THE FOUR MESSAGES

Baba had given out several messages during the war which were printed and circulated among his lovers and the public. In February, 1942, he dictated four messages: The Spiritual Significance of the Present War, Violence and Non-Violence, Action and Inaction, and The Need for Creative Leadership in India(1)

Baba also gave explanations and precise instructions to his lovers, devotees and the general public on what they should do in case India was invaded by Japan. Baba especially wished these four messages to be delivered to the leaders of India. He chose Chanji and Jal Kerawala for this task and sent them to Delhi on March 23rd, (1942) with these words: “You have to do this work even if you die doing it!”

The political situation in India was becoming critical. Japan was approaching India’s borders. At the same time, Mahatma Gandhi and others were clamoring for independence after more than a century of British rule. In order to come to some settlement, Churchill despatched Stafford Cripps to Delhi to meet with India’s leaders. He offered what amounted to independence after Japan’s defeat to secure their immediate cooperation in defending the country. But the proposal did not appeal to Gandhi’s concepts of non-violence, and the offer was rejected.

Baba, who was closely following all this, very much wished the leaders of the All India Congress to read his messages before Cripps arrived in Delhi. Accordingly, in the intense heat of Delhi’s summer, Chanji and Jal Kerawala spent a week contacting about thirty prominent leaders such as Gandhi, Jinnah, Nehru, Rajaji and Stafford Cripps himself. They delivered printed copies of Meher Baba’s four messages to each of them.

(1) These messages regarding war and violence were printed in the Meher Baba Journal, March issue, 1942, and then corrections regarding the message on violence were made by Baba and reprinted in the June issue.

Lord Meher, Bhau Kalchuri, Original Publication, Vol. 8, pp. 2772 – 2773.