Wednesday, July 09, 2025

Meher Baba's Silence

The following has been generated by NotebookLM from source material located at lordmeher.org.

Meher Baba's decision to maintain silence was a profound and sustained aspect of his spiritual work, lasting for 44 years from 1925 until his passing in 1969. He often spoke of its deep spiritual significance and its connection to his universal mission.

The Commencement and Purpose of Silence

Meher Baba formally declared his intention to observe silence on 4 June 1925, stating, "I will observe silence for one year. I will not speak to anyone. But all should hold fast to my feet. Those who stick with me until the end will be greatly benefited and highly rewarded". This initial declaration was postponed briefly due to an incident on 13 June 1925, when Gulmai, while cleaning the Post Office building at Meherabad, fell and sprained her ankle; Baba declared he was postponing his silence until she was well enough to walk.

He later announced on Friday, 26 June 1925, that his silence would commence on 10 July 1925. Notices were printed and mailed, and a sign was erected at the entrance to Meherabad to intimate this decision. On the evening of 9 July 1925, the day before his silence began, Baba conveyed his final instructions to the women's quarters, telling them, "Now listen to my last words, because from tomorrow I will keep silence for one year. ... When my work is done, I shall speak". He also spoke his last words to the mandali, reminding them of their duties and the dangers of snakes, stating, "I have my own reasons for keeping silence. I must do it". A snake incident that evening provided a final opportunity for the women mandali to hear his voice: "How fortunate you are that you have heard my voice so many times today! This incident with the snake took place to allow you to hear me speak for the final time".

Meher Baba's silence, which began on 10 July 1925, was not merely a vow or penance. He explained its purpose was "to lessen the difficulties and bear the burden of my circle members, who are to be God-realized and who otherwise would have had to undergo certain physical afflictions". He also linked it to "excessive spiritual work that will result when Babajan drops her body in the near future". He frequently stated that his silence was connected to a future manifestation and a "Word" that would revolutionize the world.

Methods of Silent Communication

Throughout his 44 years of silence, Meher Baba employed various methods to communicate:

  • Writing: Initially, from 10 July 1925, he communicated by writing instructions, wishes, and discourses swiftly and emphatically. He even began writing a book, mostly in English, after his silence began. He also composed poems on his slate about the difficulty of not speaking.
  • Chalk and Slate/Paper and Pencil: In the early days, a young boy named Bal would accompany him with a pencil and paper or chalk and slate for communication.
  • Hand Gestures and Alphabet Board: By 1927, Baba ceased writing and began conveying his thoughts through hand gestures or by pointing to English alphabet letters in a newspaper. He later used a dedicated alphabet board for this purpose. He continued to give messages to thousands this way.
  • Cessation of Gestures: By 1 December 1954, he had stopped using his forefinger for gestures to convey thoughts, marking "the last link of conversation" with the mandali through physical signs.
  • Interpreters: As his gestures became more minimal, his close mandali, such as Eruch, would interpret his signs.

Reception of His Silence by Others

Meher Baba's silence was met with varied reactions:

  • Mandali's Perception: Many mandali initially doubted he could maintain silence due to his "outgoing and voluble" nature but were "greatly impressed" by his perfect control. They found his not speaking "considerably more disconcerting" than his usual goading or censure. Later, it became "painful for the mandali to witness Baba's continued silence".
  • Public and Media: His silence was often described as "imposing, impressing and inspiring". People noted that his eyes spoke volumes, expressing much without words. Media attention sometimes misrepresented facts, leading to misunderstandings. Some followers were disappointed when he postponed breaking his silence, and he even lost some followers due to this. Opponents, like Colonel Irani, used his silence as an excuse for false propaganda.
  • Inward Experience: Despite his outward silence and seclusion, his presence was often felt more intensely by his lovers, as their attention became focused on him. He often stated that his silence did not impede his work, but rather increased its intensity.

Incidents Related to Maintaining Silence (1925-1969)

Throughout the 44 years, numerous incidents highlighted the nature and impact of his silence:

  • Early Tests and Strictness (1925-1927):

    • In 1925, Baba instructed Gustadji, a naturally loquacious person, to observe silence for his work; Gustadji maintained it until his death in 1957. He later gave similar instructions to Daulatmai and Bala Tambat.
    • He explained that the silence of his devotees was for their own benefit, while his own was "to drown the world in the Ocean of his silence".
    • In a meeting, when asked why he was quiet, he gave curt replies like "My choice".
  • Seclusions and Working (1928-1930):

    • He entered seclusion in a Table Cabin in 1928, fasting on one meal a day. He assured the women mandali, who had begun keeping silence out of worry, that he was not displeased and that they should resume speaking.
    • In January 1930, he entered a strict seclusion inside a cage, fasting partially. He compared this confinement to Jesus's 40-day stay on a mountain, explaining it was for work in "non-physical realms" and was "apparent, not real". Paradoxically, more visitors came during this strict seclusion.
    • In May 1930, he planned a strict six-month seclusion with nine people fasting on milk, where he would give up the alphabet board and all darshan. He expressed "grave doubts" about two participants, who indeed left the next day. A rumor spread that he would miraculously emerge from a sealed cave, drawing crowds.
  • Interactions with Gandhi and World Tours (1931-1933):

    • During his meeting with Mahatma Gandhi on the Rajputana in 1931, Gandhi expressed his astonishment at Baba's seven years of silence and eagerness to hear him speak.
    • Baba clarified to Gandhi that references to him "speaking" were always through his alphabet board, not his tongue.
    • He explained that he kept silence to "make the world know me after breaking my silence".
    • On a trip to the US in 1932, he was heralded as potentially breaking his silence in Hollywood, with plans for radio broadcasts. However, he postponed it, stating "conditions are not yet ripe". This led to disappointment among some followers.
    • He assured a reporter in 1932 that he was "one hundred percent" confident he would speak when the time came, despite his long silence.
  • Intensification of Work and Health (1936-1941):

    • In 1936, he wrote to Westerners that his long silence served a "great purpose" and taught them "the lesson to suffer".
    • His intense inner spiritual work often affected and strained his physical body.
    • In 1937, he stated his silence was not a vow and he might speak in the 13th year, as he liked the number 13.
    • From 1938, he dictated discourses for the Meher Baba Journal, often using "ghostwriters" to draft them based on his points.
    • He stopped signing his name for his passport due to his "own reasons".
    • He started an intense four-week fast in 1941, which "considerably weakened his health".
    • He announced a stricter six-month seclusion from 1 August 1941, during which he would not be seen or even hear a human voice in the last three months. He declared, "From February 1942 onward, I will start speaking to myself and afterwards to the public. Be ready to hear me speak".
  • "Universal Work" and "New Life" (1942-1949):

    • He stated his greatness lay "in suffering for the universe" rather than performing miracles.
    • At a momentous meeting in October 1941, it was decided he would speak any day between 15 February 1942 and 15 February 1943, unannounced. He explained his silence would coincide with "the breaking of the long-awaited silence of God," and "The Word that will move the heart of all... will carry infinite power behind it".
    • His 49th birthday in 1943 was celebrated in six cities, with representatives delivering his message, "The Task for Spiritual Workers".
    • He broke a brief fast in March 1943, stating, "Hereafter, no more seclusion. I will come out publicly for darshan as often as required".
    • He revealed his final instructions for his biography in verse to Bhau Kalchuri on 24 January 1969, seven days before dropping his body. This was his last order. He told Bhau that he liked his writing and to disregard criticism.
    • On 24 January 1969, he uttered the words "Yad rakh" (remember) to Bhau. Bhau clarified that this was not the breaking of Baba's silence or the "Word-of-Words," but a demonstration that his vocal cords were still functional, refuting any idea that he was physically unable to speak. The true breaking of his silence would be his universal manifestation.
    • In 1945, he indicated that his "spiritual death" would occur in November 1945, and his suffering during a "conference of the Five" almost threatened his physical existence.
    • In 1947, he stated the world was approaching a "great upheaval" before he broke his silence, leading to "great suffering" but also a "profound change of heart".
    • The 22nd anniversary of his silence on 10 July 1947, was observed by followers worldwide with a 24-hour fast.
    • In 1948, he dictated that his devotees should abstain from taking part in political activities or discussion.
    • His "Great Seclusion" began on 1 July 1949, where all his mandali and followers were to keep silence for the entire month. On 10 July 1949, he broke his fast that began with the seclusion.
    • On 1 August 1949, he ended his seclusion, appearing radiant and healthy, as if returning from a holiday. This marked the end of his "Old Life" and the beginning of his "New Life" of renunciation and helplessness from 16 October 1949. During the New Life, his name was not to be disclosed, and begging was to be done cheerfully. He also instructed that if asked why he was silent, companions should say, "It is his personal and individual desire".
  • Continuing Seclusion and Universal Work (1950s-1960s):

    • He stated in 1952, "If my silence cannot speak, of what avail would be speeches made by the tongue?".
    • On 7 October 1954, he announced he would give up his alphabet board and finger signs, and that his speaking was "very near". He declared an end to mass darshans, meetings, and correspondence. His last public appearance was in Pandharpur on 6 November 1954.
    • From 1 December 1954, the "last link of conversation" via finger gestures ceased, intensifying the "seriousness" around him.
    • He confirmed in 1958 he would break his silence in "sixteen months".
    • He also famously stated, "I am really the only one who is not in seclusion. It is the rest of humanity that is in seclusion. I have come to make it emerge into eternal freedom!".
    • On 10 July 1960, his 35th anniversary of silence was observed with Baba fasting and lovers observing silence. He stated then, "I shall not break my seclusion until I break my silence".
    • He repeatedly indicated that his silence would break due to a "universal crisis" and that "the moment is not far away".
    • In 1962, he emphasized, "When I break my silence it will be heard infinitely more clearly than the loudest of speech uttered by anyone".
    • He explained his suffering was immense because his inner work intensified, particularly from 1963 onward, when he compared the nine months leading to his speaking to a "gestation period" for the "birth" of a new dispensation of Truth.
    • On 10 July 1966, his 41st anniversary of silence, he gave the message: "God’s first Word was ‘Who am I?’ God’s last word is ‘I am God.’ And the Word that I, the God-Man, will utter soon will be the sound of my Infinite Silence".
    • He stated in 1967, "I bind myself with silence that, when I break it, mankind will realize what real freedom is". During this period, he would work with Kaikobad daily for three hours in silence, with Kaikobad repeating God's names and Baba bowing to his feet. This rigorous work left him exhausted and soaked with perspiration.
    • His seclusion was prolonged several times in 1968, indicating the "fate of the universe hangs on his seclusion". His birthday in 1968 was celebrated with great anticipation of an "unprecedented" event after his seclusion.

Final Days and Last Instructions (1969):

  • As his health deteriorated, Baba experienced painful spasms when moving his fingers to communicate.
  • On 24 January 1969, seven days before he dropped his body, Meher Baba gave Bhau Kalchuri the "very important work" of writing his biography in verse, instructing him to include the lives of the five Perfect Masters and his father's life. This was the last order Meher Baba ever imparted.
  • In this same poignant moment, Baba uttered two words, "Yad rakh" (remember), to Bhau. Bhau later clarified that this was not the true "breaking of Baba's silence" or the "Word-of-Words," but rather a demonstration that his vocal cords were still capable of speech, dispelling any notion that his silence was due to physical inability. His real speaking would be a "universal manifestation".

Meher Baba's silence was a dynamic, active process that intensified his connection with the world, leading him to engage in tireless inner and outer work, preparing for a future spiritual awakening of humanity.

Saturday, June 14, 2025

Respecting the Spiritual

Below is an excerpt from "The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire" by William Dalrymple.

The status of the English at the Mughal court in this period is perhaps most graphically illustrated by one of the most famous images of the period, a miniature by Jahangir’s master artist, Bichitr. The conceit of the painting is how the pious Jahangir preferred the company of Sufis and saints to that of powerful princes. This was actually not as far-fetched as it might sound: one of Roe’s most telling anecdotes relates how Jahangir amazed the English envoy by spending an hour chatting to a passing holy man he encountered on his travels:

" ... a poor silly old man, all asht, ragd and patcht, with a young roague attending on him. This miserable wretch cloathed in rags, crowned with feathers, his Majestie talked with about an hour, with such familiaritie and shew of kindnesse, that it must needs argue an humilitie not found easily among Kings … He took him up in his armes, which no cleanly body durst have touched, imbracing him, and three times laying his hand on his heart, calling him father, he left him, and all of us, and “me, in admiration of such a virtue in a heathen Prince.”

Jahangir was the ruler of the vast Mughal emperor at the time (around 1616) and the story Roe tells clearly shows how little the English understood spirituality. Notice Roe's focus on appearances (how dishevelled the old man was) whereas the emperor clearly recognised the old man's spiritual status and accorded him due respect. A clash of cultures indeed. The British never learned to respect Indian spirituality and instead sought to force Christianity on the "heathens".

Saturday, June 07, 2025

Zahar: the Last Mughal Emperor

I'm very much enjoying William Darymple's "The Last Mughal" and today I read a passage that resonated with me. Zahar was the last Mughal emperor and he was fond of writing Sufi poetry:

Zafar’s poetry, however, existed on a higher plane than this. Like much verse of the period, it was deeply imbued with the Sufi ideals of love, which were regarded as much the surest route to a God who was seen to be located not in the heavens but deep within the human heart. For if the world of the heart lay at the centre of Sufism, it also formed the cornerstone of the principal literary form in late Mughal Delhi—the ghazal, which derived its name from the Arabic words “talking to a woman about love. The love of the ghazal poet was ambiguous—it was rarely made entirely clear whether it was sacred or worldly love to which the poet referred. This ambiguity was deliberate, for just as the longing of the soul for union with God was believed to be as compelling and as all-embracing as the longing of the lover for the beloved, both loves could be carried to the point of insanity or what Sufis called fana—self-annihilation and immersion in the beloved. In the eyes of the Sufi poets, this search for the God within liberated the seeker from the restrictions of narrowly orthodox Islam, encouraging the devotee to look beyond the letter of the law to its mystical essence.

Later Darymple writes that:

This was an attitude to Hinduism that Zafar—and many of his Mughal forebears—shared. It is clear that Zafar consciously saw his role as a protector of his Hindu subjects, and a moderator of extreme Muslim demands and the chilling Puritanism of many of the ‘ulama. One of Zafar’s verses says explicitly that Hinduism and Islam “share the same essence,” and his court lived out this syncretic philosophy, and both celebrated and embodied this composite Hindu-Muslim Indo-Islamic civilisation, at every level. The Hindu elite of Delhi went to the Sufi shrine of Nizamuddin, could quote Hafiz and were fond of Persian poetry. Their children—especially those of the administrative Khattri and Kayasth castes—studied under maulvis and attended the more liberal madrasas, bringing offerings of food for their teachers on Hindu festivals. For their part, Muslims followed the Emperor in showing honour to Hindu holy men, while many in the court, including Zafar himself, followed the old Mughal custom, borrowed from upper-caste Hindus, of drinking only Ganges water. Zafar’s extensive team of Hindu astrologers rarely left his side. 

It was very interesting to read of this tolerance at the time between the Hindus and Moslems as well as between the Shia and Sunni sects. The author has himself lived in Delhi for the past twenty years but holidays in England during the summer months. I'm looking forward to reading more about India in his other books.

Dalrymple's overview of the consequences of the sepoy rebellion is quite insightful:

There was nothing inevitable about the demise and extinction of the Mughals, as the sepoys’ dramatic surge towards the court of Delhi showed. But in the years to come, as Muslim prestige and learning sank, and Hindu confidence, wealth, education and power increased, Hindus and Muslims would grow gradually apart, as British policies of divide and rule found willing collaborators among the chauvinists of both faiths. The rip in the closely woven fabric of Delhi’s composite culture, opened in 1857, slowly widened into a great gash, and at Partition in 1947 finally broke in two. As the Indian Muslim elite emigrated en masse to Pakistan, the time would soon come when it would be almost impossible to imagine that Hindu sepoys could ever have rallied to the Red Fort and the standard of a Muslim emperor, joining with their Muslim brothers in an attempt to revive the Mughal Empire.

Of course, the events of 1857 also led to the formal dissolution of the British East India Company and its being taken over by the British Government. 

Thursday, June 05, 2025

Sai Baba


Interesting information about Sai Baba that I was reminded of in my daily Meher Baba newsletter (link). 
On June 5th 1927, Baba went with a few of the mandali to Aurangabad, and from there proceeded to the Ellora Caves and the area called Khuldabad. While drinking tea at Khuldabad, Baba disclosed, “The tomb of Sai Baba’s Master Zarzari Bakhsh is in Khuldabad.” When asked how this could be since Zarzari Bakhsh actually lived hundreds of years prior to Sai Baba, Meher Baba answered, “You have no idea of how great is the grace of the Perfect Master. While Zarzari Bakhsh was alive, Sai, in a previous incarnation, was his disciple. The Master’s grace descended upon him at that time; however, it carried over and made him perfect after seven hundred years. Zarzari Bakhsh means Giver of the Wealth of Wealth. This he gave to Sai.” The group returned to Meherabad the same day. Sai Baba of Shirdi had physical contact with other Masters — Gopal Rao and the Swami of Akalkot. However, it was Zarzari Baksh who bestowed Realization upon Sai while he was in a cave at Khuldabad. The Swami of Akalkot brought Sai down and made him a Perfect Master.
Thus the connection between a Perfect Master and his disciple can extend over lifetimes and Realisation can be bestowed in the physical absence of the Master, although I surmise that this is not the norm. I've been to the Ellora Caves and even to the cave at Khuldabad (about four miles away) were Sai Baba received Enlightenment.

Wikipedia (the source of all knowledge) had this to say about Khuldabad:
The name 'Khuldabad' translates to 'Abode of Eternity'. It is derived from the posthumous title of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, 'khuld-makan' (lit. 'Dwelling in Paradise'); the name came into currency following Aurangzeb's interment in the city. Priorly, the city was known as 'Rauza' (lit. 'Garden of Paradise'), a common term used to describe Sufi shrines in South Asia.

This made me realise how little I know about the Mughal Empire and reference to Sufi shrines I found quite intriguing. I downloaded "The Last Mughal" by William Dalrymple from the Internet Archive and transferred it to my Kindle. It looks like an interesting read.

On a hazy November afternoon in Rangoon, 1862, a shrouded corpse was escorted by a small group of British soldiers to an anonymous grave in a prison enclosure. As the British Commissioner in charge insisted, “No vestige will remain to distinguish where the last of the Great Moghuls rests.” 

Bahadur Shah Zafar II, the last Mughal Emperor, was a mystic, an accomplished poet and a skilled calligrapher. But while his Mughal ancestors had controlled most of India, the aged Zafar was king in name only. Deprived of real political power by the East India Company, he nevertheless succeeded in creating a court of great brilliance, and presided over one of the great cultural renaissances of Indian history.

Then, in 1857, Zafar gave his blessing to a rebellion among the Company’s own Indian troops, thereby transforming an army mutiny into the largest uprising any empire had to face in the entire course of the nineteenth century. The Siege of Delhi was the Raj’s Stalingrad: one of the most horrific events in the history of Empire, in which thousands on both sides died. And when the British took the city—securing their hold on the subcontinent for the next ninety years—tens of thousands more Indians were executed, including all but two of Zafar’s sixteen sons. By the end of the four-month siege, Delhi was reduced to a battered, empty ruin, and Zafar was sentenced to exile in Burma. There he died, the last Mughal ruler in a line that stretched back to the sixteenth century.

Award-winning historian and travel writer William Dalrymple shapes his powerful retelling of this fateful course of events from groundbreaking material: previously unexamined Urdu and Persian manuscripts that include Indian eyewitness accounts and records of the Delhi courts, police and administration during the siege. The Last Mughal is a revelatory work—the first to present the Indian perspective on the fall of Delhi—and has as its heart both the dazzling capital personified by Zafar and the stories of the individuals tragically caught up in one of the bloodiest upheavals in history.

Sunday, May 04, 2025

Gardens All Misty Wet With Rain


Here is a prompt that I gave to Chat GPT and the result is shown above:
Create an image of a young Van Morrison walking in gardens all misty wet with rain as described in his song "Sweet Things" from his album "Astral Weeks". The image should have a surreal, psychedelic feel with some magic mushrooms underfoot. There should be a mystical, transcendental, other-worldly feel to the image conjuring up an alternative reality to the mundane world in which we live.

Gemini refused to create an image saying that there was something saying controversial in the prompt. For fuck's sake. Anyway the result was OK so I thought that I'd include it in a post. Looking at my astrological chart recently and it seems that any date from the 19th May onwards could be one of those sort of days:

If I am nearing the end of life, as "The Voice" warned me, then I should be making preparations to take Baba's name as I draw my last breath. It may be possible. I should at least be keeping the thought of Baba uppermost in my mind to the best of my ability. I remember the dream I had many years ago now in which the house I was in tumbled off a cliff and I was falling toward the ground below. The house was falling along with me but the house was above me. I knew that if the fall didn't kill me then the weight of the house crashing down upon me certainly would. I fumbled for my wallet because I knew that I had a photo of Baba in it but I was unsuccessful and just managed to call out His name before waking up.

Perhaps I'll be buried in the rubble of the house following an earthquake. It's not likely as the house is very solidly built. In the dream I was lucky enough to have a few seconds in which to gather my thoughts. Looking at my chart, there is an emphasis on Mercury and the third house. Transiting Neptune, Ceres and Saturn are all close to my natal Mercury. Transiting Jupiter is moving close to my natal Uranus on the cusp of the Third House. A traffic accident is a possibility but who can avoid something like that. A neurological accident is another possibility. All this speculation is largely useless and it's not worthwhile trying to second guess Uranus. All I can do is wait and be as prepared as possible to take advantage of whatever split seconds become available to me.

Thursday, May 01, 2025

The 25 Year Cycle

Let's look back at when I turned 25 years old. This was April 3rd 1974. It was a fairly bleak time. I was in Adelaide and I remember going to see "The Exorcist" on my own. I don't know where Raelene was. Neither of us had managed to find any work since the start of the year and a couple of weeks later we were on our way to Sydney in the hope that the job market was more promising there.

Indeed it was and we both found employment quickly but I was quite unhappy in my job as a teacher for the remainder of the year (May to December). At the start of 1975, I began at AMP on Circular Quay as a Trainee Actuary which I had no interest in but the work companions were genial and one of them set me on the road to becoming a Psychiatric Nurse. I'd say that my 26th birthday marked the start of a new era and that the year from my 25th to my 26th was a difficult and transitional year.

Fast forward to my 50th birthday in 2019. I was on the road in China on April 3rd that year, cycling with a group of school students. It was my final year at the Australian International School in Singapore and I wasn't in great spirits. Toward the end of the year I made the happy choice of taking a job in Jakarta and by April 3rd of 2000, the occasion of my 51st birthday, my new life was beginning. Once again the year between my 50th and 51st birthdays was difficult and transitional.

I turned 75 in 2024 and the next month I had a fall that caused me considerable health problems. Other health problems dogged me throughout the year and I had the feeling that my life had run out of steam. I was just marking time. I still have that feeling but other health problems emerged soon after my 76th birthday and something big is coming up in June judging by my chart. So once again my 75th to 76th years have been difficult and transitional and a major change is almost upon me. I'm sure I'll have a lot to write about on this blog in the days to come, assuming I'm able to write at all.

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

How To Find God

Given my last post titled No Growth Without Resistance, today's post from the Avatar Meher Baba Bombay Centre is quite relevant.

HOW CAN I FIND GOD?

Baba was discoursing about the Path when he remarked: “The fun of it is that the One who is sought is Himself the seeker. It is the same One God who prompts the seeker to ask, ‘Where can I find God?’ … ‘How can I find God?’

“The seeker asking ‘Where can I find God?’ is really God saying: ‘Where indeed is the seeker?'”

“Will I realize the Truth in this incarnation?” was an ardent question put to Baba by a young seeker one day.

Baba replied, “Why be so eager, so impatient? How will you profit by my reply? If I were to say that you will realize the Truth in this very life, will you gain anything more than merely hearing these encouraging words? And if I were to say ‘No, not this lifetime’ and that you need many more births to realize the Truth, you will feel nervous and dejected.”

The young man answered, “Nothing will affect me in either case.”

“Then forget your question altogether! This much is certain, that the Truth is infinitely more anxious to reveal Itself through you – and through everyone – than your seeking It with utmost efforts.

“Even wanting Truth is an unwanted want, and Truth is far beyond wanting. You cannot demand Truth; it dawns unawares. The way lies through successive unconditional surrenders to the Perfect Master.”

Baba continued, “Again, remember the Path is slippery. Guard yourself against posing. It is the worst thing. Let the lamp of honesty ever burn within you. Be sincere in your seeking. My nazar is on you. Don’t worry.”

Friday, April 04, 2025

No Growth Without Resistance

It was in October of 2024 that I last posted to this blog and so almost six months has gone by. It's not as if nothing has happened. I had my "big dream" in late December in which a voice announced that I only had a few months to live. Three full months have passed since then and astrological predictions indicate health problems around late June. Family members assure me that my time is not yet up but I remain unconvinced.

I've created a private dream diary in which I've been noting down the dreams that I can remember. I guess that's partly taken the place of this blog. In other blogs, I've written about the Callippic Cycle of 27759 days that ended on the 2nd of April 2025. The new cycle began on my birthday which was yesterday at the time of writing. I was watching a YouTube video recently and these words struck home to me:

We are divinely lovingly crafted beings and what I know is that growth doesn't happen without resistance ... there has to be resistance (for) spiritual growth ... the world is set up so that there's plenty of resistance.

This is something I realised some months ago now but it was good to hear it reiterated here. This is why Baba said that Realisation is only possible in a physical body. Even the Angels need to incarnate once before attaining Realisation. Earth is really the school of hard knocks that beat us into shape or out of shape. This is the Great Game.


We play our different roles. God hides from Himself and we wittingly or unwittingly try to find Him. Eventually, we all succeed but not before we play millions of different roles in the physical world. The One becomes the Many so that the Many may become One.