must have been the Avatar, Himself, the Ancient One who took that most-first form, and sang the most-first human song of rejoicing at His Triumph of having gained at last the complete and perfect image in illusion of Himself as Man.

Soon He will sing that most-last song that was the most-first song sung in the beginningless beginning — soon He will sing again that final song that will herald His day of ultimate Triumph, the Triumph of Avatar manifested in the creation as God, Himself. All will come to know that He is God in human form.

Blessed are those who believe on faith in this time of darkness. They will continue to come trudging down that dusty road from across the world, and over the railroad tracks and up the Hill. They will continue to come, one by one, even in the depths of hopelessness, because the very fundamental nature of man is hope. But they will come not just because of the eternal struggle between hopelessness and hope, not because of a possibility, not because of a probability, but because of a certainty in the heart that Meher Baba is none other than God.

They will come not with a hope but with faith "driven like a post" deep into His Divinity. Hope they will have also, but it will be the hope of hearing again His singing of that long forgotten Word, the Word that will breathe into their limbs the living spirit of His boundless grace. They will be the real beggars, who, in hoping for nothing will have arrived at the Only Hope.

There was a time when we were happy to sing the song of man as man. The song taught to us long ago by that first God-Man who remains always the God-Man, One without a second. But now we have been given a new song to sing, for this time, the song of man as the lover of God, the song of the New Life. And who taught us this new song? Meher Baba, the same One Avatar that always was and always will be. Man can no longer be just man. He must now begin to express his latent divinity as man, the true lover of God. And men who cannot strive for this new state of man will vanish to appear no more on the face of this earth.

It is a terrible thing, this helplessness and hopelessness; I had to go to India this last time to experience this, and God saw to it that I experienced it as He wanted me to.

It is a terrible thing, this helplessness, because it is the age-old habit of men to struggle against helplessness, to overcome the hopelessness. It is the age-old habit of men to make for themselves illusory environments in which they can feel safe and secure and comfortable. All along men could have had their comfort and security in the Ancient One, who eternally is. But we in our anxiety did not choose this way but went on chasing after self-created security — comfort at the cost of understanding.

To taste of the New Life we are obliged to let go our clutching hold on what appears safe. Baba is saying, "Give up safety; nothing is safe but God."

Man has struggled and struggled for safety in illusion. And I, being man, have struggled along like the rest — until I met Baba and saw a glimpse of truth. We go on tearing the environment to shreds in our desperation to make a safe environment for ourselves.

To make it safe, rip away the mighty forests and build secure little suburban houses. Don't leave a bird or an animal anywhere. Drive away the cooling rain, rip and gouge the earth land and send its soil gushing down the Mississippi. Burn out all life in the oceans from which came all life, to make our little life safe and secure and comfortable. Make a dead earth on which to create a perfect dream, the safe illusion. How many times has this nightmare happened in the cosmic creation?

But now God is fed up; Baba said so, and He will not let it happen this time. He will make us give up the false safety of false creations. He will make us live the New Life, all of us, whether we like it or not.