The Kerf I

The following is Meher Baba's explanation to disciple and biographer, Bhau Kalchuri in December 1967.*

Meher Baba is describing to Bhau his "Universal Manifestation" using the analogy of a "kerf" cut into the door leading to the higher planes of consciousness.

"When I come down on earth, My work is to cut a kerf on the seventh door. When this is done, I drop My physical body. I cut that kerf, but a piece still remains there."

 

"There are some who are very near the kerf. Still, they can't see the light because a piece of the kerf has not been removed. But they are attracted towards the light. "There are others at a great distance from that kerf. They look to the other side, towards darkness, and darkness also appears to them as light -- as in the gross world, there is night and day. They just go fast towards darkness. "When My Universal Manifestation takes place, the piece of the seventh door will fall down. There will be a total turnabout towards the Sun, and they will see the light, which will be from the Subtle World..."

 

"There are four doors in the Subtle World, and two doors in the mental world. So when that piece of the kerf comes out, humanity will see the darkness of the Subtle World, in the form of light, which is also darkness. But it is a finer darkness. This light will become very, very bright -- because it is the light of energy, which is in the Subtle World. "When My Universal Manifestation takes place, people will see the light of the subtle world, though it is still a finer darkness.

"Just imagine, what will be the effect? The effect will be a total about-turn towards this light. So humanity -- which goes towards darkness, and has no attraction towards finer darkness, or light -- will be attracted towards finer darkness, or light. It shows that the attraction towards the darkness of the material world will be lessened. The awareness of this light from the Subtle World will be more. Attachment towards the darkness of the material world will be lessened to a great extent. "Those who are near the door, where the kerf is cut, will have a longing to open that door and enter into the Subtle World. Their longing will go on increasing, and they will pass through one door after another -- four doors of the Subtle World, and enter into the Mental World, which has two planes. When they enter into the second plane of the Mental World,they will have the longing for the union with God. "This longing will be like that of a fish out of water. Then, one day, they will become one with the Divine Sun." ... "What is My universal push? "My universal push is to give a push to the piece of the kerf in the seventh door, so that it may fall down, and there will be an about-turn towards the light by all kingdoms of consciousness. "Now, you understand what my Universal Manifestation is. But it is not a matter of understanding. One has to experience it."

This interpretation suggests that there is something for us to do before we can walk on through -- a conscious movement from the material to the ethereal. "Those who are near the door, where the kerf is cut, will have a longing to open that door and enter into the Subtle World. Their longing will go on increasing, and they will pass through one door after another -- four doors of the Subtle World..."

A deeply sensitive segment of society is developing a growing awareness of the ascension of consciousness commencing on the planet. We are beginning to be attracted to the "finer darkness, or light" Meher Baba described in 1967. His metaphor of a "Kerf" cut into the door of the higher planes of consciousness coincides extremely well with the positive vibrations emanating from these higher energetic and mental realms.

 

* Meher Baba's "kerf" description appears in the print version of the Lord Meher in Vol. 20, pp.6544 – 6546. For some unknown reason it has been eliminated from the online biography.

The Kerf II

When the Kerf falls out of the First Plane entry door, what can we who are impatiently waiting at the door anticipate?  In the first place, it will be the last time we anticipate anything since time does not exist in the Subtle World. More on that later.

Bhau Kalchuri's The Nothing and the Everything dictated by Meher Baba has a very extensive explanation of the seven planes of the involution of consciousness with descriptions of the various heavens and sections.  Meher Baba's God Speaks*  also has a thorough explanation of the seven planes as described by the ancient Sufi, Vedanta and esoteric Christian masters.

Briefly; to realize the Original, mind-souls evolve from the Nothingness through gases, solids, plants, insects, reptiles, birds, animals to full consciousness in human beings.  At that point, a mind-soul incarnates through of thousands of human physical bodies to acquire sufficient experience to attain a desire to discover what he really is.

This desire then drives the involution of consciousness gradually diminishing mental impressions gained through millions of lifetimes in evolution.  The spiritual path begins with the movement out of "gross" consciousness of matter into "subtle" consciousness of energy in an effort to shed gross mental impressions to see through the illusion of matter.


In The Nothing and the Everything, the First Subtle Plane is described on pages 67-71. My comments follow the italicized quotes.

"This first section is called the sub-subtle or 'astral' plane; here the pilgrim experiences while awake what the gross conscious human being experiences while dreaming in his sleep."

Although we will be able to act in the gross world, we will not be conscious of (impressed by) it. Experiences will be dream-like — no longer gross and not yet subtle. We will experience astral energy which is the "connection between the subtle and gross world."

"In the second section or part of the first heaven the pilgrim sees circles and circles of light swinging like universes at an unimaginable speed."

Meher Baba goes on to describe other fantastic phenomena the pilgrim experiences in the second section. He says that it is the adepts and yogis arriving at the First Plane by their own efforts who experience the lights, sounds and smells of the subtle-cum-astral energies. Those who are guided by a Sadguru do not experience these phenomena so do not get caught in the various heavens. It seems likely that those who are entering the door at the prompting of their Master will not be mesmerized by these spectacles.

"The first heaven (the astral) is closer to the gross world than the subtle, and time only exists in the gross world."

Meher Baba explains that the astral gives man the sense of time. Pilgrims of the subtle planes do not experience the passing of time.

"Being independent of time is one aspect of experiencing one's divinity (spanning time)."


Thus it seems in the subtle world we will experience only Now. Since worry, fear, regret, impatience, frustration, anxiety and all their relatives rely on our sense of time, those negative emotions will not be endured.

"Don't worry be happy" was meant for those of us still banging our heads against the granite walls of the gross world.

As an aside, it is interesting that Albert Einstein related energy(E) and matter/mass(M) with the speed of light. Although not intimated in Bhau Kalchuri's book, the astral may also give us our sense of space.

Therefore, Einstein proposed that E=Mc2 where 'c' is the speed of light -- or distance (space) per unit of time. Einstein may have had some awareness of the astral plane to propound his relativity theory —or perhaps he saw it in a dream.

Digressing further, since time does not exist in the subtle world, is it any wonder that, while psychics can see future events, they invariably fail when it comes to the timing of the events? Since there is no time in the subtle world, there is no beginning nor end to what happens — everything is constantly in motion.

As Meher Baba explains in The Nothing and the Everything page 80, Indra the angels and fairies are constantly making adjustments for man's mental maneuvers. This is another reason why predictions often fail to materialize in the gross world. It is my feeling that Meher Baba was merely placating our gross need for mental structure when He suggested time periods for His predictions about events in the gross world.

And digressing into what would have seemed absurd before our literal venture into the subtle world; Woody Allen may have had an Einstein moment when he put forth this proposition:

"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once."

Perhaps Woody had a fleeting glimpse of living in the subtle world.

Asides aside, I wonder if you folks can see even more aspects of living in the First Plane without an awareness of passing time. How could you think about what to do next without that awareness? Would it matter?

More on Meher Baba's description of the First Plane in my next post...

Err...

....unless the all future tense awareness vanishes into the vacuum of infinity with the falling of the Kerf.

* PDF links for God Speaks - Part I &  PartII

The Kerf III

As our world continues to change drastically, the feeling of familiarity that maintains our perception of continuity will loosen our gross bindings. This blast to our mental continuity will either induce us to cling more to the collapsing conventions, or it will inspire us to break through our mental routine and stumble toward the Divine Kerf in the door to the First Plane to await its opening.

Below are more Meher Baba quotes from Bal Kalchuri's The Nothing and the Everything followed by my comments.

"In Alm-e-Vaktya subtle consciousness spans distances; the pilgrim can see over tremendous distances, even far off things and places in the gross world."

So not only does our gross awareness of time passing dissolve into subtle consciousness, but our awareness of space expands to encompass great (and minutely small) distances. In the gross world we occasionally try to remember to "Be here-now," but on the Subtle Planes we are always here-now — everywhere.  It is the "all-seeing eye" that the secret societies worship without understanding the process of achievement.

"In the first plane the pilgrim is also subject to great Inspiration which is completely unlike the ordinary inspiration of a gross conscious writer, poet, artist or musicians."

The inspiration of contemporary writers, poets, artists and musicians of the gross conscious world is limited by the constraints of cultural conventions. The creative composition itself is limited by the creator's point of reference which is largely limited by the five gross senses.

The First Plane pilgrim, however, is no longer limited by the gross senses. His inspiration comes from a spiritual sense which is much finer (more "subtle") and therefore not of this world. It is this divine inspiration that many of us who are waiting impatiently at the door to the First Plane anticipate with divine hunger.

Meher Baba goes on to describe the vision that pilgrims of involving consciousness experience:

"Physical eyes see the surface of things on a curve, whereas involving consciousness sees into or inside the person or object and once inside reads the person."

Since the pilgrim of the spiritual planes no longer lives from a culturally-dictated personality, his perception expands beyond appearances — beyond so-called 20/20 vision, beyond the capabilities of the retina/brain complex....

Beyond Beyond.

As the confound closes in, the internal pressure to escape the confines of convention will continue to increase thereby intensifying the impatience we feel as we gape at the Kerf cut into the door of the higher planes of consciousness. Like the restless child squirming in the back seat, we ask God in our prayers, "Are we there yet?"

And like a persevering parent God patiently answers...

"You'll know It when you SEE It."