DISCOURSES & TALKS BY MEHER BABA

MIND  &  BODY

2nd July, 1925

A group of Parsi politicians came to see Meher Baba on Thursday, 2 July. After discussing with them the political and spiritual situation of India, the Master discoursed about the mind and body. This was to be his last recorded verbal discourse:

Human excrement is totally useless; only swine eat it. Similarly, when the flesh is cut from a carcass, only bones remain and these are thrown to the dogs. Man's mind is like flesh, and his body is like the bones.

A person eats flesh [meat] and digests it, which means he uses it. But the bones are inedible and of no use; so he gives them to dogs, who can chew and utilize them.

A human being must care for his mind, which is like the meat. He should use his mind by training it to flow into the proper channels.

A person has to let go of his physical body sometime, for it cannot be preserved. To illustrate this: suppose one's finger is chopped off or a leg is crippled, he should not worry or weep over it because he knows that his whole physical body has to be discarded one day. But a human being should be most careful about his mind, which is of the utmost use to him. The mind should be directed toward proper spheres; it should be kept in check and utilized.

If this body, which a person has to discard one day, is used for anything, it should be used in the service of three causes: God, the Master and our fellowman. The body may become weary and worn-out — it may bring one suffering — but so what? Man, as a physical being, is destined to suffer. So long as the body is vibrant, active and under one's control, man can be said to have used it for a good cause by directing his energies in any good or noble work.

Lord Meher On-line page 596-7

Lord Meher Vol.2 p.729