And it was thus that Shri Babaji Maharaj came to be known as Shri Babaji Bhagwan in the eyes of the lovers of God who could perceive this distinction clearly.
Shri Babaji Bhagwan had this unique quality in him: if he found that something was good he would accept it at once and make it a part of his life. And if he thought anything was bad, he would renounce it there and then, forever.
On the face of it these may not seem to be great virtues but when we look at people, we see at once that they cannot give up something which is wrong even though they know it to be wrong, and they cannot accept something even though they know it to be right. For Shri Babaji Bhagwan this had become second nature.
It was only a tiny part of the ocean of divinity that lay within him.
The clouds of Maya–ignorance – could not veil the Divine Light of Shri Babaji Bhagwan for long. The Sun of Reality manifested itself in the world. People who came to him were intoxicated with divine bliss. Yet, it is a law that even as it is difficult to see in the darkness so is it difficult to see in very bright light.
And even as incessant rain washes away all the dry straws, and a burning fire reduces logs of wood to cinders, and the nectar of life annihilates death, in a like manner this Union with Reality caused all the relationships of the world, their limitations, their separateness, to vanish altogether. The separation between the son and the Father vanished. It vanished so much that only He and He remained. And it was the voice of Shri Babaji:
Chhorro mujhe bekhud meraa aaraam yehi hai
Be naamo nishaan raihne do bas naam yehi hai
Soohje naheen din raat tere dhyaan men pyaare
Apni to saihar hai yehi aur shaam yehi hai
Leave me alone in my self-forgetfulness, that is my only rest
Let me be without a name, that is my only name;
In the thought of Thee there exists neither night nor day,
This alone is my dawn and this alone my dusk.
Shri Babaji Bhagwan would also say:
Jidhar dekhtaa hoon jahaan dekhtaa hoon
Main teri hee hasti ayaan dekhtaa hoon
No matter where I look no matter what I see,
It is Thy Existence and only Thee!
He would also say in Persian:
Ki juz oo nest dar saraaye vajood
Ba haqueeqat digar kase maujood
There is none but He in the tavern of existence,
In Reality nothing else is present therein!
Gaahe niyaaz eemaane man gaahe beniyaaz shaane man
Een hardo mi zebad baman ham bandao Maulaastan
Sometimes humility is my belief, and sometimes indifference,
Both the states suit me, for I am sometimes man, and sometimes God!
In limited things, objects and beings, I exist as a limited human form, man, but in reality my “I” is nothing as separate from God. For there is God and only God in me. He is the only reality. There is no “I” that is me.
It would be blasphemy if I were to establish my own identity outside of God and to call myself God. But when I say that I do not exist and that it is He and only He, then there is no sin.
If at all I am something then it is equivalent to being nothing! That Reality is unique in itself. It may remain behind a veil and call itself “I” in a silent way, or it may manifest itself through a form that speaks. It may speak silently through an atom or it may speak with a voice through a man.
Shri Babaji Bhagwan first renounced the “I” which was associated with his body and his family. He thought of himself as a soul and established a son and father relationship with that great Reality. He followed this principle for a long time, and in doing this attained the bliss of devotion. He was to say later, however:
“I knew even at that time that He was not separate from me, but at the same time I also knew that I, too, had not become Him!”
He took the joy of duality in the son and father relationship. However, by the year 1914, he had merged himself so much in the thought of his Father that nothing else remained. And he said, like Jesus Christ: “I and my Father are One!”
Faani az khuresh baash taa barhi
Raahe nazdeek tar hameen deedam
Annihilate thou thyself if thou wouldst attain salvation,
This is the closest path to God Realisation.
The divine force of attraction had become so strong that it removed even the son and father relationship. The son merged into the father and there was only One.
Shri Babaji Bhagwan would often say: “Anyone who tries to become anything before that Reality does not understand that Reality. However in the initial stages the limited human ‘I’ of man is necessary, because he cannot understand union with God otherwise. It is only the initial separation that makes him understand the final union.”
Shri Babaji Bhagwan would say: “ I never tell you anything which I have not experienced on my own self.”
Such a Being like Shri Babaji Bhagwan was like the Scriptures come alive.