When they returned to their bungalow, a discussion arose about those who claimed to be the Avatar. Baba made these remarks: “It is true that many in the world today declare themselves as the Avatar. Every follower and devotee calls his teacher Avatar. There are 75 in the world who claim this highest spiritual status, but only one is real!
Of the rest, half are under self-delusion, the other half are bogus pretenders.”
Baba continued: “I ask you, if everyone is Avatar, and the Avatar never suffers, how is it that you seek redress when you suffer? All this is a mess created by Vedanta. It says everyone is God. It is true, but only a Realized One can say that.
“If, on the strength of this statement in Vedanta, one were to say ‘I am God,’ then Godhood would not be at peace even for a moment. Knowledge says so; the Upanishads say so; but if we go by this theory, how can love for God be created? Whom to love then? Knowledge does not dawn automatically. So, they [the false Avatars] are led by the intellect and act accordingly. Thus, they become truly deluded.”
Speaking about masts, Baba remarked, “When one gets intoxicated by divine hallucinations, later on one becomes genuine. There are a number of such Nangas* [the Naked Ones] in the world, of whom even God is afraid! They do not care even for the Avatar. They are merged in samadhi [bliss]; the world is dead for them, and they are dead to the world.”
Referring back, he stated, “An atheist and a Vedantist are one and the same. Vedanta is all gossip [intellectual gymnastics]. Only when God makes me speak and prove His Godhood will people come to know.”
–Lord Meher (First Ed), p4144
–www.lordmeher.org (updated 2014), 3335
* Here in this context ‘Naked’ means becoming completely selfless and lost in God, the state of Mast (God-intoxicated soul).