THE SOUND BRAKE OF SILENCE

 
As a student of the Gita and Vedanta, I believe in Meher Baba's Avataric Silence, which is the Secret of Secrets. In Vedanta, it is described as "Brahma Naad" or "Unhad Naad" as Kabir calls it. The same is not only infinite, but also endless and continuous. And the Silence which is personified by Krishna or Baba is a spiritual wonder. In fact, it is an un-breakable continuity of pure consciousness. This has been further clarified in the Upanishads as "Akhanda-Vishwa Chetana" or Indivisible Universal Consciousness.

However, in this particular context, I recall the "words" of Baba communicated to me by Eruch Bhai in his letter dated 21.8.63 (reproduced exactly in part below):

"Baba wants you to note and relay to people wherever you go that the breaking of His Silence would be after nine months after His return to Meherazad from Poona and Baba returned to Meherazad about 1st of July, 1963."

Accordingly, I visited various places relaying the said message of Baba about the Breaking of His Silence which people took as an exciting piece of fresh information from me. They eagerly awaited to see when and how Baba would break His Silence.

No sooner was the stipulated period over, when everyone including myself, was expecting the divine delivery of the Word as a result of breaking His Silence. And lo; just as I looked at the calendar hanging on the wall in front of me, I noticed the date 1st April (in big black print), the day when the nine months were exactly over. At once it struck me that I was played an April Fool. The same night I had a dream wherein Baba was profusely laughing at me while showing the calendar and putting His finger on the 1st of April again and again. I enjoyed Baba's joke.

A few weeks later, I visited Meherazad and sat before my Beloved God in a puzzled and perplexed state of mind. I asked Baba to kindly let me know why He did not break His Silence after nine months upon His return from Poona to Meherazad as promised. The only reply I got was that He is not bound by any promises.

Subsequently, on my return to Calcutta in one of the meetings of the Meher Spiritual Center, I was questioned by a critic about the promised breaking of Baba's Silence. I was bluntly asked by him to refrain from carrying on such a bluff any more. I had no answer and kept quiet. Further, he went on ridiculing me and said, "Your Baba's promise of His breaking silence is nothing but a bluff as usual. What else have you got to say in the matter?"

The whole night I could not sleep. I was very restless. In the dawn hours, I wrote a long letter to Eruch Bhai in a most tormented mood and a few extracts from there are quoted here:

"... Perhaps God is fond of playing the game of Hide & Seek. At times, God-Baba likes Himself to be missing from the midst of mankind for a certain period of time. This gives His lovers a chance to seek Him again and again as a part of His Godly Game ...

"The three essential pre-conditions of such a Game are Pro-Loving, Pro-Embracing, and Pro-Missing, which is entirely different from Promising derived from the ordinary dictionary word Promise. It may be described as an Avataric Sport (Leela) in which lovers who are Pro-Spiritual and Anti-Material are allowed to participate. There are also some strict rules governing the Game: Firstly, one must be totally anti-hypocritical before he enters the field and secondly, he must be fit for self-suffering for the sake of others' happiness.

"The fundamental principle of this strange Game is to be Pro-Silence and anti-noise, whereas, most of us are Pro-noise and anti-Silence. Hence, it is no wonder that we really miss hearing the Mystic Word even if it was uttered in the vast whirlpool of self-created noise about Silence. Let it not be taken amiss when I say that never do I miss the Silence of His Presence, despite His seclusion, during which period He prefers to play this Game of Pro-Missing that must not be understood as Promising.

"Now, regarding the breaking of Baba's Silence, it is undoubtedly an Esoteric Fact for which, I have my own interpretation to offer:

"If, instead of breaking His Silence, Baba is breaking His promise of breaking silence, that then, for me, shall mean The Brake is still necessary, in order to save the uncontrollable speed of destruction. Phonetically, I should like to spell the word as Brake of Silence. Hence, Baba's Silence is a kind of Working Brake in Sound Condition which when applied shall definitely check the speed of destruction. Whether it is an engine, a car, a tram, a cycle or any vehicle that we drive, we first see that the brake is alright; otherwise, we know we are liable to meet with accidents. Similarly, in a mad-world of noise, there must be a sound brake of silence to avert accidents in the Path of Progress which is constant motion.

"Therefore, I understand it in a different way. I say with emphasis that if Baba's Silence is a Sound Brake, the use of which is still unknown to us or any one else. Baba alone knows the modus-operandi of such a Sound Brake of Silence. Why should I presume that Baba is going to break The Brake. For, if the Brake is broken, and His Silence does not function, the world is faced with definite danger as it is in great motion and unless The Brake is applied in time, the whole machinery will break.

"May Baba not break His Silence, but keep The Brake of Silence in tact. Of course, in Seclusion, Baba just undertakes the periodical overhaul of The Brake of Silence. The question of breaking promises does not arise at all. The world, which is produced in His Maya, is in itself a big 'bluff' of reality and therefore, if we have to exist on this planet, Baba must carry on His bluff eternally..."