Beloved’s feet
During the [1937] birthday celebrations the Westerners saw for the first time the Hindu custom of washing the Master’s feet. Meher Baba explained the purpose of this on a later occasion:
The feet, which are physically the lowest part of the body, are spiritually the highest. Physically, the feet go through everything – good and bad, beautiful and ugly, clean and dirty – yet they are above everything. Spiritually, the feet of a Perfect Master are above everything in the universe, which is like dust to him.
When people come to a Perfect Master and touch his feet with their heads, they lay the burden of their sanskaras on him. A Perfect Master’s feet collect the sanskaras from all over the universe, just as an ordinary person when walking collects dust on his feet. This is the burden to which Jesus referred when he said, “Come unto me all you who have labored and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Those who love the Perfect Master deeply, and wish to lighten his burden as much as possible, wash his feet with honey, milk or water. Honey represents red sanskaras (mental); milk represents white sanskaras (subtle); and water represents yellow sanskaras (gross). Some devotees place at his feet a coconut which represents the mind and symbolizes their complete surrenderance of their will to him.
–www.lordmeher.org, p2114
Photo courtesy “Beyond words”