Saturday, August 9, 2014

Pick your poetry

Here are three edited versions of part of a line in a discourse by Meher Baba. This variance was originally brought to my attention by Kendra Crossen Burroughs. I added a third version.
Not by ignoring human suffering, but by handling it with Creative Love, is the Gateway opened for Life Eternal; (1945, Gems from the Discourses of Meher Baba, p. 16, and 1945, Messages of Meher Baba, p. 30)
Not by ignoring human suffering, but by treating it with Creative Love, is the Gateway opened for Life Eternal; (1964, The God-Man, p. 151)
Not by ignoring human suffering, but by handling it is the gateway opened for Life Eternal; (1986, Lord Meher, p. 2775)  
Personally I like it best as edited in The God-Man by Charles Purdom.
In the hour of trial, let the thought of everyone be not for the limited self, but for others - not for the claims of the ego-life, but for the claims of the Divine Self which is equally in all. It is a mistake to ignore human suffering as merely a part of the illusory universe. Not by ignoring human suffering, but by treating it with Creative Love, is the Gateway opened for Life Eternal; and not through callous indifference, but through active and selfless service, is secured the attainment of that transcendental and illimitable Truth, which is at the heart of the illusory universe.            
                                     — Meher Baba, The God-Man, p. 151)



Dog to Doll

Now here are three versions of a lengthy story. What is interesting in this case, is that the account is taken originally verbatim from a video recording of an interview by Irwin Luck. Yet one can see the fascinating changes that were made to it over time.

Irwin and Edward Luck and several companions recorded this interview in Shirz, Iran in 1975. It was translated by Farhad Shafa. It was first published in The Awakener Magazine in 1977, then with some changes in Ramjoo's Diaries in 1979. It finally appeared in Lord Meher in 1986 in a simplified narrative form. Here are all three versions, in order of publication, of the recorded story. Some changes are highlighted so they won't be so hard to see. Especially one very amusing change, highlighted in pink, where a dog becomes a doll. You will have to scroll up and down a bit to see the changes.

Version #1
My name is Khodayar, son of Feridoon; with Baba, I was known with the last name of Toos. I'm an Iranian, who, in the year of the Persian calendar, 1306, went to India to Meher Baba along with twelve or thirteen other boys. There we studied for one year and eight months. I was only nine years old.
Even in my childhood, when I first saw Baba, I told myself that he's not like the rest of the human beings. All his manners and gestures and all he did were like things that I had never seen, ever, in the world. At the same time he was observing silence, he would speak with gestures in such a way that even newcomers could understand. He was so kind to all of us, and his love and his kindness had affected us so much that when our parents came to take us away, we did not want to leave. It was better there for us than at home.
      (I cut out some here to abbreviate)
One of the things that I remember hearing from him in my childhood concerns the evolution of forms and how man dies from the inanimate and becomes animate, and then dies from animal forms and becomes man.
He explained this to us, using a dog. Baba gathered its limbs altogether, and bent them inside. The head was also bent inside. He explained that this was the state of inanimate. This is the stone form which is the dwelling place of the soul in the beginning. And then, gradually, he opened the limbs. He stretched the legs toward the sky and explained that this is what happens in the plant form. So, this dog was altogether, with all its limbs inside. Then, Baba opened the leg which was pointing up and said that this was the plant, and that it was getting nourishment through the head from the ground. Then he brought down the leg and made the dog stand on four legs. By gestures, he pointed out that this is the animal state. He explained that, when the plant becomes animal, the four limbs extend out, and he stands on four legs. Then Baba made the dog stand up on two feet. Then, Baba said this is the human form and, that, even from the beginning, it was a human. Baba explained all of this very beautifully to us by the use of this dog, all in silence, and it was very enjoyable for us. 
(The Awakener Magazine, Vol. XVII, No. 2, 1977, pp. 30-31)

Version #2
My name is Khodayar, son of Toos. I'm an Iranian who, in the Iranian year 1306, when I was nine (48 years ago) went to India along with 12 or 13 other boys from Yezd to Meher Baba's school. There we studied for one year and eight months. From when I first saw Baba I told myself that he was not like the rest of human beings. All his manner and gestures, everything he did, were such that I had never seen before in the world. He was observing silence, but he would speak with gestures in such a way that even the newcomers could understand. Even while observing silence, Baba would come and play games with us. He was very kind to us — very, very kind to us.
He was so kind to us, and his love and his kindness had affected us so much that when after one year and eight months our parents came to take us away, we did not want to leave. When our parents came and said they wanted us back, he sent us back to our own houses at his own expense
                  (Again I cut out some here to abbreviate))
One of the discourses that I remember hearing from Baba in this period was concerning the evolution of forms, about how a man dies from inanimate and becomes animate and then dies from animal and becomes man. He explained this to us using a doll. He gathered its limbs all together and bent them inside and also bent the head inside and he explained that this was the state of inanimate. This is the stone form which is the dwelling place of the soul in the beginning. And then gradually he opened the limbs and the head and he stretched the legs up towards the sky and explained that this is what happened in the plant form. So this doll which was all together with all its limbs inside, now had opened the leg which was pointing up. He said that this was the plant and that it was getting nourishment through the head from the ground. Then he brought down the leg and made the doll stand on four legs. By gestures he pointed out that this is the state of animal. He explained that when the plant becomes animal the four limbs extend out and he stands on four legs. Then he made the doll stand on its feet. He said that now this is human form, while even from the beginning it was the human form but that it was all involved into itself — while in the plant form he extended the leg, in animal form it put down the leg and stood on four legs, and in human form the same human stood up on two legs and became human. He explained all of this very beautifully to us by the use of this doll. And he did all of this while in silence and this was very enjoyable for us.
Version #3
Meher Baba gave discourses to the children, often using similes and analogies to illustrate his points. On December 18th, Baba brought out a doll and explained the progression of evolution. Bending the head of the doll downward and folding all its limbs inside, Baba stated, “This is the state of inanimate objects in the world, such as stones, rocks and minerals. Life is there but it is curled up like the doll and you cannot see it. Everything is latent.“ 
Unfolding the doll's arms and legs, Baba pointed the legs toward the sky and explained, “This is the state of the soul in the plant form. Its mouth is at the roots and its legs or branches are in the sky.“ Baba brought the legs down and placed the doll on all fours, indicating that the doll was now in the animal form. Finally, Baba made the doll stand on its two legs and explained, “The soul has now reached the state of a human being – this is the final and highest form.“ 
 (Lord Meher, 1986 print edition, p. 976)

1 comment:

  1. I like the dog better. But the doll is more logical. However, imagine that you had not heard of the doll version. Wouldn't you rationalize that the dog made perfect sense (since Baba came up with it)?

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