Meher Baba on Channeling
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| Baba in Panchvati Cave where he was interviewed by Paul Brunton in 1930 |
In 1930 Meher Baba said to Paul Brunton:
"When a Master dies he takes no further interest in the affairs of the gross world—not even a Christ. Hence those who imagine that a 'dead' Master is responding to their prayers or watching them, are wrong."
— What Meher Baba ‘Really’ Told Paul Brunton: Extracts from Talks in the Orient by Paul Brunton, Glow International, Summer 2012, p. 8.
Moses forbade communicating with the dead.
"There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord."
– Deuteronomy 18:10-13
Christians also forbade the practice.
"In later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons."
– 1 Timothy 4:1
Originally a pagan practice, channeling resurged in the West in the late 18th century with the writing of Emanuel Swedenborg who would claim to converse with angels and demons. But Swedenborg himself gave this warning to those who would follow in his wake.
“Spirits narrate things wholly false, and lie. When spirits begin to speak to man, care should be taken not to believe them, for most everything they say is made up by them, and they lie; so if we permitted them to relate what Heaven is, and how things are in Heaven, they would tell so many falsehoods, and with such strong assertion that man would be astonished; wherefore it was not permitted me when spirits were speaking to have any belief in what they stated. They love to feign. Whatever may be the topic spoken of, they think they know it, and if man listens and believes, they insist, and in various ways deceive and seduce.”
– Emmanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), Father of Channeling, Miscellaneous Works
Starting in the mid-19th century conversing with spirits or ghosts through mediums became a giant fad. The practice was called "spiritism" or "spiritualism" (the word implying the spirits being contacted). In 1875 the Theosophical Society formed to study this practice and firmly believed in this channeling as a path to real truth. The Theosophical Society was very successful promoting their ideas. So by the time of Baba's first contacts with the West, the words "spiritism" and "spiritualism" were firmly associated with genuine spiritual practice.
Baba was quick to correct this misunderstanding. In 1941 he said:
"True spirituality has nothing to do with Spiritualism."
– Meher Baba Journal, December 1941, p. 74
And this.
"To hold seances or to talk with the dead is no great thing, because such spirits are always among us on this living plane."
– Lord Meher, original print edition, p. 724
Baba gave continual quotes discouraging people from such practices as communicating with hidden voices, or through automatic writing, etc. in the belief one is communicating with what the Theosophists claimed were "ascended masters." Remember, Baba did not teach of ascended masters, but said that genuine masters always worked with their own natural physical bodies.
"The real teachers like the Buddha, Krishna, Jesus and Zoroaster, never kept themselves perched on some mountain peak or hid themselves in the jungle. They freely mingled with those they had come to save. In spite of their unimaginable exultation, they came down to the lowest levels of men. Not a single spiritual Master ever required any vehicle save his own physical body."
– The Silent Word, p262-263
"The Masters who are out to guide humanity always do so by having recourse to ordinary and natural means of communication."
– Meher Baba, From a letter dictated by Meher Baba through Dr. Ghani to Ivy Duce
"Do not seek various messages through various mediums or channels, nor be deceived into thinking that Baba is sending his messages through any of you. This seeking of so-called messages leads a sincere aspirant astray, and grossly endangers his spiritual progress."
– Meher Baba, in a letter to the Miami Baba group, 1962
"When Masters in flesh avoid all occult methods of teaching and guiding humanity through appointed mediums, whatever may be their intrinsic worth, you can imagine how tall and presumptuous the claim of certain individuals can be when they talk of receiving messages from Masters, and that too from those who are no more on the physical plane of existence."
– From a letter dictated by Meher Baba through Dr. Ghani to Ivy Duce -- Lord Meher, page 3232
While Baba's disciples made an effort to clarify this was not Baba's teaching, people went on doing it, even claiming to be in communication with Baba.
Glow International: Some Meher Baba lovers are caught up in the web of channeling, asserting that Meher Baba speaks through certain individuals or disembodied spirits. Some even claim that Meher Baba speaks to them from beyond.
Bhau Kalchuri: Meher Baba made it very clear that channeling, and there are so many people who do it, is not proper, it is not honest.
—Bhau Kalchuri, Glow International, Aug. 2003, p. 7
Now this is truly important because, in spite of all Baba and his disciples have said to curtail this practice, Baba lovers still feel justified in claiming they "hear" Baba speak to them, advise them, and so forth. Thus the pagan practice of theurgy continues.
What did Baba actually say happens to a perfect master or the Avatar when they drop their body? He says they cease to take experience of the illusion (which includes the gross, subtle and mental, which are all illusion) and rests in the state of experiencing His own reality only. This state (Substate B of the Beyond God State) is also called nirvikalpa samadhi. This is the same as State VIII in the chapter in God Speaks titled "The Ten State of God." Baba said this state is also called Shambhala in Buddhism and Vidnyan in Hinduism, "the resting place of the Masters."
But Baba stressed, when he explained this, that these terms should not be thought of as denoting 'places.' Rather they denote a plane of consciousness. – The Answer, pp. 26-28
What does Baba say about the master who is in this plane of consciousness after death?
"[This State of God] is of the highest divine consciousness... All God-realized beings... and Rasool (Avatar) retire to this state B of God in the Beyond after disembodiment."
– God Speaks, 1997 and online version, p. 184
In this state, also known as the 4th journey, the master experiences his power, knowledge, and bliss, but does not make use of these infinite aspects of His nature.
So how can Baba lovers justify this behavior that is so clearly not taught by him, and constantly discouraged? Most commonly they refer to a particular quote by Mani Irani, Baba's sister, in a letter to Bili Eaton:
"The 100 years after the Manifestation of the Avatar is the period encompassing the direct living and personal radiation of the Avatar."
– Bili Eaton, A Love So Amazing, p. 82
Nowhere in this quote does it say Baba goes on haunting the gross world after his death. If a woman passes through a room, she often leaves behind the aroma of her perfume. This does not mean she rises from her grave. These ideas are purely from Neoplatonic and Theosophical teachings about invisible masters, and are not Baba's teaching.
A ghost is a spirit that no longer has a gross body, that continues to be preoccupied with the gross world. Imagining Baba doing precisely that equates him with a mere ghost, by definition. And this belief and practice makes a mockery of Baba's teachings and life.
"Guru is the only God you'll ever see on this plane — Guru, God's act to men."
– Stay With God, Francis Brabazon, 1991 edition, p. 96
Additionally, these are words by Bhau Kalchuri from The Nothing and the Everything, 1983.
"The Avatar never loses connection after he drops the body, but maintains his connection with all creation through the five Sadgurus living."
– Bhau Kalchuri, Nothing and the Everything, p. 113
Many are sure that dreams of Baba are real appearances of him. Here is an example of what Baba himself said about such dreams. It is from a conversation Baba had with Elizabeth Patterson in 1937. It is from Lord Meher, the online edition.
Elizabeth: "What are dreams?"
Baba: "Dreams are subconscious experiences which are always linked with your gross experience of the past. Sometimes, in your dreams, you see persons you never saw in this life. This link is from the past. It is all based on illusion and imagination."
Elizabeth: "Then how was it that when I was twelve years old I dreamt of you three different times, and when I first met you I recognized you as the one I had known in the dream? That was not illusion."
Baba: "What I mean," replied Baba, "is everything except your being infinite, is illusion. I am very ancient. Very, very old and always young."
The following cable received by some women disciples from Meher Baba in Myrtle Beach is sometimes pointed to as Meher Baba's confirmation that Norina was truly receiving communications from him telepathically in her self-devised "thought order" sessions.
I SANCTION AND BLESS THE MESSAGE OF JANUARY 3 I ST REGARDING YOUR WORK. NORINA THROUGH THOUGHT ORDER AND JEAN THROUGH INTELLECTUAL FERVOUR AND ELIZABETH THROUGH SACRIFICIAL BEHAVIOUR AND MALCOLM THROUGH FULL FAITH ENDEAVOR AND NADINE THROUGH LIFE'S SURRENDER AND MARKEY THROUGH ARTS MANOEUVRE AND FEW OTHERS WHO WITH LOVE RE-MEMBER ARE ALL WORKING MORE OR LESS FOR ME. MEHERBABA IRANI
– Norina's Gift, EliNor Publications, 1997, p. 70
Clearly this is simply a piece of whimsical rhyme and tells us only that Baba had a charming sense of humour and a talent for verse.
In 1962, when Baba was alive, a person in the Miami Baba group said they were receiving communications from Baba telepathically. Excited, Irwin and Edward Luck wrote to Baba about it. Here is the reply they received from India.
"Baba has only one message to you, and this is love God. So do not seek various messages through various mediums or channels, nor be deceived into thinking that Baba is sending his messages through any of you. This seeking of so-called messages leads a sincere aspirant astray, and grossly endangers his spiritual progress. Baba is telling you all this because he loves you both and because you and the group are dear to him. Baba wants you to read this out to the group, or send copies of this letter to those that are away." (Meher Baba, letter to Ed and Irwin Luck in Miami, 1962).
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