Perfect Master is the English term

Meher Baba Meher Baba (born Merwan Sheriar Irani; 25 February 1894 – 31 January 1969) was an Indian spirituality, spiritual master who said he was the Avatar, or God in human form, of the age. A spiritual figure of the 20th century, he had a following o ...

began to use in his writing as early as 1925 to denote the Eastern idea of a

sadguru ''Satguru'' (), or ''sadguru'' (), means a "true guru" in Sanskrit. The term is distinguished from other forms of gurus, such as musical instructors, scriptural teachers, parents, and so on. A ''satguru'' has some special characteristics that ...

(

Vedanta ''Vedanta'' (; , ), also known as ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six orthodox (Āstika and nāstika, ''āstika'') traditions of Hindu philosophy and textual exegesis. The word ''Vedanta'' means 'conclusion of the Vedas', and encompa ...

) or a

qutub The term () means 'axis', 'pivot', or 'pole'. Qutb can refer to celestial movements and be used as an astronomical term or a spiritual symbol. In Sufism, a is the perfect human being, ''al-Insān al-Kāmil'' ('The Universal Man'), who leads ...

(

Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

). A Perfect Master, according to Baba, is a God-realized person (one whose limited individualized consciousness has merged with God) who can use his Divine attributes of Infinite Power, Knowledge and Bliss for the spiritual upliftment of others. In describing Meher Baba's specialized use of the term

Charles Purdom Charles Benjamin Purdom (15 October 1883 – 8 July 1965) was a British author, drama critic, town planner, and economist. He was one of the pioneers and founders of the first garden cities, Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City, the latter of whi ...

writes, "The title ‘Perfect Master’... means one who has himself reached the goal to which he directs others: one who, pointing to God, has himself realized God."

States of God-realized souls

Meher Baba stated in his book ''

God Speaks ''God Speaks: The Theme of Creation and Its Purpose'' is the principal book by Meher Baba, and the most significant scripture used by his followers. It covers Meher Baba's view of the process of creation and its purpose and has been in print con ...

'' that when a spiritually advanced soul loses its consciousness as a separate being, it merges in God in one of three distinct states: * The soul becomes conscious of itself as God and enjoys eternally His divine attributes of Infinite Power, Knowledge and Bliss, but remains completely unconscious of Creation. * The soul becomes conscious of itself as God and retains consciousness of Creation but does not use His divine attributes in it. * The soul becomes conscious of itself as God and uses His divine attributes for the spiritual advancement of others. Meher Baba calls people who are in the third state Perfect Masters or ''Mukammil''. He distinguishes the second state from Perfect Masters, calling them instead "Perfect Ones" or ''Kamil''. One of the aspects that he says demarcates the Perfect Master from the Perfect One is that the Perfect Master has disciples, while the Perfect One does not. Also Baba says that a Perfect Master can make like himself any number of souls or even the whole of creation, while the Perfect One can only make one soul like himself. However, Meher Baba makes it clear in his system as outlined in ''God Speaks'' that the consciousness of these souls is absolutely One and the same. To explain this apparent contradiction he likens the difference between these two classifications of God realized souls to a difference in the 'office' of the God Realized person. Meher Baba says that at all times on Earth there are 56 incarnate God-realized souls, but that of these only five are deemed the five Perfect Masters of their era. When one of the five Perfect Masters "drops" his physical body, Baba says, another God-realized soul among the 56 incarnate at that time replaces him by taking up that office in that moment. Thus, Meher Baba says there are 56 God-realized souls on Earth at all times, but only and exactly five hold the office of Perfect Master. In addition, Baba says there is one very rare type of God-realized person who has no disciples but who has duties included in his office. These he says are called Most Perfect Ones or ''Akmal''.

The Five Perfect Masters

Meher Baba is unique among Indian teachers in that he said that the number of Perfect Masters on the Earth is exactly five at all times. He said further that at the time of his own God-realization the five Perfect Masters were

Sai Baba of Shirdi Sai Baba of Shirdi (), also known as Shirdi Sai Baba, was an Indian spiritual master considered to be a Hindu saints, saint, and revered by both Hindu and Muslim devotees during and after his lifetime. According to accounts from his life, Sai ...

Upasni Maharaj Upasani Maharaj, born Kashinath Govindrao Upasni, (15 May 1870 – 24 December 1941) was an Indian spiritual teacher, considered by his disciples to be a satguru. He lived in Sakori, British India, and is said to have received God-realiza ...

Hazrat Babajan Hazrat Babajaan () (various dates claimed – September 21, 1931) was a Pashtuns, Pashtun Muslim saint considered by her followers to be a satguru, Sadguru or Qutb, Qutub. Born in Balochistan, Afghanistan, she lived the final 25 years of her l ...

, Hazrat Tajuddin Baba and

Narayan Maharaj Narayan Maharaj (20 May 1885 – 3 September 1945) was a Hindu Indian spiritual master considered by his followers to be a sadguru. He lived in the village of Kedgaon, east of the Indian city of Pune. Early life Narayan was born in a Deshas ...

and that these five brought him down to human consciousness as the

Avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

on Earth in this cycle of time. "During the Avataric period, the five Perfect Masters make God incarnate as man." He also said, "What I am, what I was, and what I will be as the Ancient One is always due to the five Perfect Masters of the Age. Sai Baba, Upasni Maharaj, Babajan, Tajuddin Baba and Narayan Maharaj - these are the five Perfect Masters of this age for me." All of these have since died and Meher Baba did not say who their replacements were, except to indicate that for the time being they will be in the East. He further indicated that although the 'offices' of the five Perfect Masters are always filled, when they drop their bodies they 'also shed forever their Subtle and Mental vehicles and pass away utterly as God, retaining infinite Individuality and experiencing the Infinite Power, Knowledge and Bliss'. Meher Baba also said that while there are numerous planets in the Universe with human life on them, Earth is the only planet where God realization is possible and where the five Perfect Masters take birth.

The Avatar

Meher Baba asserts that beyond the five Perfect Masters of the age, (distinguished as those God-realized souls which fulfill the office of Perfect Master temporarily until they drop their physical bodies), there is also the

. "The number of God-Realized souls on earth is eternally fixed at fifty-six and is never altered, except during Avataric ages when God directly descends as a man." The Avatar, according to Meher Baba, is a special Perfect Master who was the original Perfect Master, or the Ancient One, who never ceases to incarnate in spite of his original attainment of God-realization. Baba says that this particular soul personifies the preserver or sustainer state of God which in

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

is called ''

Vishnu Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation ( ...

'' and in Sufism is called '' Parvardigar''. According to Meher Baba the Avatar appears on Earth every 700–1400 years, and is brought down into human form by the five Perfect Masters of that age to aid in the process of moving creation in its never-ending journey toward Godhood. He said that in other ages this role was fulfilled by

Zoroaster Zarathushtra Spitama, more commonly known as Zoroaster or Zarathustra, was an Iranian peoples, Iranian religious reformer who challenged the tenets of the contemporary Ancient Iranian religion, becoming the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism ...

Rama Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda' ...

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

, and lastly by

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

. "Of the most recognized and much worshiped manifestations of God as Avatar, that of Zarathustra is the earliest – having been before Ram, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad."

Majzoob

Besides Perfect One ''(Kamil)'', Most Perfect One ''(Akmal)'', and Perfect Master ''(Mukammil)'', Meher Baba described one other type of incarnate soul that has transcended the finite ego and merged in a state of God-consciousness, but cannot help others. This type is the '' Majzoob'' (Arabic: ''Absorbed''). Unlike the Perfect Master, or any of the other sub-types of God-realized souls, the Majzoob is absorbed in God to such a degree that he cannot be of any direct assistance to anyone else in creation though he can be of indirect help to those who honor him. This is because he is a perfect

mast Mast, MAST or MASt may refer to: Engineering * Mast (sailing), a vertical spar on a sailing ship * Flagmast, a pole for flying a flag * Guyed mast, a structure supported by guy-wires * Mooring mast, a structure for docking an airship * Radio mas ...

and as such has no experience of the external physical or internal mental worlds. According to Meher Baba the Majzoob has no experience of the gross, subtle, or mental worlds, but is entirely absorbed in the bliss of his state of Godhood.Donkin, William, M.D., "The Wayfarers: Meher Baba with the God-Intoxicated", Adi K. Irani, 1948, ''Sheriar Foundation'', 2001, pp. 16, 18 ()

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