“The most important book of the 21st Century”
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ARTICLE
This book right here in my hands, I dare declare is “the most important book of the 21st century”. Murshida Conner calls it “God’s Gift to America.” And indeed, what a gift it is!
To understand why Murshida Conner would say that “this book is a natural complement to God Speaks”;
And to understand why she says that: This book “is a perfect choice to accompany America’s transformation from the most material of nations to the assumption of its destined role of spiritual leadership at the inception of a new age.”
Continue reading………
In the Discourses Meher Baba says the following:
A true aspirant is not content with knowledge of spiritual realities based on hearsay, nor is he satisfied with pure inferential knowledge. For him the spiritual realities are not the object of idle thinking, and the acceptance or rejection of these realities is fraught with momentous implications for his inner life. Hence, he naturally insists upon direct knowledge about them.
Discourses, The search for God, pg 123
Likewise, direct knowledge about the “revealed Truths” is also, of great importance to a true aspirant. This is because, as the Buddha says: “One mistake and you have wrong view.” Taking time to make sure of the integrity of the material contained in a spiritual book, is an integral part of how an aspirant seeks the truth.
Thus, the introduction and preface to any ‘spiritual book’ is of paramount importance. As aspirants, we must first make sure the content of the book has its source in Meher Baba, or a Meher Baba verified and authenticated Master, or Saint. Then we must ALSO make sure that the Editor & Publisher of the book is of good repute & standing; so that we can trust the integrity of the translational work contained therein. Examining carefully the pedigree of a given book is of paramount importance, to any real truth seeker, and no stone should be left unturned, in his endeavor to examine the books integrity, prior to assimilating it’s contents. So let’s do that now, by taking a look into the editor’s preface.
But first, how did this book even come into being anyway? What is the story behind this book?
THE BASIC STORY
So here’s the basic story in a nutshell. After his 7 years as UM’s disciple, Meher Baba emerges as a Perfect Master himself, and as “Avatar of the Age,” though unbeknownst at the time. And, the very first thing that Meher Baba does, as Avatar of the Age, is to publish UM’s biography in three separate languages.
And then in a letter to Sorabji Desai, Baba left specific instructions for the biography of UM to be translated “perfectly” into English, for the West and especially Americans to read.
Sufism Reoriented under the guidance of Murshida Conner, immediately saw the importance of this book for the West, and thereby undertook the important task of translating UM’s biography into English. Over roughly a seven-year period the Sufi translational team, seems to have spared no expense, involving all kinds of academic institutions, and various linguistics experts as needed, in order to adhere to Meher Baba’s instructions that this book MUST be translated into English as “perfectly” as they could.
In the Editors’ Preface it states:
We cannot conclude before acknowledging the translators and consultants whose good natures, stamina, insight, and enthusiasm energized and uplifted our own editorial efforts. Both Jonathan Loar of the Library of Congress Asian Division and Lilardhar Pendse at the University of California at Berkeley gave generously of their time, knowledge, and resources. We are grateful to Patrick Beldio, who sourced many of the book’s Sanskrit passages, as well as to Farhad Shafa, who graciously helped untangle much of the Persian poetry. We also wish to thank Kersi Shroff for his insights into the original Gujarati language. We must likewise acknowledge the Florence Tan Moeson Fellowship program at the Library of Congress Asian Reading Room for funding Ms. Lambert’s research in 2015. And finally, we must express our gratitude to Gokaran Shrivastava, the librarian at Meherabad, for bringing the first English-language edition to the attention of Murshida Conner.
They even put a picture at the end of some of the important people that worked on this book.
To boot, the Sufi translation team had the unique privilege of having available to them, three separate books each written in a different language (Gujarati, Marathi, and Urdu) of the same biography. Which means that they could triangulate between the three language versions enabling them to triangulate the meaning of each point made by UM in this (here) book.
In the Editors’ Preface it states:
As editors of the English-language translation of “this book”, the very existence of three parallel accounts provided us with invaluable opportunities to clarify complex passages, correct potential inaccuracies, elucidate the underlying meaning of discourses, and illuminate elusive spiritual terms. To supplement this comparative endeavor, we also consulted two unpublished English translations: a 1940 rendering of the Gujarati text by Kaikobad Rustom Nalavala and a contemporary English-language adaptation of Upasni Lilamrita, a 1930 Marathi-language biography.
Essentially they had the Rozetta stone for translating UM biography.
So here we have a book, originally conceived by Meher Baba himself, published into three languages by Meher Baba , about the life and teachings of his own Master UM; which was also the very first thing He did as Avatar of the Age; for which Meher Baba himself had left specific instructions, for the book to be translated “perfectly” into English especially (according to Baba) for Americans to read; wherein Sufism Reoriented, the reputable publisher of God Speaks and other notable Meher Baba books, aware of Baba’s specific request for the biography to be translated “perfectly” into English, seems to have “spared no expense”, over roughly a 7-year period, to satisfy His wish; for which, to top it all off, the translation team had all three language versions of the same biography of UM, to triangulate with; Wherein all three versions were ACTUALLY published by the Avatar of the Age himself, as His very first act as Avatar, between 1922~24.
This book, is the culmination of a work, that was started by Meher Baba himself in 1922, and completed nearly a century later in 2020 by Sufism Reoriented. It is, as the Murshida aptly puts it — “God’s Gift to America” at this time of great transition.
That is the situation we are in.
So now lets get into the details:
Editor’s Preface
To the spiritual seeker it is often advised, “Remember the errand you are on.” This council guided our editorial efforts concerning Upasni Maharaj: A Perfect Master of India. And the errand? Meher Baba described it succinctly in 1922, when he wrote to Sorabji Desai, the editor of the Gujarati edition: “It is my desire that the English work, besides the intrinsic worth of it, should be perfect in point of style and language.” What the master required was no small task.
First published as the two-volume Sakorina Sadguru in 1923, this book came to fruition under the directives and guidance of Meher Baba himself. In fact he commissioned three biographies: the present volume, originally written in Gujarati and first translated as The Sadguru of Sakori; the Urdu-language Protector of the Poor; and The Life of Sri Satchitananda Sadguru Upasni Maharaj, which was written in Marathi. Each of these anticipated a particular audience. The Urdu was intended for readers with a Muslim background, the Marathi for Hindus, and the Gujarati for the local Zoroastrian community.
For those of you who think that UM’s teachings are only for the Hindu’s of Sakori – should carefully reconsider this matter.
In the Introduction written by Murshida Conner, it says:
Conceived by Meher Baba and published under his auspices, this book was one of the first projects set in motion when he began his work as a spiritual master. Between 1922 and 1924, versions of this biography were written and published in three languages, Gujarati, Urdu, and Marathi, with the editorial collaboration of distinguished literary figures of the time. In a lengthy letter to the eminent author and scholar Sohrabji M. Desai of Navsari, whom he had invited to serve as editor of the original Gujarati edition, Meher Baba summarized the book’s purpose:
The book in question is the life of a “Realized Personality” and explains all about spiritualism(spirituality). It throws light on the frailty of this worldly life and directs one in the way of internal bliss, which is the ideal of human existence. The publication and circulation of the work has been taken up with the idea of disseminating the instructive lessons contained therein amongst the people of all castes and creeds and educating the public mind in matters divine. It is a service in which no self-interest is involved, as the money that will be realized from the sale of these publications will be spent in bringing out further editions.”
From the outset, it was Meher Baba’s wish that an English version of the biography be prepared for readers in the West. As Mr. Desai was multilingual and had written numerous works in English, Baba raised this with him in the same letter, emphasizing the importance of a high standard of editorial excellence for this discriminating audience:
It is my desire that the English work, besides the intrinsic worth of it, should also be perfect in point of style and language. The English work, as you can understand, will mostly fall into the hands of the educated class in India; and the book, therefore, in order to impress and appeal to their materialistic minds must possess some literary worth as well. It is also intended to circulate the book in Europe and America, especially the latter country, which as you are aware is so very eager to know something more about spiritualism(spirituality).
M.S. Irani to Desai, 1922, private collection.
This letter also mentions an “English sketch”, or draft, that had previously been sent to Mr. Desai for review. However, no such sample draft or manuscript has yet come to light, and no English version of the biography was published during Meher Baba’s lifetime.
This is because, Mr. Desai gets sick and dies. You can read about it in Lord Meher:
www.fwb104.org/searchengine/searchdb.php?query=desai&submit=Search&s=SS
Continuing with the Murshida:
Now, nearly a century later, at the inception of the new spiritual age, when tremendous changes are taking pace in the world, the time has come for this important book to be made widely available to Western seekers.
The long era of reincarnational man, characterized by the egoic, limited, lower mind and the illusion of multiple separateness, will at last vanish; the radiant light of unity will dispel the veils of falsehood to shine unblemished, for the first time, on this physical earth and make its eternal home here. Accordingly, high gnostic truth, well known in the East but virtually unknown in the West, will at last be made available in its highest formulation to the English-speaking world.
— Through this book!!!
So what is this ‘high gnostic truth’ that is well known in the East but virtually unknown in the West? — that will at last be made available in it’s highest formulation to the English-speaking world, through this book?
Continuing with the Murshida:
Because of its material orientation, the West has no literature of its own on the high gnosis of the spiritual path. Now and for the future there is an increasing need among contemporary Western seekers for a clear, authentic guide to the unfolding of higher consciousness. The biography of Upasni Maharaj serves precisely this function, for it accurately portrays the many stages of high illumination and the forceful transformative processes that accompany them as Maharaj himself lived them. There is no abstract theory or conjecture here; the book is the record of Maharaj’s experience as he shared it with his devotees. In essence, everything that can be known of the spiritual path at this threshold of the New Creation is contained in this book.
Daaamn, that is one hell of a sales pitch!
Although details of the path have since been clarified, amended, and given forceful new directions for the future by Meher Baba, this is the foundation from which the Avatars new dispensation springs. Now, as the two hemispheres merge, the West too has a shining summary of the summit of spiritual learning as it was known and lived by the teacher of the World Teacher. This book arrives as a gift to us from Meher Baba to complement and supplement his universal message and the supreme example of his divine life in this new age now unfolding.
Introduction xxix
In the “Afterward” titled “A Gift to America”, Murshida Carol Weyland Conner says:
A Gift to America
Americal has a tremendous future and will become a spiritually minded nation. – Meher Baba
In the introduction of this book, I noted the apt timing of its publication in the midst of an unprecedented period of global transformation. Indeed, unusual circumstances of timing have characterized this project from the start. I received a copy of the first English translation of this book, titled The Sadguru of Sakori, in the autumn of 2012. I had just arrived in India to participate in the international celebration of the golden anniversary of Meher Baba’s great East-West Gathering.
Meher Baba had convened that archetypal meeting of his Eastern and Western devotees in the fall of 1962, precisely at the time of the famous Cuban Missile Crisis, when the East and West effectively stepped back from the brink of nuclear war. That convocation, which Meher Baba described as the most important meeting of his incarnation, signaled the end of the Kali Yuga, the final phase of the closing cycle, and the commencement of the union of the two hemispheres, when the Wes t would begin to realize its spiritual destiny. The gathering I attended at Meherabad in 2012 was a celebration of that achievement.
Look how deeply she internalizes all that she does, lining all her actions up with God’s purpose for her in the Universe. Brilliant!
Before returning to America in early 2013, I had the opportunity to read The Sadguru of Sakori and at once recognized its importance for the Western world.
Wow! She recognized it at once.
The genesis of the English translation is described by the translator, Dr. Anurag Gumashta, and his sponsors, Drs. Gokeran and Urmila Shrivastava, the librarians at Meherabad, in their respective essays. This translation was an extraordinary labor of love for Dr. Gumashta, who is not a professional translator but an accomplished physician, researcher, and teacher. Nonetheless he devoted months to the task, aided by his family and friends. The Shrivastavas, in turn, had faithfully preserved their copy of the Gujarati original for decades, “waiting for a translator to appear”, as they put it.
The initial English translation captured the substance of the text beautifully. In terms of style, it reflected the highly ornamented literary and linguistic complexity of the Gujarati original; in consequence it was challenging for a Western reader to follow. Concerned that the book would not find the wide audience it should have in the West, I spoke to the sponsors, Dr. Shrivastava, to whom, by another coincidence, I had just been personally introduced at the Meherabad gathering. I suggested that Sufism Reoriented, the editor and publisher of many of Meher Baba’s major works, might assist Dr. Gumashta, a non-native English speaker, in editing his translation and issuing a new edition specifically intended for a contemporary Western audience.
In welcoming our participation, Gokaran brought to my attention Meher Baba’s 1922 letter to Sohribji Desai, quoted in the preface and introduction to this second edition, in which Baba had specifically outlined his wish to prepare an English edition “perfect in point of style and language” to “circulate in Europe and especially America.” Though I had not previously known of this letter, what I had proposed to Gokaran was essentially what Meher Baba had outlined ninety years earlier!”
The Role of America
It is thus not by chance that this book, which Meher Baba had long intended for Western seekers, came to be published in the United States, the most “Western” of all nations. As the Western Hemisphere pursued over the centuries its ordained goal of material mastery, this singular nation, blessed with every material advantage, has risen to leadership in science and technology, industry and commerce, education and invention, medicine, philanthropy, and more. And Meher Baba asserted that in the coming age, “America is destined to lead the world spiritually”, at least for a time, until the coming ‘Unisphere’ is achieved.
From any rational perspective, the United States would seem the least likely candidate for this great task. Noting that Meher Baba had chosen to publish his major book, God Speaks, in America, his famously outspoken disciple Francis Brabazon, a gifted Australian poet, quipped:
Francis Brabazon, is mandali, and the Author of Stay With God, which Baba said was the next most important book after God Speaks (or something like that…)
God Speaks is the first time God has used the English language to tell us something He wanted to tell us. Almost like He had got tired of Sanskrit or Greek or Arabic or Hebrew and had the idea He would learn a new language, the lingo of the majority of the most dumb of the most–most gross-conscious of human beings that ever were upon the face of the earth, who have forgotten about Him(God) the most longest and most consistently.
Gross-conscious America – crass, vulgar, self-centered, violent, and obsessively materialistic – surely merits its inferior rank on the mental bipolar dimension of high and low.
What does that mean? How carefully she choses her words… She sees correctly that the US is the lowest ever on the totem pole of spirituality, currently the leader of the Kali Yuga.
Yet as all masters explain, in the dynamic of the play of Creation, it is in the lowest that the seed for new growth toward the light receives the needed pressure and nourishment to spirit it into flowering and bloom.
Damn!
For America, the required nourishment has been provided directly by the World Teacher, Meher Baba said as early as 1931 that he was going to “spiritualize America”.
At this outward-looking nation’s inmost core there has always been a deep long for Truth. “In America, the spiritual hunger is intense,” Meher Baba told Mahatma Gandhi in 1932. “There is everything there materially. There is wealth; there are brains; there is heart. In other words, there is sufficient preparedness for spiritual growth and development.” He later explained that in the age now dawning, the abundant but misapplied energy of America will be redirected into new channels to power a new and higher pattern of life in the everyday world. To lay the foundation for this process during his advent, Meher Baba spent more time in America than in any other nation outside of India, visiting the United States six times between 1931 and 1958. Over these three decades he met, counseled, and worked with people in all walks of life; he established enduring institutions such as his Universal Spiritual Center at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He even shed his blood on American soil in a long-foretold auto accident in order to nurture and speed this transformation.
In America he also founded a new school of Sufiism, the eternal path of love for God, which has always existed in the world. He named this new American spiritual school Sufism Reoriented, meaning “Sufiism renewed”. Refocused according to the principles of the coming age, it is expressed through the descendant path of active service to life.
Now here’s an important section…
Among the assignments Meher Baba entrusted to Sufism Reoriented during his lifetime was the stewardship of his principal book, God Speaks, which he wanted published in Americal. Baba chose my predecessor, Murshida Ivy Duce, and her associate Don Stevens to edit his manuscript, which Baba himself minutely proofread and oversaw from India. Sufism Reoriented arranged for the distinguished New York firm of Dodd, Mead & Co. (1839) to publish it in 1955, raised the funds to finance publication, and worked to distribute and publicize the book. Meher Baba later assigned the copyright to God Speaks to Sufism Reoriented, which assumed the publisher’s responsibilities in 1990. Given this and our other publishing assignments over the years, it is not surprising that this biography of the teacher of the World Teacher should find its way to our door.
Indeed, this spiritual biography of Upasni Maharaj is a natural complement to God Speaks. It vividly demonstrates Meher Baba’s Divine Theme, the journey of the soul to God-realization, in the unfolding of a single human life. And it reveals Upasni Maharaj as a divine figure of both incomparable force and surpassing sweetness. IN the West he is generally viewed as a forbiddingly fierce figure, a perception based largely on photographs that show him scowling at the camera. The biography firmly corrects this misrepresentation by giving us a portrait in full of his great compassion, humility, and divine humanity – a true portrait of this master whom Meher Baba called “Perfection personified”.
The spiritual biography of this Perfect Master is a perfect choice to accompany America’s transformation from the most material of nations to the assumption of its destined role of spiritual leadership at the inception of a new age. Conceived by Meher Baba and written under his auspices for these times, this book is a gift to America, to the West, and to the world.
Murshida Carol Weyland Conner
Page 508~511
ABOUT THE CONTENT OF THE BOOK the MURSHIDA writes in the:
Afterward
Notes for the Western Reader
Murshida Carol Wyland Conner
A Perfect Master sees all of Creation as divine, purposeful, and precious. Maharaj thus naturally honored the tenets of the various faith streams and cultural dharmas around him. Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Muslims, Christians, and Zoroastrians recognized his authority and often came away from his talks with new insights into their own faiths and spiritual practices.
This is true in the ‘Selected Talks of UM’ as well. Some of these divine, purposeful, and precious tenets & dharmas that are contained in the Major Avataric faith streams (or what Baba called “Avenues”) are expounded upon by UM, who offers deep insights into “exactly why” these divine & precious tenets were ‘purposefully’ put in the Dharma of ALL those faith streams in the first place.
As Maharaj worked primarily with those of Indian heritage and wished to engage them, he often spoke on issues of particular significance to them, expounding the principles of their traditions in their most refined formulation. Much of this instruction has been incorporated directly into this biography, often at length. Portions of these discourses can be puzzling to a Western reader whose experience and cultural background are markedly different from Maharaj’s Indian audience of a century ago. However, one nearly always finds that Maharaj’s central point in each of these talks is of timeless, universal import.
Maharaj’s central point in each of these talks is of timeless, universal import!!!
As one example, during a large gathering in the holy city of Kashi, Maharaj presents a lengthy discussion of the purpose of marriage and the roles of husband and wife.
As one example of what? Example of a central point made by Maharaj that is of timeless, universal import.
His explanation is given from the perspective of the ancient Hindu shastras, the sacred texts of the audience he is addressing. To the twenty-first-century Westerner in these times of unprecedented and hard-won gender equality, his council on the role of women in marriage would appear terribly backward. However, as he proceeds, Maharaj guides his audiences to see the spiritual truth underlying the strictures of the ancient texts.
FYI, these strictures ‘about women’ exist in All the Avataric religions without exception, not just Hinduism. There are NO EXCEPTIONS.
His central point is that women have an innate capacity to live according to higher principles of life, though they may be unaware of it. When this capacity is fostered and encouraged, women can imbue their families and communities with spiritual light, thus speeding the general elevation and transformation of humanity.
If you read the Selected Talks by UM, you will come to UNDERSTAND that this ‘innate (or natural) capacity to live according to higher principles of life’ that only women have, is more than just a speeding agent for the general elevation and transformation of humanity, but is it’s very engine, without which NO spiritual progress IS EVEN POSSIBLE.
Maharaj seeks to draw attention to this understanding, which was greatly overshadowed in the darker moments of the closing age.
Yes, Maharaj seeks to draw attention to this ‘spiritual understanding’, which was greatly overshadowed with the dawn of modernity with its false ideologies of individualism, equality & especially ‘feminism.’
Today women, particularly in the West, are increasingly responding to this principle, recognizing its importance for these times and the age to come.
Yes, some Western women, are increasingly responding to this ‘timeless’ principle of Universal import, re-cognizing these principles within their hearts. Recognize, here means you re-cognize the Truth which was all along written on your heart.
Western readers will note other topics presented here that may be obscure and unfamiliar. There is, for example, a detailed discussion about the protocols of the ancient Hindu system of fasting. Most of these instructions—to feed twelve Brahmins on the twelfth day of the month, and so forth—are residues from past ages, which are to be superseded in the age now dawning. In other words, they are not intended as prescriptive for modern readers.
Yes, unlike the eternal timeless principles (shared by All Avataric religions) on “the purpose of marriage and the roles of husband and wife.” feeding twelve Brahmins on the twelfth day of the month is a PRESCRIPTION for a specific people (the Hindus) of a specific era (which is of the past).
In conclusion, “UM, a Perfect Master of India” is a must read for any Babalover aspirant interested in playing a part in the New Humanity.
So, hurry up, buy and read this book —VERY VERY CAREFULLY– starting with the Preface.
if you are an aspirant, that is…..or on His team of spiritual workers.