Meher Baba gave up the use of the alphabet board completely on October 7, 1954 and continued to communicate using only gestures.
As Francis Brabazon (a disciple from Australia) explains, Meher Baba “communicated by signs, gestures and expression… this was the most eloquent way of all — for he was the master of expression and the perfection of mime.
The mandali and many others who have shared their stories of meeting and being with Meher Baba say they never felt He was silent. “Such flowing gestures that while you were listening [sic] to His gestures, you really never felt that Baba was silent,” said Mani S. Irani, Meher Baba’s sister and interpreter of His gestures.
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On July 10, 1925, Avatar Meher Baba began His silence that lasted for 44 years until He dropped His body on January 31, 1969.
After Meher Baba started His silence, He communicated by writing on a slate board. After that, He pointed to letters on an alphabet board to spell out words. Later, he used a series of hand gestures that were interpreted by His close disciples (mandali).
Meher Baba said that His silence was not undertaken as a spiritual exercise, but solely in connection with His universal work.
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"Now take the other case of two people in love. When two individuals are in love with each other, how do they speak?"
"They speak softly," we answered.
"Yes," Baba agreed, "they do speak softly and the greater the love between them, the softer is their tone of speech. And when they are still further in love, no words are needed and they just look at each other, and eventually there is not even the need to look — no need at all."
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In 1979, just 10 years after Avatar Meher Baba dropped His physical form, The Glow magazine published this account by Eruch Jessawala regarding the observance of Silence Day. Eruch was a close disciple of Meher Baba's and often interpreted Meher Baba's hand gestures.
From 1969 until Eruch's passing in 2001, Eruch would sit in Mandali Hall in Meherazad, India, and answer pilgrims' questions about life with Meher Baba and share his insights regarding the meaning of Meher Baba's words and actions. In the excerpt below, Eruch is answsering questions about Silence Day which is observed every July 10th.
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In 1949, Avatar Meher Baba asked His mandali (close disciples) in Meherazad, Ahmednagar and Meherabad, India, as well as His close lovers and followers everywhere in the world to keep silence for the entire month of July. Meher Baba had been silent since July 10, 1925.
One of Meher Baba’s followers in the West, Marguerite Poley wrote about observing that month of silence at Meher Mount. The following is her account reprinted with permission from “Meher Mount Memories: The Month of Silence, July 1949,” by Marguerite Poley, Love Street Lamp Post, January 2006 (1st Quarter 2006), pp. 43-44. ©Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California.
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