Chapter 7

The importance of the Silence Day

     The Silence Day i.e. 10th July is an important day in the path laid down by Meher Baba.
     Avatar Meher Baba began His silence on 10th July 1925 at 12 PM. He remained silent for the next 44 years, till He dropped His body on the 31st January 1969. Many Baba lovers maintain maun on the day, to pay homage to Avatar Meher Baba.
      Baba’s words for me: “I have told Kurush to maintain silence from 12 to 12:30 PM on the Silence Day, where he would feel My presence at the samadhi.”
      “Silence does not mean keeping mum. Gestures can be used to communicate.”
     Baba’s words for me: “The path that led Me to God becomes more firm by observing silence as I am God in human form and the last cycle as well. I was Rama, Krishna, Jesus Christ, Gautama Buddha, Lord Zarathustra etc. in different cycles and time. Kurush’ journey towards Me is just a fragment of the other side of the illusory world—towards God and spiritualism.”
      Before Baba retired to bed, on 9th July 1925, He told His mandali, “Think of others more than of yourselves, and use your body in service. This is absolutely necessary if you want to realise God.”

The Silence Day-10th July

     There are numerous activities going on throughout the world. Every one of us is bound by time and space. Every day is celebrated in some corner of the world, for some reason or the other. This has been going on for ages. So, what makes the 10th of July so special and worth remembering that it is celebrated as ‘The Silence Day’ by Baba lovers across the globe?
     Meher Baba once said to a visitor at Meherabad, “My silence has a purpose behind it. When I break it, all will know. The breaking of My silence will be as powerful as thousands of atom bombs exploding together.”
     “When an atom is split, an infinite amount of energy is released. Similarly, when My silence is broken and I utter the Word, infinite wisdom will be released.”
     “When an atom bomb strikes the earth, it causes vast devastation. Similarly, when the Word I utter strikes the universe, there will be great material destruction, but there will also take place a tremendous spiritual upheaval.”
     “I intend, when I speak to reveal the One Supreme Self which is in all, this accomplished idea of the self as limited separate entity will disappear, and with it, will vanish selfinterest. Co-operation will replace competition; certainty will replace fear; generosity will replace greed, and exploitation will disappear.”
     A reporter once asked Avatar Meher Baba that He had given many statements about His silence but was there any one statement which happened to be more significant than the rest? Avatar Meher Baba replied, “There is one— when I break My silence, the world will come to know I am the One they were waiting for.”
      He asked again, “We know that we have been eagerly waiting for the return of Lord Jesus (second coming), Lord Buddha (Maitreya), Imam Mehdi, Kalki Avatar and so on…” To this, Meher Baba declared, “I was Rama, I was Krishna, I was this one and I was that one, and now I am Meher Baba. In this form of flesh and blood, I am the same Ancient One who alone is eternally worshipped and ignored, ever remembered and forgotten. I am the Ancient One whose past is worshipped and remembered, whose present is ignored and forgotten, and whose future (advent) is anticipated with great fervour and longing.”     
Avatar’s spiritual work is mostly conducted on the inner planes of consciousness; thus, it is generally unknown to the world except to the highly advanced souls and sadgurus. Meher Baba has stated that there are not more than 5 sadgurus at a time, in an age. However, much to our chagrin, the word sadguru has become trite these days; there are many who claim to be sadgurus, and such charlatans happen to fleece people. It should be noted that personalities such as Aurobindo Ghosh, Raman Maharishi, Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, and Shri Chandrasekharanjee Maharaj were not sadgurus, for they were on the sixth plane of consciousness—sadgurus are beyond the seventh plane.
      Avatar Meher Baba has explained that His work extends beyond the physical plane; it is in the subtle and mental planes. Baba has said, “So My physical actions have deeper significance than they appear on the surface.” Meher Baba has said, “So, when I, with My own hands give food and clothing to the poor, the result will be that the world will get its economics and material welfare. When I give the mad and the lepers a wash, the effect will be that those of subnormal consciousness will either get cured or their future birth will be greatly minimized.”
      It should be noted that Meher Baba bathed lepers; He served and bowed to lepers and poor people all His life. If we see, His actions have surely brought change, for today, leprosy has become a curable disease and the standard of living of poor people has risen high.
      Meher Baba worked in seclusion (ekantvas). However, He did travel across the globe, but mostly incognito. While He travelled abroad, many eminent personalities came into His contact: 1. Einstein’s step-daughter came into Meher Baba’s contact and through her Einstein got a chance to meet Him too. 2. Meher Baba was once James Watson’s guest, the assistant to Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of telephone. The result of those meetings are before us, be it in the form of E=MC2, telephones, mobile phones, televisions, computers or various other technological developments. These scientific developments happened only because He had pushed the consciousness of humanity. At the time of Shri Rama, humans were governed by instinct. The past Avatars pushed the consciousness from instinct to intellect. The present Avatar, Meher Baba, has pushed the consciousness furthermore—from intellect to intuition. This is the work He has done and it shall go on.
      Avatars suffer for mankind. Humanity has witnessed the suffering of the past Avatars. The present Avatar, Meher Baba suffered a lot too. He met with two automobile accidents: one in the U.S.A. in the year 1952 and the other in India in the year 1956. Surprisingly, 9 years before the first accident occurred, Meher Baba had stated, “American and Indian soil need My blood.” He knew about the accidents, yet He never tried to evade them. It is praiseworthy that in spite of meeting such gruesome accidents, He never broke His silence. He remained silent all throughout the ordeal.
      “The time has come when I shall break My silence. The whole world will get a spiritual push but the hearts of My intimate lovers shall be opened then. Such a time will not come again and has not come in the past.”
      “As an atom, which in itself is so small, when exploded, causes tremendous havoc; so, when I break My silence, the universal spiritual upheaval that will take place will be something that no one can describe. It will happen in a second, at a time when nobody expects. Just as when an earthquake takes place suddenly, when no one is ready and no one can do anything, but everyone in the affected area feels; so will be the spiritual upheaval and everyone will feel it in his heart.”
      “Ages and ages ago, I did perform one great miracle and the whole of this illusion of creation came from Me. I will perform another such miracle—this time, when I break My silence. This will be the first and the last miracle in My present incarnation. Expect no other miracle from Me.”
      “I am the Christ—no question about it. And when I break My silence, all the world will come to know about it.”
      “Circumstances are fast converging and gathering momentum towards precipitating the right moment, which will come completely unaware at any time, any hour, and that moment is not far away.”
      “Before I speak and before peace reigns, there must be a real world war in which India will be involved 100 % and places under Muslim rule such as Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and Egypt will also be entrapped, while Italy, Russia and America will pay a very active part.”
      “Every great change must be carefully timed, how else would be the greatest revolution in the history of the world— the revolution in the mind of man? The time to preach in the market place will come— only after the world has been humbled and purified by carnage greater than the world has seen.”
      “Although political, economic and sex problems are not directly connected with the Divine Theme; the moment God speaks, problems all over the world will, by themselves, get solved and adjusted.”
      “Not until the world cries out for God, will I give up My silence.”
      “Of My own I shall not break My silence, universal crisis will make Me do so. When the crisis will reach its absolute culmination, it will make Me utter the Word of that moment.”
      “Today the anti-spiritual element is to its height. Tibet, once known as the seat of God, is now a military camp. Hypocritical saints abound in these times. Science has advanced in the last ten years, much more than it has ever done before. Hence, when all these factors are at their highest, spirituality will also be at its highest, not only to balance these factors but to over-rule them. The time for breaking My silence is very near. So hold fast to My daaman.”
      “Things that are Real are given and received in silence.” “I will break My silence and manifest when on the one hand science reaches its highest level and on the other hand, anti- God elements rise to their peak.”
      “When I break My silence, people will realise that I am God. All will know who I am. Blessed are those who recognise Me before I break My silence.”
      “When I break My silence after… The world will come on to Me, for they shall then know who I am. But, there is no charm in coming to Me after I break My silence; blessed are those who come to Me now.”
      “It is more important for people to come to know about Me at present than after I manifest as the Avatar of the Age.”
      “The Word that I will speak will go to the world as from God, not as from a philosopher. It will go straight to the heart. With the dawn of realisation of unity of all life, hatred and discrimination will come to an end. There will be unfaltering love and unfailing understanding, and men shall be united in an inviolable brotherhood, based on the realisation of the Oneness of God.”
      On 10th July, the sacred day of Meher Baba’s Divine Silence, let us try to observe silence if we can and ponder over the Avataric work.