GLIMPSES of the GOD-MAN, MEHER BABA
	Vol. I 1943-1948, By Bal Natu
	Paperback, 431 pp., $6.95, Sufism Reoriented

Meher Baba once stated, "What I am, what I was and what I will be as the Ancient One is always due to the five Perfect Masters of the Age. Sai Baba, Upasni Maharaj, Babajan, Tajuddin Baba and Narayan Maharaj — these are the five Perfect Masters of this Age for me."

Each cycle consists of eleven ages. The Avatar's Advent is in the eleventh age of a cycle (yuga). Narayan Maharaj, whom Baba referred to last in the above, was coincidentally the last to drop the physical body — on September 3, 1945 at Bangalore (Mysore State).

Narayan Maharaj was born in June 1885 to a Brahmin family in the district of Karwar, Mysore State. In his infancy he lost his parents, Bhimrao and Laxmidevi, so he had to live with his maternal uncle at Nargund. At an early age, he left the house on some pretext and his whereabouts remained unknown to his relatives for about seven years. During this period he visited Arvi, District of Poona, where he met his "spiritual mother." Narayan told her that he was her son, and she intuitively felt the truth of these words. She performed his "thread ceremony." During his boyhood, adherence to rigorous spiritual practices and the power of performing a good many miracles were the two outstanding traits of Narayan's Life. Nevertheless these miracles, like the pranks of an innocent child, were never harmful.

Narayan was the devotee of Shri Dattatraya. Once he felt impelled to visit Gangapur, a place about 250 miles away from Poona. It is a great center of pilgrimage for the devotees of Shri Dattatraya. There he coincidentally met a stranger, an old man with an exquisitely radiant face. Inwardly Narayan accepted him as his master, as he would accept sunlight or rain. The master initiated him into Divinity. Later he asked Narayan to bring bhiksha food received at the doors of householders after chanting the name of God. When Narayan returned, to his great surprise he found that the master, whose eyes seemed wide with compassion for the whole human race, had deserted him. He was so impressed with the love of his master that he resolved neither to eat nor drink until he met him again.

For three days Narayan sat under a tree, waiting and waiting, wholeheartedly calling his guru. It is said that on the third night Narayan had a distinct vision in which the heavenly stranger expressed his perfect happiness at Narayan's devotion, accepted the bhiksha, bade him eat the rest as guru-prasad, and blessed him. As he obeyed the command of his master, he felt that the stranger could be none else but Lord Dattatraya himself. This final touch brought a matchless mutation of the finite with the Infinite in Narayan's life. Lord Dattatraya is regarded by the Hindus as the one ever-present Sadguru who guides earnest devotees by appearing before them in different forms and bestows even God-realization on the deserving ones. This reminds me of Baba's explanation of such an entity known as Khwaja Khizr in Sufi terminology.

Henceforth Narayan's previous life of devotion, where the duality of the Deity and the devotee existed, was over. He became One with God. Baba once explained, "When the aspirant (rahrav) enters the seventh plane he takes duality into Unity. When he comes down again he brings Unity into duality." In Narayan's case it was ordained that he had to lead the life of God, as God, and be one of the five-in-one personalities to play the unique role of placing the "veil" with which the Avataric consciousness descends in human form.

When a Perfect. Master assumes his office he generally selects a place where he resides most of his life — Sai Baba chose Shirdi; Upasni Maharaj, Sakori; Babajan, Poona; and Tajuddin Baba, Nagpur. Narayan Maharaj decided to settle at Kedgaon, which is about thirty-four miles from Poona. There he built a fine temple to Shri Dattatraya, a deity with three heads in one, representing Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. People began to revere and hail Narayan as Sadguru Narayan Maharaj and he commenced guiding them in their devotion to God. Aspirants began to stay near him and a small colony sprang up in