THE SILENCE

 
On 10th July, 1925, Baba ceased speaking. He told his disciples that he would be silent for one year, but the year stretched to the rest of his earth time with us — forty-four years.

In the beginning he wrote his instructions to the mandali on slates; later, he spelt out words by pointing to the letters of the English alphabet painted on a board, and as some of the disciples became adept at reading his fingers, this became his way of conversing and dictating his discourses and messages. Much later again, in 1954, he discarded the letter-board and communicated by signs, gestures and expression; and to the disciples who lived with him, and to those with whom he lived in their homes and daily work, and on occasion were permitted to come to him, this was the most eloquent way of all — for he was the master of expression and the perfection of mime.

Although Baba was silent, there was no 'sitting silently at the feet of the master' with him; indeed some who came to the ashram for that purpose were looked upon as oddities, unripe yet to enjoy the Master's company. Conversation was winged; and when the jokes were rich and the stories absurdly tall Baba was hard put to prevent his merriment breaking into sounding laughter. This was truly God-the-Man — God enjoying his Lovers' efforts to entertain him. And the greatest entertainer of them all was the silent Gustadji. But always behind the lightest moment was a numbed sense of the terrible weight of the world burden he bore and the crucifixion he suffered because of our ignorance; and a horizonless rejoicing that one day he would speak and deliver himself of his burden, and us into a New Humanity.

God-Man's Silence was our waiting. And still we wait. And we can wait cheerfully because there is nothing else to do, for he does everything. We wait while he peels off the skins of our ignorance and we stand naked in the truth that each himself is the beloved Who-Alone-exists.

In reality God said everything that was to be said when he uttered the Word of creation. In that one word he said the stars and suns and Earth and all its forms and people. It took six periods of vast duration for God's speaking to be completed. Then he stopped speaking, for everything actual or potential had been said. And the seventh day was of the Original Silence.

Even when he was speaking that one Word which brought the world into existence, and made all words — even when he was shut in the darkness of Nothing which his Word had caused; when he was locked in the hardness of stone; when as a leaf he longed for movement, as a worm for travel, as a fish for wide ocean-acreage, as a bird for rarer atmospheres, as an animal for beautiful man-form, he was silent. All these things were by his imagination, not of his Truth which is indivisible, and of the very Silence itself. His communication with all the things and beings of his Word has always been in silence, because in silence are all the best things given and received — and all love-talk ends in the silence of a sigh.

If only we could have become silent when he was with us, enjoying nothing but the sweet word of his presence, we might have lost ourselves entirely in his song and seen him as the real Self of ourselves.

We wait for the Wave of his Word to rise on his Ocean of Silence and beat on the doors of our hearts, and cry: Who? Who is your God? — And we will answer in tremendous gladness You, you Beloved, are our God. You are the Ocean of us and we are the drops of You.

Of his Silence, Meher Baba at different times said:

I am the Ocean of Silence, but I am never silent.

I am eternally speaking in what you say to one another; and the voice that you hear deep within your souls is my voice inspiring and guiding you.

God has been everlasting working in silence, unobserved, unheard except by those who experience that infinite Silence.

If my silence does not speak to you, of what use would it be if I spoke in the language of your minds? When my speaking will be heard universally, God will make me speak. But that speaking will not be speeches of words, but the Word of words which will irresistibly impart to those who are ready the 'I am God' (Anal Haq or Aham Brahma-Asmi) state.

Listening to music makes me happy, for it reminds me again that the universe and all its forms came out of my Original Song — which was the Voice of Silence.

When God makes me sing this Song again, those who love me will be lost in the Song and will see me as the real Self in everyone.

I am eternally talking in your talk and I am bored with the talk, for it is all idle when it is not lived. I will speak when I feel like saying the Word which was spoken in the Beginningless Beginning — for that is the only Word worth speaking. Words are the prose of the world, and the world is my burden; my language is the poetry of my creative Word, and when I speak that Word it will touch the hearts of all men and its divine touch will make them feel the oneness of all. Then separateness will dissolve and hatred and jealousy and greed will melt away. Diversity will still be — for your life in illusion requires its experience, but behind and beneath and through all the diversity will be the feeling and knowledge of oneness; and the so-called sinner will feel that he one day will be a saint, and the saint will know that God is in the sinner as much as in himself.

Ages and ages ago I performed the grand miracle of bringing the whole of this illusory creation out of myself. I will perform another such miracle when I break my silence. It will be the first and the last in my present incarnation. I will not raise the dead, but make those who live for the world dead to it. I will not give sight to the blind, but make those who see the world as reality blind to it so that they shall see me as I am.

My whole mission is to utter this Word of Truth which will pierce the mind of man and go straight to his heart. That will be my moment of fulfilment — and the opening of the flood-gate of Grace will be the opening up of new ways to eternity.

With the dawn of the realization of the unity of all life, hatred and dissension will cease. To love will be natural and so it will be easy for men to understand one another, and they will enjoy a brotherhood in the realization of the oneness of God.

When I break my Silence, which must be soon, all who have known me, or who know me in their hearts in some degree will see me: some a glimpse, some a little more and some still more. It will be as when an electric power-house is switched on: whatever bulbs are connected to it will be lit: small bulbs will give a dim light, big bulbs a bright light; but from bulbs that are fused there will not be any light.

I have come not to teach but to awaken. From the beginning of man-time I have laid down principles and given precepts for men's well-being, but they have made a mockery of my teaching. Instead of practising the compassion I taught, men have waged wars in my name; instead of living the humility, purity and truth of my words they have given way to hatred, greed and violence.

Because men in the past have been deaf to the principles and precepts given them, this time I am silent. You have asked for, and been given, enough words — it is now time to live them. To get nearer to God you have to get further and further from 'I,' 'my,' 'Me' and 'mine.' You do not have to renounce anything but your own self. It is just as simple and as impossible as that. But it is possible by my Grace. And I have come to release that Grace.

I am the divine Beloved who loves you more than you can ever love yourself. When I release the flood of Truth — which is what I have come to do — men's daily lives will be the living precepts, and the words I have not spoken will come to life in them.

The time of Grace is so near that the only thing that can count now is love.