Aggression — “Aggressiveness is a natural outcome of the need to compensate for the poverty of the ego-life.” (D/174)
Anger — “There are three things [...] that keep a person away from God. They are lust, greed and anger. The first two, lust and greed, may be overcome, but the control of the temper is the hardest of all. If you overcome these three enemies, you are a saint.” (RD/316)
Anger — “Anger is the fume of an irritated mind. It is caused by the thwarting of desires. […] It aims at removing the obstacle in the fulfillment of desires. The frenzy of anger nourishes egoism and conceit, and it is the greatest benefactor of the limited ego. Mind is the seat of anger, and its expressions are mostly through the activities of the mind. Anger is a form of entanglement with the mental sphere.” (D/11)
Anger — “I do not want any repression, but I do want transformation. […] You must get angry when the occasion arises. But, at once, you must get it out of your head.” (M-M/V.2/87)
Anger — “Curb yourself and never give way to anger. Whenever you fly into a passion, you contract red sanskaras, which are the worst of all.” (Aw/III/4/16)
Apocalypse — “In one of his ghazals, Hafiz prophesied ‘What a horrible thing I see that will happen to the world — the sea, the universe crumbling!’ Hence what is happening now and what happened in the past, is nothing compared to what is to happen very soon.” (TAO/172)
Arms race & the ego — “The stronger the ego, the more aggressive it becomes. [...] The furious race for armaments by the Christian world, evincing an utter disregard of the Commandment of Jesus that if one cheek is smitten, the other should be offered, shows clearly what I mean by the ego.“ (Aw/XVIII/1/26)
Assassination — “The deaths of Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi and John Kennedy had been so because of the law of Illusion which governs sanskaras and had nothing to do with Divine Will.“ (TAO/172)
Backbiting — “Of the three most important things to be eliminated before attaining God- Realization — greed, lust and backbiting — backbiting is the worst and most disastrous. [...] Because this particular act or vice incurs the burden of sins or sanskaras of others, which is spiritually very derogatory and reactionary.” (LM/6-7/2359)
Backbiting — “The habit of criticizing our fellow-beings is a bad one. At the back of it often lies self- righteousness, conceit, and a false sense of superiority. Sometimes it indicates envy, or a desire for retaliation.” (Aw/3/1/18)
Backbiting — “Those who criticize should first look to themselves. They will find greater faults within themselves than in others.” (Aw/10/2/36)
Backbiting — “Do not get angry, but be pleased with he who backbites you, for he thereby renders service to you by diminishing the load of your sanskaras; and also pity him for thereby he makes his load of sanskaras more burdensome.” (LAP/164)
Blame — “The only way not to be upset by blame is to be detached from praise also.” (D/392)
Chaos — “Self-interest caused by low selfish desire is the root cause of contemporary world chaos and individual misery.” (MB/33) (World Message, 1933)
Hypocrisy — “The worst thing is to be a hypocrite. Either one should remain a crow or become a swan; one should not be a heron, which it is said is white on the outside and dirty black within.” (SW/263-64)
Hypocrisy — “The greatest sin is hypocrisy. He is the greatest hypocrite who, himself being one, asks others not to be hypocritical. I want you all to be honest. You should not pretend to be what you are not.” (EN/48)
Lust — “You should try to get rid of lust, as all other vices are on account of it [...]. But if lust is killed once and for all, every other evil is also destroyed — you have cut off its head.” (LM/4/1234)
Materialism — “The whole world is now enmeshed in sensual desires, in racial selfishness and money worship. God is forsaken. True religion is abused; man seeks life and the priests usually give him a stone.” (Aw/X/3/23)
Materialism — “The condition of the world — the strife and uncertainty that is everywhere, the general dissatisfaction with and rebellion against any and every situation shows that the ideal of material perfection is an empty dream. [Otherwise] the increased material well-being of millions of people which science has brought about would have produced contentment and satisfaction.” (EN/88)
Materialism — “It is a mistake to divorce spiritual from material considerations; material considerations do have a spiritual aspect and importance.” (TMBJ/217)
Materialism — “He who is a coward in materialism becomes either the greatest sinner or a spiritual master.” (Aw/XVI/1/18)
Science in War — “Science must arise, as it plays a great part in the present war. [...] In war, science is used for destruction. But destruction ultimately means renewal and improvement.” (M-M/2/105)
Selfishness — “Selfishness is the root cause of all troubles. It is all the more dangerous because, under the subtle influence of selfishness, the worst evils are apt to assume false colors of chivalry, sacrifice, nobility, service and even love.” (Aw/VII/2/3)
Selfishness — “Selfishness comes into existence owing to the tendency of desires to find fulfillment in action and experience. It is born of fundamental ignorance about one’s own true nature. [...] The range of selfishness is equal to the range of desires.” (D/10)
Selfishness — “Selfishness [...] seeks fulfillment through desires but succeeds only in arriving at unending dissatisfaction [...] because desires are endless. The problem of happiness is therefore the problem of dropping one’s desires.” (D/12)
Selfishness — “To put it paradoxically, selfishness is a restricted form of selflessness, and selflessness is the drawing out of selfishness into a wide sphere of activity. [...] Persistent and continuous performance of good deeds wears out selfishness.” (D/13-14)
Selfishness — “All of you still possess too much selfishness. When this vanishes, then alone disinterestedness will proceed from you. Give up the self idea and always be for others.” (RD/312)
Selfishness — “Those who cleanse their hearts of the embittering poison of selfishness, hate and greed shall find God as their own true Self. [...] The problem of selfishness [...] melts away like mist before the sun. In God and as God, all life reveals itself as being really one and indivisible, and all separateness created by identification with human or subhuman forms is seen to be illusory.” (LB/55-56)
Temptation — “The Truth is that Jesus was not tempted by Satan, but that Jesus got Himself tempted, and He overcame the temptation.” (GS/60)
War — “During a war there are persons who unveil their inherent higher Self through the endurance of pain, and by acts of bravery and self-sacrifice. It is better that such unselfish action be released under the stimulus of danger than not released at all. It is better that men forget their petty selves under the pressure of the collective calamity, if need be, than remain permanently absorbed in fear and greed. […]
Just as war is not an unmixed evil for the individual, so it may have certain forward-propelling effects on humanity as a whole. The destructiveness of war tends to bring humanity to a spiritual crisis born of the physical nightmare. Inevitably suffering and misery pose the question of what it all leads to — how it will all end. Gradually people become sick of wanting and sick of fighting. Greed and hatred finally reach such an intensity that everyone becomes weary of them. Then mankind begins to suspect that the only way out is through selflessness. The only alternative to war and its suffering is seen to be to stop hating and to love, to stop wanting and to give, to stop dominating and to serve.
Wars require the exercise of cooperative functioning, and in this resides one positive result. Still, the value of this cooperation should not be overestimated, for too often it is artificially restricted by identification with a limited group or ideal.
Often wars are carried on by a form of love, but a love that has not been properly understood. In order that love may come into its own it must be free, untrammeled and unlimited. Love exists in all phases of human life, but usually it is latent; or it is limited and poisoned by personal ambition, racial pride, narrow loyalties and rivalries, and attachment to sex, nationality, sect, caste, or religion. For the resurrection of humanity the heart of man must be unlocked so that unadulterated love may be manifest in it — a love uncorrupted and free from “me” and “mine.”
People who make unlimited sacrifices for the sake of their country or political ideology are also capable of the same sacrifices for God and the truth. As war teaches that even the man in the street can rise to the greatest heights of sacrifice for a selfless cause, it also teaches that all the mundane things of the world — wealth, possessions, power, fame, family and even the very tenor of life on earth — are transitory and devoid of lasting value.
In this manner the incidents of war also win man over for God through the lessons they bring. It is now high time that universal suffering should hasten humanity to the turning point in its spiritual history. It is now high time that the very agonies of our times should become a means for the bringing of real understanding of human relationship. It is now high time for humanity to face squarely the true causes of the catastrophe of war. It is now high time to seek a new experience of reality. It is high time that men have a fresh vision that all life is one in God, who alone is real and all that matters. God is worth living for, and He is worth dying for; all else is a vain and empty pursuit of illusory value.
War is a necessary evil that is in God's plan to awaken humanity to its destiny as the new humanity. The time is now ripe. Men are ardently seeking to contact the embodiment of the truth in the form of a God-man, through whom they can be inspired and lifted into spiritual understanding. In this critical time of universal suffering men are becoming ready to turn towards their higher self and to fulfill the will of God.” (LH/133-134)
War (World War II) — “Spiritually war and peace are nothing. But externally war is the most dreadful thing and unless it were absolutely necessary for the spiritual upheaval, I would never allow a war to happen — never.” (LAP/247)
War (World War II) — “Why do I want war? To make things all right for spiritual progress and advancement.” (LAP/277)
War (World War II) — “The German head is mad. No one but a madman could have done what he did to the Jews. But it all had and has to happen. It is nobody’s fault. It is all just right. It is like a game of chess; they are the figures and I play the game.” (Be/51)
War (World War II) — “The world has to face this war and go through its ordeal of fire, even at the cost of irreparable damage and irredeemable suffering; it is a necessary evil. [...] Humanity has to emerge out of this dreadful war with spiritual integrity, with hearts free from the poison of malice or revenge, with minds disburdened by the blows given or received, with souls unscathed by suffering and filled with the spirit of unconditional surrender to the Divine Will. In spite of its attendant evils, this war plays its part in my mission of helping humanity to fulfill the Divine plan on earth and to inherit the coming era of truth and love, of peace and universal brotherhood, of spiritual understanding and unbounded creativity.” (Be/54)
War (World War II) — “War is a necessary evil; it is in God's plan to awaken humanity to higher values. If humanity fails to profit by the lessons of war, it suffers in vain. War teaches that even the man in the street can rise to the greatest heights of sacrifice for the sake of a selfless cause; it also teaches that wealth, possessions, power, fame, family and even life on earth — are devoid of lasting value. The incidents of war can, through the lessons they bring, win man for God, and initiate him into a new life inspired by lasting values.” (GMMG/233)
War (World War II) — “The present chaos and destruction will engulf the whole world, but in the future this will be followed by a very long period in which there shall be no war.” (D/299)
War (World War II) — “There will be world war! There will be utter chaos and destruction — just as I want. Then people will feel the emptiness, the hollowness of it all, and turn to God. […] There has never been such a war and never will be another like it! But when this war is over, peace will reign for 400 years. From this mass destruction, I will build life anew and quite different from now — much happier, better.” (M-M/2/54)
War (World War II) — “This war is a big drama. There is the hero, the heroine, the villain — all playing their parts in the drama. It’s not Hitler’s fault if he is playing the villain in God’s drama. It’s good he is acting his part well. I like villains, heroes, angels, devils — anyone who acts their part perfectly!” (M-M/2/73)
War (World War II) — “What is bad about it? The war is teaching people to be brave, to be able to suffer, to sacrifice. […] But whatever happens, happens according to God’s will. […] This war business is nothing but God’s game.” (M-M/2/99)
War (World War II) — “You might think that the War in Europe is over, but war has now seriously begun. Two stages are over, and the last stage has commenced. The climax is not far off. Immense suffering awaits the world. Natural and unnatural destruction will take place.” [May 22, 1945] (M-M/2/295)
Sources:
Aw — The Awakener Magazine, ed. Filis Frederick; copyright by Universal Spiritual League in America, Inc.
B — Beams from Meher Baba on the Spiritual Panorama, by Meher Baba (Peter Pauper Press, 1958).
Be — The Beloved: The Life and Work of Meher Baba, by Naosherwan Anzar (Sheriar Press, 1974).
D — Discourses, 7th rev. ed., by Meher Baba (Sheriar Press, 1987).
EN — The Everything and the Nothing, by Meher Baba (Meher House Publications, 1963).
GMMG — God to Man, Man to God: The Discourses of Meher Baba (1955). Edited by C. B. Purdom.
GS — God Speaks, by Meher Baba (Sufism Reoriented, 1955).
LAP — Love Alone Prevails, 2nd ed., by Kitty Davy (Sheriar Foundation, 2001).
LB — Life At Its Best, by Meher Baba (Peter Pauper Press, 1957).
LH — Listen, Humanity, by Meher Baba, ed. D. E. Stevens (Dodd, Mead, 1957).
LM — Lord Meher, 20 vols., 1st ed., by Bhau Kalchuri (MANifestation, Inc., 1986-2001).
MB — Meher Baba, By His Eastern and Western Disciples (Publication Committee, Meher Baba Universal Spiritual Centre, 1939).
M-M — Mehera-Meher, 3 vols., by David Fenster (Meher Nazar Publications, 2003).
RD — Ramjoo’s Diaries, 1922–1929, by Ramjoo Abdullah (Sufism Reoriented, 1979).
SW — The Silent Word, by Francis Brabazon (R. J. Mistry for Meher House Publications, 1978).
TAO — The Ancient One, by Eruch Jessawala, ed. Naosherwan Anzar (Beloved Books, 1985).
TMBJ — Treasures from the Meher Baba Journal, 1938-1942, ed. Jayne Barry Haynes (Sheriar Press, 1980)