Why I Follow Meher Baba

Here is the argument I would give for why I follow Baba if I was under pressure to produce one. 

First of all, I believed my father when he told me Baba was the Avatar, and though I challenged my belief in that over the many years that followed, I never saw any serious reason to doubt it. 

So I come at this question from the other end. Really I would need an epistemological reason to believe he was not the Avatar. For I have never seen any convincing reason to doubt it.  

But still, I will give epistemological reasons to believe Baba is the Avatar if you were approaching the question from that end. 

The first question one might ask, is why you believe there is such thing as an Avatar at all. Is there some argument why there must be? In my opinion there must be something like an Avatar. For if not you would have to substitute it with an equally plausible explanation of the Universe. The Avatar is a central lynchpin to Baba's entire explanation of the theme and purpose of the Universe and his cosmology. To remove it means you remove his cosmology. If you do this, you must offer an account of the Universe that is at least as coherent and plausible. 

My study of philosophy leaves me with the conviction that there is no other such explanation. Baba's isn't just the best explanation; it's the only explanation. All other explanations instantly fall apart on deeper investigation, for they rely on necessary preconditions that are themselves not explained. In other systems besides Baba's, no sooner do you begin to explain the universe but you are describing laws and substances to explain it that you have not explained. The fact that materialists can't see this makes me lose respect for them.

Now are there other explanations, like in advaita vedanta? No. 

I asked AI how advaita vedanta explains the formation of the universe and this is what it said:

Advaita Vedanta explains the universe's formation not as a creation from nothing, but as a projection or manifestation from the eternal, unchanging reality of Brahman. This manifestation is considered illusory (Maya) and arises due to a misunderstanding of Brahman as separate from the world. Essentially, the universe is seen as an appearance, a temporary projection of Brahman, rather than a separate, created entity.

That is not an explanation. It is a set of declarative statements about abstractions. To say the Universe is a projection of Brahman that arises due to thinking Brahman is separate from the world is not a cosmology. It may even be true, but it isn't an explanation of how this came to be or why. Baba answers both questions in God Speaks. And EOP makes it even more explicit. 

For these reasons I believe Baba's cosmology, and from the fact that I believe his cosmology I infer that its author, Meher Baba, is the Avatar. 

That is my argument for why I believe Baba is the Avatar. 

Now a person might ask why he couldn't just be a genius in religion. I read that Paul Brunton suggested this as an alternative to believing his avatar claim. 

I don't think that is plausible, but it is remotely possible. After all, all things are possible. However, if this were so, that would still make Baba the Avatar in my mind. For to me the Avatar is at least one who brings a new idea to the world at just the right time to true its standards.

Baba's own explanation of the Avatar is as follows.

The Avatar appears in different forms, under different names, at different times, in different parts of the world. As His appearance always coincides with the spiritual regeneration of man, the period immediately preceding His manifestation is always one in which humanity suffers from the pangs of the approaching rebirth. Man seems more than ever enslaved by desire, more than ever driven by greed, held by fear, swept by anger. The strong dominate the weak; the rich oppress the poor; large masses of people are exploited for the benefit of the few who are in power. The individual, who finds no peace or rest, seeks to forget himself in excitement. Immorality increases, crime flourishes, religion is ridiculed. Corruption spreads throughout the social order. Class and national hatreds are aroused and fostered. Wars break out. Humanity grows desperate. There seems to be no possibility of stemming the tide of destruction.

At this moment the Avatar appears. Being the total manifestation of God in human form, He is like a gauge against which man can measure what he is and what he may become. He trues the standard of human values by interpreting them in terms of divinely human life. (Discourses, 7th edition. Pp. 268-9)

This idea really only makes sense within the larger context of Baba's entire cosmology. I accept the entire bundle because I find it to be the most plausible account of the Universe when taken as a whole. If you start to break it apart it falls apart. It is self-supporting.

There is nothing wrong with that in epistemology. It is called coherentism. In philosophy, coherentism is a theory of justification that suggests a belief is justified if it coheres with a system of other beliefs. Essentially, a belief's truth is determined by its consistency and interconnectedness with a larger web of beliefs, rather than by its correspondence to an external reality.