Baba had given a riddle for solution to the mandali yesterday with the promise of milk and jelebis (A kind of Indian sweetmeat) to those who gave the correct answer. Some members tried the puzzle, but none could answer it to the point. Dhake and Rustomji got ten and four marks (respectively) out of a hundred for their explanations, which were the best that the mandali had been able to offer so far. Finally, Baba himself explained the riddle, along with several others that he had given out, as follows:
FIRST RIDDLE: He who says one thing and does another.
ANSWER: A hypocrite
SECOND RIDDLE: When three drop, one is achieved.
ANSWER: When lust, anger, and greed drop, then one achieves Godhood.
THIRD RIDDLE: When four die, then one fears.
ANSWER: When lust, anger, greed, and hope die, then Maya is afraid.
FOURTH RIDDLE: Two are false, and one is true.
ANSWER: Duality
(Duality is false, and oneness is true.)
A Spiritual Riddle: Five Minus Seven = Twelve.
If seven be removed from five,5 the number remaining is twelve.
How to explain this paradox? The solution is this. The human body is composed of five principal elements of nature (panch tattva)—air, fire, earth, water, and sky. Now, a mind inhabits this body, but as long as the mind controls it, perfection—which is the state of the Sadguru—cannot be attained. The mind is caught and remains on one of the seven planes. If it crosses the first and enters into the second, the first plane is released; if it progresses on to the third plane in this way, the second is released; and so on. When at length it has passed through all the seven planes, it becomes perfect, and the state of perfection has then been won. The moment that he—the mind—acquires this state, he becomes a Sadguru. The Sadguru is always divided into twelve parts; these twelve parts are his circle members. Every Sadguru has a circle of twelve. In short, when the human body, composed of the five elements of nature, passes through the seven planes (“five minus seven”), it becomes a Sadguru, who is divided into twelve parts (“equals twelve”), as we have just explained. That is,
5 — 7 = 12
– “Meher Baba’s Tiffin lectures”, p285
01-November-1926; Meherabad