Your Friday photo…

“After a day of fierce winds and pouring rains, this sunset appeared like a pearl over the mountains beyond Meher Mount,” noted photographer Kristina Somma. She was reminded of the following passage from Hafiz.

This quote from Hafiz introduces the discourse “The Pearl Diver’” from The Everything and The Nothing. These 64 discourses were dictated in silence by Avatar Meher Baba through hand signs.

Meher Baba declared:

“I am the One whom so many seek and so few find.”

Meher Baba uses the imagery of a pearl to explain the quest for God.

“In the beginning the seeker of Truth is like a man who, having heard that a priceless pearl is to be got from the depths of the ocean, goes down to the seashore and first admires the vastness of the ocean and then paddles and splashes about in the shallows and, intoxicated with this new excitement, forgets about the pearl.

“Out of the many who do this, one after a while, remembers his quest and learns to swim and starts to swim out.

“Out of many who do this, one masters swimming and reaches the open sea; the others perish in the waves.

“Out of many who practice diving, one reaches the ocean bed and grasps the pearl.

“Out of many who get hold of the pearl, one swims back up to the surface with it, the others stay stuck on the floor gazing with wonder at the pearl.

“Out of many who swim up to the surface, one returns to the shore. This one is the Perfect Master (Qutub) and He shows His pearl to the others — the divers, the swimmers, the paddlers, and so encourages them in their efforts. But He can if He wises cause another to become the possessor of the pearl without that one having to learn swimming and diving.

“But God-Man or Avatar is the Master of Masters (Qutub-al-Aktab), and can give possession of the Pearl to any number He likes.”

Khwaja Shams-ud-Din Muhammed Hafez-e Shirazi (1315-1390) was a Persian lyric poet who was called Hafez or Hafiz (meaning “memorizer”) because he memorized the Quran and the works of other Persian poets.

Hafez primarily wrote in the literary genre of ghazals — Meher Baba’s favorite poetic from. This form is considered by some to be ideal for expressing the ecstasy of Divine inspiration in the mystical form of love poems. Hafiz’s many allusions to wine, drunkeness, and taverns can be understood as allegorical references to the experience of Divine Love.

Source

Meher Baba, The Everything and The Nothing, pp. 20-21. (Myrtle Beach, SC: Sheriar Foundation 2003) ©Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust, Ahmednagar, India.