DISCOURSES & TALKS BY MEHER BABA

 

NOT TO TOUCH ME

 

 

 

7th August, 1929

 

Careful not to touch me.

 

Continuing, Baba explained:

 

 

Why no touch? There is some great purpose behind it. It is said, "To be a lover is not easy." Yet it is more difficult to become the Beloved — I should say most difficult! Many can become lovers, but very, very few — almost none — can become the Beloved. The reason is that a lover gives up his body, mind, spirit, soul — in short, his very life — for the Beloved, who is not an ordinary, common beloved. A Murshid [Master] is no ordinary being and beloved. He is the knower of everything! He can order his lover to do anything at any time, which gives rise to doubts in the mind of the devotee. Such doubts bring about his undoing and the lover fails the Beloved.

 

 

Once a mureed [lover, follower] was sleeping by the side of his Master. After a short time, the mureed awakened and, finding the Master sleeping soundly, he sat in reverence by his side. All of a sudden, the Master had a nocturnal emission and woke up. To cleanse himself, he went to the river to bathe, quietly returned to his bed and went to sleep again. To the utter amazement of the mureed, the Master gets continual discharges throughout the night — 75 times — and each time, he woke up, went for a bath, and again lay down and fell asleep.

 

Seeing this, doubts assailed the disciple. "How could a Perfect Master suffer from wet dreams? And so many times!"

 

 

The next morning, the Master did not say anything and quietly went to his mandali. There, in the presence of all including the doubting disciple, he declared that he had had as many as 75 nocturnal emissions that night.

 

 

Hearing this, all were silent in deep thought. But a clever fellow among them said, "Master, because you are connected with everything in the universe, you had these discharges. Just as you answer the call of nature, because you eat and drink like an ordinary man. Thus you also had those emissions since you have connection with your physical body's system. It is natural because you have a body in contact — in touch — with everything."

 

 

But the Master said, "It is not so. These nocturnal emissions did not happen due to any physical reason, nor because my body has connection with everything. It happened for the benefit of you, my close disciples. What doubts did this unimportant event raise in your minds? You even doubted my Mastership! Had you full faith in me, you would not have had such thoughts. True faith should be rock-like, unwavering. I wanted to test your faith, and I find you lacking in faith despite so many years of my contact."