Sunday, August 24, 2014

"Improveming" the Story of Saint Francis in the new Lord Meher

The new revised online version of Lord Meher greatly improves upon Baba's account of how Saint Francis got God-realization.

The old account: 
AFTERWARDS he spoke with Ivy Duce, Don Stevens and others about Saint Francis: "Saint Francis of Assisi was the only one of the very few saints in Europe to become a Perfect Master."
Don Stevens asked, "Baba, you have explained in the Discourses, God Speaks and elsewhere that an individual cannot attain God-Realization without the aid of a living Perfect Master. Since there was no Perfect Master in Europe at that time, how did Saint Francis achieve Realization?"
Baba turned to Ivy and asked, "Have you heard of the ancient Sufi prophet, Khwaja Khizr?" She replied that she had heard Rabia Martin speak of him. Baba explained: "Khwaja Khizr now and then takes on a physical body if there is some spiritual situation that absolutely demands it. The Realization of Francis was such a case, because he had no Perfect Master to give him Realization. So, on the night we read about on Mount La Verna, near Assisi, during which St. Francis also received the stigmata [wounds of the Crucified Christ], Khwaja Khizr, in his temporary human form, gave this beloved Western saint the touch of grace which made him a Perfect Soul – a Qutub or Perfect Master." (Lord Meher, 1986 print edition, p. 5011)

The new account:
Baba then spoke about Saint Francis: 
"Saint Francis of Assisi, the greatest renouncer, began his unique endeavors at the impulse of a moment. But he stuck to his enthusiasm very closely when, after four years of immense sufferings, he came in contact with a European wali, who created in him Divine Love with a glance of his grace (as is the case with such spiritually advanced personalities as walis, who, at times, on the impulse of the moment, implant the spark of love in whomever they please).
"After remaining for three more years in the love-stricken state, Saint Francis came to India in search of God, where he finally came in contact with a Hindu Master who gave him God-realization. After the complete Divine Upliftment, Saint Francis returned to his native place where he [eventually] had hundreds of thousands of followers." (Lord Meher, 2014 revised online edition, p. 860)

9 comments:

  1. of course.....he must have visited Goa,,,,,,where 'The Church of St. Francis' is....makes perfect sense.....:)

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    1. That is St Francis Xavier, not St Francis of Assisi, isn't it?

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    2. Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, Roman Catholic church situated in the main square of Old Goa, 6 miles (10 kilometres) east of Panaji, Goa’s state capital. The Church of St. Francis of Assisi, together with a convent, was established by eight Portuguese Franciscan friars who landed in Goa in 1517.

      from.....'Encyclopedia Britannica'..

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    3. Thank you! Interestingly, though irrelevant to the subject: The Church of St. Francis of Assisi of Goa was built during 1517-1521 AD. St. Francis of Assisi Church of India has now been turned into a museum. An interesting fact about the church is that the architectural style of the church has a mix of Christian and Hindu elements.

      In 1521, the church was consecrated to the Holy Spirit but was demolished after some time. The church that is present here today was built in 1661. The entrance hall of the earlier church remained as it is. When the new church was built, there was also an educational institution within the church. However the institution was closed down by the Portuguese government sometime around 1835. In 1964, the Indian government converted the St. Francis of Assisi Church into a museum. Ancient relics and old paintings are now displayed here.
      From Goa Vacation Guide!

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  2. Improved version in what sense? Which version is the accurate one? I couldn’t find any reference to the subject in Ivy Duce’s book How A Master Works. Does needing the aid of a Perfect Master to achieve God Realization necessarily imply that you have to be in physical contact with the Master?
    I guess I’ve always liked the original unimproved version and I’m sorry to hear it’s now being contradicted.
    Another interesting subject addressed in your blog. Thanks for doing this.

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  3. Robert --

    If I'm not mistaken, Christopher has been noted for his fine sense of irony. Thus, his use of the phrase "greatly improves upon" might be taken as ironic, sarcastic, or some mix of the two. That's my parsing of it, anyway.

    If the original account was really deleted and replaced by the new account, this does seem like some serious monkeying.

    I do believe Murshida Duce has given an account of that conversation along the lines seen here as the "original". I would be surprised if it's not to be found in her (unindexed) tome, How A Master Works.

    The two accounts are so radically different, it's astonishing. The second account not only suggests Francis went to India, but the implication (to me, as reader) seems to be he was zoomed there in some metaphysical manner. If I'm not fishing in the deep end here. Anyway, I wonder where this new account comes from? The questions for Mr. Fenster are starting to pike up.

    Jai Baba,
    d.i.

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  4. Here is my "improved" version of how St Francis became a Master: One day after Francis had a big bowl of pasta, he decided to walk to Padua. He met a merchant from a distant place who gave him a vial of pills from a a famous Shrine; he was told to take one a day until the love of God completely possessed him, whereupon he should throw the vial away...

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  5. Dear Frinds,
    The church of Saint Francie's in Goa is not related with Francis of Assisi,
    Saint Francis Xavier is completely different from Saint Francis of Assisi,
    Saint Xavior was a saint but Francies of Assisi was a Perfect Master,

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