THE TOTALITY OF SURRENDER

Silence Day
July 10, 1975

 
In July of 1975, I made my first pilgrimage to Meherabad and Meherazad, India.

The experience there of Meher Baba's love and family deepened and broadened my life with Him. One event that I still don't fathom today occurred on Silence Day, July 10, the Fiftieth anniversary of Baba's Silence.

We were, of course, all on silence and I had bicycled out to the Samadhi for the day from Ahmednagar. Sitting within the Tomb with one or two others, suddenly someone was at the door beckoning us to come out, but by the time I could grasp their meaning, one of the women Mandali, gestured to remain sitting were I was, to the right of the Marble.

Before I knew what was happening, Mehera entered, and in one motion fell upon the stone full length. Her movement seemed to contain the totality of surrender; all was thrown upon the Marble marker of The Beloved.

To describe what I experienced, the thunderous, intimate, yet overwhelming reverberation — it was as if the tomb had been hit by lightning, and at the same time an earthquake had struck.

It truly seemed external, and yet so profoundly within, that I did not speak of it for many years to anyone. As to the significance, I can only ask, was it a glimpse of the union of heaven and earth, the lover and the Beloved, the breaking of the Silence within?