Meher Baba included in his Discourses an entry on mahapralaya:
“The Mahapralaya of the world may be compared with the sleep of a man. Just as the varied world of experience completely disappears for the man who is in deep sleep, the entire objective cosmos which is the creation of Maya vanishes into nothingness at the time of Mahapralaya. It is as if the universe had never existed at all.” Discourses, 6th edition, pg. 44
There are several other references in Baba literature by Baba on mahapralaya, but all of them simply descriptive as the quote above. My favorite image from Baba for mahapralaya is that it is like God breathing in creation in which it is de-manifested until he breathes out creation once again in which it it is re-manifested; mahapralaya is the in-breath of God. God is a very, very deep and slow breather as the creator and destroyer of the Universe.
So, as far as the Baba literature and mandali memories go up until Bhau’s “Avatar of the Age Meher Baba Manifesting”, mahapralaya is just something that recurs after some unfathomably long period of time. Baba did not give the subject anything more than a passing comment. But in two entries at the very end of that book, Bhau avers that the Final Declaration given by Baba in 1954 contains a reference to this cosmic event happening in the near future.
“Mahapralaya is when everything goes to sleep. The force of Mahapralaya is the same force that overwhelms man to sleep. During Mahapralaya the mind of man rests in a deep sleep. When the mind of man awakens, after Mahapralaya, the effect is a fresh peace. Peace will come to the mind of man after Mahapralaya. This peace is deep because the mind of man has rested for a long, long time. This peace is unlike any other state of the everyday normal activities of the human mind. This peace is of having been reborn, of having been made new. It is the peaceful state of having only natural sanskaras and of having the mind focussed on the straight path toward involution, toward God.
When Meher Baba refers to a great happening in the future, ” . . . Something that has never happened before,” he is referring to a great period of time. This great happening occurs during the known time before Mahapralaya has occurred, and also the known time after Mahapralaya has occurred. The outcome of this great happening is the state of peace to the mind of man. Peace will come after this known time of the forthcoming Maha- pralaya. When Meher Baba declares, ” . . . This great happening will not happen again for billions and billions of years,” he is again referring to another great period of time. That great happening will occur during this present period of time that is leading up to the next Mahapralaya, and it is also that period of time in the future that is after the next forthcoming Mahapralaya. The mind of man will be fully rested and peace will be established in the mind’s consciousness.” AOTAMBM, pg 216 book edition.
I believe there must have been an editing problem with the text toward the end of the second paragraph above as it becomes unintelligible. But the “Great Happening” is evidently a reference to both before and after mahapralaya, and is characterized by “a state of peace to the mind of man.”
“When Meher Baba completed his universal work, he did break his silence by the releasing of his work. A great happening is about to occur. However, the feeling of oneness, as a result of the work, is felt gradually by mankind. At present, everything appears to be separating and falling apart during the world’s chaos and confusion, and must be reunited and cleared. This will happen through the power of his work that he has released when he dropped the body. Oneness will come as mankind gradually hears the Word that he spoke in the breaking of his silence. When the world realizes that the breaking of Meher Baba’s silence is the power behind his universal manifestation, then mankind will gradually realize that a great happening is taking place. This period of time will be known as the time before Mahapralaya.”
The image that comes to mind is that for creation ( the Universe) to wake up happy and refreshed after mahapralaya, it must first be put to sleep in a happy and peaceful mood. Creation cannot wake up after mahapralaya in a golden age unless it goes to sleep in a golden age, so to speak.
What this implies is that the 3/4 destruction of the world referred to by Baba as his spiritual work is what is necessary for the world to put to sleep in a good mood, sometime after he returns in 700 years, so that it can wake up in a good mood after he finally breathes in the universe, putting it to sleep and out of its blissful misery.
Now, what I have to say about all this, is why didn’t Baba talk about it? Why did he presumably leave it to Bhau to inform us that the whole shebang is just about over, and that his job is to first spank and then coddle the babies to go to sleep, so that they all then wake up divinely babbling?
Is this Avataric gaslighting?
