Baba’s Silence
Source: Rustom Falahati, The Real Treasure, vol. 3 (2010), pp. 52-54
During one of the Mandali Hall talks, a pilgrim said to Eruch, “One aspect of Baba’s work which has created a lot of controversy in the minds of Baba lovers is the breaking of the silence. There are many different statements made by Baba about the breaking of His silence and we don’t know what to make of it. Even the Mandali hold diverse views on the subject. Some feel He has broken His silence while others don’t. Whenever there is talk on this subject, it eventually adds to the controversy. Could you tell us why Baba, the all-knowing God, would create a situation like this leading to such controversies?”
Eruch paused for a while and then said, “l do not know. He did not tell us and l did not ask Him. But l can tell you what l feel on this subject. It’s only my feeling. This kind of controversy has happened in every advent. If you take the life of Jesus, He did a similar thing when he proclaimed that the kingdom of Heaven is coming on earth. As time passed, Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom of Heaven was very near and later on He even said that the Kingdom of Heaven was almost here. Two thousand years have gone by and the Christians are still talking about the Kingdom of Heaven which is still to come. So what happened? Where is the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus was talking about?”
Eruch explained that Jesus was talking in a symbolic way. “The kingdom of Heaven that He was referring to is within the heart. when He said that the kingdom of Heaven was coming soon, He was referring to the awakening of hearts that we are ready to experience in God’s Presence. This is what Jesus was referring to and I feel that this is what Meher Baba is referring to with the breaking of His silence. The breaking of the silence will take place within every individual’s heart and so also the manifestation will take place in the heart. That’s what I feel.
“Baba issued circulars during His lifetime on many occasions with regard to the breaking of His silence. He would even give dates, but they would come and go and nothing would happen. At least that is how it looked to us. But then we found
that instead of Baba lovers leaving Him for the broken promise, the number of His lovers kept increasing. Why was this happening? With every circular that He sent out, the numbers grew more and more. Why was this? How could it be? It was because He was breaking His silence in the hearts of all these people and manifesting there. That’s what was happening. That’s how I feel about it.”
Eruch added further, “As far as the controversy surrounding His silence is concerned, it too has a purpose behind it and a significant one too. Baba has left behind so many ways and means to remember Him. It is only through constant
remembrance that we can reach the final goal. Knowing the desires and weaknesses in our mind, and how difficult it is to remember Him in His absence, He creates such controversies to help us remember Him.
“Our minds are constantly chattering, thinking about the daily routine and the daily work and the fulfillment of desires. To focus on Baba through the daily chatter often becomes very difficult for the common person. To help such people in their remembrance of the Lord, He has deliberately left behind such controversies. He does so in every Advent, for He knows that the mind loves controversies and easily takes to it. The mind, because of its negative inherent nature, takes to negative things very easily. We love controversies and gossip. Remembering Him, even in such a manner, takes you to the goal. That’s how I see the whole situation concerning His silence and the breaking of it.”