(May 1958) A discourse on Nirvan and Nirvikalp was to be read. (1) Baba prefaced it by stating:
This is short, but difficult. Those who cannot follow it must not worry. It is nothing but words. Only love counts. If the most unintelligent one can love me as I ought to be loved, he is infinitely more blessed than the most intelligent one who does not know how to love me.
Nirvan and Nirvikalp: Fana is the state of unconsciousness. In fana, the soul is unconscious of everything except Self being God. Before the soul loses its human state and gains the divine state of nirvikalp [“I Am God”], it has to experience the vacuum state of nirvan. Nirvan is the infinite vacuum state where the soul is fully conscious of Real Nothing. Nirvan is immediately and inevitably followed by nirvikalp (fana fillah) where the soul is fully conscious of Real Everything.
Nirvan and nirvikalp are so irrevocably linked and tied together that each one can be said to be the Divine Goal.
False nothing = illusory everything
Real Nothing = neither everything nor nothing
Real Everything = God the Infinite
False nothing leads to false everything, and Real Nothing leads to Real Everything. False nothing is linked to false everything, and Real Nothing is linked to Real Everything. Eventually, false nothing ends in false everything, and Real Nothing ends in Real Everything.
In duality, false nothing is false everything. In Unity, Real Nothing and Real Everything are one.
Baba commented:
If you listen seven times, there is a chance of your beginning to understand, or you might lose yourself in nothing! What is Real Nothing? There is a difference between nothing and Real Nothing. Real Nothing means not even nothing. On the sixth plane, one sees nothing but God, and sees God everywhere. One sees nothing and everything. There is still duality – the seer and the seen. The seer sees nothing but God.
When the seer crosses the sixth plane with the help of a Perfect Master and is pushed across the abyss, his experience is of an infinite vacuum. It cannot be described. There is neither seer nor seen; neither nothing, nor everything. It is the Real Nothing. But this Real Nothing is immediately followed by Union with God, Who is everything. The vacuum is infinite, and it must be filled by the infinite. That is the experience when one is pushed into the seventh plane. So even saints of the sixth plane of consciousness, who see God everywhere, do not know what the Real Nothing is.
About answering questions on this discourse: to tell you the truth, I do not like questions and answers. From the beginningless beginning, I asked one question, “Who am I?” And I gave one answer, “I am God!” All other questions and answers do not interest me. Still, to please you, I will listen to questions and answer them. Harry [Kenmore] is full of questions.
(1) The explanation of Nirvan and Nirvikalp was originally dictated by Meher Baba to Bhau Kalchuri in October 1956.
On 24th May 1952, Baba underwent self-imposed suffering by way of automobile accident in Prague, Oklahoma, USA.
Lord Meher, Original Publication, Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 15, pp. 5428 – 5429.