42nd. ANNIVERSARYOF

AVATAR MEHER BABA’S UNIQUE SILENCE

“THE ELOQUENCE OF SILENCE”B

The 1-lonbie IVIR. JUStICE P. B. MUKHARJI, CALCUlIA.

10th JULY, 1967

Published by

SOCIETY IN WEST BENGAL FOR AVATAR MEHER BABACA LC UTTA26

THE ELOQUENCE OF SILENCE

An aspect of the Spiritual Technology of Sound

By

THE H0N’BLE MR. JUSTICE PRAsTA BIHARI MuKHARJI

THE eloquence of silence speaks to the heart and not to theear. The eardrum cannot catch it. The heart beats with it.

The Life rhymes with it. The Creation is instinct with it. TheUniverse is aflame with it. The still serenity of Eternity is suffusedand surcharged with it.

The Silence is the unagitated breath of the eternal and unconditioned existence. This Silence is paradoxically never silentbut always puissant. The natural effortless Apnoea, the Kumbhaka,is the symbol and insignia of Immortality, the undying awarenessof the dying and the deathless, the born and the unborn, - theunsleeping witness keeping an uninterrupted vigil of all that sleepsand is sleepless, and the state of all states. The agitated breathsignifies the movement of the samslearas and the desires for dividedthings and not for the Whole and the Infinite. It is this agitation ofthe breath which creates plurality of words and multiplicity ofsounds and so creates a film over Silence. It is that film which veilsthe face of Silence and makes its eternal eloquence apparentlyinaudible in the World’s cauldron of the chemistry of sounds.

You can utter the Word but not the Silence. The Silence isunutterable. It is unspeakable. It is the one immutable Noumenon

Speech on Saturday, the 8th July, 1967, at the Academy of

Fine Arts Hall, Calcutta—i6

behind the mutable phenomena. The Silence is the matrix out ofwhich matter is born and to which matter returns. It is the greatprogenitor, which pro-creates, re-creates and “un”-creates. Itdestroys but only as the part, process and programme ofits verycreation, and sclf-cxprcssion. The Silence is the pabulum that feedsLifb Eternal and indestructible. It is the supreme imperturbableStatics which alone makes all Dynamics possible.

Silence is the spirit. The “Word” is the body. To “utter” is tomake outer. Whatever is made outer is necessarily partial and cannever be total. Wit were total, the grand illusion of the inner andthe outer will snap and the silent will absorb the non-silent. Forthen according to the Vedas “Yat Bahyam, Tad Antararn, l’atAntararn, Tad Bahyam”. Then the Drama, the Audience and theAuthor become one. Silence therefore by its very nature mustremain indivisible and iiSmite. Words must therefore remaindivisible, partial and finite. “The Word” is different from words.“The Word” is the speaking messenger ofSilence. But the messenger can only announce. Who does he announcee “The Word”announces the Silence. That is why Kabir Saheb says that there isonly “one Word and not two words”: “Thai Bachan,. DujoiBachan Nahi”.

Words, therefore, in plurality, are the army of confusion.They build the Tower ofBabel. The heart ofall hearts the Kingofhearts, speaks The Word. The tongue speaksmanywords. Between The Word and words lies encompassed the whole story ofCreation telling the tale ofhow the Universal becomesindividuals,the Tnfinite becomes finite, the One becomes many, the oceanbecomes waves, the river becomes rivulets, the rivulet becomesponds, and the pond becomes stagnant cesspooL The Soundcoiled is the “Kundalini” lying dormant in forms ofmatter.

The steps by which “The Word” becomes words are thegrades of the great Descent The steps by which multiplicity ofwords rises into harmony of “The Word” are the grades of thegreat Ascent, the Apocalypse. The ladder in either case is the

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breath, the “Swara”, the creator of all consonants and all vowels,

the plural words, which appear to communicate but in fact

mmunicate one another. The bridge becomes the chasm to lend

separation to the inseparable.

But the Mission persists though the missionaries separate

themselves. With every inhalation of the breath “Puraka”, the

bewildered missionary unsuspectantly tries to ascend. With every

exhalation, “Rechaka”, he lapses to disintegrate. In between the

two struggles, the momentary pause for balance (Kumbhaka) goes

unnoticed. The result is that the missionary is perpetually and

restlessly distracted from the left (Ida) to the right (Pingala) and

from the right to the left and never .finds the straight and the

middle path (Susunina), which preserves “The Word”. Although

the missionary has forgotten the Mission, yet the Mission eternally

remembers him. Such is the beauty, such is the miracle, and such

is the mystery, that the Mission goes on with its ceaseless operation.

To be conscious of this Mission is to redeem oneself and to redeem

the worlds of phenomena. “THE WORD” is the redeemer.

The world of manifestation, in time, space and experience,

bears the curse ofcause and effect, the curse that marked the Fall of

Man. In the unreal realm of Division, the small Logic is the iron

Law that you can have no effect without a cause, and there can be

no cause as such which does not produce or promise to produce an

effect. This is the Law ofKarma or the Law of Samskaras, the Law

of Causation. But the great universe, producing and destroying so

many countless worlds in fleeting seconds and aeons of time, in

tiny space and in endless vistas and firmaments, is outside the grip

of this causation. Nothing “caused” This. Itself without cause and

effect, it is at once the cause of all causes and the effect ofall effects.

The true essence of all spiritual disciplines and sadhana is to break

this chain of cause and effect. The hammer to break this chain is

the “Word”. So again Kabir Saheb says:

“Jap marey, Ajapa marai, Anahadvi man jai,

Surat Samani Shabdamey, tahi Kal nahi Khai”,

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The Word of all words is the annihilator of Time. The one thingTime cannot devour is The Word. It exists even when the “Jap”dies, the Ajapa dies and even the Anahat dies.

The Silence canot be expressed by determinants. It has no

association, no companion and no context. The determinantsoperate in the descent from Silence, and also in the ascent beforereaching the Silence. The Silence is the invisible Crown of allvisible crowns. It is the unproclaimed Glory, when all other proclaimed glories will have died, when dust will have returned todust and the noontide will have sunk into the midnight. Themetaphysics of Sound has to be understood first, in any endeavourto realise, understand and enter the realmiess Silence, which MeherBaba is expounding with his life. The crudest form of Sound is“Baikhari”, which can be uttered and heard by the physicalapparatus. But this crude manifestation is preceded by three subtlerstages of “Madhyama”, “Pashyanti” and “Para” Vak, perceptibleonly to processes belonging to philosophical physiology. In theunredeemed man, still in the bondage of his Samskaras, thesethree subtle stages of “Madhyama”, “Pashyanti” and “Para” Vak

are subconscious and uncognised and therefore not under hisconscious command. He only has a sense of command over the“Baikhari” and this limited sense of command feeds his “Aham—kara” or the Ego. But this sense of command over the “Baikhari”words is illusory. They have already been shaped, formed anddetermined by three uncognised preconditions through which theSound has already passed. Control ofthe tongue is therefore for allpractical purposes an imperfect, if not impossible, advice. Thetongue does not speak. Three other more powerful causes makethe tongue speak and unless the control is exercised first at “Para”,then at “Madhyama”, and finally at “Pashyanti” stages, the Bai—khari words remain, in essence, uncontrollable and fundamentallyincoherent. That is why, the “Small Talks”, the so-called superblanguages and literatures ofmankind, by these subtler fundamentalstandards, are largely incoherent, essentially false, perverselyunrealistic, the prattling of persons under the hypnosis of theirSarnskaras, helpless prisoners of their acquired and inherited ten-

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dencies, through endless incarnations, and experiencing forms.Unless therefore these remote controls of Sound are known, the

“Word” can never be known and realised. They contain the core

secret of THE WORD.

In Baikliari words, the egoistic work of the mouth and thethroat operates. It is a physical functional operation. But at “Mad—hyama”, this begins to cease its operation. The Solar Plexus in thebody is the crucial centre of the “Madhyarna” Vak. It is the firststage ofinteriorising the exterior and is also the first step in achieving true self—reliance. The first touch of the “Word” is here felt.The Sound then unlocks the gates of Light. The Sound tends tobecome luminous, “Pashyanti” Vak, whose critical centre in thebody is the heart. The Sound sees and the vision of theuniverse unfolds, before the lightening sound. It slowly, steadilyand gigantically lifts the veil ofdarkness, ignorance and nescience.The Word then sees the universe bathed more in light thanin sounds. This grand illumination is the festival of light. Thereal “Dipavali” starts. The Sufi sings in ecstatic Gazal: “Kagaz Kala,

Haraf Ujala, Keya Bhari Khat Paya”. This light is the first intimation of Silence. As Silence is infinite, so this light, with its endlesscolours, is infinite in its variety.

In Baikhari words, there is sharp difference between the“sound” and the “meaning” and therefore they fail to unite orreally communicate. In Madhyama, this distinction, intermittentlybut not permanently, disappears. But in luminous sound, Pashyanti,

there is no difference left between the sound and the meaning andis therefore beyond the region of “utterance”, and is the onlysolvent of the “Ego”. At the frontier of this seemingly unendingexpanse of sound turned luminous, there is a twilight barrieracross which the Word calls and beckons. The Vedas and theUpanishads call it “Para Vak”, “The Word”. This is the celestialabode ofthe “Word”, inviolable by any division and unchallengedin supremacy of power, knowledge and bliss.

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Certain conclusions follow from this spiritual science ofSound, which holds the key to the mystery of creation and of thisuniverse. Every form or object, visible or invisible, is the result ofcoagulation of a particular sound. Sound, like blood, coagulateswhen it comes out in the realm of utterance. It then loses itsluminous limpidity. Without a sound content, there can be noobject or form. That sound is the Seminal Sound (Bijani) of thatobject or form. If it can be discovered, then the vibration of thatseminal sound will unlock the prison gates of that object or formand grant it the freedom which it had lost to inertia (Tamas). Thephysical body including the mind is such an enslaved and imprisoned object and form. The Sadguru, the spiritual Master, sees theinvisible seminal sound that is interlocked there. In his disciple hetherefore revives his lost memory of this seminal sound, by thepractice of which he starts defrosting the frosted and frozenenergy. This is the first step in the practice of The Word. It is the‘japa” which starts dissolving the concentration and releasing thetension of the body and the mind caused by the encrustation of

tendencies, experiences, Saniskaras and desires, acquired in pastincarnations and continued in the present. The grand revolutionbegms withJapa of the Seminal Sound (Bijain). Only the Sadgurnor the spiritual Master by his Pasiiyaiiti Vak can discover this Seminal Sound, and he must rediscover it for his disciple aid utter it

back to him to revive his true memory, unburdened and unclouded by the disciple’s Samskaras. There are infinite varieties ofSeminal Sounds because no two bodies or objects or forms areexactly similar. The permutations and combinations of such Seminal Sounds are equally infinite because of the diversified pluralityof phenomenal worlds. Sound petrified and crystallised is matter.That is why every matter murmurs to he released. The releasemechanism is the use of the relative Seminal Sound.

But thisJapani of the BUain is only the first step. There is at thebeginning a sense of struggle. That has to cease. it ceases when it

merges in the Ajapa. The Ajapa is the basic sound of the wholeNature of the universe. It is the Organic Sound. It is the NaturalSound. It is no longer, then, functional. It corresponds to the heav—

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ing sound ofPranic energy pervading the whole universe. Unconsciously the whole creation is performing the Ajapa, and man, for21,600 times during 24 hours of day and night. The sound is nearest to Nature, and therefore it is natural and original Sound. In therealm of utterance, saints and mystics described it either as “So—Ha,,,” or “Hanisa”. It is nearest to The Word, but is still not theWord. It still remains a manifestation of The Word. It is still aphenomenon of The Word in The spiritual science of Sound.

In the higher stages of the practice of the Seminal Sound(Bjam) and the Natural Sound (Ajapa) the disciple becomes passiveand there is no conscious effort on his part ofdoing anything or ofparticipation. At those stages the Sound takes over and the Soundis the Actor. Previously the disciple was making the Sound. Nowthe Sound is making the disciple. There is no more any sense ofstruggle. It is effortless. This is where the great surrender of the“Ego” to tile Sound begins. That is also the natural renunciation.It is at those stages that tile “Analiat—Nad” makes itself felt in theaspirant. This is tile unvibrated Sound. The physics of Soundstarts with the postulate that vibration is the cause of Sound. Themetaphysics of Sound begins with tile postulate that vibration isnot the cause of the Sound but the Sound is the cause of vibration.The cause in physics is the effect in metaphysics. In that sense andmore, physics reversed is metaphysics. The Sound that exists without vibration is tile silent sound capable of creating, destroyingand recreating universes and is more powerful than the vibratedsounds, taken separately or collectively. It is this Analiat—Nad,unvibrated sound which acquires luminosities and producesunobstructed vision, not of the eye, but of awareness and perception.

We are now approaching the indescribable and unutterablenature of “Tile Word”, tile Shabda—Braliman. Here we shall under—

stand this nature better from the words of Meher Baba Himself.At pages 6ç—66 in Francis Brabazon’s “STAY WITH GOD”, this

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is how Meher Baba explains the esoteric and doctrinal mysteryon this point:—

“The emergence of this Sound through what is called the“OM—POINT” or Its Creative Utterance produced theworlds of Mind, Energy and Matter. -

This Primal Oceanic Sound is the Root of all forms andcreatures and men and they are continuously connected withIT and derive their life from IT.

When one closes one’s lips and expresses sound, a “rn—rn—rn”is produced. This “rn—rn—rn” is the foundation or ground ofallspoken words and contains all feelings as when it expressespain and anguish or joy and happiness, or all thought whenexpressed during thought and is capable of containing thewhole of a question and its answer.

This “rn—rn—rn” is a “drop” of faint sound of the OceanicSound, the “M—M-M” or “WORD” or God, separated fromthe ocean by seven shadows ofseparation.

If the whole physical universe was a huge bell, the sound of it

in comparison with Sound of the Oceanic Sound would be asthe furthermost point of audibility of an ordinary bell.

This sound-drop is not different frorn the Oceanic Sound—it is that Ocean and can never be anything but Ocean—but it

experiences itself as a drop because ofseparation.

This separation is not a separation by division, but a separation through impression.

(As words are expressions of this drop—”rn—rn—rn” separatedfrorn the Oceanic “M.M—M”, so are sense actions expressions and experiences removed from Oceanic Experience:seeing and seen from Oceanic Sight, hearing and heard from

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Oceanic Hearing, smelling and scent, tasting and flavour,touching and touch from corresponding Oceanic Faculties).

This Original Oceanic “M-M-M” is called BRAHMNAD(Sound or “WORD” of GOT)) or UNHAD-NAD (Limitless Sound or “WORD”).

It is continuous and is the eternal Root and continuous Causeof all causes and effects.

It experiences All—Power, All—Knowledge and All-Bliss;but the drop “in—m—ni”, although of the same “substance”and not in any way different from the Oceanic “M—M—M”,and although continuously connected with IT, feels, becauseof its separation through seven shadows of separation, mostweak, most ignorant and most unhappy — even though attimes it asserts strength, knowledge and happiness.

In this present Age when words, through accumulation andaccretion, have become meaningless and all My previouswords in the form of Precepts are neglected and distorted,I maintain SILENCE.

When I break My silence and speak, it will be this PrimalOceanic “M—M—M” which I will utter through My humanmouth.”

This is the “Word”. It is the Shabda—Brahman. It is the firstmanifestation of the Saguna Brahrnan. The saga of Sound ends here.The Word stands between God and His creation. At the frontierand junction—point between Reality and Illusion, the “Word”keeps sleepless vigil. By the “Word” He creates, destroys and resurrects worlds of endless dimensions. It is at this critical point, themind ends and Silence begins. The “Word” is the echo of“Silence”in the metaphysics of Sound. This is where there is total annihilation of the mind which is the source of all noise and sound. Theexpanse of the mind is co-extensive with the span of Sound.

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When mind is dissolved, Silence is regained, eternity is re—achieved, time is conquered and space is destroyed. This is “Para Vak”,the Para Brahman, the core of all cores, the heart of all hearts, thecentre of all centres, the circumference for all circumferences, theshore for all life’s navigators to come and harbour. The spiritualgrand Epic of tile Sound technology of Silence then is this: TheAim/mt (Unvibrated) Sound is the stem. Inside the stem is the subtler sound. Inside that subtler sound is the Light. Inside tile Light15 tile Pvlind. \Xlhen that Mind dissolves, tile shore of Silence isreached. The Scriptures put it this way:—

“Anahatasya Shabdasya, Tasya Shabdasya Yo DhawaniDhawoner Antargatam Jyoti, Jyotir—Antargatam ManaTall Mano Viiayam Yati, Tad Vishno Parama Padam.”

Tile Sound therefore is the very nature of creation. Sound alone1S tile deliverance. Its names are legion. Its qualities are countless.It is a discipline and a liberty. It binds to liberate. It liberates to1)ind. It 1S tile Music and tile Rhythm. It is the great Healer, forSound can integrate and make broken things whole. It is therapeutic. It cures disharmony and dis—ease. It bears tile torch ofLight to guide the benighted life’s wayfarers, lost in the darkvalleys of confusion of separation. -

Time and space are the persistent illusions of matter. Soundimprisoned produces matter. The twill processes by whicilit creates its prison of matter are Time and Space. Matteris symbolised inertia and is the charter of slavery. The destinyof man is to end this inertia and this slavery. Inertia rests on

lime aild Space. Sound creates Space. When Sound becomesluminous it creates Time, which represents light. Space comesfirst. Time comes second. The Ear comes first. The Eyecomes second. Space and Time are tile Ear and the Eye ofSound. They are also metaphysically a continuum as in Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Spiritually, Sound in its differentstages, ‘Madhyama” and “Pashyanti” create tile Space—Timecontinuum. To release the Resident Sound in matter is to end

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inertia, destroy slavery of fbrms and achieve liberation. Butmuch goes into the process of liberation whose consummatioli

can oniy be reached by the total conquest of the Mind, bothindividual and universal. Mind is the hard core of Sound.That is why Space and Time create noise. The ultimate dissolution of the Mind alone can eliminate Sound, and achieve Silenceand destroy the deadly grip of Space and Time. In the spiritualSound technology of Silence, Mind is the original cause of Spaceand Time. In the ultimate analysis, both Space and Time aremental. At the apex of Space and Time is the WORD, the lastoutpost of all dimensions. To rise above the dimCnSions of

Space and Time is to risc above the Mind. To cross over theMind is to go beyond The Word. To rise above the Mind andto go beyond The Word is to be secured in Silence.

In spiritual semantics there is no anti—thesis between sileiice andsound, between darkness and light, between existence and nonexistence. They are only grades. Silence is a grade of sound inspiritual technology. Darkness is a grade of light. Non—existenceis a grade of existence. These grades occur because of perceptionscreated by Samskaras. In the spiritual trilogy, sound is often described as Shabda, Ni—Shabda, and A-Shabda, namely sound, anegative absence of sound and soundlessness. Silence in spiritualdiscipline therefore is the royal technique in the operation ofSound in the world of manifestation in time, space, body andform. This Silence is the most efficient and perfect Teacher.Therefore God and Nature always teach by Silence. That is why itis said that the “lYlaunam Vakhyanam” or the Silent exposition ofthe Sadguru or the spiritual Master, dispels the doubts of theaspirants: “Shisyastu Chinnasansaya”. Silence is the Perfect Powertransfigured when all dissipation is eliminated and all noise hasbeen stilled. As a technique however it has to contend withphenomenal obstructions and therefore it chooses its own time.The time chosen is the mysterious and unpredictable hour. Areadiness in the environment is created and a pervasive expectationis generated. It is the summit of teleology. It is the great Moment.

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This is how Meher Baba explains the Moment—(AWAKENER,Vol. X, No. 3, pages 23, 24, 25):

“I shall break My Silence and deliver My Message only whenthere is chaos and confusion everywhere, for then, I shall bemost needed; when the world is rocking in upheavals—earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions; when both the Eastand the West are aflame with war. Truly, the whole worldmust suffer, for the whole world must be redeemedBe assured that I shall not leave My spiritual work undone

There will be a long era of unique peace, a time ofworld tranquillity. Disarmament will then no longer be amatter ofmere talk, but an actual fact. Racial and communalstrife will cease, sectarian hatred between religious organisa—tions will come to an end. I shall travel throughout the worldand the nations will be eager to see me. My spiritual messagewill reach every land, every town, every village Universal Brotherhood, peace among men, sympathy for thepoor and downtrodden; love of God — I shall promote thesethings My WORD can only echo the old spiritualtruths, but it is My Mystic Power that will bring a new clement into the world’s life.”

Such a time is fast approaching. The auguries are there. TheHerald is here. The bells are ringing far and wide. The Speaker ispresent. The Speaker is always more important than the Speech,for the speech is but His reflection. The Word is more importantthan the alphabets for they were made for the “Word”. It is thetime to gather in and tune up to hear the Silence. When Silence canbe heard, nothing remains unheard, neither the advertised falsehoods nor the unadvertised truths, neither the great denials nor thesmall fuifilments, neither the frustrations nor the achievements.

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