THE GOD-MAN The Life, Journeys and Work of Meher Baba with an ...

388 THE GOD-MANunrealized and hidden, in every man. This is the free life, the culmination of the new life, described in earlierchapters of this book. That is why Baba seems out of place in the phenomenal world in which dreams andshadows still occupy the mind, and explains why he does not fit into a society whose values are empirical,temporary and insecure. We are told that those who achieve perfection usually leave the world. Theexceptions are when they have specific work to do as with Gautama Buddha, who, after long years ofwandering and renunciation, being rewarded with 'a pure and heavenly vision surpassing that of man', foundthe Golden Path, and instead of entering into nirvana returned for the salvation of mankind.To acknowledge what this means when it concerns oneself requires great courage; any form of courage isone of the basic virtues, but this demands much more than any ordinary courage, the courage of the divine.Seneca said that the wise man is like God; and only the Godlike, only God himself, can make this greataffirmation to himself. Because there are no positive outward signs the way is open to fools who lackcourage, as well as to self-deceivers and to frauds, and there have been many of them. There is, however, aninfallible test. It is that one who makes the claim of divinity does not seek to take advantage of whateverstatus or powers perfection may be supposed to bestow. Neither does he exploit his own nature andcapabilities, not even his apparent defenselessness. In short, the test of 'love' in its unemotional aspect applies.Unless pure love is present without any admixture of self-seeking, the one making the affirmation iscertainly false, either self-deluded or a charlatan. 'Proofs' such as miracle-working or occult powers areworthless, for all powers can be deceptive; but there can never be any doubt about pure love.(9)Therefore, in the course of his announcement of the divine vocation, Meher Baba says to his disciples, tothe crowds, to the poor, lepers and the mad, and to those who come to him, 'You, too, if you but knew it areGod: Why not wake up?' He claims no superiority for himself; for the entire essence of this knowledge is tolose every residue of self-importance. Any man freed from identity with his empirical self, thus being able toknow his real self, could say what Baba says. When I was with him at the sahawas in Myrtle Beach in 1958,the company played as often as they could in his presence the negro spiritual, 'He's got the