Listen Humanity

The following arrived in my Inbox recently from the Meher Baba Bombay Centre:

Baba did not come to Meherabad on November 9th (1955). On that day, Adi Jr., Francis Brabazon and Don Stevens returned to Ahmednagar from their trip to the Ellora Caves, and the next morning, were driven with Nariman, Meherjee and Vishnu to Meherazad. Baba discussed matters with the mandali and then gave Francis and Don a tour of the property. Eruch took them up Seclusion Hill.

That afternoon, Baba was driven to Meherabad. At Upper Meherabad, he called Don Stevens and asked how he had enjoyed the meetings. Don recollected:

The whole stay, of course, was something so incredible, so beautiful, so very deeply moving, that I had great difficulty in expressing any sort of sentiment. This was always typical of me, and I think typical of a great many people in Baba’s presence: one found oneself tongue-tied. All one could do was to feel utter frustration in not being able to carry on one’s own side of the conversation with Baba, and also a deep overwhelming sense of warmth, which, in any case, could not have been put into words even if one had been in better form.

Baba had had a small chair placed beside his chair, on which were kept a small stack of papers. After Baba listened to Don’s reactions to the sahavas, Baba beckoned for the papers. Eruch handed them to him, and Baba put them on his knees and began rifling through them. Eruch explained, “Baba has here a collection of various articles he has given out at various public gatherings. Some are longer than others. All have been carefully collected and have never been published before. Baba wants to know if you would like to take this collection, edit it as you have done with God Speaks, build it up, handle it in any fashion that you feel fit – and perhaps make it into a small book which you can publish after God Speaks appears?”

Don, touched that Baba would show such confidence in him, immediately said, “Yes, I would like to do this. I would be very happy.”

Baba commented, “In fact, you might possibly want to combine it in some fashion – I leave it entirely in your hands – with a description of what you have experienced in this sahavas.”

Don nodded, and Baba continued, “If this appeals to you, I will make available to you the transcripts of the meetings, and you can weave your own descriptions of the events around them.”

Don said, “I think it is a wonderful idea, Baba.”

“You can write to Ramjoo Abdulla or Bal Natu about any questions you might have,” Baba concluded.

In this manner, the book Listen, Humanity came into being.

Lord Meher, Original Publication, Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 13, pp. 4705 – 4707.

After having Meher Baba's book, God Speaks, in my possession for well over a decade and finding it incomprehensible, I suddenly had an epiphany in 1993 that suddenly made it comprehensible. I can thank Baba's grace for that. I still had no idea of Baba's life as these were pre-Internet days but there were bookstores and one weekend in that year, in a small town in southern New South Wales, I chanced upon Don Stevens' Listen Humanity.

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Cover of the book that was
discovered in the bookstore.
I still have the physical book.

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My wife at the time drew my attention to it and we quickly purchased it. It was an absorbing read and expanded my knowledge about Baba considerably. There was no mention of his visit to Australia however, but there was a sticker or stamp showing that it had originated in a town called Woombye in Queensland.

I thought this odd and had never heard of a town called Woombye. Little did I know at the time that it was located only an hour's drive from Brisbane where I grew up. So Listen Humanity became an important stepping stone in my journey to Baba. The book is freely available as a PDF from this site. It's so easy now to access the book but back in 1993 it required serendipity and Baba's grace to stumble upon it. 

Don Stevens passed away on 26th April, 2011 in London, England. Don wrote the following in which he makes direct reference to God Speaks and Listen Humanity.

As I reflect, I find that I divide Baba's written words into at least three fairly distinct categories. The first, and for me the most powerful, are those he dictated in the manner he carefully explained to me twice: firstly, to a mandali, who took his notes of Baba's words, wrote them up in detail, and then submitted them usually the following day to Baba for word-by-word correction by Baba himself. Baba also explained this correction process to me in detail, so there would be no question that the decisions and the final words were his own. It was in this careful context that Baba then added a further fact of the greatest importance to the spiritual seeker. To these carefully dictated words intended for release or hearing at a public ceremony, he attached something like an atomic bomb of spiritual energy, which would be available to and absorbed by devotees who worked with these words. Such words I am certain are now to become a major source of the continuing spiritual push of the Avatar to and through his devotees. In fact, this is exactly what Baba said to me, and charged me with telling his devotees. The chief bodies of such words as described by Baba are the first eight chapters of God Speaks, Part II of Listen, Humanity, and the Song of the New Life. I would personally add O Parvardigar and the Prayer of Repentance. Source.

I've decided to read the physical book again. Normally I only read e-books these days so it will be something of a novelty to read in this way again as I once did over 30 years ago.