DISCOURSES & TALKS BY MEHER BABA

HAFIZ

 18 November, 1927

Baba commented about Hafiz:

Hafiz, who is widely known throughout the literary world as a great poet, was also a Qutub, a Perfect Master of his age. There are hundreds of thousands of people in Persia and India who rely upon his work for divine guidance. There are numerous instances in history when momentous decisions were arrived at after consulting the Divan-e-Hafiz [the collection of Hafiz's poems]. The practice of referring to it for advice is still very common to this day. Even the answering of the question of Hafiz's burial was decided after consulting the advice of his own compositions.

Yet there are very few who understand the spiritual secrets which are revealed in his poetry. In fact, Khwaja [the Master] Hafiz has clearly narrated, one by one, all the stages of spirituality in his Divan. Every complete ghazal refers to a certain spiritual state and stage for one who can understand it.

Lord Meher On-line page 860

Lord Meher Vol.3 p.980

27 November, 1927

At Pimpalgaon, Baba discoursed on one of his favorite subjects — poetry. He further explained about Hafiz and certain other great poets:

Hafiz never actually wrote poetry. He only spoke it out loud when in the mood, or he sang it. Shams, too, did not ever write, but Rumi did. In his odes, Hafiz describes with poetic beauty the charms of the universe, the planes and the Path, and he reveals secrets. Tukaram, Kabir, Shams, and Rumi were all God-realized [Perfect Masters] and said splendid things, but none so splendid as Hafiz in language and poetic diction.

Lord Meher On-line page 860

Lord Meher Vol.3 p.980

18 December, 1927