We all witness certain events in the course of our lives that stand out from others — events we won’t ever forget. Such an event I witnessed this past Friday night — the type of event that legends are made from.

It wasn’t a tragedy like the assination of JFK, or the terrorism of 911, or a seemingly impossible upset in a sporting event like the U.S. hockey team defeating the Soviets in the 1980 Olympic Games. No, it was something much more sublime, and it happened in Myrtle Beach when I went to hear a talk by a well-known disciple of Avatar Meher Baba.

The disciple’s name is Bhau Kalchuri. He has published many books and is the author of an extensive (and expensive) 6,742 page biography of Meher Baba entitled Lord Meher. (You can read the entire book for free on-line at LordMeher.org.)

I first met him in India in 1985. I still remember 23 years ago,  knocking on the door of his office, explained that I was doing research, and that I had heard about his forthcoming book on Meher Baba from his publisher, and that I had some questions about it, specifically about Nirvana.

He gave me much more information than I expected. In fact, he gave unstintingly of himself, explaining to me not only about Nirvana, but that which follows Nirvana – Nirvikalp. He made sure I got every point.

He even asked to see my notebook that I was jotting down his comments in. He then started drawing diagrams in it, illustrating his points. These were points given to him by Meher Baba. To say they were esoteric is to put it mildly. But that was 1985. A significant memory. But this is the present.

Back to Friday night.

My wife and I went to hear Bhau speak, knowing he was in precarious health. We saw him the night before and he said he wasn’t doing well. At 82 years of age, he has been living in constant pain. But yet he is happy.

He suffers from an injured neck, angina, painful scars from recent open-heart surgery as well as two cancer surgeries. Only because of his duty to and love for Meher Baba has it been possible for him to rise above these physical conditions and treat them as if they were nothing, despite the protests of doctors.

The pain is still there. He still suffers. But the happiness he enjoys is much, much greater. And he makes it clear that this type of happiness is possible for everyone.

How so? Because of love. As he will tell you, as we turn inward to experience the love, light, and bliss of the Divine Presense, the material world (the gross sphere) and all of its affairs – good and bad – begin to be seen as substanceless – without weight, without meaning. This frees us from the suffering that the world gives us.

This is a gradual process – a process of spiritual maturity – but it is of paramount importance. This is how the mystic is able to transcend the material world and experience the deeper realities of the subtle and mental planes of consciousness, and eventually become one with God.

Anyway, Friday night, knowing he was in precarious health, it came as a disappointment but not as a total surprise, to hear from the moderator that he wouldn’t be speaking, that he was resting. So the audience, with understanding, settled for a film.

But behind the scenes more was going on with Bhau than just rest. Doctors were trying to convince him to go to the hospital because of chest pains, and insisting that he not go out to give a talk. But he didn’t like that idea. He told them, “I didn’t come to Myrtle Beach to go to a hospital, I came to talk.”

And an hour later, he showed up to a stunned audience and gave his talk, despite the inconvenience of being on stage with someone taking his blood pressure every 15 minutes.  Can you imagine? That is an example of taking love seriously and life lightly.

That is an example of love taking precedence, of being the primary reality. Physical suffering, next to this, can at best be only secondary. This state is possible only with the realization that the world and all of its affairs (which includes physical suffering) are nothing into nothing, as the great Sufi poet Hafiz once said.

How does one get to that realization? It comes from love’s deepening effect on spiritual perception, which enables one to see everything as nothing. Ultimately, to the adept of spiritual consciousness, everything in the material world eventually appears as nothing. And when everything becomes nothing, you have that state that the Buddha pointed to – Nirvana.

Nirvana is a state of absolute vacuum. It is where illusion comes to an end. But it is not the end of the spiritual path. For Nirvana is instantly followed by Nirvikalp, which is Everything (the real everything – Infinite Consciousness – Infinite Knowledge, Power, and Bliss.)

Bhau told the audience that he was 82-years-old. He told them that he could die at any time. But that as long as he was alive, he had his duty to perform, and his duty was to talk. But his talk was more than just words. It was an example — an example of love transcending the limits and excuses of the mind. It was an example of love going beyond the realm of the physical to embrace the Divine Beloved in the hearts of others.