DISCOURSES & TALKS BY MEHER BABA

DIVINE INTOXICATION & OBEDIENCE

8 November, 1928

On the evening of Saturday, 8 December 1928, when Baba was on his usual rounds of inspection, he gave a candid explanation on divine intoxication and obedience to a Master's orders. Baba explained the difference between the two states with this metaphor:

A diamond or pearl is costly and valuable indeed, but they have absolutely no value in a desert when one is thirsty or hungry, and when a piece of bread or a pot of water would be more valuable than all the jewels in the world! In a similar way, intoxication with God is very good; it is indifferent and careless toward worldly affairs and relations as well as toward drinking, eating, or sleeping. It is due, of course, to the effects of the highest love for the Beloved.

But this intoxication, however invaluable or desirable, has no value before the Master's order. It is below his orders. His order is the highest and most supreme test. Strict observance of the Master's order, in spite of any type of intoxication, is the best. Otherwise, the breaking of orders due to intoxication has little or no importance whatsoever. As I have stated before, even in the highest state of intoxication, one's head should be on the feet of the Master. This is the meaning of the Persian couplet:

Kiss even the chair of the Beloved; then go on crying and wailing that you are burning from separation.

Then ask, "O kind Lord, listen to our complaint and do something!"

The couplet reveals that you must first surrender heart and soul to your Beloved and then cry from the pain of separation — not before. And surrender means giving up your mind and being only guided in life by the guru's word and direction with absolutely no thinking. Crying, weeping and wailing without surrender are of no use.

Lord Meher On-line page 993-4

Lord Meher Vol.3 p.1120-1