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.

Rome and Home

Baba taunted the man, replying, “Yes, you cannot follow because you are in Rome, and I know because I am at Home! This is the difference between you and me. You are in Rome and I am at Home!”

The priest then left, quite puzzled by his encounter with Baba. What Baba meant by “Home” was that he was one with God, and “Rome” was the church – rites, rituals, orthodoxy. God abided in Baba, and Baba abided in God. But to the priest God was in Rome – the church in Rome.

Above is an excerpt from a story from Lord Meher that I received in my inbox today and quite like. The punchline of course is the following:

 You are in Rome and I am at Home

This quote carries more weight for me because I attended a Catholic school and was nominally a Catholic until about age 15 when the penny dropped so to speak. While I'm not in Rome anymore, I'm still far from home or "walking far from home" as the Iron and Wine song lyrics go. What follows is the full story and a wonderful photo of Baba taken in 1936 when he was 42 years old. He looks magnificent. The story immediately follows the photo. 

(March 1937) Baba was in Nasik. Malcolm Schloss had met a Catholic priest at a religious conference in Nasik and he urged the priest to meet Baba, but he declined. When he told Baba, he also seemed uninterested. However, due to Malcolm’s persuasion a meeting was arranged. The following conversation between the priest and Meher Baba then ensued:

When they met, Baba commented to him, “All the Mullajis (Muslim priests) are good; the Pope is good; the Pandits (Hindu scholars) are good. But only the Sankaracharya (1) (head of orthodox Hinduism) can speak for hours on end!”

The priest had recently returned from participating in the religious conference, and hearing Baba’s words, proudly refuted, “It was not the Sankaracharya, but I who spoke during the whole conference. The Sankaracharya could not argue convincingly at all. He could not say a word to me and I rebuked him severely.”

“Yes,” replied Baba, “these Mullajis, and the Sankaracharya, all need to be warned. They deserve lecturing and need to be taken to task.”

“You just said they are good and now you say they need to be lectured,” the priest said. “I don’t follow what you mean.”

Explaining, Baba spelled out, “The Sankaracharya and high priests have big heads – they are intellectuals – but they have small hearts. You, however, have a good heart.”

Baba added, “There are many to teach in the world, but very few to learn.”

“What do you mean?” asked the priest.

“They all teach but none of them wants to learn – and those who teach do not know the Truth themselves!”

Baba then recounted a striking incident concerning Baily: “A chap named Baily was my school friend and he just could not believe how a boy like me who used to play marbles with him, could as a man attain such a high state while he was still in the same state where he was. The difference between him and me was so phenomenal that he wanted to see some miracles as proof in order to gain conviction about me. One day, when Baily was writing something in my thatched hut in Poona, all of a sudden the inkwell began dancing up and down! He was flabbergasted. After a little while, the pen jumped from his hand and also started to dance. He started shouting, ‘Baba! Baba!’ and wept continuously for some days. From that day on, he was convinced of my powers and had faith in me.

“I told him, ‘You are a fool. If this small phenomena could convince you of spirituality, why don’t you go and follow Muhammad Chhel, who was a well-known tantric magician?’

“All miracles are child’s play, whereas spirituality is far above them. Miracles in themselves have no spiritual value or significance. But they are necessary and, at times, performed by the Master as a means to convince people of Truth and spirituality. Jesus performed miracles not for his own gain, but to make people recognize the Truth and to create faith in them. Yet, when he was crucified, he who could raise the dead, did not stop it!”

Changing the subject, the priest asked, “Why do you keep silence? Why don’t you speak?”

“I always speak!” Baba smilingly replied, “I continually speak through you, through all the high priests and through everyone.”

Not following what Baba meant, the priest asked, “Then why do you use the alphabet board?”

“I talk through you and all, and I answer questions through this board.”

The priest looked more perplexed and asked, “How? I don’t understand.”

Baba taunted the man, replying, “Yes, you cannot follow because you are in Rome, and I know because I am at Home! This is the difference between you and me. You are in Rome and I am at Home!”

The priest then left, quite puzzled by his encounter with Baba. What Baba meant by “Home” was that he was one with God, and “Rome” was the church – rites, rituals, orthodoxy. God abided in Baba, and Baba abided in God. But to the priest God was in Rome – the church in Rome.

(1) Footnote: In Hinduism the Sankaracharya is similar in status to the Pope in Roman Catholicism.

Lord Meher, Original Publication, Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 6, pp. 2129 – 2130. Link.