Editing Meher Baba (section)

==Teachings==
Meher Baba's teachings can be divided into two main categories: his metaphysics on the nature of the soul and the Universe, and practical advice for the spiritual aspirant. The two are interrelated. His [[metaphysics]] is mostly found in his principal book on the subject, ''[[God Speaks]]''. It contains detailed statements on his [[cosmology]], the purpose of life, and the progression of the soul. His teachings on the practical spiritual life are mostly contained in the ''Discourses'', although it also covers many metaphysical areas mirroring or amplifying ''God Speaks''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ambppct.org/library.php |title=Avatar Meher Baba Trust Online Library |access-date=4 June 2013 |archive-date=3 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703045254/http://ambppct.org/library.php |url-status=live }}</ref>

===''God Speaks''===
{{Main|God Speaks}}

''God Speaks'' describes the journey of the soul from its original state of unconscious divinity to the ultimate attainment of conscious divinity. The whole journey is a journey of imagination, in which the original indivisible state of God imagines becoming countless individualised souls which he likens to bubbles within an infinite ocean.<ref>''God Speaks'', Revised 2nd edition, 1997, p. 7</ref> Each soul, powered by the desire to become conscious, starts its journey in the most rudimentary form of consciousness. This limitation brings the need of a more developed form to advance it towards an increasingly conscious state. Consciousness grows in relation to the impressions each form is capable of gathering.<ref>''God Speaks'', Revised 2nd edition, 1997, pp. 8–27.</ref>

According to Meher Baba, each soul pursues conscious divinity by evolving; that is, experiencing itself in a succession of imagined forms through seven "kingdoms" of stone/metal, vegetable, worm, fish, bird, animal, and human.<ref>''God Speaks'', Revised 2nd edition, 1997, pp. 28–30</ref> The soul identifies itself with each successive form, becoming thus tied to illusion. During this evolution of forms, the power of thought increases, until in human form thought becomes infinite. Although in human form, the soul is capable of conscious divinity, all the impressions that it has gathered during evolution are illusory ones that create a barrier against the soul knowing itself. For this barrier to be overcome, further births in human form are needed in a process known as [[reincarnation]].<ref>''God Speaks'', Revised 2nd edition, 1997, pp. 31-40</ref>

The soul will reach a stage where its previously gathered impressions grow thin or weak enough that it enters a final stage called [[Involution (Meher Baba)|involution]]. This stage also requires a series of human births, during which the soul begins an inner journey, by which it realises its true identity as God. Baba breaks this inner journey into seven stages he called "planes". The process culminates, at the seventh plane, with God-realisation, at which the goal of life for the soul is reached.<ref>''God Speaks'', Revised 2nd edition, 1997, pp. 41–54</ref>

===''Discourses''===
The ''Discourses'' are a collection of explanations that Meher Baba has given on topics that concern the advancement of the spiritual aspirant. These topics include: sanskaras (mental impressions), [[Maya (illusion)|Maya]] (the principle of illusion), the nature of the ego, [[reincarnation]], [[karma]], violence and non-violence, [[meditation]], love, discipleship, and God-realisation.<ref>''Discourses'', 7th edition, 1987, p. v</ref> His explanations often include stories from the lore of India and the Sufi culture. One such story, the wise man and the ghost, shows the power that superstitious beliefs can have on a person, while another, [[Layla and Majnun|Majnun and Layla]], shows how selfless love, even in human relations, can lead one to discipleship.<ref>''Discourses'', 7th edition, 1987, p. 147</ref>

Meher Baba's suggestions include putting theory into practice, internally renouncing desires, offering selfless service to humanity or the master, spontaneity, and avoiding actions that bind one to illusion. Rather than lay out moral rules, Baba explains why some actions bind the individual whereas others aid emancipation.<ref>''Discourses'', 7th edition, 1987, pp. 5, 42, 46, 53, 62, 65, etc.</ref> Several chapters discuss the mechanisms by which consciousness gets caught up between the opposites of experience, such as pleasure and pain, good and evil, and suggest how to transcend these opposites.<ref>''Discourses'', 7th edition, 1987, pp. 26, 61, etc.</ref>

=== Perfect Masters and the Avatar ===
{{Main|Perfect Master (Meher Baba)}}

Meher Baba related that there are 56 incarnate God-realised souls on [[Earth]] at any given time. Of these souls there are always five who constitute the five Perfect Masters of their era.<ref>Kalchuri (1986) p. 944</ref> When one of the five Perfect Masters dies, another God-realised soul immediately replaces him or her.<ref>Adriel, Jean.''Avatar: The Life Story of the Perfect Master, Meher Baba'' (1947), p. 49, J. F. Rowny press</ref>

The [[Avatar]], according to Baba, is a special Perfect Master, the first soul to achieve God-realisation. This soul, the original Perfect Master, or Ancient One, never ceases to incarnate. Baba indicated that this soul personifies the state of God called [[Vishnu]] in [[Hinduism]] and [[Parvardigar]] in [[Sufism]], i.e. the sustainer or preserver state of God. Baba taught that the Avatar appears on Earth every 700–1400 years and is "brought down" into human form by the five Perfect Masters of the time to aid creation in the endless process of moving toward Godhood. Baba claimed that in other ages this role had been fulfilled by [[Zoroaster]], [[Rama]], [[Krishna]], [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]], [[Jesus]], and [[Muhammad]].<ref>''The Path of Love'', by Meher Baba, Sheriar Press, US, 2000, p. 30.
(originally published in 1976 by Samuel Weiser, New York)</ref>

Baba described the Avatar as "a gauge against which man can measure what he is and what he may become. He trues the standard of human values by interpreting them in terms of divinely human life."<ref>Meher Baba: "Discourses", ''Sufism Reoriented'', 6th ed., 1967. Vol III, p. 15</ref>

Most of Meher Baba's followers accept his claim of avatarhood,<ref name=Choquette>''New Religious Movements in the United States and Canada: A Critical Assessment and Annotated Bibliography''. Contributors: Diane Choquette – compiler. Publisher: Greenwood Press. Place of Publication: Westport, CT. Publication Year: 1985. p. 12.</ref> and he is said to be "revered by millions around the world as the Avatar of the age and a God-realized being".<ref name=UPI07271967 />