Over the course of this blog I have written just about a dozen posts on the subject of channeling and related topics. In short, these posts all try to clarify what channeling is, the various ideas associated with its practice, and to stand as reminders that Meher Baba did not think highly of this practice. In fact he consistently discouraged it.Channeling is communication with entities believed to be not in the material world, and often believed to be advanced souls. Rising as a fad in the 19th century, channeling was very popular in occult circles at the time of Baba's earliest teaching, and continues to be right up to today. It shows no sign of abating as a practice many associate with spirituality. If you click this link to Google Images for the word "channeling," you will see how much channeling remains a huge part of new age spiritual thinking even today.
Recently I discovered one of the most complete and clear writings from Baba's dictation on the subject of such communication. In the Meher Baba Journal (a periodical dedicated to Baba that ran from 1939-1942) there is an unusually long serialized section titled Meher Baba - His Philosophy and Mysticism, written by Dr. Ghani Munsiff, based on dictations given by Baba on the alphabet board and collected by him and Ramjoo Abdulla. Serialized between November 1941 and August 1942 the entire work comes to about 103 pages.
In it, there is a section titled "Spiritualism." The introduction to the Wikipedia article "Spiritualism" (retrieved Oct. 22, 2014) is a clear and accurate description of what Spiritualism is, for those who are unsure.
Of this practice Baba says that people are contacting spirits of the dead (ghosts), who are semi-subtle, with their physical organs. So they in fact hear the spirits with their gross ears, see them with their gross eyes, etc.
Baba very clearly goes on to say that "True spirituality has nothing to do with Spiritualism." (Meher Baba Journal, December 1941, p. 74)
Below are other posts on this blog on the subject of channeling and related topics.
Baba on Channeling
Channeling Meher Baba
Ascended Masters
Receiving messages from Masters, living or dead
2B or not 2B (Part I)
2B or not 2B (Part II)
Hearing Baba in your head
Hearing Baba in your head
Seeking Baba in your heart
Through us, not to us
Meher Baba's presence as explained by his mandali
I have also written on the "Spiritual Hierarchy" according to Meher Baba, so that people do not get it confused with the hierarchy of ascended masters taught in many new age books today and over the past 100 years. In short Baba says that all functioning members of the Spiritual Hierarchy are living physical people right here on Earth.
Hierarchy Part I
Hierarchy Part II
Channelling is just another form of ego enhancement. And channelling Meher Baba is a big, fat lie.
ReplyDeleteMaya can coax one into getting attached to anything, and channeling spirits and other similar activities or abilities are prime targets for this. But I might add that total condemnation, without consideration for content, of these activities is also an attachment and limitation. I have been drawn, I feel strongly it was Baba's guidance, to two books that one might say were channelled. The content of the messages to mind and heart rings of Meher Baba's love, compassion and authority. Baba's Avataric mission is for all, and can see Him limiting His messages only to what He offered through His physical self. The two books I referred to are: "He and I" and "Letters from the Cosmos."
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