Companionship with the God-Man

Meher Baba’s time at the Center is reflective of the perfect union of His Godhood and Manhood. From its inception when He sent two women to hunt for a treasure that He had already planted to His turning the key of grace in being able to acquire the property dedicated to Him and given from the heart. Then, His help in carving out a Center exactly under His meticulous direction from thousands of miles away and inwardly helping those who physically performed the herculean task of building and creating His home from swampy wilderness. Finally, arriving all the way from India to give the awaited gift of His personal companionship.

A well-known story from His first visit is that of the four ballet dancers who were flying all the way from Chicago to see Baba for a five minute interview on May 18, 1952. At 9 a.m. that morning Baba arrived at the Lagoon Cabin. He waited and waited but the dancers had not arrived yet. Kitty Davy writes, “Baba paced up and down the Lagoon Cabin, asking us what we thought had happened. Did we think they had met with an accident? How had they proposed coming? He sent us to ring up the airport. No news of their plane. This continued throughout the day.”* As it turned out, the party arrived on a chartered plane, as they had had a difficult trip, but were determined not to lose their interview. Within the figurative embrace of such human and personal concern about each one’s well-being, Baba at times most suddenly displayed sharp glimpses of His Godhood. While He was a friend, a father, a companion, He was also God in human form. During the same trip, Ivy Duce met Baba at the Lagoon Cabin. “He motioned to the cabin, and Gustadji and one of the other men who heard the clap rushed to open the windows. The gas heater had been put on during Baba’s absence and the place was stifling. Baba knew this before I could sense it at all.”**

A naturalness of being enveloped the Center every time Baba came, as if the spark of longing of the lovers was lit in a flame of rapture at His sight. Baba walked all along the paths through the beautiful woodlands of the Center to the Barn and the beach, or through the winding paths from the Original Kitchen to His house. To the eyes of the lovers His beauty merged with that of the surroundings. On July 29, 1956 Baba walked to the beach with the group, and briefly put His feet into the ocean. Enjoying the beach, Baba sat down and began scooping the sand in a pile with His hands. Darwin Shaw writes, “Someone asked, ‘What is this?’ to which Baba replied, ‘The first man.’ We felt that Baba was having a little fun.”*** Such was His companionship—so intimate, so playful. On the same visit, Baba reminded His lovers, “I come down to your level to such an extent that I mix with you all. I appear to be gay, cheerful, playful. You have no idea of my divinity, of my all-pervading state. I have the greatest sense of humor, like Krishna. That sense of humor should not mislead you or make you forget who I really am.”****

Baba’s last trip to the Center was a toiling testimony to His love and effort to be in the presence of His lovers. Despite His physical condition after His second automobile accident, He came for His lovers to be able to be His fortunate companions in sharing His universal suffering. Darwin Shaw describes his experience of the ‘American Sahavas’ as “one of indefinable suffering and blissful love.” The Children’s party was a memorable event from that time. God incarnate playing the perfect host – serving cake, juice and ice cream to joyous little drops from His ocean. Light-hearted fun and jokes were accompanied by poignant messages that were the gems He left behind. On May 20, 1958 at the Barn, Baba said, “What is sahavas? It is companionship with God. It means that I come to your level, or you rise to my level. We are not on the same level. Either I come to yours or you come up to mine. Sahavas means God becoming human.”*****

Can we ever grasp the gravity of the simple act of companionship with a perfect being? The intricate interplay of His divinity in its divine and familiar aspects along with the infusion of His presence that He left behind have not diminished as years pass. We still walk paths He walked on, build castles in the sand He touched and sit beside trees He planted. The imprints of companionship and guidance now press ever deeper into the soft sands of our hearts. In this inner dimension, the nectar of companionship is ever present and most active for us to receive and avail ourselves of.

*Love Alone Prevails, by Kitty Davy, p.395
** How a Master Works, by Ivy Duce, p.86
*** As Only God Can Love, by Darwin Shaw, p.380
**** As Only God Can Love, by Darwin Shaw, p.373
***** As Only God Can Love, by Darwin Shaw, p.420