The tomb of the God-Man is the tomb of the form, the cloak or the veil donned by God Himself descending from the realms of Reality into illusion. The tomb is the repository of the veil that God puts on while being in illusion.

The tomb of the Perfect Master is that of the body of a man who has realized God. As Baba has told us, when man realizes God he is Man-God; when God descends upon this earth in His Advents, He becomes God-Man. As soon as man realizes himself as God, at that moment he drops his body, but this is not death in the ordinary sense of the word. The God-realized being continues to use his body, move about in his body, is seen by others associated with him, but he has dissociated himself from his body. The Man-God who becomes a Perfect Master continues to be in human form for some time, because around his neck, so to say, is the responsibility of the office of Perfect Mastership. All this is very well explained by Baba in "God Speaks".

The case of the God-Man is different. God assumes human form, a male human form. When the time comes He drops the male human form. This form is man-form, not a male body. It is a cloak, a veil that veils Reality when Reality descends into illusion. That is something very special, very dynamic, so the tomb of that form is very important as a place of world pilgrimage.

To make a pilgrimage to the tomb of the God-Man is most beneficial. That reminds me of a very good story.

You know that the Prophet Mohammed laid down that followers should at least once in their lifetime make a pilgrimage to the Kaaba at Mecca.

So there was a man once who with very great difficulty saved enough money to make his pilgrimage as enjoined by the Prophet. He was an ordinary laborer and he had to toil long hours to earn sufficient for the journey. At the same time that he set off, there was also a whole tribe travelling on pilgrimage to Mecca. There were men, women and children and all were led by a very pious man.

Now there is a date fixed for the pilgrims to circumambulate the Kaaba. It is an injunction of the law that the pilgrims are to be present on that particular day once in a lifetime. So the tribe is hurrying to reach the Kaaba on that day. They have no time to waste. But while they are travelling, one of the women nears the point of child-birth. It is clear that she must soon deliver the child and for that she must cease travelling and stay on the roadside. The leader of the tribe, bound by the traditions, says: We must leave this woman and hasten to reach the Kaaba by the date. God will take care of the woman, because we are all heading towards Him. It is His duty.

And what happens to this woman left with a new-born babe alone on the roadside? God does take care of her. Through whom? Through the man who had with the greatest difficulty earned enough for the pilgrimage. He finds the woman distressed and alone, and he stays with her and helps her. But in doing so he misses the central point of the pilgrimage, the circumambulation on the set date.

In due course, the tribe returns, headed by the pious man, and camps again where the woman and the man have stayed. The man is so relieved. The husband is now with the woman, and her relations and all that. So now he bids them goodbye and leaves to complete at least his journey to the Kaaba even though he thinks the spiritual value has been lost. He leaves and the tribe settles down for the night.

During the night the pious man has a dream, and in that dream he hears a voice saying: Of all the thousands of people who have gone on the pilgrimage this time, only the pilgrimage of one is accepted by the Lord. The pious man says: My Lord, whose pilgrimage have you accepted? Who is the blessed one whose pilgrimage you have accepted? And the Lord says: The one who looked after the mother and child.

What matters is that you long for the place of pilgrimage. Whether you are there physically or not, the important thing is to long to be there, to be in His presence, to keep Him company.