First contacts with the West

In the 1930s, Meher Baba began a period of extensive world travel, circling the globe many times. He made frequent trips to Europe and America. It was during this period that he established contact with his first close group of Western disciples.

On his first trip to England in 1931 he traveled on the SS Rajputana, the same ship that carried Mahatma Gandhi. Meher Baba and Gandhi had many private conversations onboard including Baba's permitting Gandhi to read portions of his " book" which Gandhi offered to help get published. In the West, Meher Baba met with interested individuals who had heard of his spiritual status and his work in India. Many of these were celebrities and artists, such as Hollywood stars Gary Cooper, Tallulah Bankhead, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and the film producer Gabriel Pascal. He enjoyed watching Chaplin movies, comparing Creation to movie-making. Although few celebrities maintained their contact with Baba (Pascal being an exception), these western expeditions did yield a number of close followers who stuck with Baba for the duration of their lives.

In the late '30s, Meher Baba invited a group of western women to join him in India, where he arranged a series of trips that became known as the Blue Bus Tours. When they returned home, many newspapers treated their journey as an occasion for scandal.

The Discourses

Main article: Discourses (Meher Baba)

During the course of early gatherings of his mandali (disciples) and followers, Meher Baba gave discourses on various spiritual subjects. Between 1938 and 1943, at the request of Princess Norina Matchabelli (co-founder of Prince Matchabelli Perfume and a close follower of Meher Baba), Meher Baba dictated a series of discourses on his alphabet board for her New York publication Meher Baba Journal.

These discourses, transcribed or worked up from points given by Baba by close disciples, address many aspects of the spiritual life, and provide practical and simple direction for the aspirant. During those years, at least one of these discourses appeared in each issue of the monthly Meher Baba Journal. C.D. Deshmukh, a close disciple of Meher Baba, compiled and edited the dictation, and Baba personally approved each discourse by signing the table of contents for that issue of the journal.

Between 1939 and 1954 in India, a five-volume compilation titled Discourses of Meher Baba received several printings. In 1967, two years before passing away, Meher Baba personally supervised the editing and publication of a new three-volume version of the Discourses, known as the sixth edition, which is available online.

The widely available seventh edition of the Discourses (ISBN 1-880619-09-1), first published by Sheriar Press in 1987 (after Baba's death), contains numerous editorial changes not specifically authorized by Meher Baba, although the meaning of the discourses is little changed.

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Work with 'masts'

Main article: Mast (Sufism)

In the 1940s, Meher Baba did extensive work with a category of people he termed masts (short for the Sufi term " Mast-Allah" meaning " intoxicated with God, " and pronounced " mŭ st" ). These individuals are essentially disabled by their enchanting experience of the higher spiritual planes. Although outwardly masts may appear irrational or even insane, Meher Baba said that their spiritual status was actually quite elevated, and that by meeting with them, he helped them to move forward spiritually while enlisting their aid in his spiritual work.

Meher Baba visited literally thousands of masts throughout Southern Asia, and occasionally set up ashrams where they were cared for. One of the best known of these masts, known as Mohammed Mast, lived at Meher Baba's encampment at Meherabad until his death in 2003.

The New Life

In 1949 Meher Baba began an enigmatic period which he called The New Life. Following a series of questions on their readiness to obey even the most difficult of his requests, Meher Baba selected twenty companions to join him in a life of complete " hopelessness, helplessness and aimlessness." During this time, Meher Baba acted not as the Master, but as a companion.

He made provisions for those dependent on him, then he and his companions otherwise gave up all property and financial responsibilities. They then traveled about India incognito, without money, begging for their food, carrying out Baba's instructions and living in strict accordance with a set of " conditions of the New Life." These included absolute acceptance of the circumstances of their lives, and consistent good cheer in the face of any difficulty. Those companions who failed to comply were sent away.

About the New Life Meher Baba wrote:

“

This New Life is endless, and even after my physical death it will be kept alive by those who live the life of complete renunciation of falsehood, lies, hatred, anger, greed and lust; and who, to accomplish all this, do no lustful actions, do no harm to anyone, do no backbiting, do not seek material possessions or power, who accept no homage, neither covet honor nor shun disgrace, and fear no one and nothing; by those who rely wholly and solely on God, and who love God purely for the sake of loving; who believe in the lovers of God and in the reality of Manifestation, and yet do not expect any spiritual or material reward; who do not let go the hand of Truth, and who, without being upset by calamities, bravely and wholeheartedly face all hardships with one hundred percent cheerfulness, and give no importance to caste, creed and religious ceremonies. This New Life will live by itself eternally, even if there is no one to live it. [7]

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Meher Baba ended the New Life after a period of intense seclusion, and once again began a round of public appearances and extensive travel throughout India and the West.

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