Religion

MEHER BABA ON RELIGION

Basically, religion is one. There is only one religion. The source from which this religion has come is continuous, despite the lapses of ages. Yet several branches have come forth from this one religion, like the Zoroastrian, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Muhammadan religions. There have been many others…

For example, water from the tap fills the different pots for different purposes, like washing, cooking, drinking, etc. The source, the tap, is the same. Similarly, the Hindu or Muslim religion, or the Zoroastrian or Buddhist or Christian religion, springs from the same source, which is God.

1919? LM1 p254

The light of Zarathustra has been extinguished by his followers themselves. His was the highest form of Sufism. If Zarathustra were to be born again in this material world, he would find it difficult to recognise his own religious tenets, as practiced by the present day followers of his creed. The same is true of all religions. The Muslim mullas, Hindu pundits, Zoroastrian dastoors and Christian priests have mutilated the original religion for their own selfish ends.

October 1922,
Bombay,
LM2 p431

The real meaning of religion is to know God, to see God, and to be one with God. Everything else about religion is an exercise in rites and rituals.

8 June 1926,
Arangaon,
LM3 p809

About the American Christian Mission and the Salvation Army, both of which tried to convert Indian Hindus and Muslims to Christianity:

Why all this? Why mislead people into leaving their religions? Is religion the Truth as well as the way to the Truth? Truth has nothing to do with religion. Truth is far away and far beyond the tenets and principles of religion. Truth is naked and unrestrained, and can only be experienced by cutting loose maya’s limbs, lust anger and greed.

Muslims say that experience can only be gained through the Islamic religion, arguing for circumcision and other rituals. How ludicrous. Do any of you know why Muslims practice circumcision? Muhammad told them to cut down and annihilate their minds, meaning to cut through maya and cut away their sanskaras. This means keeping one’s own mind under control and away from worldly thoughts. By failing to understand the true meaning of the Prophet’s teaching, some theologians concentrate upon the custom of circumcising children, a custom which people, without thinking, accepted and started to follow.

The same is true in every religion, the Parsis and their kusti, the Christians and their baptism. What is the meaning of all these practices in the name of religion? If it is not a sin to make others doubtful of their own religion, it is surely a great weakness. What is the advantage in expanding a religion until its followers number in the millions? This is the Kali Yuga. See the horror done in the cause of religion. Look at the massacres born out of ignorance and cruelty occurring between Hindus and Muslims, all for the sake of religion. At the same time, many false prophets have appeared, and hypocrisy is rampant. People now want religious doctrines to suit their own ideas of life, and the crafty leaders who observe all this and fulfill their wishes find thousands of followers.

So I have been telling you, control your mind, live a pure and clean life, discard desires, and follow a Master who is God-realised. Then alone you will be safe. Following a Master does not mean giving up your religion. You should renounce the mind.

22 June 1926,
Meherabad,
LM3 p817-818

To me all religions are equal, and the wrangle over religious dogmas and practises are mere exercises in futility.

Still, a person should have respect for the religious faith of another, and it should not be hampered under any circumstance.

On the contrary, all traditionalists or strong believers in their faith and religious practises should be accorded all facilities. It is desirable to encourage them.

23 July 1926,
Meherabad,
LM3 p829

The human mind is such that it makes a person adhere to his thoughts, to the extent that even in the field of religion, each man thinks his is the best. The Parsis consider their religion the highest, and call most other people doorvand – untouchables. The Muslims are also in the same category. To them only Islam and Muhammad are true, and all other people are kafirs – unbelievers. The Christians are no better. To them only Jesus Christ is the Redeemer, and all other people heathens.

20 September 1926,
Meherabad
LM3 p845

The Hindu and Muslim priests both speak against each other’s religion. But do you know what religion is? Religion is a cage, and the people who follow it are all birds locked up inside.

It is meaningless to leave one’s religion to adopt another. It is like going from one cage to another. The wire binding the wings of the bird must be cut.

Each person must make individual efforts to sever his own leash, for example, by renunciation or being indifferent to food and drink. But above all, efforts should be made to cut the cord through love. Love God, for when the Sadguru comes he snaps the cord and frees the bird.

I am the Christ, and the world exists because of me. For me there is no time, space, cause, effect, duality, or anything that exists besides me. There is only unity.

22 February 1927, Meherabad, LM3 p915

Who gave all these different religions? The Avatars. Why have they done so? To establish principles for people, and to bring people to the point where their faces are turned toward God. Mohammad and Buddha each gave different precepts, according to the circumstances and mentality of the people of the time.

4 December 1927,
Meherabad,
LM3 p990

Zarathustra had fourteen disciples whom he Realised. There was one whom he Realised after the fourteen. From him, the knowledge and experience of God descended from father to son for 700 years.

After that, the last one, Dastur Azer Kaiwan, was false, and obtained the sacred seat and started collecting money. Those who followed him decreed as they thought. After them, until the present, there has been no realised person among the Zoroastrians.

Whatever religious books (the Avesta) the Zoroastrians have now are the books of these false dasturs, and not of Zarathustra. Zarathustra taught and gave out gems of truth, gems of Sufism, but they are not known to people. There were tremendous changes in the doctrines set down by Zarathustra made by the false dasturs.

So my best advice to you is to create love for God. Earn something in my contact. Otherwise, if you spend your time in discussions on religious doctrines and dogmas, it will take you nowhere toward Truth. It is all rigamarole, and will waste your precious time, which might better be used in thinking of God, meditating and creating love. Love is the sum and substance of all religions, and the only essential of all creeds. Leave the rigamarole alone.

For example, this alphabet board which I use may be given to a child to make him begin the ABCs. But if he merely learns the alphabet without any efforts at proceeding further, he will learn practically nothing. It is the same in religion. The shariat, doctrines and dogmas are given as a preliminary beginning, like the alphabet, to reach the ultimate aim of the realisation of the Truth. After one learns to master the fundamentals, one advances.

But if a person merely sticks to religious ceremonies and rituals, and believes that religion is that alone, then he does not advance at all. God and Truth are far, far above shariat, doctrines and dogmas, ceremonies and rituals.

7 February 1928, Meherabad,
to two Parsi priests,
LM3 p1020

These days there is too much stress everywhere on religion. Religion is the root cause of all strife, both internal and external, and is the cause of all wars in the world.

October 1928,
Nasik,
LM3 p1100

On Christmas day, Baba’s school for boys was closed, but there were no religious observances. Meredith Starr came to visit Baba at noon, and Baba told him,

“On all four sides, in every corner of the globe, religious precepts and ceremonies prevail. Were we to follow the same old sham and show here, then what would be the difference between us and the world?

“Here, to obey me is the best religious act you can perform, and by doing so you will free yourself from all the bondages of the customs and rites of religions.”

25 December 1928,
Meherabad,
LM3 p1130

In all religions, the beginning of opposition against the priest class is welcome, because at present the priest class is the greatest obstacle in the path of spirituality. The rigid and deep-rooted beliefs and prejudices of age-old customs, rites and rituals which the priests have inherited and nourished in the name of religion are intolerable and the greatest impediment.

So if the downfall of this junta is brought about, the firmly imbedded prejudices and rites will be destroyed. Although there is the risk of people becoming indifferent to God and religion, these can still be revived afterward, once these rotting prejudices are uprooted.

3 April 1930,
Meherabad?
LM4 p1296

So long as people will continue attending to the empty shows of customs and ceremonials, they will fail to grasp the essence or substance of religion.

Though creeds and theologies are many, religion is, strictly speaking, only one, and this one religion includes in its essence sublime character, mental purity, love to God, and longing to realise the Truth.

In order that this religion may be applicable to all, caste-class tyranny and priestcraft must be eradicated root and branch.

February 1931,
Ms 3:3 p91

The priest class proves to be an impediment in everything. If you gain independence, do this first: arrest all the purohits, dastoors and mullas.* Do not use violence, but deal with them firmly.

Deal with them vigorously, because it is an important, big work. And unless you send all the priests to Yeravda prison, they won’t improve. On the contrary, they will become worse.

8 September 1931,
to Mahatma Gandhi, on board the ship
Rajputana en route from Port Said to Marseilles, LM4 p1397
*Hindu, Parsi and Muslim priests

Desmond Tolhurst: I am a staunch Roman Catholic, and want to lead a life of rectitude. I feel at times I am doing wrong, and I am tempted. I repeat my mistakes time and time again. I am religious-minded, and want to remain devoted to God and the Church.

Baba: Be religious, it is good. But eventually you will have to go beyond the shariat, the traditional ritual of religion.

Tolhurst: Are there any true saints and holy priests in Christianity?

Baba: There were saints, but the Christian priests are the same type as those priests in every other religion throughout the world. Out of selfishness, priests create and propagate their own customs, tenets and practises, thereby crippling religion. All these rites, rituals and ceremonies are the dry husk of the corn.

September 1931,
London,
LM4 p1429

May Davy: I have faith in Christ and also believe that there is no other Christ, and there will be no other such being in the future. Jesus was the only one and will be the only Christ forever. Since Christianity is predominant in the West, it is superior in religion and spirit to the East.

Baba: To explain it all to you will take some time. But I will convince you that I have gained the state of Christhood and that I am the Christ.

May Davy: Impossible. I don’t believe you. I don’t understand what you mean.

Baba: Were I to explain it to you, you would understand everything. Truth is above religion. Truth is far, far beyond the intellect. It can only be reached by love. Christ attained that state of divine love. I am in the same state, and I have its experience. I am always in the Christ state of everlasting bliss.

September 1931,
London,
LM4 p1440

Although spirituality is greater in India, the pundits (priests) there have their say too much. Not only is love pushed aside, but even the search is ignored. Besides, on every road in India we come across sadhus who boast about their way of life. And as you know, cheating is widespread there by the false gurus…

I have been saying that no damage to religion is as great as that done by the priest class. Here, too, there are many priests and preachers. But the people who came to meet me are devotional and loving, and it is a great pleasure for me to meet with them…

2 October 1931,
London, to Mahatma Gandhi,
LM4 p1447

Baba: Love is the only real religion. People are now tired of theories, doctrines and principles. They want the real thing, which explanations can never give. They must feel Truth, see Truth and experience Truth. Only then can one find harmony with everything and everyone. Only then can one, though remaining in the world, not be of it. I am eternally happy. I see my own self in everyone and everything.

Robert Norwood: Do you preach any specific precepts, or do you belong to any particular creed?

Baba: None, absolutely. Religions, castes, sects, dogmas and rituals are all hindrances in the path of Truth. Truth is all-pervading and infinite. I do not teach anything. I make the learned forget. I have come, not to teach, but to awaken.

Norwood: Is going to church of any help?

Baba: Yes, to a certain extent. Not much, though. The church that advocates and nourishes sectarianism renders no help. All true churches, temples and mosques are for all. To attain the Truth, no obstacle should be put in anyone’s way, such as present-day religions and cults do.

Norwood: Yes, it is true. At first I was active in a Christian church, but because I was in search of a religion of the heart, I left it. Now religion and sectarianism do not appeal to me. I have always been sure that there is something higher than religion.

Baba: Exactly. I frequently repeat the same thing. I am preparing the way for people so that they will be able to live a life of Truth. There is no religion higher than love. Love is the only way leading to Truth and God-realisation. Mind and intellect provide only superficial understanding. It is dry knowledge. One should try to see God and experience him. The first thing is reality, the second is unity. Love is truly a shortcut in the long path toward achieving God-realisation. It is the quickest way.

24 November 1931,
New York,
LM4 p1486-1488

No spiritual Master brings religion into the world in the form which it eventually assumes.

His very presence is a blessing and radiates spirituality. He imparts it to others by personal contact.

The so-called religions are an effort to commemorate the association with a great spiritual Master, and to preserve his atmosphere and influence.

It is like an archeological department trying to preserve things which only resuscitate the past. The living spirit being absent, religions or organisations gradually lose their glamour. The result is a mental revolt against the established order. Something more substantial and practical is required, which expresses the life of the spirit.

19 May 1932,
New York,
Me p84-85

Message to reporters aboard the ship Bremen

You will not be saved by accepting any theological dogmas, or by regarding a Prophet who lived hundreds or thousands of years ago as the only God-incarnate, as the only genuine Saviour, as the last real messenger of God. If you want to be saved, conquer your mind, lead a pure life, renounce low desires, and follow one who has realised God, and in whom you have sound faith.

Most of the so-called religious ceremonies performed by the Parsis, the Hindus, and followers of other creeds, are unnecessary and worthless. For these useless ceremonies it is the avaricious and worldly priests who are responsible. Prophets, Sadgurus and saints are not bound by them.

Worldly-minded priests, though they may mutter prayers throughout the day, and may perform this and that ceremony, can confer no spiritual benefits on anyone. Poison trees may be watered with nectar, but they will not produce edible fruits.

The so-called religious leaders who repeatedly quarrel over rites and dogmas can only lead their followers into the deep pit of ignorance. Only the blind will follow the blind. What light can be thrown by him who is himself in the dark? What knowledge can he impart who has not experienced Truth.

The priest whose principal motive is to serve himself, and not others, should be called a minister, not of God, but of his lower self. Disinterestedness and eagerness to serve others should be the characteristics of a genuine priest, to whatever creed he may belong. He should be like a river that does not drink its own water, but is useful to others, irrespective of their caste, creed and color.

Many of the so-called Christian missionaries are the followers of Judas, not of Jesus. The object of a true Christian missionary should be not merely to baptise the so-called pagans, but to render unselfish service to others, regardless of their creed and color.

To change our outward religion for another is like going from one cage to another. Either cross the boundary of Shariat (outward forms of religions) and enter Tarikat (the spiritual Path) or remain within the cage of the creed of your birth.

In order to realise God, and to gain the original state from which everything emerged, we should follow the creed that accords with our own conscience, and stick to that path which best suits our spiritual tendency, our mental attitude, our physical aptitude, and our external surroundings and circumstances.

before 1933, Sa p11-15
each paragraph is a separate quote

Dogmas, creeds, and conventional ideas of heaven and hell and of sin are perversions of Truth, and confuse and bewilder the mind.

before 1933, QA p12-13

I very much appreciate this idea of coming together of the representatives of different faiths, which, in fact are based but on one and the same principle – faith itself.

The medium, the surroundings and the settings may be different. It may be formed of images or imagination. It may be based on the intellectual conviction, or an emotional impression. Yet the central jewel of a faith is just the same.

There are no two kinds of faiths. Faith is the last thing to be labeled. The only question could be of a strong faith or a weak faith. Some hold it to the point of forms and ceremonies only. And some, going beyond this, stick to the kernel, eschewing the crust, either believing in impersonal infinite existence, or believing in one’s own Master. So it is only a question of degrees.

Unless and until there is complete Realisation, which is the goal of all faiths, faith is faith after all, call it blind or call it otherwise.

Once God is realised, there is no question of faith at all, just as there is no question of faith for a man to believe that he is a man. Because one then, having transcended the boundaries of faith, feels oneself identified with the infinite, and finds the one self manifested everywhere.

Please convey my blessings to all.

3 June 1933, Bombay?
Message to All Faiths Congress at Nasik
Baba did not attend; his message was read out by Ramjoo Abdulla
Me p7. Another partial version: LM5 p1773

Q. I am happy to see you.

Baba: Not nervous? Anything to ask or say?

Q. I have doubts about you, and also cannot understand why Western religion calls the Eastern confusing?

Baba: And the Eastern people say the same about Western religion. Everyone thinks his own religion the best. This is ignorance. Jesus never meant that. What does religion mean? To find God within. What did Jesus teach? To find him within, and not to carry on wars, as his own followers have been doing.

Q. How can we realise that?

Baba: Through love, and helping others selflessly. It is very easy. If you think less of yourself, and more of others, it is so easy. No matter if you doubt me, or do not even believe in me. I will help you.

Q. I want to believe in you.

Baba: But why? If what you want is within, you will find it only there. And my aim is to help you find it, whether you follow me or not.

Q. But it is difficult.

Baba: I will help you, even if you don’t want it. When the sun is high up and you feel hot, you cannot avoid it. It shines on you even if you don’t want it. It is a question of going out of yourself to help others. This contact will help you greatly. My blessings.

1934, Zurich, Switzerland,
interview with the daughter of a clergyman,
PM p239-240

Q. Is decent living enough for attaining a wider consciousness, or is any occult, spiritual or religious training necessary?

Baba: No general rule or process can be laid down for the attainment of the ultimate reality, or as you term it, the wider consciousness. Every individual has got to work out his own salvation, and for that matter, he himself has got to create and choose the Path, which is mostly determined and expressed by the collective force and momentum of impressions (called sanskaras in Sanskrit) acquired during previous lives.

The panaceas the world knows of, the so-called religions for the guidance of humanity, do not go a long way in solving the problem. As time goes on and the founder, the one who supplied the motive force, is thrown and relegated more and more into the background of time and obscurity, the aftermath of his manifestations, either a religion or an organisation, gradually loses its glamour and attractiveness, and there takes place a mental revolt against the old order of things. A demand is created for something more tangible, substantial and practical, by contacting through which one may learn to live the true life, the life of the spirit. And you know that supply is in proportion to the demand.

To say that only decent living is the only way of attaining wider consciousness is only giving one side of the picture. What you are today is the result of your decent and indecent living as well. Occult, spiritual and religious training serves merely as means to an end, and is a condition precedent to entering the Path. But the moment one has the contact of a Perfect Master, no such disciplinary process is necessary. The only thing required is complete surrenderance to his supreme will, and the unquestioning willingness and attitude of mind to suffer and accept things as they come.

1930s?
Europe?
A p37

Q. How about the believers who come in search of God, and are like sheep shorn by those who are false priests? Is it better to have faith and be disillusioned, or have no faith?

Baba: Any faith with the idea of Truth behind it is better than no faith at all. It is better to walk the wrong road and return to the right way than not to walk at all. What matters spiritually is faith. When faith becomes love, there is no need for faith any longer.

1939?
Benares, about the false priests of Benares
whom Baba compared to vultures,
T p98

Religion has to go, and God has to come, definitely.

7 July 1940,
Golkothi, Ranchi,
LM7 p2580

The work of the God-man in the universe is fundamentally different from the kind of thing on which most of the priests set their hearts.

Most of the priests of established religions attach too much importance to external forms, rituals and conformity. And since they are not themselves free from selfishness, narrowness or ignorance, they exploit the weak and credulous by holding before them the fear of hell or the hope of heaven.

The God-man, on the other hand, has entered forever into the eternal life of love, purity, universality and understanding. And he is therefore concerned only with the things that really matter, and which eventually bring about the inner unfoldment of the spirit in all whom he helps.

1941?
India,
Di v4 p20-21
Another version: Aw 2:1 p29-30

The organised religions of the world often fail to express the real vision of those who have been the fountainhead of inspiration for their very coming into existence. Dogmas and beliefs, rituals and ceremonies, can never be the essence of the true spiritual life. They are generally not only superficial and inneffective, but positively harmful and misleading. Often they not only feed the ego of the priest class, but also serve as an instrument for the exploitation of the credulous.

When religion has become merely a matter of external rituals and ceremonies, it has become a cage for the soul. Nor does it help very much to change from one religion to another. It is like going from one cage to another. If religion does not help man to emancipate the soul from spiritual bondage and realise God, it has no useful purpose to serve. Then it is time that religion should go to make room for God.

I am therefore not interested in founding a new religion. The world is already divided by numberless sects, based upon dogmas and beliefs. I have not come to give another cage for man, but to impart to the world the illimitable Truth. The world needs awakening, and not mere verbal instruction. It needs the freedom and the amplitude of divine life, and not the superficiality of mechanised and pompous forms. It needs love, and not the display of power.

The world task ahead of me is particularly creative. Essentially, we are all one. I am greater than none of you in the soul sense, and really speaking, none of you have to receive divinity from me – the divinity that is eternally existing equally in us all. But what I have to give is the knowledge and the experience of the oneness of us all.

Out of the agonising travail and suffering of the present times, the new enlightened humanity has to be born. Man shall be weaned away from the allurements of the ego-life. He shall come into full inheritance of his own divinity, and know himself to be none other than the supreme God himself. And his heart shall be unlocked so as to release the dynamic love divine. Divine love knows no decay, fear or corruption, because it is illumined by the understanding that all life is one.

Let those who are alive to the real values hearken to this call of mine. They will have an ample share in bringing into existence the new era of truth and love. I give my blessings to all.

11 November 1944,
Nagpur,
Me p65-66

The deeper secrets of the spiritual life are unveiled to those who take risks and make bold experiments with life. They are not intended for the weak-kneed who seek guarantees for every step.

Av p278

From all types of bondage – physical, mental, spiritual, social, political and moral – emancipation of man is possible, sooner or later. But the redemption of mankind from its self-imposed shackles of intellectual self-sufficiency, and idealistic or religious inheritance, is very different indeed, and the task, if ever attempted, is almost superhuman.

The institution of slavery in the Middle Ages was already bad enough. But the irresponsible slavery of this industrial age of ours is worse. Emancipation of mankind from such types of physical and economic slavery is comparitively an easy affair.

But the most cruel and destructive form of slavery is an intellectual bigotry of possessing the monopoly on truth, exclusive of others. It is such types of people, when they happen to wield temporal power on Earth, who hasten the downfall of a laboriously built civilisation, or the disintegration of a living religion.

Intellect is, so to say, reserved by nature for man. One has to be a man to have intellect. But however keen and quick it may be, it will always be just one of the stepping stones to wisdom, inspiration, illumination, knowledge and Realisation of Truth, which is above all these.

To keep playing on the stepping stone, however polished and shining it may be, is like sitting tight over an idle heap of hoarded wealth.

Like everything else, intellect can be used as much as misused or abused. The deeper the intelligence, the greater the responsibility for discrimination between essentials and non-essentials, service and disservice, going forward or backward.

May you succeed in transcending the limitations of understanding, and crossing into the domain of real knowledge, where nothing remains as unknown, unseen and unheard of; nay, everything becomes self-identified. My blessings to all.

2 or 3 April 1947,
Madras,
LM9 p3158

What is wrong with the world today, and with India in particular?

Such and allied questions are bound to arise in thinking minds. But the answers are not altogether honest and straight. The diagnosis given and the remedies adopted have all been biased and one-sided. The whole situation stands hopelessly vague and undetermined.

The crux of the situation lies in the correct understanding and reinterpreting of the ancient word ‘religion.’

The West has very little of religion, and whenever we hear of it, it is subservient to politics, or at best a handmaid of material life. The East is suffering from an overdose of religion, and consequently it is desperately hankering for a material antidote thereto. Religion in the West is synonymous with scientific progress, which is destructive in its manifestation. In the East, and particularly in India, religion, instead of establishing the kingdom of God on Earth, has gone underground in the guise of crude ceremonies, rude rituals, and dead dogmas.

Instead of engendering the seeds of peace and plenty, the under-driven religion tries to shoot out communalism, fanaticism, nationalism and patriotism, which have become bywords for leadership and greatness, suffering and sanctity. In short, religion, as a living force, has become obsolete. The urgent need of today, to rescuscitate religion, is to dig it out of its narrow and dark hidings and coverings, and let the spirit of man shine out once again in its pristine glory.

The most practical thing to do in the world is to be spiritually-minded. It needs no special time, place or circumstances. It is not necessarily concerned with anything out of the way of anyone’s daily life and day-to-day routine. It is never too late or too early to be spiritual. It is just a simple question of having a right attitude of mind toward lasting values, changing circumstances, avoidable eventualities, and a sense of the inevitable.

Spirituality is neither restricted to, nor can it be restricted by, anyone or anything, anywhere, at any time. It covers all life for all time. Yet it can very easily be achieved with selfless service and pure love that know no bondage and seek no boundaries. A mighty surge of this spirituality is about to sweep over the world. My blessings to you all.

3 April 1947,
Madras,
LM9 p3159

Realisation of the self should not be confused with the intellectual understanding of the Divine Theme. Exceptional exercise of the intellect makes one a philosopher, a poet, a scientist or an artist. But Self-realisation is undeniably the special privilege of those who are mad after God.

Orthodoxy, whether it be of the Hindu, Muslim Christian, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, or any other church, is tolerable strictly and only up to a certain point, and only at the earlier phases of the evolution of the masses, since it conserves certain dynamic values coming down through tradition. But it must be of the discriminative type, and should not be allowed to degenerate into politics. When orthodoxy denies to itself the spiritual light coming from any quarter, it inevitably reduces itself to a body without the soul, leading to separative ignorance, conflicts and misunderstandings.

Loyalty to the incarnated greatness of the past, and the mere possession and knowledge of the traditional lore, is not all that is to be aspired for. It may preserve your individuality as a religious and cultural unit, and make of you a political factor to be reckoned with. But in the spiritual domain, it makes you a nonentity, a tree without its life-giving sap.

Today there are three concomitant factors which prevent the world from realisation of true spirituality:

1. The church of each organised religion trades in the past, and fights every inch of ground before adjusting itself to the times and the circumstances.

2. The educated delude themselves into thinking that they have done their part, and have laid the whole creation and the Creator under deep gratitude by merely talking on the subject from the purely intellectual point of view.

3. And the masses have a superstitiously mercenary attitude towards saints and spirituality. Their approach to saints is invariably from a material point of view.

I have come to give a new understanding of spiritual value and truth to everyone. This truth is unlimited, and cannot be encaged in any dogmas or creeds or religions or sets of beliefs. Inherit this vast truth which is ever-renewing, while I am in your midst.

before 1948, ST p110-111

I belong to no religion. Every religion belongs to me. My own personal religion is of my being the ancient, infinite one, and the religion I teach to all is of love for God.

This love can be expressed by everyone, high, low, rich, poor, and everyone of every caste, creed can love God.

The one God, who resides equally in all, is approachable to everyone through love. So I give my blessings that at least some of you could love God as he is to be loved.

28 February 1954,
Amalapuram, Andhra,
AD p102
Another version: Journey With God,
by Francis Brabazon, p30