The Book Of Love and Home

Link to Peter Gabriel's video

One of the songs I like to play on guitar is "The Book of Love", originally recorded by the Magnetic Fields and later by Peter Gabriel. Here are the lyrics and information about the song (source).

The book of love is long and boring
No one can lift the damn thing
It's full of charts and facts and figures
And instructions for dancing
But I, I love it when you read to me
And you, you can read me anything 

 

The book of love has music in it
In fact, that's where music comes from
Some of it is just transcendental
Some of it is just really dumb
But I, I love it when you sing to me
And you, you can sing me anything 

 

The book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes
And things we're all too young to know
But I, I love it when you give me things
And you, you ought to give me wedding rings
I, I love it when you give me things
And you, you ought to give me wedding rings 

 

Arguably the most recognized song from the 69 Love Songs Collection, “The Book of Love” is track 11 of volume one. Stephin Merritt sings a basic, timeless melody over a barely strummed guitar and light background vocals.

Despite its conversational lyrical style and not-entirely-romantic vocabulary (who would ever think to use words like “boring” or “dumb” in an honest to goodness love song?) the message of the song communicates how we tend to see love as cheesy or needless on the outside, and absolutely essential on the inside.

The song has been used countless times in TV shows and movies. It got even more play after Peter Gabriel recorded a cover version for the film "Shall We Dance?" in 2004.

Another song that I've been listening too lately is "Home" by Lisa Hannigan. The lyrics are as follows:

[Verse 1]
Home, so far from home
So far to go
And we've only just begun
And oh, every lie we told
Is written in stone
Every lie we wrote in our bones 

[Chorus]
And hold on, there's nothing to pack
We know we're not coming back
[Post-Chorus]
Oh oh oh oh 

[Verse 2]
Oh, every promise that we broke
Is sewn to our clothes
Now we are pinned to the wind I suppose 

Oh, every falling flake of snow
It has to give in
Oh but we spin and we spin and we spin 

[Chorus]
Hold on, there's nothing to pack
Lay your heart out, we're not coming back 

[Post-Chorus]
Oh oh oh oh 

[Instrumental Bridge] 

[Chorus]
And hold on, there's nothing to pack
Lay your heart out, we're not coming back
We're not coming back

Lisa Hannigan singing "Home": link

I interpret the song as describing our journey to the Source where with our 8.5 million lifetimes we are "so far from home" and we still have "so far to go". The Akashic Records ensure that "every lie we told" and "every lie we wrote" is eternally preserved as is "every promise that we broke". In the grand scheme of things, our little life is like a "falling flake of snow" that has to eventually "give in" and melt away but in the meantime "we spin and we spin" on our own little axes, unlike the Qutubs around which the universe spins. I especially like the chorus with it's exhortation to "hold on" to our little lives all the while remembering that as we pass on "there's nothing to pack" because "we're not coming back". "Lay your heart out" in the meantime and don't harden your heart, remain open and vulnerable.

Harry Kenmore

Figure 1: source

I'm currently reading "Harry: The Story of Dr. Harry L. Kenmore and His Life with His Beloved Pop, Meher Baba" by Larry Karrasch and Rita Karrasch, published in July of 2017. Figure 1 shows the cover of the book. I was familiar with Harry Kenmore and his chiropractic treatment of Baba through my reading (and rereading) of Bhau Kalcuri's "Lord Meher". 

However, there is not much detail provided in that source and so this book gives welcome insights into how Harry came to Baba (or how Baba "snared" Harry) and how the two of them interacted on a daily basis when they were together. It serves a similar purpose to David Fenster's "Mehera-Meher: A Divine Romance" in providing rich details of how Mehera and Meher Baba interacted on a daily basis and about the lives of the women mandali.

The book contains many wonderful photographs. Figures 2, 3 and 4 are examples. The following is the description of the book as it appears on the Google Play store:

Harry Kenmore's blindness at the age of sixteen changed his life. After meeting Meher Baba in 1956, the path of his life was again altered because now he found God, Meher Baba. His love and devotion led him to serve Baba as his chiropractor after Baba's second automobile accident on December 2nd 1956, in Satara India. We learn about Harry's journey to become Baba's doctor, entertainer, friend and intimate mandali throughout the next thirteen years. Through the intimate taped conversations, cables and letters between Harry, Baba and the mandali and also talks by Harry to various Baba groups, we gain insight into Harry's life as his relationship evolves with his Pop, Meher Baba. 

"You don't know how much I love you Harry. You have become one of the intimate mandali. So I want you, for the remaining period that is, in between now and My Manifestation, which has not much time now, to just be as the mandali. Like My mandali, remain during this period between now and My Manifestation as mandali. So that when I break My Silence, when I Manifest, the few handful of the mandali can realize Me as I am. You too will realize Me as I am, not the world." Meher Baba November 2nd 1968

Figure 2: Harry with Baba

Figure 3: Baba standing with Francis, Eruch and Harry

Figure 4: Harry with Eruch (behind him), Aloba
and Bhau (standing), Francis and Pendu.

We learn in the book that Harry was born on February 10th 1910 between 2:00pm and 2:30pm in Brooklyn, New York. Figure 5 shows his chart and it is a most interesting one. I'd add commentary to this chart in the near future, as it definitely deserves comment.

Figure 5: chart drawn up using Astrolog

Here is an interesting excerpt from the book:

Harry had his first meeting with Baba in July, 1956 at the Delmonico Hotel in Manhattan and attended the dinner held for Baba at the Longchamp’s restaurant, then again at The Meher Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He immediately recognized Meher Baba as his true Beloved and as Almighty God in human form. When Harry had his interview with Baba, in the Lagoon Cabin in 1956, he asked Baba why was he blind in this life? He told Baba that he was able to look back into his past four lifetimes and could not find any karmic reason for this blindness. Baba said, “That if you had not become blind in this life you would have become a great, world renowned surgeon, and then you would have had no reason to search for me. I gave you these vidnyani sanskaras so you would have to meet me in this Advent.” After this meeting with Baba, Harry became resigned to his blindness. Baba also told Harry that he had been one of His Generals when He was Shivaji – a minor Avataric incarnation, in India. And Harry had been a very fierce warrior.

While on the topic of Baba books, I'd very much like to read "Slave of Love: The Life of William Donkin with Meher Baba" by Bob Mossman but it's only available in hard copy format, not as an e-book. While not rivalling a full-blown book, let's not forget that there is invaluable biographical material to found on the MeherBabaTravels.com website. For example, here are links to the Indian mandali mentioned in this post:

• Aloba (Ali Akbar Shapurzaman)
• Pendu (Aspandiar Rustom Irani) 
• Eruch (Eruch Bhyramshaw Jessawala)
• Bhau (Vir Singh Kalchuri)
  
  

I remember meeting Eruch and Bhau when I visited Meherazad in the late 90's. Aloba was still alive then and was probably present as well. Of course, I met Bhau again in hospital when leaving Poona and later again in Singapore. I wrote about this in my post Baba's Gardener.