At eight o’clock in the morning of June 25th, 1943, Baba held a special gathering of a few of his lovers and the mandali, to listen to songs and ghazals of Jigar (1) (one of Baba’s favorite poets) being performed at Meherabad. The following is one couplet Jigar sang about love:
“If one word of love,
so insignificant in expression
but so powerful in effect,
is focussed in the human world
and then released,
it encompasses the whole world.”
Baba was in an especially happy mood, and composed a few of his own couplets on the spot. Baba also gave this special explanation, and hint, of what he remarked was the greatest spiritual secret:
“When you want nothing,
you gain everything.”
He concluded, “You will all be pardoned for all your past bad karmas.”
The following is a ghazal by Jigar that Meher Baba heard sung in Urdu, translated by Adi K. Irani. It has been called the “Ghazal of Repentance.”
Cheered up by each glance of Saki,
the wine-giver, my Beloved, I drank.
I drank away in the same undulating rhythm
as the waves that played on the surface of the wine.
Seeing the worldly intoxication of those
un-intoxicated with God’s love,
I became alarmed, and I drank.
Having broken the mood of repentance,
trembling, I drank.
O you pious! Look to the prank of my drunkenness!
Having broken away from religious mercy,
the Divine Mercy every time descended,
and I drank.
When I remembered the intoxication
of the primordial beginning,
I kicked away the world of faith, of piety,
and, like hell, I drank.
Seeing the heartful helplessness of Saki,
the wine-giver, my Master,
I felt so ashamed;
and in shamefulness, I drank.
O Eternal Mercy Divine!
May my every error be pardoned
because in the height of my fervor,
in fear, I drank.
To drink without a permit,
how could I ever venture?
Consent I did obtain from the eyes of my Beloved,
by his glance, and I drank.
O Jigar! Repeatedly do I swear
by the life of the tavern.
Now, having overcome;
having spread out myself over the entire world,
like hell, I drank.
(1) Jigar was the nom-de-plume for the poet Ali Sikander Muradabadi (1890-1961) from Merath in northern India. He was an eminent poet of India, who had a true gift of inspiration from God for song and poetry. Jigar was not on the subtle planes, or a salik, but his poetry was genuinely inspired from the subtle world. On one occasion, he had a true glimpse of God. Jigar did not have continual divine inspiration, but he had the inspiration of the subtle world and only when he would write. This inspiration was therefore temporary when he was writing and not lasting (as a subtle or mental conscious salik).
Jigar was addicted to alcohol and he would drink, and drink heavily, because his wife had left him and he felt a great sadness. After many years, when he stopped drinking alcohol he became sick and gradually fell critically ill. He wrote in Urdu and it is not known if he knew English. He was Baba’s favorite living poet and a powerful writer of ghazals. In his later years, he found a spiritual Master named Azgaar who inspired Jigar to continue to write.
Meher Baba did not meet with Jigar in person. However, when Jigar was on his deathbed in 1961, Baba sent a man named Baghel (from Hamirpur) to him with a copy of God Speaks, as a gift from him. Baghel presented the book to him and Jigar touched his forehead with the book. Baghel told him about Baba and Jigar was very consoled and very happy to hear about Baba. He sent his salutations to Baba and soon after this he died.
Lord Meher, Original Publication, Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 8, pp. 2896 – 2897.