Prophecies of Meher Baba: Suffering & Disasters
Most of the prophetic statements of Meher Baba are excerpted from Markar’s compilation, Life Eternal, “Coming Attractions,” part one, and part two.
There will be religious hostilities, riots, wars and natural disasters. These events will cause the shedding of blood of millions of people throughout the world in general, and throughout India in particular. But thereafter peace and brotherhood will come back into the world.
There will be another world war. It will be much more destructive and extensive than the one before. Rivers of blood will flow. I will dip my kerchief in that river of blood and tie it around my head. Not until the world cries out for God will I give up my silence. [9 July 1925, Meherabad]
—Source: Lord Meher 2: 731
There will be a terrible war in the future, and it will be more destructive and horrible than the last one. America will play the most important role in it. Millions will die, and the war will be so horrendous that there will not even be time to dispose of the heaps of corpses. It will be then that I manifest myself as the Avatar. [18 June 1927, Meherabad]
—Source: Lord Meher 3: 949
… The real reason underlying these communal riots, as well as the general restlessness all over the world, is the near approach of the spiritual outburst that occurs at long intervals. It will all end in unity and peace.
One feels great disturbance and pain in the abdomen before having an unusually satisfactory motion. It is just like that. These very disturbances are the indication of the coming peace. The combination of Islam, Hinduism and Zoroastrianism in my person is not a coincidence — it has great significance. [July 1927, Meherabad]
—Source: Quoted in Francis Brabazon, The Silent Word, p. 400
A gigantic disaster will overwhelm the world which will wipe out three-fourths of mankind. [8 November 1945, Angiras Rishi Hill, Tapovan to Adi K. Irani]
—Source: Lord Meher 9: 3081
The world is now drawing very close to the great upheaval which will precede the breaking of my silence. This upheaval will entail great suffering to humanity, but this very suffering will work a profound change of heart, and will sweep the world clean for the new and vital phase that must follow. [March 1947, Mahabaleshwar]
—Source: The Awakener, vol. 6, no. 2 (Summer 1959), p.12. http://www.theawakenermagazine.org
Don’t expect anything to be easy. Life will be full of problems, and the world even more so. In fact, in years to come the world will reach a zenith of anti-God thinking, immorality, lust and greed, because the ending of a vast cycle of cycles is taking place. But after the climax, a new era of brotherly love will be ushered in by God, who knows all that is going on.
[January 1948, Meherazad, to Ivy Duce, unpublished]
Great upheavals are coming soon throughout the world, particularly in India. There will be great tension in India between the British and the Indians on the one hand, and between the Hindus and the Muslims on the other, resulting in terrible bloodshed and massacres. Hindus will kill Muslims, the Muslims will kill Hindus, and the British will kill both.
Rivers of blood will flow in India, and there will be corpses everywhere. Civil war will break out in India, and all the parties will clash against one another. Nothing but chaos and confusion will reign everywhere. Out of this cry and clamor for independence, quite a new situation will arise, with others intervening and abruptly appearing.
Besides this violence, a great war will break out and rage between the Western countries — Russia, America, England, Italy, Germany and others. There will be such chaos and confusion throughout the world that not one leader will understand what to do. And out of this confusion and chaos, the Avatar will appear, to guide misguided humanity onto the path of peace and prosperity — toward eternal bliss.
But that will take time and require great upheavals throughout the world. These disorders, disturbances and unrest are necessary to make the world turn its face toward spirituality, and ensure its future salvation. [28 May 1930, Meherabad]
—Source: Lord Meher 4: 1314-15
Chaos and destruction are essential for reconstruction. It is the spiritual law — create and destroy. Create chaos, confusion and misery — then destroy it, so that it may all be built anew. How can an old house be rebuilt unless it is demolished? [26 September 1937, Cannes, France, to Mr. Siebert]
—Source: Lord Meher 7: 2224
Conditions in the world are going from bad to worse, and the outbreak of war is definite. Everything will be chaotic, and millions will die. It will not be due to hate and hostility between mankind, but will be due to I-ness. It is all a divine game.
[April 1938, Bangalore, to Eruch Jessawala]
—Source: Lord Meher 7: 2282
In January 1939 Meher Baba was questioned by a reporter from the Associated Press. This is part of the interview:
Reporter: How long will the present chaotic state of affairs continue in the world?
Baba: As long as selfishness exists, because it is the root cause. In all this chaos and confusion my work is done. It is a cleaning process.
—Source: Lord Meher 7: 2362
The present world crisis, chaos, and the universal suffering are absolutely necessary for the eventual spiritual upliftment and for a new world, wherein peace, love and divine aspirations will reign supreme. None should therefore feel scared and dismayed, bearing in mind the certainty of this bright future…
So this apparent world catastrophe is, by divine will, essential for a divine manifestation of love and real peace in the near future, in which I have to play the greatest part.
—Source: Meher Baba’s Universal Message for the Future, 21 June 1940 (pamphlet)
After August of this year [1940], conditions will worsen. Developments in the war will take a serious turn, become complicated, and the flames will spread far and wide until the war will embrace not only the whole of the West, but also the East.
Besides, a time will come when people will even forget the war and the terrible destruction it has caused in life and property, for there will be further disasters, more voracious in their destructive power, like plagues and pestilences, fire and famine, floods and earthquakes of immense magnitude and force, all of which will take more toll of life and property than machine guns and bombs.
Then, too, civil wars will complicate the political situations among nations, and make things even more chaotic, until it will create a deadlock. Even millionaires will be starving for food. There will be chaos everywhere and all will be helpless. [6 July 1940, Ranchi]
—Source: Lord Meher 7: 2574
America will play a very great part in the battle of humanity in the future.
[15 March 1941, Quetta],
—Source: Lord Meher 7: 2682
In the war-crazy world around you today, what do you see with regard to the quality and quantity of suffering and pain that has afflicted humanity in general?
It is patent to all that not only those who have taken up arms and are actually engaged in fighting have suffered intense loss and pain, but even the innocent and the peace-loving section of humanity — men, women and children — have experienced and are experiencing crucial agonies and tortures, both physical and mental.
Whatever may be the political and economic explanation of the worldly wise in this respect, this sanguine phenomena, from the spiritual point of view, is a cyclic divine visitation over which no earthly power has any control. The whole situation is simply and purely the resultant of the divine law of cause and effect, which is the same as conveyed by the Persian adage meaning ‘It is only from us whatever be upon us (good or bad).’
However dark the clouds, and whatever may be the poignancy of pain and despair, one spiritual fact embodying cheer and hope to suffering humanity must not be lost sight of, which I am going to convey to you here today:
There are always two aspects of divinity, perpetually and eternally active in the affairs of the world. The destructive aspect of divinity, as expressed in Persian, means ‘self-glorification,’ and the constructive aspect of divinity is called in Persian ‘self-beautitude.’
The aspect of self-glorification by God, when it gets palpably active, entails suffering and destruction on a colossal scale, as we see it today. The aspect of divine self-beautitude, when it asserts itself, brings in its wake peace and plenty.
In the aspect of self-glorification, divinity repels itself through its own creation. And in the aspect of self-beautitude, divinity attracts or loves itself through its own creation. The former is a negative method, and the latter is a positive method, and both these methods ultimately are instruments of divine wisdom to rouse humanity to their divine heritage, which is self-realisation.
Further, both the aspects of God referred to just now not only affect humanity individually and collectively, but their intensity and force is directly in proportion to each other, and they assert themselves in cyclic waves.
Now that the destructive phase is about to weaken, the aspect of divine beautitude is nearly due to come to the fore. And to invite humanity to avail themselves of this blessedness to come is my divine mission in life.
Just as in the present world catastrophe, even the guilty and the not-guilty, the combatants and non-combatants, have suffered intensely physically and mentally — similarly, in the self-beautitude aspect of God that is to be manifest in the near future, not only the deserving, but the non-deserving as well, have as good a chance of being the recipients of divine grace — provided they are wide awake to the situation, which will be a cyclic dispensation rare and unique.
My blessings to all — those who have heard my message, and those who have not.
[13 November 1944, Nagpur]
—Source: Messages of Meher Baba, East and West (ed. Adi K. Irani), pp. 71-72
The world storm, which has been gathering momentum, is now having its greatest outburst; and in reaching its climax, it will work universal disaster. In the struggle for material well-being, all grievances have assumed fantastic proportions. And the diverse differences of human interest have been so accentuated that they have precipitated distinctive conflict. Humanity has failed to solve its individual and social problems, and the evidence for this failure is but too plain. The incapacity of men to deal with their problems constructively and creatively reveals tragic deficiency in the right understanding of the basic nature of man and the true purpose of life. The world is witnessing an acute conflict between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. On the one hand there are selfish persons who seek their happiness blindly through lust for power, unbridled greed and unrelieved hatred. Ignorant of the real purpose of life, they have sunk down to the lowest level of culture. And they bury their higher selves in the wreckage of crumbling forms which linger on from the dead past. Bound by material interests and limited conceptions, they are forgetful of their divine destiny. They have lost their way, and their hearts are torn by the ravages of hate and rancour.
On the other hand there are persons who unveil their inherent higher self through the endurance of pain and deprivation, and through the noble acts of bravery and self-sacrifice. The present war is teaching man to be brave, to be able to suffer, to understand and to sacrifice.
The disease of selfishness in mankind will need a cure, which is not only universal in its application, but is drastic in its nature. It is so deep-rooted that that it can be uprooted only if it is knocked from all sides. Real peace and happiness will dawn spontaneously when there is the purging of selfishness. The peace and happiness which come from self-giving love are permanent. Even the worst sinners can become great saints if they have the courage and sincerity to invite a drastic and complete change of heart.
The present chaos and destruction will engulf the whole world. But this will be followed by a very long period in which there shall be no war. The passing sufferings and miseries of our times would be worth enduring for the sake of the long period of happiness which is to follow.
What will the present chaos lead to? How will it all end? It can only end in one way. Mankind will be sick of it all. Men will be sick of wanting and sick of fighting out of hatred. Greed and hatred will reach such intensity that everyone will become weary of them. They way out of the deadlock will be found through selflessness. The only alternative which will bring solution will be to stop hating and to love, to stop wanting and to give, to stop domination and to serve.
Great suffering shall awaken great understanding. Supreme suffering fulfills its purpose and yields its true significance when it awakens exhausted humanity, and stirs within it a genuine longing for real understanding. Unprecedented suffering leads to unprecedented spiritual outcome. It contributes to the construction of life on the unshakeable foundation of the Truth.
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 medium for the bringing of a real understanding of human relationship. It is now high time for humanity to face squarely the true causes of the catastrophe which has overtaken it. It is now high time to seek a new experience of reality. To know that life is real and eternal is to inherit unfading bliss. It is time that men had this realisation by being unified with their own selves.
Through unification with the higher self, man perceives the infinite self in all selves; and he becomes free by outgrowing and discarding the limitations of the ego-life. The individual soul has to realise its identity with the supreme universal soul with full consciousness. Men shall have reorientation of life in the light of this ancient truth, and they will readjust their attitude towards their neighbors in everyday life. To perceive the spiritual value of oneness is to promote real unity and cooperation. Brotherhood then becomes a spontaneous outcome of true perception.
The new life which is based upon spiritual understanding is an affirmation of the Truth. It is not something which belongs to utopia, but is completely practical. Now that humanity is thrown into the fire of bloody conflicts, it is, through immense anguish, experiencing the utter instability and futility of the life which is based upon purely material conceptions. The hour is near when men, in their eager longing for real happiness, will seek the true source of happiness.
The time is also ripe when men will ardently seek 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. They will accept the guidance which comes from divine authority. Only the outpouring of divine love can bring about spiritual awakening.
In this critical time of universal suffering, men are becoming ready to turn towards their higher self, and to fulfill the will of God. Divine love will perform the supreme miracle of bringing God into the hearts of men, and of getting them established in lasting and sure happiness. It will satisfy the greatest need and longing of mankind. Divine love will make men selfless and helpful in their mutual relations, and it will bring about the final solution of all problems. The new brotherhood on earth shall be a fulfilled fact, and nations will be united in the fraternity of love and truth.
My existence is for this love and this truth; and to suffering humanity I say:
Have hope. I have come to help you in surrendering yourselves to the cause of God, and in accepting his grace of love and truth. I have come to help you in winning the one victory of all victories — to win yourself.
—Source: Messages of Meher Baba, East and West (ed. Adi K. Irani, 1945), pp. 22-25
There will be revolution all over India, including Ahmednagar. The face of the country will change as the time of my manifestation is nearing. [7 December 1946, Meherabad]
—Source: Lord Meher 9: 3141
On one of these latter days, Baba emerged after having sat for many hours in complete seclusion, his face more drawn and weary than Adi ever remembered having seen it, and said that a gigantic disaster would overwhelm the world, that would wipe out three-quarters of mankind.
Adi was deeply stirred, not only by the anguish on Baba’s face, but also because he spontaneously dictated these words immediately on emerging from his seclusion, as if the work done during that seclusion had been specifically related to the world passion of which he spoke.
[November 1945, Angiras Rishi Hill]
—Source: William Donkin, The Wayfarers, p. 81
I spoke to Baba about someone who, in order to protect his family and himself from destruction foretold by Baba, wanted to establish a home way up in the mountains, and stock it with the necessary food.
Baba interrupted me and said, “No place will be safe, not even the top of the Himalayas. Only by the grace of God can one be saved.”
So I asked Baba if this destruction would be a man-made or a natural one.
Then Baba answered, “It will be both.”
[1950s]
—Source: Letter to the Editor from Fred Winterfeldt, in The Awakener, vol. 7, no. 1 (1960), p. 40
“You people have been worrying about Berlin. It wasn’t Berlin you should have worried about, it was Cuba. That situation has given me a terrible time. It was touch and go for quite a while. You have no idea how serious it was.” [Ivy Duce:] He went on to say that the third world war has already started on the border between Communist China and India. Baba said, “I am the nut in the nutcracker. The Chinese are my children, and the Indians are my children. You might find the Chinese at our gate, so be careful.” . . . “After 1962, everything will be upside down. World War III will not be fought where it has been fought before. It will be fought here, and will spread into the Near and Middle East. The Chinese will retreat this winter, but they will return after the snows melt. But India will win in the end.”
[November 1962, Poona]
—Source: Ivy O. Duce, How a Master Works, pp. 360-361
On Sunday morning, May 23rd, 1965, at ten o’clock, mentioning the current crisis [war between India and Pakistan], Baba stated: “The present warlike activities will be followed by temporary peace. But after two and a half years — the end of November 1967 — there will be the war that will destroy three-fourths of the world. India will be desolated. All countries will suffer untold disaster, but America will survive a little more than the rest of the world. I will then break my silence, after which there will be my Universal Manifestation and the world will come to know Who I am. One year after the breaking of my silence, I will drop my body.”
Later that afternoon, at four o’clock, Baba stated: “I am God in human form. When I break my silence the world will come to know that I am the Avatar of this age. For a short duration there will be increased warlike activities followed by temporary peace. By the end of November 1967, there will be the war that the world has never before witnessed.”
—Source: In Bhau Kalchuri, Lord Meher 19: 6370
Once I spoke a word, and the creation came into being. Once again I will speak one word, and all will be over. In between there is only silence and love.
[1960, Poona]
—Source: The Awakener, vol. 22, no. 1 (1986), p. 66
Last evening when the pain was bad, Baba said, “The accident [car accident in which Baba was very badly hurt] has been a blessing for the universe, and a curse for Baba.” … He said to the effect that all suffering borne by Baba is out of his compassion and love for humanity. The suffering yet to come for the world will be so great that it could not sustain it, and so Baba takes one end of the yoke on his shoulder.
[15 December 1956?]
—Source: Mani Irani, quoted by Ivy O. Duce, How a Master Works, p. 294