While Baba was discoursing, someone asked, “Why are there fifty-six Realized souls in the world in every age?”
Baba replied:
The number 56 denotes perfection. God has to take human form to do the work of maintaining a balance in the universe, and if only one Perfect Person existed he would not be sufficient for the purpose. For instance, a toddy shopkeeper needs several helpers – one to prepare the toddy, another to serve it, another to collect payment, et cetera. But if there is no shop, what is the use of helpers? Therefore, the universe must be maintained, and to carry out the affairs of the universe in an orderly manner fifty-six God-Realized persons are required.
The view of one eye is limited. This infinity of illusion requires the fifty-six people for an orderly management of the universe. All this is beyond your intellect. It is of no avail until Knowledge dawns and such Knowledge is not easy to come by. Such talk is all air – empty air – which one tries to grasp but cannot. As Hafiz says:
This Knowledge is never grasped by the intellect’s noose;
destroy the noose and you will obtain it.
For example, there is a boat with a man in it on the surface of the ocean. But if the man himself turns into the ocean, what is the use of the boat? When the man was without Knowledge, he enjoyed the ocean by going out in a boat; when he himself has become the ocean, he has no pleasure in going out in a boat – and the boat floats on the surface of the ocean without a rower! This is the state of a majzoob.
I am Prabhu – the Lord. I am all Knowledge-Power-Bliss. You see me, talk with me and touch me, but I dwell in Infinity. My state is indescribable. Forget about my state, but just think about what I can give you! If I am not playing with God as God twenty-four hours a day, how can I be able to give the Infinite Experience?
This is all beyond your limited understanding. You have intellects and I have come down to your level of understanding to make you understand; but as I said, it is all beyond human understanding.
On June 30th, explaining to the mandali about Maya, Meher Baba expounded:
God uses Maya to conduct the affairs of the universe. Paramatma never uses Maya to make others free from Maya. Suppose Arjun is Paramatma and his cane is God. If you wrap a seven-colored string around this cane, that string is Maya. What a difference between Arjun and the string – the string has only touched God (the cane) and not Paramatma, Who is aloof.
Suppose you come along and mistake the string for a snake. This mistake creates Maya. But, if we see that the string is only a string and nothing else, then where is Maya? It is only your false supposition that is really Maya. In the end, when it is found that it is only a string, you laugh at your false presupposition because your fears are gone – the illusion is removed. In the same way, when one attains Realization, he laughs at these false notions of Maya – the world and all its connections – for they are totally false and not real.
Therefore, the very moment Maya (desires, passions and anger) enters your head, thrust it out. Do not let it in at all. If a rabid dog goes after you, you shout to drive it away. If, on the other hand, you give it food, it will follow you and will not go away. Similarly, Maya is like a rabid dog. Do not allow it to enter your mind. Drive it away as you would a mad dog. Drive it away with all your strength, for once it sticks to you, it will be quite impossible for you to free yourself.
People say that God created Maya, but that is not so. For example, take the hair on the head. The hair is Maya and the head is God, the Creator. Although the hair grows on the head, the head does not know how, why and where it comes from. Then how can it be said that the head created hair, or God created Maya? But in a way, the very creation of Maya itself is dependent on God.
Maya is sheer illusion – the force of imagination. Where there is lust, there is Maya. Where there is anger, there is Maya. Where there is greed, there is Maya. He who renounces Maya finds everything! Do not be a slave to Maya. Subjugate Maya and you will see God in all His perfection.
But it is next to impossible to realize God. One must die to gain this state, not by drowning or committing suicide, but by renouncing Maya and freeing oneself from its deluding allurements. And this Maya is so tyrannical and powerful that even the best of persons succumb to its lures. The real heroes who eat her up are very rare. So hold tightly to my feet to ease your way or else you will not get even a whiff of Reality and your strenuous efforts to reach the Goal age after age will not bring you any nearer to it.
Lord Meher, Original Publication, Bhau Kalchuri. Vol. 9, pp. 820 – 821.