and the Infinite Self must come. Oh Meher, how many dark nights has my heart been restless in Your separation? And how long have I been waiting for You? Now You must come! It is time You manifest! Is love a joke or child’s play? No! To die completely one has to die every moment. I stand helpless before the merciless rain of Your arrows. Only a cup of Your wine will enable me to bear the onslaught. What should I do, separate from You? Where should I go without You? Oh Beloved, how can life simply go away from Life? Oh wanderers, the Beloved is always Here! You must live Here and find Him Here. Oh Bhau, you have given your life to the Beloved— Now you must not think about your life whatever happens. GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED-TWO index ******* STAY AWAY FROM LOVE IF YOU DO NOT HAVE COURAGE What am I doing in this intoxication of love? I am slaughtering my limited self in order to find my Infinite Self. What state has developed in this path of love in which I cannot bear the pain. But through the very pain itself I find relief. The madness of the path of love is unlike any other— I find myself becoming the wisest person in the world. Oh Meher, how fearless You have made me in Your love! Now I am not afraid of any man; only frightened of my self My warning to all seekers is to stay away from love if you do not have courage. In the beginning I wish someone had given this warning to me. The world abused me because of my madness; then You abused me for my own good. But how do I explain the difference? To die is easy, but living while dying is terribly difficult. Oh Bhau, truly this is madness—I am dying through every breath of love. GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED-THREE index ******* TALK ONLY OF LOVE Drink the nectar of love and become mast-like for the Beloved. Make a kabob of your heart and eat it; then drink its blood. How long will you go on sewing stained patches of sins to the daaman? Have the pieces of your heart stitched by the Master Tailor of love. Die such a death which makes you live after dying— Die to your own self and live only for others. Surrender your all to the Perfect Master and receive all from Him. Bhau says if you want to talk about anything, talk only of love and nothing else! GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED-FOUR index ******* YOUR REMEMBRANCE IS A MADNESS How can words express the state of my heart in love? My shameful condition is open for all to see. Oh Meher, I am suffering and suffering in Your love, But no matter how hard I try, Your friendship cannot be broken. Love sealed my lips after igniting a fire in my heart— How can words ever express the heart’s flame of love? My abode is burning in the pouring rain— Still this secret of love cannot be revealed. From my eyes tears are carrying the pieces of my heart, But neither they nor anything else can ever carry away Your remembrance. This hailstorm of piercing arrows is Your delight. My only pleasure is to stay in the open without shelter. Before such an onslaught of arrows how can I care for my wounds? Your remembrance is a madness which cannot be gotten rid of. Oh Bhau, now I want only death and nothing but death, But it comes of its own accord and cannot be invited. GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED-FIVE index ******* WILDEST DREAMS Oh Meher, what have I become in Your love? I have become mad and I have become pain! This suffering in love has become my infinite delight. You are crushing me to pieces and making me happy. How can I speak of what is happening to me in love? You act as my enemy, but I accept You as my dearest Friend. How can I turn to the world now when I find it to be a dream? How can I reveal to anyone that the world is just a shadow next to what I see in You? How can one understand the subtleties of this path? Sometimes the world is my God and sometimes I am my own God! Who can know the exalted station of love which declares, “I am shedding blood for everyone in the world!” No one should think of entering this path, even in his wildest dreams! Oh Bhau, I am convinced of this, seeing the state you have reached in love. GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED-SIX index ******* WHAT A LIGHT THERE IS IN YOUR SILENCE Oh Meher, what a light there is in Your Silence; Drowning the sound of all words and manifesting Real Life. Your Silence speaks infinitely beyond every limit, But it is unheard by those deafened by limitation. In Your Silence there is only one Word, the Word of words! Its Unity can never be expressed by any other words. To hear the sound of Your Silence the mind must become silent— Then the sound of Your Word emerges beyond. The Word of Your Silence is the first song of spring, And the universes have poured out of its music. Singers now gather in the shadow of the Truth, And the movement of the Word inspires them to sing. When the whole world is moved to sing that Song, Humanity will realize that Your Silence is broken. Oh Beloved, You have fixed the time for the manifestation of Your word When humanity will witness a ray from the Sun of Your Silence. That one ray of the Sun of Your Silence is beyond understanding— That one ray will dispel all darkness and light the path leading to Truth. The world will then cry out that the Beloved has broken His Silence, And manifested Himself through the flow of the sound of His Word. Oh Beloved, bring forth that moment soon! Give us the pain of longing to wipe away both misery and happiness. Oh Bhau, drown all sounds in the Ocean of silence— Hear the sound of Silence and find Eternal Life! GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED-SEVEN index ******* THE SECRET OF SILENCE Oh Meher, how can I describe what Your Silence is? Your Silence is the light of the tongues of all worlds. You are always present, always silent and always speaking, But before the veil of my shameful self I cannot see You in the least. Oh Beloved, the remedy of every disease is in Your Silence. What work is better than this—to kill every want? My longing is taking me toward the path of Silence— It alone draws me in my helpless and shattered condition to You. Oh my friends, don’t ask me for the secret of Silence— Become silent and then experience for Yourself what Silence is. When the drop becomes silent it becomes the Ocean. The Silence is the Ocean and the Ocean is Here and nowhere else. All the words of the worlds are nothing but the tongues of drops— The Ocean’s tongue is silent, yet infinitely it speaks! Annihilation of the self is Silence and the life annihilated is Real Life. Oh Bhau, what type of man are you, wasting your days? The time has come to annihilate your mind! GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED-EIGHT index ******* THE SHOWERS OF RESIGNATION Oh Meher, what can I say about my achievement in love? I am continually dying from this constant pain, yet I feel rest. I am greatly relieved to see that after You ruined my life, The world placed the blame on my shoulders and not on Yours. Although I bear the oppressions of a dying self and an indifferent Beloved, Uttering any complaint by the tongue is a great sin on the path of love. One thing my Beloved told me before He turned away: “The tree of Knowledge is watered by the showers of resignation.” The light of Your beauty only burns wounds in my heart, But the blood that flows from them is the red wine of love. Incomprehensible is the depth of Your Silence Which contains a completely different message for everyone. What a transformation takes place on the path of love — One who has become totally useless proves to be infinitely practical. People laugh and point at me as a prime example of madness, But my condition contains a wisdom that they cannot perceive. I am burned down to ash by longing for pain in the path of love, But it is the Beloved’s gift of all gifts and my repose. Oh Bhau, remember never to bother about thinking of the result— Simply learn to bear every situation cheerfully. GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED-NINE index ******* I HEAR YOUR VOICE IN MY TEARS Oh Meher, I am witnessing that You are breaking Your Silence, But You do not talk with me—You speak only with my tears! I hear Your voice in my tears day and night. You had given me everything when You gave me the tears. What have You done to me? The tears are flowing continuously. How wonderfully You speak! Your voice emerges in the form of tears in my eyes. As long as I was speaking You observed Silence, But when I became quieted You started speaking! Oh heart, why are you restless? Oh heart, why are you painful? Don’t you know the reason? It is the voice of His Silence which is now being uttered and making you, my heart, restless and painful. Oh Beloved, You are no longer silent to me now. To awaken me within myself is the breaking of Your Silence. Oh sleeping, loving people! At least try to solve this riddle: The pain in my heart is the remedy of which disease? Oh Beloved, You are matchless! Oh Meher, You are beyond everything! How can Bhau understand You? He has a long tongue and a writer’s hand. GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED-TEN index ******* YOU BREAK YOUR SILENCE WITH A SMILE OF COMPASSION Is this the Truth that You didn’t speak? If my love is Love I can say that this question arose out of the dream. You speak forever and ever, so why have You become silent? I think it’s because I speak continuously and don’t feel ashamed of it. What is this life which is absorbed in seeing the dream? That life is Life which finds You speaking in it. How can the world know what a secret is hidden in Your Silence? When I became silent I found that I had died. Why shouldn’t You break Your Silence with a smile of compassion? When Love has made me helpless and when Love has become life itself. You converse with us and we converse with You. When the self is separated from the Self, the Self becomes Light. Oh Beloved Meher, You speak with us When the other self is not with us. Oh Bhau, know well that this life is only to speak one thing— “I am God.” Why continue speaking when your words have no meaning? GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED-ELEVEN index ******* WHY NOT PASS OVER? Oh Meher, because You exist and ever are, the world exists. You are God. The beginning as well as the end of creation is in You. Because You are, everything is. Even if nothing is, You always will be as You always are, For You are the One who has no beginning and no end. There are two days of weeping and two days of laughing in the world. Why not pass over the two days of weeping and live life laughing? You come down on earth in human form. Without Your descent, how is it possible to find You? As long as You were veiled, the world existed with me in it. When the veil was lifted I found that there was nothing except You. People search for You here and there, repeating Your Name through beads. But unless the heart is cleansed and pure, You will never be found. Your veil-lessness is greater than any veil. I am my own veil; when have You ever kept Yourself hidden? In making me useless to the world I became of use to You; Now there is no work in the world compared to that which I am doing for You. Oh Bhau, when I became helpless in every way, I gained strength and, along with it, tremendous courage. GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED-TWELVE index ******* FOR THE SAKE OF LOVE Your Silence is silent, but it is not without a tongue. It is related to love and it speaks in the heart. What a tongue love has and what a relationship it establishes. Love is Silence and love is life. If I do not get a response from Your Silence, It is my weakness because I have no love for You. If anyone asks me what is in Your Silence, I’d say that if Your Silence is achieved everything will be light. There is no strength like Silence— The aim of life is to achieve silent strength. Your Silence is power, Your Silence is everything. I am not silent and this is my drawback. Oh Meher, You always speak and You are silent eternally— How can I become aware of Your Silence and experience this? Oh Bhau, had you loved him for the sake of love, He would have spoken in your heart, saying that you, too, are silent. GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED-THIRTEEN index ******* FROM YOUR OCEAN OF SILENCE What has happened to me since I caught hold of Your hand, oh Beloved! I have been receiving messages from Your Ocean of Silence. How can I explain the effect of Your love on me to anyone? My tongue has become silent and You now speak in me. You are silent eternally and You speak eternally. But only he who knows You knows this secret. You are both the wine and the Saki, oh Meher. But no one knows what You are doing behind the veil. Wine flows continually from Your glance. But how can we drink it when our tongues do not stop speaking? The secret of creation is found in Your life of Silence! You are silent, oh Saki, and yet You speak. Through Your Silence’s natural simplicity oh Beloved Meher, You are gradually quieting the tongues of the Universe. We have found after years of close connection with You, oh Beloved, That there is a flame and there is a tongue in Your Silence! What a difference there is between moving and sitting motionless. If you sit motionless you attain Silence, but if you move you attain nothing. I am weeping out of my longing for Your Love But I always derive pleasure out of Your Silence. Oh Bhau, why do you move while observing silence? Sit where the Beloved is sitting forever. GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED-FOURTEEN index Meher Baba at Poona darshan, May, 1965 THE UNIVERSES AND THE WORLDS DO NOT EXIST When my heart was completely empty, You filled it with Your pleasure. I found Everything, and what was lost? Nothing! Oh Meher, what can I reveal about the wonder of Your kindness? Having broken my heart into pieces You declared, “What did I do? Nothing!” You constantly cut off my head, but very subtly, bit by bit, And when You asked me what You did, I answered, “You did nothing. You love me.” Who will believe that You are really killing me? I laugh at my helplessness— And the world thinks I am happy and that nothing has happened to me. Your oppressions in my helplessness are my only relief, I quietly bear them with my head bowed at Your feet. Only Reality exists, and nothing exists besides it! The universes and the worlds do not exist; they are illusory. Oh Beloved, what a light manifests in Your Silence! All literature and discourses are nothing but darkness before it. What infinite paraphernalia the Nothing has spread in the world! But the truth is this: nothing ever happens in Reality! I cannot live and I cannot die in this love. But remember, oh Bhau, in the nazar of the Beloved, nothing has ever happened to me. GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED-FIFTEEN index ******* AVATAR, YOU ALONE EXIST You are seeker, You are path, You are sought and You are God. Though You don’t do anything everything moves at Your nod. Oh Lord Meher Baba, Avatar, You alone exist. You have one Word of Light which has no flesh and is sight. No sound is in that word, how can it ever be heard? That Word is heard by the fully deaf; who is silent is always safe. The Blind can see that very Word. What a mystery! It is seen and it is heard! Your Silence can never be construed—it can be felt and entuned. Oh Silent One, You are boundless. You speak and Your Silence says, “Oh Lord Meher Baba, Avatar, You alone exist.” When the Word is felt and it is heard the dream ends by Word of words. The Word is Power and the Word is Bliss, the Word is Knowledge and Divine Kiss. My heart is longing for You, Lord—speak that Word in my heart. Oh Bhau, the pain of longing may contain the bliss of that Word if I die, Oh Lord Meher Baba, Avatar, You alone exist. GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED-SIXTEEN index ******* WHEN YOU HAVE GONE AWAY What will we do, living when You have gone away? Whose face will we see when You have gone away? Oh Meher, what has happened that You have passed from our sight? We will drink tears when You have gone away? Living is not life when the bee is hidden from the bud; We will die every moment when You have gone away. How will we taste Your kiss, how will we feel Your embrace? How will we talk with You when You have gone away? Why didn’t we die when You closed Your physical eyes? We will burn in the fire of longing when You have gone away. Oh Beloved, have Your loving glance on us, let us die to the world! We will have this desire when You have gone away. We know that You never come and never go— But what will we do with our hearts when You have gone away? You are always here; You are the life of everyone. We will search for You within when You have gone away. You have hidden Your face so we can seek You— We will seek You forever when You have gone away. You are the Ocean of Mercy—the Beloved of the world! We will follow You when You have gone away. Oh Bhau, the fish are restless without water— What remedy do they have when He has gone away? GHAZAL ONE HUNDRED-SEVENTEEN index ******* contents Avatar Meher Baba's Tomb at Meherabad in Ahmednagar, India

COMMENTARY ON GHAZALS Bhau Kalchuri GHAZAL (4) Baba is the Ocean who came to the shore. By coming to the shore as the Ocean He made the Ocean visible. End here means the end of illusion. Unless I can find the end of illusion, I cannot find You. Self here refers to the lower self. Although non-existent, I give existence to it and as a result, I am bound. Return (5) Baba was the shore containing the Ocean consciously. Everyone contains the Ocean, but the Avatar contains the Ocean consciously. Because He finished His Universal Work, He is no longer required on the shore. Since the Work He does on the shore was completed, He left. Baba has done His Universal Work and has left His instructions, making it very easy to follow them. Only His inner guidance is required, and that's why He has left His human form. He has made the path clear for each one by wiping out the obstructions. Return (6) Preparing the garden refers to Baba's Universal Work. He plows the land, fertilizes it, sows the seeds and irrigates the garden. When it is finished, He has also given the gift of His Love to each plant. When the flowers come up, the garden becomes the Wineshop. Return (7) Silence here refers to the silence of the mind, i.e., the mind empty of thoughts, desires, imagination — everything. When the mind is annihilated He is found. Return (8) Baba speaks in those who are silent eternally, and in those who speak (whose minds work) He remains silent. His speaking is the soundless sound of God. The lover says to the Beloved that the veil of ignorance is there; that's why you feel ashamed of him. Return (9) Why not kill me with one stroke? Instead, You just wound me. My longing is so great that I just want to be with You. So have mercy and just be with me as You really are. Return (10) Light refers to Eternal Light. His taking on of a physical form is just for His work; He and His light always exist. Baba is the Master of Destiny and only His wish can change it. However, as He is pleased to see one's tears of longing, why should He change it? It is His pleasure. One's nature never changes. Even though you take birth after birth, your original nature does not change. Return (11) He is always present; there is no question of time and space for Him. Because He is Infinite, time and space do not exist for Him. "Here" is Infinite, and "Now" is Infinite, and both are always in the present, with no future and no past. Ignorance has weight; knowledge has no weight. When one becomes weightless it means that one is free from ignorance, and then has a place in His Kingdom. Return (13) In the beginning, the pain of longing is felt by the heart. But when the heart belongs to Him completely and nothing remains in it except Him, then the heart starts eating the mind and its thoughts, because the mind must become empty in order to be with Him completely. Return (14) Death and birth become one when the mind is empty or annihilated. Return (15) The working of the mind refers to the concept that although you remain in one place physically, the mind takes you to different places. Return (16) When both good and bad sanskaras balance, liberation is obtained. That is the meaning of the reference to business. When you accept His wish, you lose all the binding sanskaras and you find Him. Return (17) When Baba dropped His body, the shock was so great that I felt it took the light out of my heart. It took time for me to realize that His light is always there. Return (18) When He smiles in my heart refers to the mind being completely gone, with nothing remaining in the heart. Only then will He smile and I'll witness His manifestation. Return (19) When there is the pain of longing it eats the heart, which is so restless for Him. Although He apparently shows anger and displeasure, actually it is His Love. Return (20) To become His fortunate slave, you have to become master of yourself. To find God is so difficult that it is like eating yourself with your own mouth. Return (21) In the relationship of lover and Beloved, when the lower self is crushed the lover wishes to die, but cannot. This state is described as the "most terrible state of all." Return (22) Consciousness here means one's worldly consciousness and one has to become "unconscious" of this worldliness in order to gain Real Consciousness, meaning the Realization of God's Consciousness. Return (24) Meher Baba's Silence was for His universal work, and therefore it was an active silence. He did more in His Silence than with His words. The "movements of His Silence" works to annihilate the noise of the unnecessary and unnatural impressions of the world. Ocean here means God, and Shore refers to God and His creation-consciousness. Ocean is Impersonal God not involved in the worlds of illusion; Shore is Personal God involved in and working in the worlds of illusion, namely the Avatar and Perfect Masters. The Avatar and Perfect Masters can work for all things and beings in the Universe, whereas God as God cannot. Return (25) The beginning of NOW means the starting of a new world order in Meher Baba's love for the new humanity. The active silence of the Avatar wipes out the unnecessary noise of individual minds. This act is considered the "speaking of His Silence." Though the Beloved Avatar works in Silence, the ignorant mind cannot know what work He really does — this work can only be known when the veil of ignorance is lifted. Because this veil is a veil of ignorance, until the veil is lifted it appears that Baba's Silence is veiled; meaning unbroken. Return (26) Each act of the Beloved for the lover is like an arrow; therefore that arrow which makes a deep wound in the heart is called the "arrow of arrows." When the heart is wounded by the Beloved's arrow the lover longs for the wound to become deeper and deeper. When the lover burns in the fire of love he hopes to turn into ashes, and when he turns into ashes he then longs for union with the Beloved. So the ash is not the final state of love – the longing for union and Realization remains. This is why, though the heart has drowned in the Ocean of fire," it continues to beat. Return (27) Manifested here means God descended on earth in human form. Return (28) Paigambar means the Messenger of God. Return (29) "Links of the chain" refers to the chain of births and deaths. As long as this chain exists one remains in ignorance and cannot experience the birthless and deathless state of God. Return (30) The lover is veiled and because of it he cannot see the Beloved, Who is veil-less. In ignorance the lover complains, "Is the Beloved veiled or am I?" Return (31) When one's surrender to God is complete the lover cannot have any thought about his own life; if he does his surrender to God is not total. He is still attached to something illusory. Whenone surrenders one's life to the Beloved, one no longer has right to it. Return (32) The Beloved Himself is the lover's life — without the Beloved life is lifeless. So when the Beloved leaves the lover his life becomes worthless. This separation is only an expression of love, since in fact the Beloved never leaves. Return (34) Clothes represent different sanskaras from birth to birth. Only You can pull my arms from their sleeves; that is, only You can wipe out the sanskaras. Everything happens according to His will. This is expressed as the world dancing every moment to the gestures of His fingers. Return (35) The heart of desire is nothing but the heart of darkness, and the remembrance of His light dispels the darkness. Return (36) Separation is necessary for Union, and separation is caused through longing for Union. When the longing of separation becomes infinite, Union with the Beloved is achieved. Return (37) The Beloved wipes out the binding of sanskaras little by little because everyone is attached very firmly to this binding. If all the bindings are cut at once the lover cannot bear the pain, so that's why He cuts off one's head inch by inch. Return (38) The lover expresses a paradox: He remains veiled all the time, while the Beloved is all the time manifest. But because of his veil, he cannot see the Beloved. So the lover says, "Because the Beloved is veiled, I cannot see Him." But actually it is the lover who is veiled. The false self is like an Ocean of rock, and this rock must turn into ash in order to merge with the Ocean of Reality. Only then is the Beloved found. Return (39) As You are in everyone and You are Infinite, both sinners and saints are One in Your Love and You accept both as Your own Self. This is Your greatness. In order to wipe out impressions, He detaches one from the attachment with the impression, and this causes inner suffering. Although He appears as if He does not care, He cares more, and because of His caring, He gradually causes detachment from the bindings. Return (40) Since there is only one question and only one answer, how can there be any other answer to the question? The creation of the universe is through the breaking of His Silence which contains soundless sound. This soundless sound of His Silence is always active, and it wipes out the noise as well as the sound of every human being through His Infinite Knowledge. Everyone has a different illness (different types of impressions) and because of this, He gives different remedies. Return (41) There is one birth and there is one death; in between there is nothing but a dream where the evolution of consciousness proceeds from the stone kingdom to the human kingdom. In the human kingdom, reincarnation takes place. The births and deaths in human form are only in a dream, and when one becomes One with God, this dream ends. So, the one birth is to realize one's Real Self and when one realizes one's Real Self, it is the death of the dream of illusion. When this Real Death comes, after ending the long dream one remains alive eternally, so this death turns into life. Return (42) Although You didn't fulfill my desires, You gave me the Real Treasure of God-Realization without my even asking. Return (43) Veils are of ignorance, and He is beyond ignorance. He can never be veiled; His eye is infinite and He can see everything and everyone without any effort as all universes are in Him. The Avatar is always the same Ancient One. Therefore, He is always like Him and no one else can ever be like Him. He has no binding impressions and He is eternally free; there can never be the imprint of binding impressions on Him. He only takes on the Yoga-Yoga sanskaras for His Universal Work to distribute the Divine Free impressions in the world to wipe out the binding impressions. Return (44) In the life of love there is always the pain of longing, and this pain increases until it becomes infinite. One does not feel hunger, one does not sleep; one does not have any connection with the world. One cannot enjoy any comforts; one's sole connection remains only with God and nothing else. That's why this life is called a life of calamity. I have no desire for anything but God — even the desire for heaven is an obstruction. This is the highest happiness. Love is such a thing that one burns in longing for the Beloved day and night. One enjoys this burning and wants to end up as ash, so love makes one live in fire. Return (45) You are infinite and my heart is limited. Unless my heart becomes infinite, I cannot find Your home, so it appears to me that You are homeless. He is always here and even if you go on searching everywhere for Him, you will not find Him. You have to search for Him with your own Self, and that is Here. Return (46) When the heart becomes blood, one suffers. But one who longs for God and makes his heart become blood longs for paradise. Return (50) When ceremonies and rituals are followed, the false self becomes strong thinking that it follows religion. When the Beloved's Grace descends, the lover longs for the Beloved to annihilate his mind or false self immediately, leaving nothing in him except the longing. This is depicted as the lover's bending his neck for the Beloved to strike. Return (51) The aim of life is to achieve eternal Silence, and this Silence is such that not a single impression remains when the goal is achieved. The world gropes in darkness (ignorance) and without the intervention of the Avatar, this darkness is an obstruction which cannot be dispelled. The Avatar removes the obstructions and gives room for the world to progress towards infinite consciousness. The world does not ask for it, but as He is duty-bound, He does it on His own. This is His obligation to the world. Return (52) Because of the Whim, creation took place. Therefore, the lover blames the Beloved that because of His Whim, he has to be caught up in falsehood. When one is absorbed in love for the Beloved, one appears mad and becomes useless and worthless to the world. But one is always with the Beloved, forgetting the world completely; therefore, one becomes very useful to the Beloved. Return (53) The lover blames the Beloved for his false self coming into existence because of the Whim which brought the lover into creation, and he then had to pass through several kingdoms of consciousness. So, out of love, the lover blames the Beloved saying "it was You who did it." The lover suffers, but he has become so oblivious to the love of the Beloved that he does not remain aware of where he is going, although he is trying to achieve union with the Beloved. Return (54) When one suffers for the Beloved, his lips are sealed by his love for the Beloved. Therefore, he cannot utter a single word against the Beloved, who makes him suffer, because of his longing for union. When the Avatar drops His body His Advent begins, and whatever work the Avatar does for the world during His lifetime begins to manifest. Unnecessary binding impressions, which create obstructions for the progress of consciousness, are wiped out; therefore, the world becomes aware of God. This happens during the period of His Advent, and it is expressed as bringing the freshness of spring in summer. Return (55) Shariyat is the outer husk of religion (ceremonies and rituals) and accordingly, Shariyat takes into consideration only virtue and vice. The cleansed heart, full of love with no impressions, is free from both virtue and vice. The veil here is the veil of impressions. There are seven major-veils and each of these contains thousands of sub-veils. Religion itself is depicted as a cage and by the wearing of ill-fitting clothes. When one is free from impressions, one becomes completely naked, meaning one does not have a single impression. The proper size of dress means an impressionless dress. In the dream of illusion, everyone, therefore, wears ill-fitting clothes. When one comes into creation he gains illusory bindings, but when one loses all of these illusory bindings he finds that He alone exists. Then the world disappears for him because in Reality there is nothing but God. Thus one who loses everything becomes the King of kings, and He alone exists. Return (56) In every birth, and while passing through the lower kingdom of consciousness, one has different types of illusory experiences which emancipate and are wiped out gradually. These are depicted as the thousands of games at every step in the path of love. He is always manifest and He is infinitely manifest. Therefore, anything which goes to the extreme becomes the opposite of itself, and that's why the Beloved is infinitely veil-less but appears as though He were veiled. Return (57) Although every drop is nothing but the Ocean, it experiences itself as only a drop because of the veil of ignorance. Therefore, every drop becomes its own veil. Because the drop is really the Ocean, the Beloved says, "Wipe out your own self and you will see Me." When one dies his false self does not die. So the Beloved says, "Merge your self in Me (kill the false self). Make yourself, and not your body, the corpse; then you can see Me." Return (58) When one becomes free from sanskaras, he gains infinite power, bliss and knowledge, and this happens when the false self becomes dust. Then the world is under his command. In the beginning the lover wants the Beloved to praise his love for Him. But gradually the lover experiences that he has to make his false self dust under the Beloved's feet, seeking only His pleasure, and not his own pleasure. When a lover longs and longs for the Beloved, he loses his own pleasure and he seeks only the pleasure of the Beloved at any cost. This is depicted by the lover having bowed down at the Beloved's feet. Return (59) Composed on Silence Day, July 10, 1984 Return (60)When the lover belongs to the Beloved completely his limited mind loses its existence. Therefore, the lover says, "Oh Beloved, do something so that I may belong to You completely." The language of Silence is nothing but love. When one loves the Beloved, he loses his own language (the language of binding sanskaras) and hears only the language of the Beloved through His Silence. Return (61) One has to ruin the false self completely in order to gain the Real Self. When the pleasure of the lover becomes the pleasure of the Beloved, the lover experiences the pain of longing and feels pleased no matter what the circumstances are. Return (62) The original question is "Who am I?" and the only answer is "I am God." But in between this Real Question and Real Answer are innumerable false answers such as "I am a stone, I am a bird, I am a man, a woman," etc. Therefore to search for the right answer means to long to experience the "I am God" state. The lover says that he has nothing to give to the Beloved but his own veil of ignorance. When one loves God and remains absorbed in love he appears mad, so the world laughs at him and the Beloved also tells the world that he is mad. Return (63) There is nothing but God and what appears to exist is nothing but illusion or a dream. Therefore, the Beloved says, "You are Me and I am you." To know this the lover has to lift the veil of ignorance. Although the Beloved is in everyone and works for everyone, no one knows what He does for everyone, as He is infinite and we are limited. Therefore, whatever He does behind the veil no one really knows. Return (64) When the false self is annihilated, the Real Self (God) is found. The destination of the real self is infinite, and this is the destination for all. The lower, or false, self is the only obstruction between man and God, and it is the enemy. Nonetheless, one remains attached to this false self and does not get angry with it; instead, one becomes angry with others. But when one becomes angry with his own false self and kills it, he becomes God. Return (65) Complete surrenderance means death followed by Reality. Not a thought remains; not even a thought of Union. Return (66) At first I would just love, but now that my life itself has become love, I forgot about love or loving. That is, I am no longer conscious of it, as my life has become it. You drink so much (long for God) and become so helpless that there is no alternative but to drink more; that is, long for God more and more. I am regarded as useless by the world because I am not doing anything that the world considers to be work. Return (67) The more He loves, the harsher His attitude becomes towards the one He loves. He does this to crush the lover's lower self in order to enable him to experience his Real Self. Although He does this out of compassion, it takes a long time for the lover to understand that it is His compassion. To crush the lower self, the Beloved has to be very harsh and has to become infinitely cruel in order to become infinitely compassionate. Return (68) When one becomes ash in the fire of His Love the whole world diminishes for him, but until one achieves God Realization one does not realize this fact. When one enters onto the planes, his ego starts burning in the fire of Divine Love, and by the 6th plane the ego becomes ash. However, without Union one cannot experience divine Oneness, but when one becomes completely ash, nothing remains except God. This is why the world comes under the feet of His ash. Return (69)God is indivisible; thus, everyone and everything are nothing but God. Because the Avatar is aware of this while we are ignorant of it, the purpose of creation is to realize this fact. "Going" here refers to the journey of consciousness which is in the dream. This dream goes from the state of gas to the state of God Realization. Therefore, one is not aware of the journey and does not know where he stands. But the original whim, "Who am I" in everyone works internally and it takes each one towards the goal of the "I am God" state. Return (70) The Beloved's apparent cruelty is His mercy, and He apparently becomes cruel in order to shower His mercy. Therefore, the lover enjoys His apparent cruelty, although he suffers and longs for such suffering which is expressed as blissful agony. The Beloved has to become infinitely cruel in order to become infinitely merciful for the lover who wants nothing but Him. Such a lover enjoys the oppressions of the Beloved. If the Beloved shows apparent kindness the lover does not like it, and he longs for His oppressions again. Return (72) Anything which crosses the limit becomes the opposite of what it was. This is the law; therefore, the Beloved's infinite veil-lessness becomes a veil for the lover. He is always naked (free from sanskaras) and we are always clothed (full of sanskaras) and these clothes become the veil for us. Return (73) A lover loves the Beloved in different ways in connection with obedience, and he finds that obedience is only possible if the Beloved makes His Abode in the lover's heart. Different forms of worship include following His instructions, remembering Him, and singing His praises. This worship becomes true worship when nothing remains in the heart but Him. When the Whim came in the state of the Beyond-Beyond, innumerable drops came out of the Ocean consciously. This oceanized Ocean found that innumerable drops had to experience that each drop is nothing but the Ocean. As the Avatar was the first One to consciously realize Himself as the Ocean, the responsibility came on His shoulders. Although it is His Game (Lila), He is bound for all time to shoulder this responsibility, and this is the reason that He has to take human form from age to age. Return (74) The heart is referred to here as the house of desires. When the fire of love for the Beloved burns these desires, it is as if one is drinking the blood of the heart. The lover wants the Beloved to murder him (annihilate the false self). Therefore, the Beloved who murders the lover gradually, and not with one stroke, is not the enemy but the Friend. Return (75) The Avatar comes on earth to awaken the world through His Universal Work. After He drops His body His Advent begins (awakening of the world), and that period is referred to as the dawn. During this time, the world turns towards God through the force of His Universal Work and when this happens, the dark night (ignorance), which is an obstruction in the progress of consciousness, comes to an end. Return (76) After the Avatar drops His physical body, He opens the wine shop and distributes the wine to those for whom He works Universally. When one accepts the cup of wine from Him, he follows Him and not his false self. He is then considered victorious for having defeated his lower self. The Beloved has opened His wine shop at Meherabad, and although the language of the mind creates sound and noise, the language of wine speaks only in the heart and remains silent. Therefore, to receive the cup from the Beloved, one should not use the language of the mind. Thus, all dealings at Meherabad are transacted through the language of the heart. Return (78) Wherever the false self is, it is not the city of Meher. In order to find the city of Meher, one has to crush the false self completely. Fire here is the fire of love. Only the fire of love can take one to the city of Meher while burning the lower self gradually. Return (80) Dirty messengers here are desires. One should not hesitate to crush the lower self. Therefore, the act of crushing is a merciless act. Return (82) Wherever there is longing Your presence is felt. Although You are everywhere, longing is always associated with the fire of love for the Beloved, and in order to experience His presence, fire is necessary. Return (84) Every heart is infinite, but because of desires the heart becomes limited. In order to experience that the heart is infinite, the limitedness – which is also infinite in connection with falsehood – has to leave the heart. The Beloved then enters the heart as infinity, making the lover aware of His infinite presence. Return (85) The lower self is referred to here as "you". Return (86) The lover is so tormented and his longing for the Beloved increases to such an extent that he does not find pleasure in anything except Him. Return (91) "Name" here means self-assertion. The false self, which up until now had asserted itself, no longer has to do so because of the power of love. Return (94) The Beloved teaches only one lesson — to forget the false self. When one starts to do this, the resulting longing for union causes suffering and pain, but for the lover this pain is blissful agony. Return (95) The lover finds that because there is a veil of ignorance, the Beloved is ashamed of him. So the lover tells the Beloved, "Just burn the veil and no longer feel ashamed of me." Return (97) If I follow the wish of the Beloved, I will one day become the Beloved; then I will be all-powerful and control the three worlds. Return (98) You made my lower self so weak that it cannot assert itself by giving me Your love. When this stage occurs, the lower self becomes helpless and accepts defeat before the strength of love. This love takes me toward the destination of the Beloved. The Beloved tortures the one whom He loves the most in order to crush the lower self. This is expressed as giving dirt to the lover. But the Beloved gives pleasure (flowers) to those who are not prepared to be caught in His net. Thus, at first the Beloved gives flowers to the lover; then once the lover is caught in His net, the Beloved gives him dirt. Return (99) Death does not end life because the self continues the chain of births and deaths. As long as this chain is not broken, births continue. However, when one dies the Real Death and breaks the chain, he dies to illusion and wakes up in Eternal life free from births and deaths forever. Return (101) Death here means the final death. Therefore, when you long for this death in love for the Beloved, the life you lead in love for Him is expressed as having been given to you by death. Return (102) All desires should leave the heart through love for the Beloved. This happens naturally; it does not happen through thought, yoga, or meditation. Therefore, when it happens through love for the Beloved, the limited self is lost and the Real Self is gained. Return (103) Loving the Beloved requires courage to bear the suffering of longing for Him which ruins one's worldly life. Therefore, the lover gives a warning to others that only if they have courage to belong to the Beloved completely should they come forward to be His slaves. Return (104) Because of your sins, when you try to catch hold of the Beloved's daaman, it comes off in pieces. You cannot hold the whole daaman in your grasp because of desires. It tears off and you try to sew back the patches. Return (105) When a lover burns in the fire of love, tears pour as if it were raining. Therefore, the lover says that it is raining — but at the same time he is burning inside. Return (107) The mind produces sound and noise, but Silence is Soundless Sound. Therefore, unless the mind becomes silent (free from all impressions), the soundless sound of Silence is not heard. When the sanskaras of humanity, which obstruct the progress of consciousness, are wiped out by the Universal work of the Avatar, then humanity will turn towards the original song and try to sing in love. When this happens, humanity will turn towards Meher Baba with the awareness that He is the Ancient One and this will be considered the breaking of His Silence. The original Word ("Who Am I?") is in everyone, and because of this Word there is progress in consciousness in every kingdom of evolution, and then in involution. But when the Word is covered by unnecessary impressions, this progress does not happen. In order to wipe out unnecessary impressions, the Avatar works universally. When these impressions are wiped out, a ray from the Sun (Word) of Silence spreads throughout the world and humanity starts progressing toward Him. This time for this to happen has been pre-arranged by Meher Baba. The Avatar gives the Sun to a few, rays of the Sun to many, and a single Ray to all humanity. This single Ray is so powerful that both the obstruction of unwanted ignorance is wiped out by it and also the New Humanity comes into existence. Humanity then finds a way to the Truth by the light of the Ray. Sounds are created by impressions, and unless these sounds are drowned in the Ocean of Silence, one cannot achieve Eternal Life free from births and deaths. Return (108) Disease here means impressions. As everyone has different impressions, there are different diseases. One achieves Silence when the disease is wiped out, Avatar Meher Baba's Silence is an active Silence which will wipe out illness; therefore His Silence is the remedy of all diseases. When the false self is annihilated, Silence is achieved. When this happens the false life of illusion no longer exists and Eternal Life is achieved. Return (109) When one makes the Beloved his life and remains resigned to His command and wish, it is depicted as the tree of knowledge watered by the showers of resignation. Return (112) Composed on Silence Day, July 10, 1976. Return (113) Composed on Silence Day, July 10, 1981. Return (114) Composed on Silence Day, July 10, 1982. Return (115) His Silence is nothing but Light (Knowledge) and this Knowledge is not gained through literature or discourses. It is gained only through the annihilation of the false self. Therefore, literature and discourses are depicted as nothing but darkness before the Light of His Silence. Return ******* contents

 

"The world is dancing every moment to the signs of My fingers" "I have shaped destiny so that it can never be changed unless I wish it." — Meher Baba

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | ORIGINAL PUBLISHING INFORMATION | INTRODUCTION | FORWARD INDEX TO GHAZALS | MEHER ROSHANI GHAZALS | COMMENTARY ON GHAZALS