BABA KEEPS SILENCE

 
During these interviews Baba always dictated his words on his board. Meherjee Karkaria took down notes of the conversations. At one time as I was staring at Baba I noticed that he simultaneously seemed to be doing at least five different things; for example, as he dictated on the board, he seemed to be nodding his head toward somebody that I could not see, he was seemingly writing with his left hand on the wall beside him, and all I could think of was the usual statue of Shiva, with all of the arms showing his varied activities.

There are as many theories about why Baba kept silence as there are people to propound them. One thing is certain, and that is that Baba's silence had no resemblance whatever to that held by religiouses who undertake it for the sake of undisturbed meditation or contemplation.

Watching Baba handling three or four aspects of communication at once, on different levels and perhaps over vast distances, convinced me that it was absolutely necessary for him to conserve every second in order to get his universal work done. He always came directly to the point and never wasted a word when dictating to us. Of course he often reminded us that when he did finally break his silence, his word would have the effect of an atom bomb and that if he did not observe silence, how then could he break it and make it that effective?

He also said, "The Avatar always goes through some special crucifixion. Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness. Baba keeps silence." In 1965 he had been silent for forty years!