The Birth and Death of Jesus Christ

“Time and again,” Meher Baba said, “I come to arouse and awaken humanity. I came as Zoroaster, Abraham, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus and Mohammed and now I have come as Meher Baba.”

Even though Meher Baba did not provide complete biographical details of His previous advents, He did revisit and reflect on the lives of previous avatars: his own lives as the Godman. In His most compassionate humanness, He threw light on the meaning of well-known and lesser-known facts from their lives, clarified misconceptions that came about due to passage of time, and the loss of detail due to inevitable religiosity.

Among many other common characteristics and patterns that each advent exhibits, Baba confirms that every Avatar has a sense of humor. It is with that very trademark sense of humor that Baba revealed facts about the beginning and end of Jesus’s life: two fables that stand as concrete poles holding between them an entire advent full of complex versions of a simple story.

The Beginning

It is evident from various historical texts that the forewarning of His divinity and the impending danger that would unfold seemed to have been present before, during and after the birth of some of the Avatars. In the case of Jesus, an angel had informed the three wise men of the birth of the messiah. Dreams had by the mothers of the forthcoming Avatars served as forewarnings in the case of Zoroaster and Meher Baba. And the lurking danger of death of the infant messiah was true for Jesus (by King Herod), Krishna (by his uncle Kansa) and Zoroaster (by priests of the age).

Kitty Davy was once reading the New Testament to Meher Baba. And He asked her, “Do people really believe that Jesus was conceived in an immaculate way?” To which Kitty replied, “They do.” Baba answered, “He was conceived without lust.”*

The Crucifixion

In the region of Kashmir, in northern India, it is a widely known myth that Jesus lived and died in the holy land of Kashmir. About Kashmir, Meher Baba said, “In Kashmir there is a balance between the powers of God and maya, and that is the way it should be.”** Meher Baba visited Kashmir five times.

In 1929, on His first visit to Kashmir, Meher Baba spent extensive time in finding the perfect spot for His seclusion work. Finally, a hut was built on the hills of Harvan, near Srinagar. About this spot Baba said, “The place I have chosen to remain in seclusion is connected with Jesus Christ. His body is buried in a cave near here.”***

In 1933 Baba returned to Harvan. The Prince of Hyderabad had an enormous palace, stables and gardens there. Kitty Davy, one of His western companions on that trip said, “An indescribable peace hung about Harvan. One felt like speaking only in whispers.”**** On that very trip, Baba pointed to the Hill within which lay the cave, which was now covered over by avalanches and the natural growth of mountain terrain, and said, “There is the place where two of Christ’s apostles, Bartholomew and Thaddeus, buried His body. They had accompanied Him from Palestine.”*****

Baba explained that Jesus did not die on the Cross. He entered a state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi. When He gained consciousness of His body on the third day, He travelled eastwards to India and Burma, in disguise with some apostles. He settled in Kashmir and when His work was complete, He went into Nirvikalpa Samadhi permanently.******

The Avatar in each advent gives humanity an Avataric gift. Meher Baba commented that His gift was that of intuition and Jesus’s was love. Baba said, “Christ lived and died for love. He was Love Personified.”*******

* How a Master Works, By Jean Adriel, pg. 457
** Lord Meher, Vol. 4, pg. 1186
*** Lord Meher, Vol. 4, pg. 1193
****Love Alone Prevails, By Kitty Davy, pg. 98
*****Lord Meher, Vol 5, pg.1770
****** Stated in Lord Meher, pg. 752
*******Awakener Magazine, 8:2, pg.10