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Encyclopædia Britannica entry on Meher Baba |
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Meher Baba's cosmology may be summarized as follows: the goal of all life is to realize the absolute oneness of God, from whom the universe emanated as a result of the whim of unconscious divinity to know itself as conscious divinity. In pursuit of consciousness, evolution of forms occurs in seven stages: stone or metal, vegetable, worm, fish, bird, animal, and human. Every individualized soul must experience all of these forms in order to gain full consciousness. Once consciousness is attained, the burden of impressions accumulated in these forms prevents the soul from realizing its identity with God. To gain this realization the individual must traverse an inward spiritual path, eliminating all false impressions of individuality and eventuating in the knowledge of the “real self” as God. Meher Baba saw his work as awakening the world through love to a new consciousness of the oneness of all life. To that end he lived a life of love and service which included extensive work with the poor, the physically and mentally ill, and many others, including such tasks as feeding the poor, cleaning the latrines of untouchables, and bathing lepers. He saw a responsibility to give spiritual help to “advanced souls,” and travelled throughout the Indian subcontinent to find such persons. These outward activities Meher Baba saw as indications of the inner transformation of consciousness that he came to give the world. He established and later dismantled many institutions of service, which he compared to scaffolding temporarily erected to construct a building that really was within the human heart. He said that a “new humanity” would emerge from his life's work, and that he would bring about an unprecedented release of divine love in the world. Meher Baba never sought to form a sect or proclaim a dogma; he attracted and welcomed followers of many faiths and every social class with a message emphasizing love and compassion, the elimination of the selfish ego, and the potential of realizing God within themselves. Although his equation of the several manifestations of God was syncretic, he won many followers from sects and denominations that repudiated syncretism, and encouraged those followers to be strong in their original faiths. After his death his followers heeded his wish that they not form an organization, but continued to gather informally and often to discuss and read his works and express through music, poetry, dance, or drama their reflections on his life. His tomb at Meherabad, near Ahmednagar, has become a place of pilgrimage for his followers throughout the world. His books include Discourses (5 vol., 1938–43; the earliest dictated on an alphabet board, the others by gesture), God Speaks: The Theme of Creation and Its Purposes (1955), and The Everything and the Nothing (1963).Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2013 |
Point taken about the lead. The two editors currently active here (myself and Dazedbythebell) will be working on it. Hoverfish Talk 21:39, 19 August 2013 (UTC)
I think most of this can be dealt with fairly quickly. The layout issue is quite easy to fix - though is best done by those who know the subject, as they can select the most appropriate section titles. The lead should again be a matter relatively easy to fix. It's mainly a matter of summarising the main sections. I think once a decent summary of the teachings/philosophy/ideas of Meher Baba is presented in the article, the rest of it will fall into place. I don't think I am the person to do the work as it would require too much time to do the proper research - this does need subject specialists. But I can certainly give feedback on progress, and again assess the end result. I am putting on hold for the initial seven days. I am really flexible on time. I'll be happy to close this tomorrow if the work is done. Conversely, I am content to keep the review open for a month or more. I am not an impatient man, and I understand the demands of real life, and that we are all volunteers working here in our spare time. As long as work is being done, and progress is being made, I'm content to keep the review open. My aim here is to improve the article, not to have it delisted. SilkTork ✔Tea time 22:18, 19 August 2013 (UTC)
Hi SilkTork, while Meher Baba is still on hold, can you please take a look at what we have done so far and let us know if you see further issues? I have commented about one point that is not up to us to fix. Thank you. Hoverfish Talk 16:52, 21 August 2013 (UTC)
I may have misplaced my previous comment, so I will move it down here with its original date stamp and comment further below it as soon as I find a free moment. Hoverfish Talk 15:06, 24 August 2013 (UTC)
Sorry for very long delay. I am a little tied up at the moment. I will get to this shortly. I am going to be on Wikipedia on and off today, and hopefully I'll find the time to work on the lead. SilkTork ✔Tea time 10:03, 7 September 2013 (UTC)
GAR is now withdrawn. The article remains listed as a Good Article. SilkTork ✔Tea time 08:13, 13 September 2013 (UTC)
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