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

THE TEACHING 429arrogant claim? Nothing of the kind. When he points to himself as God he is pointing to God, at the sametime he is reminding others of their own real selves. When he said of Nilu and Jamshed when they died thatthey had 'come to me', he meant that the soul had entered the realm of eternity in which Baba livessimultaneously with his mortal life.(16)A strange statement was made in 'The Final Declaration' (1954) when he said:The time has come for the pre-ordained destruction of multiple separateness which keeps man fromexperiencing the feeling of unity and brotherhood. This destruction which will take place very soon, willcause three-fourths of the world to be destroyed. The remaining onefourth will be brought together to live alife of concord and mutual understanding, thus establishing a feeling of oneness in all fellow beings, leadingthem towards lasting happiness.He later explained that this language was 'his own'; in other words, not to be grossly understood: it issymbolic. It is worth pointing out that this Final Declaration concluded Baba's 'Fiery Life'.The idea of catastrophe is associated with that of cycles. In Hindu philosophy there is the dissolution of' acompleted life of Brahma', in which the annihilation of the entire creation is contemplated, which is presentin various forms in Indian philosophical teaching. The idea is indeed very ancient. There was the Chaldeandoctrine of the Great Year, which was equivalent to 36,000 ordinary years. The Greeks, too, had a great yearof 18,000 or more years, and Plato presents the idea of a cosmic catastrophe, in The Statesman, to accountfor the fall from the original city of perfection to the existing city of strife. The Stoics believed in theperiodic dissolution of mankind over long periods of time, a new world arising out of the cataclysm. There isevidence of the idea in the records of the Mayas and Aztecs. All in the West know of the great catastrophewhen man was expelled from Paradise at the very start of his existence on earth, and, indeed, the history ofthe Jews is a record of the catastrophes due to their disobedience. Islam looks for the 'grievous chastisement'to fall upon a world that does not make peace with God.The idea is vividly present in the New Testament, Jesus was very