Working for Baba

Photo: © Meher Nazar Publications

A quote attached to a Baba post on Instagram caught my attention today. Here is what it contained:

"I have to work in My own way, having had to look to everything in these times of great spiritual upheaval. What it means, you have no idea. You all have to do great work for Me in the future, as and when allotted to you; and you must be in full spirit and strength for all that. This mental depression tells upon your health and energy, which are both essential for future work and should not be unnecessarily wasted like this ... I see in some a spirit of depression, total dejection at times. Why? Have you any idea of the greatness of the task that is ahead for the spiritual upheaval of the world! It will require a spirit that is prepared to face anything, rigid and  immovable like a rock, weathering all blasts of winds and storms from all four corners. You all have in you latent that spirit and iron will, and I am working at all that to bring it out ... Soon great events of great changes everywhere will transpire in rapid succession, transforming the very ideal and outlook of life all the world over, and a new awakening for the life spiritual will result, as I have been repeatedly telling you. You are all being prepared for your different parts in this Great Divine Drama that has to be enacted, and in which I am to play a leading part. Are you not glad that you have to play your parts with Me?

All My Love"

Love Alone Prevails by Kitty Davy pg.123

It is certainly a message for our time, for "these times of great spiritual upheaval" where "mental depression tells upon ... health and energy" and where even "total dejection" can overtake some. These are times that will require not "a spirit of depression" but "a spirit that is prepared to face anything, rigid and immovable like a rock, weathering all blasts of winds and storms from all four corners".

These are times when "great events of great changes everywhere will transpire in rapid succession, transforming the very ideal and outlook of life all the world over, and a new awakening for the life spiritual will result." In these crazy COVID times it's easy to yield to depression, give up on humanity and withdraw from the world. However, even though the forces of evil seem to have seized total control of the planet, there are unseen and formidable spiritual forces at work that are in opposition and, hopefully, "a new awakening for the life spiritual will result". 

It is important in the meantime not to give way to despair but to hold on to Baba's damaan. These tyrannical times may yet bring unforeseen spiritual benefits. As more people lose their jobs and lapse into financial difficulties, as food shortages start to bite and as more curbs are placed on social interaction and travel, the spiritual realm begins to hold more appeal. It becomes more apparent in such times that the world is a nasty place, controlled by nasty people with an agenda that is anti-human and anti-God.

I'm reminded of the lyrics to Bill Fay's song, The Healing Day, that run thus:

It'll be okay

On the healing day

No more going astray

On the healing day

Yeah we'll find our way

On the healing day

To where the children play

On the healing day

When the tyrant is bound

And the tortured freed from his pain

And the lofty brought to the ground

And the lonely rage

Ain't so far away

That healing day

Coming to stay

The healing day

Every battleground

Is a place for sheep to graze

When it all comes tumbling down

All the palaces and parades

It'll be okay

On the healing day

No more going astray

On the healing day

Yeah we'll find our way

On the healing day

To where the children play

On the healing day

Repeating His Name

I'm very near to finishing the third book of David Fenster's absorbing trilogy: "Mehera-Meher: A Divine Romance". At one point, Mehera says this in reference to repeating Meher Baba's name:

“You must repeat his name. It is essential to repeat his name because God's name should be on your lips as much as possible. When you are doing anything, you must feel that 'Baba, you are with me.' Wherever you are, you must feel his companionship. You must make him your companion. See that when you remember Baba, he is very near you. He is there all the time, but your love should be there to remember him. It is only that you can't see him. He can see you and is happy with your love. "Whatever amount you love him, even that much makes him happy. Give him more, and it will give him that much more happiness. Even the love that you have now for Baba is making him feel happy. You want to love him more and you will. The soil takes its own time to nourish the plant before it can bear fruit."

In reading this, I was reminded of the power of Meher Baba's name in my own life. In 1968, when I attended a Baba talk at the University of Queensland presented by Bill Le Page and another Baba Lover, all that I took away was the name: Meher Baba. Remarkably, with no reinforcement whatever over the next thirteen years, I remembered that name when I came across "God Speaks" and saw who the author was.

I kept that book on my bookshelf for another twelve years. Every few years, I would pick the book up and try to make sense of it before putting it down in frustration. In 1993, the penny dropped as they say and my spiritual adventure began. I was 44 years old and my meandering path through life had finally brought me to my Hidaya, as Islam calls it, meaning:

One of the beautiful names of Allah is Al-Hadi (The Guide), and Hidaya (Guidance) is one of the most important themes of the Holy Qur’an. Hidaya means “To lead and to guide.” From it also comes the word Hadiyyah, which means, “present or gift.” Hidaya, or Guidance, is the gift of The Creator to His creation. 

According to Imam Raghib Al-Isphani, the famous lexicographer of the Holy Qur’an, Hidaya means “showing the way or leading to the goal in a gentle and kind way.” It means both explanation and direction; and it also means helping and supporting a person to reach to his goal.

Source

"God Speaks" was certainly my BEACON OF LIGHT but it was Meher Baba's name that echoed in the halls of my memory down all those meandering years from 1968 until 1981 and gave the book its special meaning to me. Thus I am fully in agreement with Mehera when she says:

“You must repeat his name. It is essential to repeat his name because God's name should be on your lips as much as possible.

Of course, there are many names for God and one can repeat them all or repeat only one. It's up to the individual. For me it will be Meher Baba.

ADDENDUM

As I composed this post, on the 21st May 2020, I finished the third volume and was made aware that Mehera passed away at Meherazad on the 20th May 1989 at 9:43am.

Silence Day 2019

Here I am again, trying to observe Silence Day in commemoration of the day that Meher Baba began his lifetime of silence. I've made several posts over the years about this day:

• Another Silence Day (2018)
• Silence Day (2010)
• Silence Day (2009)
• Reflections on Silence Day (2009)

What's disappointing of course is the paucity of such posts since I started this blog in November of 2006. Ideally I should have made a post every year given that silence was the defining characteristic of Baba's life on Earth and why he is sometimes called "The Silent Master". 

My daily habit is to note the number of days I've been alive and to make some comment on this number in my mathematical blog. I've been doing this diligently for many years in marked contrast to the number of posts I've made about Baba. This is to be expected given that, like most humans, I am mesmerised by my own existence. However, today I thought it appropriate to look at how many days old Baba was when he began his silence. It turns out he was 11458 days old (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: WolframAlpha calculation

The number 11458 = 2 * 17 * 337 but I'll leave off there as I don't want to get too distracted by the mathematics. However, looking at Baba's diurnal age when certain key events occurred in his life would be an interesting exercise. Meanwhile, Figure 2 shows this number in a decorative font:

Figure 2: taken from this site

I came across a site that allows one to create an OBAMA HOPE inspired photo and I used that to produce a photo of Baba. See Figure 3:

Figure 3: produced at
http://obamapostermaker.com/

The challenge on Silence Day of course is to keep silent and right from the start I was tested. Getting up before the sun, I took my dog for a walk and came across a pet rabbit on the road that I immediately started making a succession of "tsk, tsk" sounds toward in order to lure it closer so that I could pet it. It hopped away but I immediately realised my error. It didn't constitute a vocalisation but it was a sound so it served to remind me to be on my guard. The other danger is reflex vocalisation such as occurs when somebody gives you something and you automatically say "thanks".

As the day wore on, I got to thinking about how Baba's silence might be reflected in his natal chart which I've shown in Figure 4 with some features highlighted. The key planet to consider of course will be Mercury, the planet of communication, and this planet is prominently aspected in his chart. It is a semi-sextile aspect to Venus, sextile to Jupiter, sesquiquadrate to the Moon and quincunx Saturn. The aspect to the retrograde Saturn is especially close and reflects the limitations and discipline involved in not speaking. Mercury is in the middle of the second house (representing the body and its capacities) and Saturn is in the ninth house (representing his "philosophy" and mode of instruction). Venus and Jupiter lend support so that the handicap of not speaking in nonetheless perceived as harmonious, expressive and even eloquent.

Figure 4: Baba's chart with annotations

Impressive as this is, the chart shown together with the transits on the day he began his silence is extraordinary and this is shown in Figure 5. I've not even added any annotations because the situation is shown so clearly. An amazing conjunction of transiting Mercury, Venus and Mars on the seventh house cusp is exactly square the natal Moon with transiting Saturn sitting atop it. The natal Sun and natal Mars are closely involved as well. The actual mid-point between natal Jupiter and natal Saturn in 9°24' of Leo. On July 11th 1925, transiting Mercury, Venus and Mars all met at this point (give or take a few minutes of arc). This was a transient but remarkable conjunction.

Figure 5: transits to the natal chart
on the day Baba's began his silence

The stars most certainly did align on that day as well they should when the Master of the Universe begins the Silence that was to define this most recent advent of the Avatar.

I played Van Morrison's "Hymns to the Silence" and once again was impressed by the lyrics:

Hymns to the Silence

Oh my dear, oh my dear sweet love
Oh my dear, oh my dear sweet love
When I'm away from you, when I'm away from you
Well I feel, yeah, well I feel so sad and blue
Well I feel, well I feel so sad and blue
Oh my dear, oh my dear, oh my dear sweet love
When I'm away from you, I just have to sing, my hymns
Hymns to the silence, hymns to the silence
Hymns to the silence, hymns to the silence 

Oh my dear, oh my dear sweet love it's a long, long journey
Long, long journey, journey back home
Back home to you, feel you by my side
Long journey, journey, journey
Yeah in the midnight, in the midnight, I burn the candle
Burn the candle at both ends, burn the candle at both ends
Burn the candle at both ends, burn the candle at both ends
And I keep on, 'cause I can't sleep at night
Until the daylight comes through
And I just, and I just, have to sing
Sing my hymns to the silence
Hymns to the silence, hymns to the silence
My hymns to the silence 

I want to go out in the countryside
Oh sit by the clear, cool, crystal water
Get my spirit, way back to the feeling
Deep in my soul, I want to feel
Oh so close to the One, close to the One
Close to the One, close to the One
And that's why, I keep on singing
My hymns to the silence, hymns to the silence
Oh my hymns to the silence, hymns to the silence
Oh hymns to the silence, oh hymns to the silence
Oh hymns to the silence, hymns to the silence
Oh my dear, my dear sweet love
Can you feel the silence? can you feel the silence?
Can you feel the silence? can you feel the silence? 

Hymns to the silence, hymns to the silence
Hymns to the silence, hymns to the silence
Hymns to the silence, hymns to the silence
Hymns to the silence, hymns to the silence
Hymns to the silence, hymns to the silence.

Silence Day

On July 10th 1925, Meher Baba stopped talking and never spoke again until his death in 1969. He communicated initially using an alphabet board and later by hand gestures that his mandali (devoted followers) would interpret. His justification for his silence was that:

Man’s inability to live God’s words makes the Avatar’s teaching a mockery. Instead of practicing the compassion he taught, man has waged wars in his name. Instead of living the humility, purity, and truth of his words, man has given way to hatred, greed, and violence. Because man has been deaf to the principles and precepts laid down by God in the past, in this present Avataric form, I observe silence.

"Silence Day" commemorates that day on which Baba took his vow of silence. In all the years since the mid 1990s when I first became aware of this day, I've never managed to remain silent on that day. In most cases, the date has simply slipped by me without my even realizing it until later. Since 2000, the date has fallen shortly after the start of the academic year at the school where I used to teach. It was impossible to maintain silence even if I had remembered.

This year things are different. I'm on holidays while waiting to start at my new school in Shanghai and so there should be no impediments to my observing silence on July 10th. I'll stay at home that day, meditate, read about Baba and avoid any unnecessary social interaction in case I accidentally slip up. During the Vipasanna meditation courses that I attended in the 1990s, I was required to maintain silence for nine days and so one day shouldn't be a problem.