Editorial

In every country, it is customary for a very rich man, when he passes away, to leave the greatest part of his wealth to his family, a large amount to his close friends, and the remainder to his favorite charity.

Meher Baba often said, "I am the richest of the rich (as well as the poorest of the poor)". His wealth was his incalculable store of God's Love and God's Truth, God's Bliss and God's Grace. He too, when he dropped his body, left us an incredible inheritance.

It is obvious that his family and mandali have received their share and have guarded it well. In the case of a divine inheritance, to guard it well means not to hoard it, but give it away. And this they have most generously done, and are doing.

We, the friends and lovers of Meher Baba, have also received our share as his heirs. Every day we receive an income from his divine trust fund of Love and Truth. And we too, in our various kinds of "Baba work," are trying to pass it on.

And Baba's favorite charity — mankind at large — has also received his beneficence through the underground channels of his inner working, though mankind may still be unaware of the source of the gift (and Divinity can be divinely anonymous). All over the world, the "New Age Consciousness", the rising awareness of man's inner life and his spiritual needs, is becoming more evident, in whatever form it takes. It may not be specifically love for Baba, or even love for God, but a love for man's spiritual freedom and inherent divinity.

But it is also customary for some to oppose and contest the will of the wealthy man and to harass the heirs to his fortune, delaying the payment of their inheritance. And this too, has happened: Maya and all her cohorts have opposed the Divine Will and are harassing us in receiving our due. Thus many of us are having trouble in "collecting" Meher Baba's gift of Love, Truth and Bliss; it seems that more calamities than ever have befallen us.

It is then important to remember that Maya too is really following God's will in seemingly opposing us. It is actually our Father's will that we do struggle for our inheritance, that we do make our own effort to collect it and to pass it on.

So, since this "Inheritance Game" is the game he has left us in Illusion, let us not complain but learn to play it well!

A Small P.S.:

The Awakener Magazine too has had its share of calamities, the same rising cost of paper, printing and postage and general lack of interest in magazines that has wiped out Life, Look, Colliers, The Saturday Evening Post and other magazine giants as well countless small publications that are the cultural lifeblood of our country.

The Awakener too will not survive without the renewed enthusiasm of its special audience of Baba lovers. Only a very small percent of them support us with subscriptions. Ironically this comes just at the time when we have access to much unpublished material by and about Meher Baba. With this issue we are forced to raise the price of our subscription to $4.50 per year, but are hopeful that we will win your continued enthusiasm and even greater support. We will even gladly accept donations!