1. This text is a translated and somewhat edited version of the Gujarati of ChD 62: p. 341. ComD 1: f. 264 recounts the same story with slight variations: “The moojavars and mutwallis at Bapoosaheb Vali’s tomb in Ahmednagar came to Baba for offering invitations and the subscription list in connection with the anniversary day of His death. Baba instructed Rs. 50/- to be paid them towards the Urus funds and after their departure dwelt for some time upon this well-known saint of Ahmednagar when He also gave interesting explanations on various other devine [sic] personalities and points.” Much of the content of this Tiffin Lecture is recorded in this 22nd May 1926 entry of “The Combined Diary,” ComD 1: ff. 263-66.

2. The content of the next five paragraphs (up to the beginning of the paragraph on Tukaram) was published in “Spiritual Speeches of His Divine Majesty Sadguru Meher Baba. (3) On God-Realized Personages,” Meher Message, vol. 1, no. 4 (April 1929), p. 8.

3. The text of TTL p. 16 is riddled with lacunae; the words bāl, bāl-unmat (or bālonmatt), unmatt-gānḍā, and pīshāch have been supplied from TTL/FF p. 16, from the source diary, ChD 62: p. 341, and from TLD/FF: 22-5-26 draft A, p. 1 and TLD/FF: 22-5-26 draft B, p. 1. This passage in Chanji’s Diary also supplies, as other expressions for these human types and their associated states, bachchā (“child”), bāl avasthā (“child state”), and bhūt (“ghost”). Much of this same vocabulary can be found in Infinite Intelligence; see, for example, pp. 443-44 and 450.

4. “Woman & Wealth” in the Tiffin Lectures” sources (TTL p. 16, TLD/FF: 22-5-26 draft A, p. 1 and TLD/FF: 22-5-26 draft B, p. 1) translates the words strī and dhan in ChD 62: p. 341. On this kind of reference to women and wealth, see footnote * on p.16.

5. While the TTL p. 16 and TLD/FF: 22-5-26 draft B, p. 2 read “Ishwar (God),” the Gujarati text of ChD 62: p. 342 records the word “Bhagvān.” In Infinite Intelligence “Īshwar” is used exclusively to designate God in the state of Creator-Preserver-Destroyer, unconscious of Himself yet Lord of the universe; in God Speaks Baba referred to this as the Third State of God. Yet Baba never uses “Bhagvān” in this sense, nor can one easily imagine how Bhagvān could ever carry such a meaning. Clearly “Īshwar” is being used in this present Tiffin Lecture not as in Infinite Intelligence but simply as a general term for God in His unconscious state. For further discussion of “Īshwar” and its various uses, see Glossary.

6. “Frank” in TTL p. 17 and in TLD/FF: 22-5-26 draft A, p. 2 and draft B, p. 2 translates “bhoḷā” in ChD 62: p. 342, a word Baba sometimes employed to refer to the guilelessness, simplicity, and innocence of Perfect Ones.

7. This last phrase (“though his course of action . . . “) does not appear in the original diary source (ChD 62: p. 343) but has been inserted by the editors, since it seemed necessary to recognize that al-Hallaj and Zoroaster met different fates (that is, the one was crucified and the other was not).

8. This last paragraph does not appear in any of the “Tiffin Lectures” manuscripts (TTL p. 17, TLD/FF: 22-5-26 draft A, p. 2 and draft B, p. 2). But it does appear in Gujarati at this juncture in the diary source, ChD 62: p. 343, and certainly it comprised a part of Meher Baba’s original lecture. Because of its inherent interest, the editors have translated it and incorporated it into this text.

9. Some of the content of this and the next two paragraphs was reproduced in “Spiritual Speeches of His Divine Majesty Sadguru Meher Baba. (5) On Maya and Guru,” Meher Message, vol. 1, no. 5 (May 1929), pp. 6-7.

10. The typewritten text of TTL p. 18 and TLD/FF: 22-5-26 draft B, p. 3 reads: “Mai tera beta jiye do Khuda-ki nam-par”; TLD/FF: 22-5-26 draft A, p. 3 reads similarly. ChD 62: p. 344 reads: “māi tera beṭā jīye—do Khudā kī rāhpar,” that is, “Mother, may your son live long: give on the path of God!”

11. “[W]ives” (TTL p. 18, TLD/FF: 22-5-26 draft A, p. 3 and draft B, p. 3) translates “māshuk,” “beloveds, loved ones” (ChD 62: p. 344).

12. ChD 62: p. 344 adds the phrase “jīv vaḷ vaḷ thāy,” that is, “your heart would start palpitating.”

13. The “Tiffin Lectures” manuscripts (TTL p. 18, TLD/FF: 22-5-26 draft A, p. 3 and draft B, p. 4) give us only the abbreviation “Meh.” The diary source, ChD 62: p. 344, refers to a child but provides no name. The boy in this Tiffin Lecture, however, is clearly the same as the child in the lecture of 11th July 1926 (see p. 179), whom once again Baba refers to as an example of sexual innocence. Several of the source manuscripts for that 11th July lecture (TTL p. 81, TLD/DF: 11-7-26, p. 1, TTL/FF p. 81) provide us, once again, with only the abbreviation “Meh”; but TLD/FF:11-7-26, p. 1 and the source passage in Chanji’s diary (ChD 57: p. 87) give us the full name: “Mehelli.” Rustom and Freiny’s oldest son, Merwan, became known as Mehlu in later years; “Mehelli” (a spelling variant of “Mehli,” a common sobriquet among Parsis) could have been his pet name as a boy. This network of evidence does not establish with certitude that the “Meh” and “Mehelli” of these two Tiffin Lectures designate Rustom and Freiny’s son; but the probability is great.

14. The “Tiffin Lectures” sources (TTL p. 19, TLD/FF: 22-5-26 draft A, p. 4 and draft B, p. 4) say only that the Guru “would free one from these ceaseless rounds of Births and Deaths”; but ChD 62: p. 344 makes it explicit that he will “grant Mukti”—“muktī apāve.”

15. TTL p. 19 has a lacuna here. TTL/FF p. 19 supplies the handwritten interpolation in the Gujarati script: “bandhese bandhā mīlā, chhuṭe kon upāy/ sangat karye nirbandhkī, palme dīye chhuṭāy.” TLD/FF: 22-5-26 draft A, p. 4 supplies this fragmentary couplet: “bandhyā ko bandhyā mīle, kabu na chhuṭā jāy/ [lacuna] palak me chhuṭā jāy.” This appears to be based on ChD 62: p. 341: “bandhyā se bandhyā mile, kabu chhutā na jāy/ bandhyā ko [lacuna] mīle, palakme chhutā jāy.” TLD/FF: 22-5-26 draft B, p. 4 gives a variant that seems to be a revision : “bandhyese bandhā mīlā, kabu na chhuṭā jāy chhuṭe kon upāy/ sangat kariye nir-bandhkī, pal me dīye chhuṭāy.” This kind of variation in the text of verses attributed to Kabir is commonplace. Kabir’s poetry has descended to modernity through oral tradition and in three major written recensions; enormous diversity appears in the forms in which his verses are quoted, particularly in popular culture and everyday usage. The editors have not found this particular couplet in any of the sources available to them.

16. Some of the content of this section and the next was published in “Spiritual Speeches of His Divine Majesty Sadguru Meher Baba. (6) Maya and God-Realization,” Meher Message, vol. 1, no. 6 (June 1929), pp. 7-8.

17. While the “Tiffin Lectures” texts supply us with nark (in various forms), the Gujarati text of ChD 62: p. 345 reads “gu (nark)j.” Nark means “hell” and “excrement”; gū is a semi-vulgar word referring specifically to excrement.

18. The Kabīr Granthāvalī , which is the Western recension of Kabir’s verse, quotes the couplet thus: “T-t kart t bhayā, mujhmẽ rahī na h/ Vārī pherī vali gaī, jit dekhau tit t.” See Kabīr Granthāvalī, edited by Shyam Sundar Das (1928; republished Lucknow: Prakashan Kendr, 1973), p. 99.

19. TTL p. 20 gives the English gloss of these poetic lines, but the original Hindi lines themselves are missing. Versions of this Hindi text appear on TTL/FF p. 20, ChD 62: p. 341, TLD/FF: 22-5-26 draft A, p. 5 and draft B, p. 5. The edited text here is a slighly emended version of these lines in the sources.

20. This rather bland English phraseology does not adequately express the colorful idiom in the Gujarati of ChD 62: p. 346, which reads: “Tame ekvār gurūne sharaṇ thayā ke tenā pīdarne paṇ, tamārā tarafnī faraj bajāvvī paḍe”; that is, “Once you surrender to the Guru, even his father has to fulfill his duty towards you.” The idea here is that the obligation placed on the Guru binds him to such an extent that, even if he were somehow to fail to fulfill it, his father or paternal lineage (pīdar, normally spelled pīthar) becomes obliged to do so.