Does Baba's Last Warning Say to Avoid the Members of Sufism Reoriented?

In February 1966, two years before his last birthday, Baba gave the following message, titled Avatar Meher Baba's Last Warning.

In recent years, the message has been used as the main document to make an argument that Baba lovers must have nothing to do with members of Sufism Reoriented, the Sufi organization established under Meher Baba's own guidance in 1952.

The actual message is quite short and contains the following admonishments to his lovers, and those who would want to be lovers.

1. Don't succumb to lust.
2. Avoid people who claim to be advanced or have "supernatural powers."
3. Stay out of the personal affairs of other Baba lover families.
4. Lovers should be less aggressive toward others and less tolerant towards themselves.

Now, the only lines in the message that could be construed to have anything to do with Sufism, are the following:

It is equally important at this critical period of the Avataric Age to beware at all times of persons who lead others into believing that they are saintly and pious and profess to possess supernatural powers. However pious such persons appear to be, a Baba-lover must never mix such piety with the Divinity of the Avatar! A true Baba-lover must remember the repeated warning given to all Baba-lovers time and again to stay away from persons who feel and assert that they are masters and saints and possess powers to help human beings. His lovers and workers should never get involved with such persons and affairs, much less with perverted "helpers of humanity" who have no reverence or regard for the Perfect Masters and the Avatar of the age. Beware of them who exploit spirituality to gain their selfish ends and dupe others in the name of Sadgurus and the Avatar. 

The reason these words in the warning could be construed to apply to Sufis is that their current and last leader were believed by their initiates to be illuminated, meaning in Baba parlance on the 5th or 6th plane. I do not know of either of them personally making those claims, but it is well known that many Sufis take it for granted -- for reasons too complicated to go into here.

The problem is that there is nothing in the message that implies that one should be less than harmonious with the members of Sufism Reoriented, who do not profess to be on any plane or to have supernatural powers.

It also behooves them to avoid several Baba lovers that do, in fact, claim to be spiritually advanced, some well known in Myrtle Beach. A few of those that shun all Sufis (who make no such claims) and tell others to shun them, openly befriend and even derive inspiration from some of these others, at least one of whom says he/she is on the 6th plane, and has supernatural knowledge, and even gives advice.

Another thing should be pointed out about Meher Baba's Last Warning that has gone unnoticed for a long time. Three times in the message, including in the part quoted above, Baba says these admonishments are applicable at this critical period of the Avataric Age.

It is equally important at this critical period of the Avataric Age to beware at all times of persons who . . .

 Although I laid this out in a previous post, I will repeat it here in simpler terms.

We are in the last age following the life of Muhammad. It is 125 years long, and began when Baba was realized by Babajan, included his life as Avatar on Earth, and extends 70 years after he drops his body. This period of 70 years from the time of his passing until 2039 is clearly the critical period he is referring to. Obviously Baba did not order people for all time to avoid 6th plane saints and perfect masters. If he had done so, his lovers would be under fatwa to denounce him in 700 years. So the message is for this particular period, which includes the next 20 years. Baba's Last Warning is not a set of permanent precepts. Baba said he gave no precepts (rules for all time) in this advent.

It would be nice if Baba's lovers would be less eager to start a hateful schism among his lovers, and tried harder to follow that other admonishment in Baba's Last Warning, "to uphold the spirit of harmony and understanding in His name." That's something we also need to remember in this critical period.

Sufis arriving for the 1969 Darshan in India on the invitation list when Baba dropped his body

In the photo, members of Sufism Reoriented are seen on arrival at the Last Darshan in India in1969, an event that occurred 3 years after Baba gave his Final Warning message.

I know this post, if read, will not have any effect on those who have invested so much in their pretend virtue of spreading hate, distrust, conspiracy theories, and vitriol about "the Sufis." I realize they have to die with that malady, before the end of the 11th age -- so humanity can move on without their legacy of fanatical divisiveness.

I accept Baba's warning to "beware" of people claiming to be pious or adept. And I take with total seriousness his caution to stay away from persons who feel and assert that they are masters and saints and possess powers to help humanity. It doesn't follow that I have to stay away from those who feel differently. If Baba lovers followed such a principle, they would have to ban the followers of other masters attending their own programs or jointly participating in events. And no one has suggested anyone do that.

I hardly need to tell the young to move on from this. They already have.