Yesterday [Wednesday, June 13], Shiva was asking me, "What have you received from Beloved Baba?" I dictated what I received, and Shiva said to me, "You still have not remembered what Baba has told you for two and one half hours."

Such thoughts were in my mind when I went to bed last night. I think that Beloved Baba heard the prayer of Shiva, and He had to appear before me to give me a fresh message (although He did not remind me about the messages I had forgotten).

Whether I was awake or asleep, I could not make out. But He said, "Do you remember what I said to you and other Mandali members when I took you to Haridwar in Rishikesh?"

When Baba took us to Haridwar, we saw so many sadhus and swamis belonging to different sects. Baba made some remark, but nobody could make out what He was asking.

Baba said, "Did I not tell you that these sadhus and swamis will require thousands of births to become like you? And you all must be wondering why I made this remark. But this is a fact: It is very easy to change outwardly. You can put on robes. You can grow your hair. You can externally renounce the world and go begging. It is a very easy thing. But this is not spirituality. Inner renunciation is to renounce your false self; that is true renunciation. Outward renunciation is not required.

"This is the reason I have been leading the New Life. There were four phases of the New Life. After external renunciation came begging, then langoti (i.e., loincloth) life--just put on the loincloth and meditate, and next the gypsy life, the life of helplessness and of hopelessness. The fourth was the labor phase. Afterwards, I declared that three phases of the New Life I will lead for you. You need only to lead one phase of the New Life for Me, and that is the labor phase.

"The situation in this age is quite different. Begging, langoti life and gypsy life are not possible. Therefore, I have taken the burden of the first three phases for those who will lead the New Life. Only one phase you need to lead for Me, and that is the labor phase. The labor phase means that if you have any job, and you do that job and follow the conditions of the New Life, you are leading the New Life. If you have any profession, or if you are farmer, or if you have a business, do so for Me and follow the conditions. If you do, I will lead three phases of the New Life for you. You will lead only one phase for Me, and you will be living the New Life.

The conditions from the New Life, of course, you know: (Baba did not tell me what were the conditions, but He reminded me about them).

[Note: Plan III requires the physical presence of Baba, and thus is not reprinted here]

CONDITIONS

Fixed Conditions for those who accept plan I-A, B, C and plan II.

(1) First and foremost, you must take it as an absolute and unqualified certainty that you will not receive even the slightest spiritual or material benefit, or indeed, any benefit whatsoever. On the contrary, you must be prepared for every kind of disappointment and adversity.

(2) You should not expect that Baba will have his 'Nazar' on you or that he will perform miracles or use his 'spiritual key' to protect or save you from illness, danger, imprisonment, death, or difficulties and disasters of any kind.

(3) You will not touch women except when necessary, your mother, wife, sister or daughter; or professionally when you are practicing as a doctor.

(4) You will not enter politics.

(5) You will not express anger by word or deed to anyone, whatever the provocation, and you will not criticize anyone unfairly, either to his face or behind his back. Although you may at times feel anger in your mind, you must never express it by word or deed.

(6) You will tell no lies under any circumstances.

(7) Neither Baba nor you will accept homage from anyone, nor will you deliberately create circumstances that might invite homage to Baba or to you. If, however, without your having invited it, homage is given to Baba or to you, it must be repaid action for action to the giver.

(8) It must be clearly understood that although the conditions are binding on you all, Baba himself is not bound by any order or condition, and is absolutely free for all time.

(9) The one and only thing, however, in which Baba not only is not free, but deliberately binds himself, is regarding the condition that you will not receive the slightest benefit of any kind whatsoever, and that you must be prepared for every kind of disappointment and adversity. It must, in addition, be absolutely clear that Baba will also never give any order that will absolve any of you of your individual responsibility before God, for any consequences that may follow. You must take it as an absolute certainty before God for each and every consequence rests for all time wholly and solely with you and you alone, and that Baba will never give an order that will change or nullify this responsibility.

(10) You will not commit any lustful action with anyone, male or female, young or old.

-- Meher Baba

[Circular NL. 5 Issued 10-3-1950]

If you follow these conditions, you are leading the New Life.

Or as Baba Himself summarized on 20th February, 1950:

"This New Life is endless, and even after my physical death it will be kept alive by those who live the life of complete renunciation of falsehood, lies, hatred, anger, greed and lust, and who, to accomplish this, do no lustful actions, do no harm to anyone, do no backbiting, do not seek material possessions or power, who accept no homage, neither covet honor nor shun disgrace, and fear no one and nothing; by those who rely wholly and solely upon God, and who love God purely for the sake of loving, and believe in the lovers of God, and in the Reality of Manifestation, and yet do not expect to receive any spiritual or material reward; who do not let go the hand of Truth, and who, without being upset by calamities, bravely and wholeheartedly face all hardships with one hundred percent cheerfulness, and give no importance to caste, creed and religious ceremonies.

This New Life will live by itself eternally, even if there is no one to live it."

"Now," Baba said to me in His silent voice, "you are wondering, 'How can I have spiritual advancement while living in the world?' I will tell you one story.

"When I was Krishna, Narad Muni was very much devoted to Me. Once he came to Me and said, 'Lord, I have been with you since so many years, but I still don't have any spiritual advancement. I remain dedicated to you. I always try to please You. I follow Your Wish. But I have not received anything from You.'

"As Krishna I heard this, and I smiled. I did not say anything to him.

"Time passed.

"One day, I said to Narad. You go to the lake where there is an insect I love very much. Go and watch what he does. So Narad went to the lake, and he was searching for the insect. Fortunately, he found it. What was the insect doing? He had made a ball out of stool and was carrying that ball of stool. When Narad looked at it, the insect died. Narad felt very bad.

"He came to Me and told Me what had happened. I said to him. Now you go to the forest. There was one pair of parrots which I loved very much. Out of the two, one died. Now there is only one, who remains in a particular tree all the time, even when there is no leaf on the tree. He does not leave that tree. You just go and find that parrot.

"Narad went and was searching in the forest for that tree. Fortunately, he saw the parrot in the tree. As soon as he looked at it, the parrot died.

"Narad came to Me [as Krishna], and he told Me, 'Lord, you sent me to the insect, and as soon I saw the insect he died. You asked me to go and see that parrot. As soon I saw him, he died. I feel very much pained.'

"Then I said to him, 'Don't feel pained. There is some secret behind it. That's why I sent you to see different creatures. There is one cow in the forest. She's very, very beautiful. I love her very much. You just go and see her and give me a report on how she is.

"Narad went to the forest, where he was searching for the cow. He found her. As soon as he saw it, the cow died.

"Narad was very much perturbed. He came to Me and said, 'Lord, please don't send me to anyone now. I am such a sinful person, that as soon as I see anyone according to your instructions, that one dies. Please have mercy on me.'

"I laughed. 'All right I said, I will not send you to anyone.'

"After a long time, I [as Krishna] received an invitation to the wedding of a king's son, a prince. I said to Narad, 'You represent me, because I have no time to go. You go there.'

"Narad accepted, and he went as My representative, and he was very much respected. When the wedding was over, Narad gave his blessing on My behalf. It was nighttime, and the King requested Narad, 'Maharaj, It is very late. I request you to take rest tonight at my palace, and tomorrow you can go. I would be very happy if you took rest in the palace tonight.'

"Narad accepted. A room was given to him near the room of the newlyweds, and he was taking rest. He overheard the wedding couple, the prince and the princess, talking. The prince asked his wife, 'Tell me your life story.'

"The princess said, 'My story is very, very interesting. You have no idea how I have passed through the evolutionary process so quickly.'

"She narrated the whole story from the insect to the cow. 'It is because of Narad's loving nazar that I could pass through ages and ages of evolution so quickly.'

"When Narad heard this, he was truly amazed.

"The next day, when Narad came to Me [as Krishna], he bowed down. 'Lord," he said, 'Now I realize what you are doing for me, even though I don't experience anything.'

Baba then told me, "Now do you understand what I have been doing for my Mandali? When I say that these sadhus and swamis will take ages and ages to become like you, it is not simply words. It is a fact. And it is the truth."

As I was thinking about this, Baba disappeared. At the time, I knew that I was awake.

Ps. Coming soon: Two new "Awakenings" from Bhau: Krishna's Gopis, Baba's Arjuna, followed by Prasad for the Priest Class.

Pps. If you are not receiving these "Awakenings" directly but would like to, please send an email to shiva2001@indiatimes.com with "Add My Name to the List" in the subject line. No need to put anything in the body of the message.