DISCOURSES & TALKS BY MEHER BABA

 

MINOR AVATARIC ADVENT

 

 

Late April 1922

 

A subsequent minor Avataric advent, Baba revealed, was as a Buddhist monk, born in a suburb of Rangoon, Burma in 1795 to a family of Jains. His story is as follows:

 

 

His father was a priest who earned very little. When the child was only seven he lost his father and soon after his mother. The entire duty of looking after the boy fell upon the shoulders of his uncle, who was a learned man of splendid character. The uncle had great affection for the boy and therefore took great pleasure in taking charge of him. Though the uncle was one of the most learned men of his time, he did not care to educate his beloved nephew — simply because the uncle saw in his nephew all the indications of a saint. He considered the boy to be a born saint, and so never interfered with him in any matter ... The boy's heart and mind were always pointed to God, and the uncle saw not the slightest necessity to teach the boy either in spirit or in words ... The uncle considered his nephew's life to be a beacon light to himself.

 

 

For days together the boy would not eat anything. Occasionally he would leave his uncle's house and for several days wander in the streets of Rangoon as a sanyasi. One day, when he was about fourteen, he cast off his clothes and left his house. Almost entirely naked, he began to [roam] about the suburb he was born in ... till he was 20. Some people considered this itinerant monk as a lunatic; some regarded him as a saint. Needless to say, the uncle's opinion about his nephew-monk was the highest, in as much as he considered him as a true Paramhansa. As the uncle was a learned man well-versed in the scriptures of all religions, hundreds of persons used to call upon him to consult him on matters of religion and spirituality. And to all his visitors and followers, the uncle would say that his nephew was just like Lord Buddha ...

 

 

When the naked itinerant monk became 20, he gave up wandering and repaired to the city proper and made a place near a Jain temple as his abode. He lived in this place continuously till the end of his life, for ten long years. During this whole period, he did not eat anything. He lived simply on water ... His uncle, who was with him throughout this period, did not once press him to eat. To people who came to worship his nephew, he would say, "To be sure, you are worshipping Buddha."

 

 

The monk gave up his body in 1826 when he was only 30 years old. [By that time] he had been reduced to a skeleton. Months before he died, he had totally lost his power of speaking on account of extreme debility.