Yad Rakh: Meher Baba’s Last Words?
Yad rakh: “Remember this” in Hindi
This utterance is reported to have been made just prior to [on the night of January 30th ] Meher Baba’s passing away on January 31, 1969. The report comes from his disciple and night-watchman, Bhau Kalchuri. Bhau, however, had not made any mention of this for many years (not deeming it to constitute the promised “breaking of his silence” — an event which had taken on mythic proportions among the master’s devotees and which, for Bhau, apparently had come to seem unrelated to a mere fact of physical speech). But eventually, recollecting the incident and the words, he changed his view, and permitted the information to be published. It should be pointed out, however, that in Bhau’s view, Meher Baba was simply demonstrating that he had the ability to use his vocal cords — that he could in fact physically speak at that last instance. The “breaking of his silence” (the culmination of his spiritual work: the release, into the world, of the effect and consequence of the nearly-lifelong silence-observance), this remained a more obscure and momentous matter…
“Yad Rakh” (Remember This) — Bhau’s Final “Awakening”
by Bhau Kalchuri
Source: email list, June 2001
Beloved Avatar Meher Baba Ki Jai
From Bhau:
Because I intended to go to Meherazad, I got up very early this morning [Sunday, June 10], about 5:00 am. As soon as I opened my eyes, Beloved Baba appeared. He made signs for me to sleep.
So I closed my eyes, and after a certain time, Baba said to me, “Do you remember what I had said to you on the 30th January, 1969, when you were keeping night watch?”
“There were different things which happened that day,” I answered.
“Yes, I know,” Baba replied. “That was the day for the completion of my Universal work. I was so weak that I could not sit. Therefore, I was working while lying down. I asked you to pound on My chest. But you did it slowly. I had to do it myself. I knew you felt very bad. After completing My work, I asked you to call Eruch, which you did. Do you remember what did I say to Eruch? I asked him, ‘How is Bhau?’
“And Eruch replied, ‘He is matchless.’
“I felt happy to hear this from Eruch. Then I asked him to go. I tried to give you one line for a ghazal, but because of the spasm, I could not do so. That was the day, when after months and months, I could take rest. For two hours, from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. You know what I said to you. Though I took rest, I was working for you, giving you an idea about your future work. At 10:00pm, do you know what I said to you?”
“You told me,” I answered Baba, “‘ Remember this, I am not this body.’”
“And again at 11:00?”
“‘Remember this, I am not this body.’”
“And yet again, at 12:00 midnight?”
“Remember this, I am not this body,” I replied for the third time.
Baba reminded me, “At 11:00, I deliberately spoke the first words with my tongue, ‘Remember this’ aloud in Hindi, ‘Yad Rakh.’ And when I spoke, did you not hear this?”
“Yes, I heard,” I replied.
“When you heard, why did you not tell others that Baba spoke to you the words, ‘Yad Rakh’? It was not the breaking of My silence. I did not speak the Word-of-Words. It was simply a sign that I could still speak. I knew people might think that because I observed a long silence, for 44 years, I could not speak.
“And that is why I said to you, ‘Yad Rakh,’ so you may tell people that. ‘Baba did speak. He was not dumb. He was able to speak, but because of His Silence, which He had observed for his Universal Work, He would not speak through His tongue.’
“But you did not tell anyone. Why? You were feeling scared? I had confidence in you that you would tell people that I spoke, in order to show that I was not dumb. After 44 years of silence, I could speak with My tongue. But My breaking of My Silence is to Manifest Universally. That is My real speaking.
“I observe silence for My Universal Work. Though I completed My Universal work, and on 31st January I released my Universal Work, it will take one hundred years to achieve the result. When the result comes, that will signify My breaking of My silence.
“Now you can tell people very, very boldly, that I spoke to you and said, ‘Yad Rakh’ through My tongue. But this ‘Yad Rakh’ means that if people want to hear My Word-of-Words, they should continue my ‘Yad’ (which means ‘Remembrance’). The more they do so, the greater the impact of My Remembrance they will feel.
“Be bold and tell people. This is My message to you, which you did not express up until now. Because you were keeping mum, I now have said all this to you for that purpose. Now boldly you tell this. Don’t feel scared. I am the Truth. I always speak the Truth. And I am with you.”
With all love and Jai Babas to you,
In His love and Service,
Bhau
On the night of 25th June, Bhau received another Awakening, “a short one, but really good,” to be included in “Yad Rakh.”
From Bhau:
“Now listen carefully,” Baba instructed me in His silent voice. “I repeat it again. I had observed silence for My Universal Work, and what is My Universal Work? To clean the world and create awakening towards Divinity. There are four phases to My Universal Work. The first phase was when I started My mission. The second phase was the completion of My Universal Work. The third phase was the releasing of My Universal Work to the universe itself. And the fourth phase consists of the Universal Push and its result.
“When I complete My Universal Work, and I release it to the universe, the process does not take much time. But it is impossibly difficult because My releasing this work means weakening the forces of Maya, i.e., Illusion. Therefore, Maya resists to any extent when I release this work. When the work is released, I drop My body. It will take 100 years for the result of My work, and the result creates Awakening.
“Now on 30th January, 1969 I completed My Universal Work. Because the work was completed, after months of suffering, I took rest for two hours from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. Then I started releasing the work. You know how I suffered and suffered after 9:00pm on the 30th January. At 11:00pm, I told you, ‘Yad Rakh.’
“I had observed silence for My Universal Work. Then the work was completed, and I had to drop this physical body after releasing the Universal Work to the universe. After completing the work, I took rest for two hours before starting to release it. At 11:00pm., I said to you, ‘Yad Rakh.’ It was the breaking of My ‘man silence’; it was not the breaking of ‘God Silence.’
“I did this so that the world may not misunderstand that I could not speak because My vocal cords were not working. I had taken this man form. With this form, I wanted to prove that My vocal cords were working and that I could speak after 44 years of silence. The Oceanic Silence of God, which I had observed for My Universal Work, will be broken when I give a Universal Push to the world and create an awakening in human beings towards Divinity. That will be breaking of God’s silence to create awakening.
“Is this clear to you?”
And I said, “Yes, Baba. Quite clear.”
“I am making it clear so that there may not be any confusion,” he said. “This human form I had taken for my Universal Work. When I completed that, I told you ‘Yad Rakh’ audibly so that there may not be any confusion, because illusion always creates confusion. Therefore, I am making it very clear. I said only, ‘Yad Rakh’ because releasing of My work was yet to be accomplished, and I could drop my physical body only after releasing My work. Now wait for the breaking of My Oceanic Silence. The world will see how I break My Oceanic Silence and what happens afterwards. That will be real breaking of My Silence as God.”
This is really a great message, and therefore include it in Yad Rakh. It gives a clear picture of why Baba told me “Yad Rakh.” He wanted to prove that His vocal cords were working, and that He did so after completion of His Universal Work. What a mystery!
With all love and Jai Babas to you,
In His Love and Service,
Bhau
Trust Office
Ahmednagar
Sunday, 10th June and Tuesday, 26th June, 2001
——-
A clarification from Bhau on 8th July
Beloved Baba had completed His Universal Work on 30th January, 1969, the work for which He had observed Silence. The only thing left for Him was to release the work. He had also taken rest on 30th January from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. At that time, I had so many thoughts. Beloved Baba had asked me to sit on the chair, and I was happy to see that He was resting. But then many thoughts would come. I saw that we were taking His body to Meherabad, thousands of people were coming there, weeping. Press reporters would come and ask me questions. I saw the Trust Compound and myself working there and many working under me. So many things.
Then I just became aware and would think, “Why are such thoughts are coming to me? Has a change taken place in Beloved Baba’s health?” And again, more thoughts would come. They were not thoughts but visions.
After 9:00pm, the spasms started. After completing His Universal Work, Baba was to release His work to the universe, and Maya was resisting. But He did release the work. After releasing it, He dropped His body, because He had taken the body for His work. As soon as the work was completed, He dropped the body to live in every heart in a chosen way and the hearts of His lovers particularly. He also has to remain active to bring about the result of His Universal Work.
——-
A further clarification from Bhau on 9th July
Now listen to me, Shiva. Baba said to me, “Remember this, I am not this body” thrice, at 10:00pm, 11:00pm and 12:00 midnight.
At 11:00pm. He used the Hindi words, “Yad Rakh.” The phrase was audible only once, and it was at 11:00pm.
He did not say anything at 9:00pm. He had become, not much restless, but restless nevertheless. At 9:00pm, when I looked at Him, I found that there was joy in His face, because He had completed His Universal Work that day. But then He had to release the work to the universe after completing it. It was an infinitely difficult job, because of the resistance of Maya (Illusion).
Everyone is in the clutch of illusion, so Maya’s resistance means resistance from everyone and everything. It is as if you have some deadly disease, and you do not know that you have that deadly disease. The doctor knows that if you are not treated, you will die. You have to take the most bitter medicine. But you do not take it because you cannot relish the bitterness.
The same thing I felt happen that night. Baba released His Universal Work for the benefit of humanity and also for the benefit of lower kingdoms. He had no resistance from the lower kingdoms, but He had infinite resistance from humanity, which did not know anything. Maya was working in them, and therefore this “Yad Rakh” is His warning. He had to drop His body after releasing the work, and therefore He was reminding Me “Yad Rakh.”
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After Bhau’s initial Yad Rakh “Awakening” of 10th June, he dictated the following note, some issues of which were expanded upon in his “Awakening” of 25th June.
After some years, people who keep silence can no longer speak, because their throat loses the ability to make sounds. But Baba wanted to make it absolutely clear, that even after nearly half a century of silence, His silence was voluntary, not a matter of physical atrophy.
After Baba spoke the words “Remember this,” “Yad Rakh,” He completed the sentence in signs, pointing to Himself, meaning, “I am not this body.” When He said “Yad Rakh,” though His voice was feeble, the sound was very clear, and its intensity and impact very, very forceful. It conveyed so great an impression, that my mind itself neither registered nor questioned the fact that Baba was speaking.
Immediately when this happened, Baba started having spasm after spasm, which continued uninterruptedly until He dropped His body at 12:15pm on January 31st.
Eruch and I took Baba’s body to Meherabad, but my mind was a complete vacuum. Press reporters and Baba lovers would ask me, “How did it happen?” But I was not any state to reply.
Eruch asked Frances to prepare a circular. Frances came to me and said, “Baba’s last words were, ‘Maya is killing me, but I will win.’ But Maya killed Him.”
I said, “No, Maya could not kill Him. His body is required to do His Universal Work, and when His Universal Work is over He drops His body. Maya just follows His instructions. Maya is just an instrument for His work, doing everything opposite to the truth. One has to pass through it, so that they can obtain real awareness of Divinity.”
But I did not mention “Yad Rakh” to Frances.
After a week in Meherabad, when we returned to Meherazad, I had typhoid fever twice. Still, I did not mention ‘Yad Rakh’ to anyone.
Because no one from the Mandali said anything, I did not say anything either and never had the courage to tell anyone about this incident. I would just keep quiet and would not say anything. But only today, after I returned to Ahmednagar, because Baba reminded me, I am giving this message to you all.
Baba said He would say the Word-of-Words, and I was thinking at the time that ‘Yad Rakh’ might be the Word-of-Words. But the Word-of-Words mean to create awareness of Divinity, though in degrees. When humanity hears the Word-of-Words, humanity will be aware of Divinity. Baba had declared that when He says the Word-of-Words, even the stones will dance. That does not mean that they will physically dance, but they will progress in the evolution of consciousness.
It shows that Beloved Baba did not speak the Word-of-Words at 11:00pm on January 30th, 1969, but only demonstrated to me that He retained the ability to speak.
—-
A further note from Bhau:
Baba had asked me to write so much, and He said that He would explain it.
One day I asked Frances, “Baba has told me to write so much, but how to do it?”
“Because He did not explain,” said Frances, “don’t worry. Don’t write.”
Baba had said that everything would be crystal clear. I just tried to collect material. Then one day, I fell unconscious. Baba appeared at that time, and He gave me the strength to work on the book.
After I fell unconscious, I was taken to the hospital. All sorts of tests were performed, but the doctors could find nothing wrong with me.