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Howard Murphet
(1906 - 28-9-2004
[Birthday of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba])
Books by Howard Murphet:
Man of miracles
The
Lights of Home
- Howard Murphet is well known to Sai Devotees world
wide. In the mission of the Sai Avatara, Howard was called
forward, along with others (most notably, Jack Hislop) and
chronicled his experiences seeking the spiritual path,
discovering Sai Baba, deepening his store of wisdom (and
finally, to his great joy, his store of prema) and sharing
those experiences in print. Howard has a most frank manner
of writing. His is the rare knack of involving his reader in
his narrative and his questions, and the answers to the many
questions he raised about Sathya Sai Baba. The result was a
magnificent trilogy of Sai books, Sai Baba-Man of
Miracles, Sai Baba-Avatar, and Sai
Baba-Invitation to Glory.
In a darkening era when the lights of humanity have been
dimmed by planet-wide wars, governments economies of
welfare, the population explosion, and the gee-whiz
electronics in home, hearth and workplace that divide the
haves from the have-nots, Howard Murphet emerges as a beacon
shining in the darkness, guiding those in travail to the
safe shores of Sathya Sai Baba.
Howard has been to war. He evaluated the cause of war
spiritually, before joining up. He knew there was a great
spiritual goal of his life, amid the twists and turns he has
observed in his ninety plus years. He is a modern Parsifal,
a knight of the Round Table in search of the Holy Grail
which he called his "Star of Destiny" or his Star of the
East". Howard Murphet's quest was to discover that star and
satisfy the restless yearning in his soul.
This modern Knight-Errant of the pen, since his days as a
school teacher in Tasmania, had always sought a deeper
meaning in the affairs of humanity, and sought to improve
humanity at large via the humble offering of his skill with
eye, pen, learning, writings, and his finely honed
discrimination. This is the true vidyartha, the true
cumulative wealth of an education pursued beyond the
classroom and which gives a great wealth to humanity. His
labours with the pen and his spiritual seeking are an
embodiment of that ancient prayer:
- Asatoma sadgamaya
Tamasoma, jyotirgamaya
Mrithyorma, amritam gamaya
Amritam, gamaya
(From the Unreal, lead us to the real,
From Darkness, lead us to light
From Death lead us to immortality)
- This time Howard Murphet was born in Tasmania, the
'apple isle' of Australia, in 1906. His family came from a
strong Christian background, and he was blessed with a
mother of great faith, whom he names as his first guru. In
his youth, he had a miracle after falling into a deep pond,
and later on, had a vision of another world, perhaps Heaven:
- As I gazed upwards into the blue, absorbed in the
beauty of this dome-like roof of the world, suddenly a
window appeared in the roof. Beyond the window was a
glorious scene that made me feel I was looking into
Heaven. There was a radiant light shining on white or
light-coloured buildings in the background. In the
foreground were figures moving about as if in a street
scene. Their robes were of rich colours with red and
gold predominating. I could see some of their faces
which to me looked wise, benign and somehow noble. I
remember too that there was a soft drift of heavenly
music coming through the window and reaching my ears as
I lay on my back among the silent oats. A wave of bliss
flooded through me as time stood still. Then as suddenly
as it had come, the window disappeared, leaving nothing
but the clear blue of the sky. But I knew that the
radiant, heavenly scene in the sky had been real while
it lasted....Was it really Heaven I had been looking
into, I wondered... but I had not seen the golden throne
of God, and the figures moving about did not have wings,
as angels should, according to my mother.
- Howard Murphet spent his childhood attending the local
one-teacher school until the teacher married and left. Due
to the required number of children in attendance falling
below the necessary levels, the school did not reopen. Young
Howard commenced working on his father's farm. When a new
teacher arrived his talent was quickly spotted and a regime
of attending school one hour earlier every day, to make up
for lost ground was instituted for him. This was prepare for
the state examination. Howard, like all bush children of his
day, he had to get up even earlier again and milk the cows
before going to school! He passed the examination and
commenced attending classes at boarding school in
Launceston. He was inclined, at one stage to enter the
church and become a minister. He changed his mind, and
entered teacher training college and the University of
Tasmania, Hobart. He had great ideals about education in
forming childrens minds in such a way to build character and
integrity. He was to later become disillusioned:
- "It was a terrible disillusionment to find myself
caught up in the mechanics of a factory where knowledge
was fed in at one end, called the classroom, and came
out at the other, called the examination room. By the
end of my first year as a teacher, I had realised the
futility of my altruistic dream, my dream of laying the
foundation stones for a new world in the classrooms of
Tasmania. The idea was laughable and, thank God, I still
had my sense of humour. I would have resigned then but I
was bonded to teach for four years to pay for my
training at the Teachers' College and University."
- Howard left Tasmania for Melbourne where he had a brief
sojourn in suburban newspapers. He had come to realise that
there was an important knack to writing, finding the
unusual, the unexpected facet of something amusing,
something that revealed a quirk of human nature. The great
depression had begun, and when the newspaper decided he and
his stories were superfluous, so Howard joined thousands of
other jobless men roaming the country. They were called
'bagmen'. Part of the financial mobility of men on the swag
was begging, but in the vernacular slang, it was called the
"bite". Howard explained:
- "Generally the 'bagmen' seemed to think that the
community owed them their food and were not averse to
begging. But they never used the word 'beg'. It was
always 'bite'. Perhaps they thought that this word made
the act seem less demeaning. Though some great spiritual
masters, such as Gautama the Buddha and Shirdi Sai Baba,
carried their begging bowls as a religious ritual to
give their fellow men the spiritual merit of giving, I
myself had not reached this status with its accompanying
humility to beg for food, even if it was called 'bite'.
I always carried a small amount of money to buy the food
I needed, though I was ashamed to let my fellow 'bagmen'
know this. Once this led me into a trap. I had gone with
a fellow traveller known as Bill the Bagman into the
shopping area of a small town to 'bite' some food for
breakfast and the rest of the day. He had un-
concernedly gone into several shops and in each case
came out laden with supplies. Announcing that we had all
that we needed except butter. Bill said to me pointedly,
"It's your turn now to 'bite' the butter." We were
standing in front of a very modern-looking shop that
would today be called a mini-supermarket. I went in and
bought half a pound of butter. When I came out. Bill
looked at me with approval and some admiration. 'That
was a very good bite," he said, "in a shop like this." I
was ashamed to tell him that I had actually bought it.
After that I always did my shopping alone, instead of in
the company of an experienced 'beggar' or 'biter'."
- After gaining employment in Sydney and studying the art
of copywriting, Howard decided he would better serve his
cause overseas and sailed to the United Kingdom. He arrived
in London on the eve of World War II. He had a deep
conviction that the war was a just war and was determined to
be involved. He joined the British Red Cross, under whose
auspices he travelled to France. Soon after he was to enlist
in the Horse Guards and trained as an officer. Attempting to
catch his regiment and take up the theatre of war, he
arrived in Jerusalem and spent three months waiting
assignment. He took time to visit the Holy Land and various
sacred places such as Nazareth, Bethany, the Garden of
Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives. Thereafter he was
assigned to the Eighth Army as an Escort Officer for War
Correspondents. He served with the Eighth Army from El
Alamein to Tunis, took part in the invasion of Sicily and
Italy and later, with the British Second Army, the D-Day
invasion of Normandy. Under instructions from the War Office
ws to visit a Concentration Camp and make independent
verifications of the horrors being reported. He also
interviewed some inmates of the one concentration camp. His
final task before being stood down from active service was
the charge of the British Press Section at the Nuremburg War
Crimes Trials.
After spending further time in post-war Germany (he felt a
curious affinity to the German peoples), Howard returned to
Australia. There, he began to attend Yoga classes and study
Yoga. He had a bliss experience, and went out of his body
whilst attending bhajans.
- "I think it was during the chant 'Oh God Beautiful',
which appealed to me greatly, that I was flooded with
bliss. So much so, my consciousness disappeared. Nothing
existed anywhere but the unutterable bliss of being. I
came out of it, back to consciousness, as my body fell
sideways, almost hitting the floor. This out-of-time
experience of the Ananda that is part of our inner
nature, taught me a number of things. A practical one
was the reason for having a firm seat, preferably
cross-legged on the floor, for meditation practice. The
aim of meditation is to reach that state of samadhi of
which I had tasted a little. With its coming, awareness
of the world vanishes and, unless firmly seated in a
stable position, the meditator is liable to fall to the
floor, as I almost did. More importantly, however, the
experience was a reaffirmation of the Reality I sought.
Brief tastes of it, such as this, whet the appetite for
the bottomless chalice of ambrosia, and to find it the
pilgrim moves onward, ever onward."
- Several years after participating in Yoga classes,
Howard met Iris, his wife to be and companion in travels and
spiritual seeking. Together they studied and travelled to
Europe. Howard was to visit his beloved Germany again, and
England. After visiting and attending a spiritual practice
called Subud for a time, they sailed East to attend the
School of Wisdom at theTheosophical Society's Adyar
Institute, on the river Adyar, Madras, in 1964.
Howard and Iris settled in at Adyar and took up the School
of Wisdom. Thereafter, they travelled North to visit some of
the many ashrams in the Himalayas, first stopping at
Dharmasala and calling on the Dalai Llama. Moving on to
other ahsrams, they visited the Sivanandanagar Ashram, the
newly-constructed ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the
ashrama of Charan Singh, and the Radha Soami colonies
founded by Sahibi Maharaj. Shortly after returning to Adyar
and Madras, Howard and Iris met Sathya Sai Baba for the
first time. Later, Howard was to travel to Puttaparthi alone
and attend the Shivarathri celebrations. Howard describes
his arrival at Prasanthi Nilayam:
- Listening to the sweet sacred music that floated
trom the prayer hall, I could see that what Kasturi
called the prayer hall was in the largest building, in
the centre of the ashram. It was a white, two-storey
building with a veranda and balcony in front. Near me
was a line of single-storey terraces, out of which
Kasturi had come. On the side over which the sun was now
dipping, were more low buildings, and on the opposite
side from where I sat were two large open sheds.
Something inward must have happened to me as I sat there
in the glorious peace coloured by the sunset and filled
with sacred music. All I know is that there, sitting on
my valise, I decided that Sai Baba was too great for
just one chapter in the book I was proposing to write.
The whole book must be about him. The haunting strains
of Arati were sounding, though I did not know its name
then, when Kasturi reappeared. My first words were, "I
have decided to write a book on Sai Baba." I saw doubt
written all over his face but he said politely, "Well,
that will be nice if it happens." Perhaps his lack of
faith in my statement came from the fact that others had
made similar statements and promptly forgot about them.
Kasturi's next words were "Swami has told me to put you
in the Guest House".
- The search had not ended. Howard had certainly found his
Star of Destiny, his Star of the East that he had sought all
his life. It was the Crown Prince of Venkatagiri who shared
his belief with Howard that Sathya Sai Baba was a full
incarnation of God, an "avatar". Howard departed
Puttaparthi, armed with books gifted by Sathya Sai Baba, and
was determined to answer the question, "was he also an
avatar, a descent of God to earth?"
Howard, has written that he was "probably the first from the
Western world to come to Sathya Sai Baba as a Western
skeptic and stay with Him or near Him for some six years in
India in order to solve the problem of His true Identity and
why He was here in the world. After returning to the west I
have been back many times, pulled by the strong magnet of
the Divine Love and fascination of One I decided was an
Avatar of God. He taught me what an Avatar is. His
relationship to orqdinary human beings in the world and how
His Purpose was to lead those who are ready, to their own
inner Guru or the God within. I did not immediately accept
Him as an Avatar, but after He taught me in a humble manner
what an Avatar is and how we are all Avatars, descendants
from God without being aware of it. As I stayed on I became
more and more certain that He was indeed an Avatar. This is
not based on the fact that He materialises things."
Howard has used the ancient vedantic method of learning in
his evaluation of Sathya Sai. This is critical today. This
is Howard's gift to devotees. Sai Baba himself says: Well.
Making the questioner himself give out the answers Is the
Sanathana method of teaching. If those who question,
themselves give the answers, they would clearly understand
the subject. The lecturing style Is different. In olden
days, all the Rishis enabled their disciples to understand
Vedanta only by this method.
Those who read Howard's books must follow in his footsteps
and ask their own questions, or they will create their own
version Sathya Sai and be filled with doubt instead of their
own explored questions and answers. Someone else's questions
and answers do not lead to liberation. In this wise, Howard
has been an exemplar who has adequately illuminated the path
for others to walk. The task of the devotee is excavation of
Truth.
Howard describes greatest of the Sai miracles is the Divine
Love by which He brings about a deep change in the nature of
people, his followers. "I experienced this also in 1966 on
the first occasion when I was alone with Sai Baba. I have
described this inner change which might be called the birth
of the Christ-child within one. We are born of course with
the embryo of the Divine Child within us but this initiation
that Swami gives things about the actual birth of the Christ
within, then, it is that we begin to know the meaning of
true Love and the feeling of oneness with our brother man.
This comes about gradually through the years after what I
have called the birth of the Christ-child or the initiation
into the Divine Life. Many,many people throughout the years
have been changed in this way, this deep rooted inner change
that is really your first footstep on the path of the
homeward journey. Then there is the great compassion of Sai
Baba which requires miraculous action for its fulfilment."
In 1982 Howard was diagnosed as having an incurable disease
He prayed very earnestly for healing. He was in a beautiful
room in the Adelaide Hills "while Sai Baba in the body was
of course at that time in India at His ashram. My prayer was
so intense that after a sleep on a couch while the sun was
shining through the windows I woke up to see Swami's Hand
and Arm as it circled over me and I knew hat He had come,
that this was a healing gesture. I saw it in that brief time
between being asleep and fully awake when as you might have
heard, everybody has a short period of clairvoyance. When
that short period has passed His Hand and Body disappeared
from my vision but He was still there in the room and I knew
this by the unbelievably soul-moving sense of the luminous
in the room, In fact the room was filled by it and it
penetrated the wall to where my wife was sitting in the
breakfast room and then when Swami left, the luminous went
too. This is what the ancient Romans called "sense of the
Presence of the Divine" (the luminous or lumina). Well, I
knew that I was cured of the disease and all tests
afterwards proved that this was so."
Howard writes, although blind: "Before I came into Sai
Baba's private interview, near the end of 1989, I had
accepted unhappily the prospect of a silent rest from the
labours of writing, which had been my life and joy for many
years. As Swami knew, through retinal haemorrhages into both
eyes, I was quite unable to read or write. All I had was
minimal peripheral vision in one eye. But in a firm,
commanding voice he said, "You must write the book that's in
there." He patted my chest. "Go home and write it and bring
it back to me in two years." My wife and two friends who
were present in the room looked startled at this royal
command. "May he have a co-author to help him?" asked my
wife. "No," replied Swami. "He must write his own book. I
will give him all the help he needs." I knew that I must
somehow carry out this task set me by my divine Master. But
how? For many years my writing had been born of a happy
partnership between me and an old typewriter. The art of
prose writing demanded that I work with words and phrases on
the written page, polishing towards perfection or as near to
it as attain- able. To reach a satisfactory standard in
prose expression through auditory means would be quite
impossible for me. Yet I must make the attempt.
The Lord Sai's help is often given through the hands of
others. I saw the first signs of this when a dictaphone and
other equipment necessary almost fell into my lap. This was
mainly through the help of some occupational therapists at
Concord Hospital, Sydney. So began a new, unfamiliar road to
creative writing. So Where the Road Ends was written by its
blind author. Howard's days are not over, he resides quietly
in the Blue Mountains area of New South Wales, Australia,
some two hours drive from Sydney.
- Insofar as Howard has
-discovered his light
-said why it is his light
-pointed others toward that light
-given those others a method by which too make their own
evaluation and excavate the truth for themselves
-He does all an invaluable service in thhe gloom of Kali
Yuga, and the wakening dawn of the Golden Age.
- Howard once told me his favourite poem was "Brahma"
- BRAHMA
If the red slayer think he slays,
Or if the slain think he is slain,
They know not well the subtle ways
I keep, and pass, and turn again.
Far or forgot to me is near;
Shadow and sunlight are the same;
The vanished gods to me appear;
And one to me are shame and fame.
They reckon ill who leave me out;
When me they fly, I am the wings;
I am the doubter and the doubt,
And I the hymn the Brahmin sings.
-
The strong gods pine for my abode,
And pine in vain the sacred Seven;
But thou, meek lover of the good!
Find me, and turn thy back on heaven.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1867
[He spread the glory of Bhagawan to the western
world. Even today, many know Bhagawan through Sai Baba: Man
of Miracles translated world-wide in various languages. For
many years, Howard had been Baba?s constant travel companion.
Both Iris and Howard had been with Baba to Madras, Ooty,
Venkatagiri, Bangalore and other places throughout India.
Howard, records these visits with love and reverence in his
three books on Baba. Baba would play on the pronunciation of his
name and ask, ?Murphet, are you perfect?? A common joke but one
impregnated with much deeper meaning. ?Editor Chris Parnell,
long-time editor and writer on Baba.Presently he
is the moderator of various e-groups on Bhagawan on the Web.
Online source
- Howard would be so happy now, as he has looked forward
to this event for the last couple of years. He dearly
missed Iris and could contact her only infrequently through
a clairvoyant.
Howard was a couple of months short of his 98th birthday and
left his body very peacefully.
It is hard to imagine that it was not until he was in his
mid fifties that he first met Sai Baba. On the first visit
to Puttaparthi (Howard had seen Swami previously in Madras)
he was motivated to write a book. His beautiful flowing
literary style and incredible memory for events, which only
left him in the last few months, made the book one of the
most important in Swami's mission - "Man of Miracles". Many
thousands of people first learnt of Sai Baba through that
amazing book of which tens of thousands of copies have been
sold.
The experiences and closeness that Howard enjoyed when so
few westerners travelled to Puttaparthi or had even heard of
Swami can only be wondered at with awe by those who have
followed him.
Howard went on to write several more books, the latest being
published early in 2004, fulfilling an instruction that Siva
had given to Howard a few years before.
Howard's life is one that can truly be celebrated as an
instrument of the Divine. I think his only regret in
passing was that Swami told him he had to return one more
time, whereas Iris has merged with Swami. The compensation
is that Swami assured him that he would assist in the
mission of Prema Sai.
Howard would want his crossing of the River Jordan, as he
referred to it, to be a real celebration and an occasion
that would inspire all of us to become better devotees and
to move closer to realise the Divinity within.
Sai Ram
-
- Posted by Ross on 28.09.2004
A message from our sister in Australia.
Dear friends,
It is with much sadness that I bring the news that our dear
Howard Murphett passed away this morning (Tuesday) after
lapsing into a coma yesterday. He
leaves behind thousands of people who have found themselves
at our Beloved Sai's feet through his books, particularly
his "Man of Miracles", and I am just one of them. How
forever indebted we are to our dear Howard.
My husband and myself and two good Sai friends had lunch
with Howard not all that long ago whereby he stated simply
and matter-of-factly that he was "ready to go", that he had
one more book to finish and release before doing so. He
also said there would be one more book released after his
passing. We'll have to leave that in Swami's hands.
During this lunch Howard had just completed reading Erkhardt
Tolle's book "The Power of Now" and his last words to us
that day as he held the book was, "here in this book is all
one needs to know, it is all here!".
I believe Howard's funeral is scheduled for next Tuesday
(5th October). How very much he will be missed.
Om Sai Ram, Om Sai Ram, Om Sai Ram.
Posted by Mary on
28.09.2004
Biography - Howard Kelvin Murphet - 1906 - 2004
"I entered this world on the 4 November 1906 and I grew up on a farm
near Launceston, Tasmania." With loving parents who instilled in him
a high code of compassion, ethics and morality, his life on the farm
was rich and satisfying.
Early events of what might be called ?divine grace? sowed the seeds
of a life-long interest in the supernatural. Laying down on his back
looking up at a clear blue sky, suddenly a window appeared in the
dome-like roof of the world: "Beyond the window was a glorious scene
that made me feel like I was looking into Heaven. There was radiant
light shining on buildings, moving figures with wise and noble
faces, and heavenly music as well. A wave of bliss flooded through
me as time stood still." This and other experiences at such a young
age no doubt played their part in shaping Howard?s future destiny as
a voice to the world announcing spiritual masters.
In contrast to his forming life, he found the compulsory hours at
his one-teacher school dragged on interminably. Once at high school
his delights knew no bounds. "It was a wonderful experience, a great
adventure. I loved the unfamiliar smells of new books and the
chemical laboratory. All of the teachers were excellent, had degrees
and wore their academic gowns." His father generously sent him off
for two years to what is now the oldest school in Australia,
Launceston Church of England Grammar School
Already at this early age of sixteen, Howard was wondering more
about Godly matters than most other boys his age, due perhaps in
large part to his mother?s devotion to religion: "Many noble
spiritual teachings were given to me by my first guru, my mother.
Some of them ? God?s omniscience, for example ? I dropped as quite
irrational as I passed along the corridors of secondary school and
university. Yet years later, in the garden of meditation and greater
understanding, I discovered new facets of my maternal spiritual
teachings and knew them to be gems of truth."
Howard enrolled in the Hobart Teachers? College and developed his
love of good literature, pointing him towards Tennyson, Browning,
Keats, Emerson, Dickens and others, with Tennyson his favourite
poet: "I often quote Tennyson in things I write."
However the practice of teaching was a disappointment and Howard at
the age of twenty-four left the safe profession of teaching at the
start of the Great Depression and arrived in Melbourne to start the
Collingwood Clarion. It did so well that he sold it after a few
months so he could work as a sports journalist on the evening
edition of the Argus, a large Melbourne daily.
When Howard was twenty-six the paper closed down, leaving him
unemployed. So he teamed up with a friend and they "went on the
?track?. Kenneth Slessor, the editor of Smith?s Weekly, had agreed
to publish Howard?s articles and paragraphs about the ?bag-men? ?
the vast numbers of unemployed men ?on the track?. "You were an
accomplished bag-man if you could jump the ?Sydney Limited?. It used
to go romping up from Melbourne to Sydney with smoke billowing out
from the coal-burning engine. So we jumped the Sydney Limited and
arrived in Sydney."
Howard met Gwen who was to become his first wife. Just before the
start of the war with Germany in 1939, they travelled by sea to
England with the intention of gaining more experience in advertising
and commercial art; but "?.soon after we arrived the war came, and
all of our plans fell through as the big daily newspapers were all
reduced to four pages, and there was little room for advertising. So
I had to move in another direction then."
Howard, "seeking adventure", went over to France as a driver with
the British Red Cross. After Dunkirk he joined the ambulance service
for a few months at the start of the bombing blitz on London; then,
at age thirty-five Howard joined the British Army in an officer?s
cadet training unit, resulting in his being commissioned as a second
lieutenant.
Then came postings as a motor transport officer with the Ninth
Battalion in Ireland, then Port Suez in Egypt and finally time spent
training Jewish and Palestinian troops in Palestine. The chagrin
felt from missing out on immediate action in the Western Desert soon
changed to a deep soul-nurturing delight as he began visiting the
many holy places "?.written indelibly into the fabric of my
childhood culture. While walking in places where the feet of Jesus
had trodden, I seemed to move, myself, out of time into the eternal.
While sitting one afternoon in the Garden of Gethsemane near a
battered olive tree that was old enough to have witnessed the agony
of Jesus in this very garden before the day of his crucifixion, I
realised that the way of life for which we were fighting had begun
here."
The hand of destiny saw him transferred to the Desert as an officer
? now captain - conducting war correspondents to wherever good news
stories were available: "As the Battle of Alamain raged, I took my
party of war correspondents to whichever part of the line promised
the most interesting action." His supply truck was blown up and
later, near Benghazi, his staff car was also destroyed with a
"brother officer" losing both his legs. After the long desert
campaign came the invasion of Sicily. Now with the Fifth Division,
Howard landed with his allotted war correspondent from the London
News Chronicle: "I can see him now as we waded onto a beach from a
small landing craft, his typewriter held high above his head, while
bullets from a German aircraft whistled around our ears." Once
Sicily was taken, General Montgomery led the Eighth Army in Italy
where Howard was now in charge of "three stars among the British war
correspondents at that time ", including the Australian-born Alan
Moorehead who was later to become famous as an author of non-fiction
books. During both invasions Howard had begun to write feature
articles himself which he learned to market successfully.
After duty in Paris and Brussels, Howard flew home to London to
welcome his newborn son whom he named Richard, after Richard-
the-Lionhearted. His joy was short-lived however as his next
assignment was to visit and write a report on the Belsen
concentration camp not far from Hanover in Germany, which had just
been liberated. His journey ?into the horror pit?, as he called it,
was indeed ten days of descent into what had been a sub-human world.
The emancipated inmates, the piles of rotting corpses and the tales
of unspeakable crimes against humanity gave stark clarity to his
understanding of why Nazism had to be stopped whatever the cost in
human life. Later, soon after the surrender of Germany, he was
further reminded of this imperative when he was in charge of the
British Press Section at the Nuremberg Trials.
The end of the war also saw the end of the marriage between Howard
and Gwen ? they had grown too far apart during those terrible six
years. Gwen returned to Australia and her family with young Richard,
while Howard was to spend another five years in Germany, first as an
official of the Control Commission, and then as the director of
public relations and advertising for NAAFI (Navy, Army and Airforce
Institutes) in Western Europe.
The year 1951 saw Howard at the age of forty-five returning to
Sydney, yet the call to travel and search for ?something? remained
with him. The ?finger of God? answered this call in 1955 by
prompting him to attend yoga classes in the Adyar Headquarters of
the Theosophical Society. By a mutual mistake, he met his future
wife, Iris, waiting at the closed doorway to the yoga school.
Choosing the newly-discovered Liberal Catholic Church ? founded and
staffed by officials of the Theosophical Society - as their wedding
venue, there began a quickening of their- hitherto dormant-
spiritual quest. Soon after, they both went to a lecture at the
Self-Realisation Fellowship founded by Paramahansa Yogananda, the
author of ?Autobiography of a Yogi.?
During a lesson practising one of Yogananda?s chants, Howard was
flooded with bliss: "So much so, my consciousness disappeared.
Nothing existed anywhere but the unutterable bliss of being. The
experience was a reaffirmation of the Reality I sought. Brief tastes
of it, such as this, whet the appetite for the bottomless chalice of
ambrosia, and to find it the pilgrim moves onward, ever onward." And
so, with both searching for how to attain the spiritual dimension,
the year-long married couple sailed for Athens in 1960 on the first
leg of what would prove to be a most extraordinary adventure.
In the spring of 1961, they joined the twenty-member Subud colony at
Coombe Springs outside London. During the next two years in England
and Spain, Howard earned his living writing articles on yoga and
psychic phenomena. This work was accompanied by the publication of
his first book, ?Yoga for Busy People?, which sold well for many
years. His psychic research led them into the Theosophical Society?s
library in the West End which in turn led them to be accepted as
students in the School of the Ancient Wisdom at the Theosophical
Society Headquarters at Adyar, in Madras, India.
Based at Adyar, they ventured forth and spent time with the young
Dalai Lama and imbibed a banquet of spiritual understanding through
meeting many extraordinary figures including the renowned J.
Krishnamurthi, Swami Ranganatananda of the Ramakrishna Mission,
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and Tat Wallah Baba, among others.
Then came the truly pivotal event in Howard?s life; his journey to
Sri Sathya Sai Baba?s ashram, Prasanthi Nilayam, near Bangalore.
This not only opened his spiritual heart to an extent he could never
have even dreamed of, but also inspired the writing of his
best-selling book ?Sai Baba, Man of Miracles?. He had witnessed
truly astonishing miracles ? including the covering of a large
Shirdi Sai Baba statue by holy ash created by Baba?s hand inside an
upturned small empty urn, and the production of a lingam from Sai
Baba?s mouth ? and heard of many more miracles from other devotees.
He began his writing.
However, much time and extensive research would be demanded of him
in biographies of the two founders of the Theosophical Society,
Colonel H.S. Olcott and Madam H.P. Blavatsky. Writing of the two
biographies throughout 1967, funded under a Writer?s Fellowship from
the Kern Foundation in America. The first of the two, ?Hammer on the
Mountain?, is a detailed and inspiring account of one of the most
outstanding men that ever lived - Henry Steel Olcott.
The second biography, ?When Daylight Comes?, on the controversial
Russian noblewoman, Madam Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, would be
completed upon their return to Australia in 1971 and 1972.
Howard?s attention was now directed towards his writing of ?Man of
Miracles?. Saturated with first-hand accounts of Baba?s miracles,
told with the copy-writer?s economy of language and interwoven with
a deep understanding of the Avatar?s teachings, ?Man of Miracles?,
was first published in 1971. It has since published in every major
language, selling tens of thousands of copies and led "many people
to the Light."
In the midst of writing ?Man of Miracles? from their base at Adyar,
Howard and Iris still found time to visit the ashram of the late Sri
Aurobindo at Pondicherry, thus beginning a life-long study of this
great spiritual master?s published works. Then, after the completion
of ?Man of Miracles?, they set off in the footsteps of that earlier
writer/seeker, Paul Brunton, to visit the sacred mountain of
Arunachala at whose feet rests the ashram of the late Ramana
Maharshi, famed for his teachings on self-enquiry. There they spent
time with Arthur Osborne and his wife: "It was this gifted spiritual
searcher who wrote the book ?The Incredible Sai Baba? (on Shirdi
Sai) which had done so much in our lives", as well as the seminal
work, ?The Life and Teachings of Ramana Maharshi?.
After six years in India, Howard and Iris travelled back to
Australia, settling in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. Following
four years of absence from their beloved guru in sacred India, in
1974 Howard and Iris were now able to return for another stay. This
not only provided them with wonderful spiritual nourishment, again
in close physical proximity to Sai Baba for much of the time, but
also further material for Howard?s second book on Sai Baba, ?Sai
Baba Avatar?, which he wrote after their 1976 return to Australia.
This book chronicles a further host of miraculous events and expands
in more depth upon the timeless spiritual philosophy taught by Sai
Baba: "But perhaps my main reason for writing was that, after a
period of rumination and contemplation on the subject, followed by a
return journey into the realm of Divine Power, Love and Glory, I
felt a strong need to say more, to make one more attempt to express
that which is ultimately inexpressible."
In 1982 he published his third book on Sathya Sai Baba, ?Sai Baba:
Invitation to Glory?, which not only adds to the storehouse of
recorded miracles, but also paints a literary mosaic of how Sai
Baba?s teachings can be applied in everyday life.
Howard made good use of another fellowship from the Kern Foundation
to write on a topic he had been researching ever since their days at
Coombes Springs when he could immerse himself in the London library
of the Society for Psychical Research - our experience after dying.
First published in 1984 as ?The Undiscovered Country? and again in
1990 as ?Beyond Death: The Undiscovered Country?, the book begins
with scholarly essays on how the subject of death has been viewed
throughout history. Dr Elizabeth Kubler-Ross acclaimed the book: "a
masterpiece? and ?a remarkable scholarly study".
In the year when he turned eighty-three, it is understandable that
Howard thought his writing days were over: "Through retinal
haemorrhages in both eyes, I was quite unable to read or write. All
I had was minimal peripheral vision in one eye." But Sai Baba patted
his chest and commanded him to write another book, sharing what was
in his heart, and to return with the manuscript in two years. So,
with Baba not permitting a co-author, and relying now on dictating
and auditorial editing, Howard set forth to carry out the
instruction of his guru. Sensing that his many readers were keen to
hear more of how one man?s footsteps could lead unerringly to become
the Avatar?s story-teller read in over twenty languages, Howard
wrote his most autobiographical and heart-felt work: ?Where the Road
Ends?. It is an absorbing and uplifting story of a true spiritual
seeker searching indefatigably to discover the deeper purpose for
which we are all born.
By 1996, when he was eighty-nine, ?Sai Inner Views and Insights? was
being avidly read worldwide. The first few chapters had been written
before the passing of his dearest friend and wife, Iris. With grief
overwhelming him, Howard received a message from Sathya Sai Baba to
visit him in India. Christmas, 1994, found the now-famous blind
devotee again at the feet of his master: He was again spurred on to
write the remainder of the book. For many, the most touching and
revealing chapter is in the form of a long, intimate and celebratory
letter to Iris. In closing that personal tribute, he writes, "Death
may seem to take all away and cut all ties, but it cannot cut the
link of the love that is forever. So I can still sign myself your
ever-loving husband, Howard." A remarkable chapter is titled, ?Why
Fear?, giving Howard?s account of how fear of death was banished
forever from his life as he was standing beside a heroic tank
commander amidst bursting artillery shells during the great battle
of El Alamein in the Egyptian desert in 1940.
?The Lights of Home?, published in 2002 when Howard was ninety-five,
is a book vibrating with love and liberating in its visionary tenor.
Howard, blessed with that self-honesty and sensitivity that
accompanies the drawing closer to death, writes exquisitely of his
parents, precious conversations with Sai Baba, the yogas, close
friends and his now vast perception of history and understanding of
the timeless philosophy of spirit.
His final book, ?The Way to Love Divine?, was published in 2004. He
could hear the rippling of the current on the ?River Jordan?, as he
called the final crossing-over point; he could sense the awaiting
embrace of his beloved Sai Baba and treasured wife, Iris. Living
life to the fullest in every minute of every day remaining to him,
Howard Murphet continued to work until he breathed his last. He
leaves not only a legacy as Australia?s wisest spiritual voice but
also as the international writer who brought many people to the
truth. His books are timeless, as is the example of a life well
lived.
Online Source
Posted on 24.10.2004 by Ross Woodward |