The Dark Cloud and the Fogger
by Chris Ott
Reprinted with minor edits by permission of Chris Ott, from Meher Baba Words, Monday, December 5, 2011
The dark cloud is approaching very fast. Only a few will hold on to me — those who are near me, not in space but in love. The rest will leave me. The age-old experience will be repeated. In this incarnation, I have a large following, but again I shall be left with a few. It is as if around me there are many beautiful buildings. It took years to build them, but when an earthquake comes, they are destroyed in a few seconds. Only a few survive. (Meher Baba, quoted in Lord Meher 15:5395)
So what does Baba mean by a dark cloud? Consider this quote by Baba: true mysticism . . . is, as it should be, a vision of Reality. It is a form of perception that is absolutely unclouded (Discourses, 7th ed., p. 6). How is Baba using the word cloud here? We see he is referring to a cloud over perception, clouded seeing. If you do a thorough search on how Baba used the word cloud in other contexts, you will notice how often Baba used the words cloud and clouded in this very special sense, as diffusion over seeing things as they are.
Human consciousness is clouded by the accumulation of various types of impressions… (ibid., 10)
The gulf between the clouded consciousness of average humanity and the fully illumined consciousness of a Perfect Master is created by sanskaras. . . . (ibid., 20)
. . . it enjoys the state of Liberation in which there is objectless awareness, pure being, and unclouded joy. Such a person has no longer any of the illusions that perplex and bewilder man. (ibid., 21-22)
. . . valuation remains unclouded because of the unmarred perception of the One in each and all. (ibid., 121)
Consciousness is now unlimited and unclouded by anything and serves the purpose of illumining the state of infinite Reality. (ibid., 143)
The state of God-realization is unmarred by the doubts that cloud the minds of those who are in bondage. Those in bondage are in a constant state of uncertainty about their “whence” and “whither.” (ibid., 276)
… a cloud of ignorance. (ibid., 289)
Those who have immediate access to the supersensible truths concerning the life of the soul and its reincarnation know, through their unclouded perception, that so-called birth is only an incarnation of the individualized soul in the gross sphere. (ibid., 313)
All these things, which are hidden from the aspirant, are open to the unclouded perception of the Perfect Master. (ibid., 317)
…because in them the guiding vision is clouded owing to degeneration or suspension of critical thinking. (ibid., 353)
Sometimes when there is a cloud, someone is blowing smoke. If so, who and why? Does Baba give us hints?
Blessed is he who holds on firmly to my daaman! In no previous Avataric period have I disclosed these secrets, because the time was not right for it then. At present, science has advanced by leaps and bounds, the anti-God element is also at its maximum. . . . (LM 18:6053).