After going to Kaikobad’s room, Baba returned to the hall at nine o’clock. He inquired, “Eruch, last night you men were talking quite loudly. What was the matter?”
Eruch said, “We were discussing the topic: God is One and He is many, too.
Harry was there so we were talking loudly.” (Kenmore, besides being blind, had a hearing defect and people would have to speak louder than normal for him to hear.)
Baba sat up in his chair and inquired, “What did he say?” Eruch recounted his words. After a few minutes, Kenmore entered the hall, and Baba gave this discourse:
In Reality there is only One. In illusion there are many. The reason why there is so much confusion as to whether there is one God or many is because God is so infinitely One.
Even to say “There is one God” is wrong. God is so infinitely One that He cannot even be called One. One may only say: “One is.” The word God is only an attempt to give that One a name, for in actuality, He has no name. Even to say that “God is One” implies there is the possibility of two. For one to say there are many gods is madness.
God is that “One” playing innumerable roles. For example, Eruch is sitting with his eyes closed and in his imagination he creates innumerable things, and in the very act of imagining them he preserves them. Then he opens his eyes and in so doing destroys all the things his imagination had created and held together. Thus, the same one Eruch played different roles, that of creator, sustainer and dissolver.
Again, when Harry is sleeping and is in sound sleep ā which is the original state of God ā people say Harry is asleep. But Harry in his sound sleep is not even Harry; that is, he is not conscious of himself as Harry. When the same one Harry wakes up, people say, “Harry is awake,” and when the same one Harry brushes his teeth, people say, “Harry is brushing his teeth.” The same one Harry is seen and understood to be walking, running about, speaking, singing, and so forth. The same one Harry is merely playing different roles. In reality, Harry cannot be more than one, for there is but one Harry.
All that we can ever say is: “God is” or “One is.”
There are two things that exist: One and many. One we call God; many we call illusion. Why? Because in Reality, only One is. Even to call this One, One, is not right ā One is.
Baba added, “It is best for all to ask God, Baba: ‘O Baba! You who cannot but be One, make me one with you.’ “
āwww.lordmeher.org, p4589
Sept, 1959; Meherazad