THE GOD-MAN The Life, Journeys and Work of Meher Baba with an ...

412 THE GOD-MANthat the records have only too often shown discrepancies, despite the desire of those taking notes to be exact.Listeners do not always hear the same thing, and omissions of what has been said, as well as wordsintroduced that have not been spoken, are frequent. Statements, and messages, of course, are carefully takendown and scrupulously checked; none the less the words do not come from his lips or hands.That is part of the price Baba has to pay for choosing to be silent and not to write; for he cannot be silent andat the same time have the advantage of speech. We never get the full intonation, the flavour, the precision ofBaba's own being in his 'words', though we do often get his humour. In the course of writing this book I havebeen continually aware that I should have put such words as 'said', 'remarked', 'spoke', 'declared' and the like,when used of him, in quotation marks to remind myself and the reader of what was actually happening; butto do so would have been confusing, and might possibly have diminished the force of what was being 'said'.More might have been lost, than gained. I do, however, ask the reader to take account of this explanation.(5)Baba has 'said' many times that he would break his silence. As long ago as early 1927, less than two yearsafter the silence started, he said that he would speak in five days. He did not. He made a promise to speak inHollywood in July 1932, but did not. In April 1941 he said:"I will speak on the 1st August 1941, the Divine Word to myself and in myself, the word of the Will ofGod, that will begin the resurrection of the dead world; and this speaking-to-myself operation will continuetill the 15th of February 1942, the day I will publicly and universally speak, the day that my worldmanifestation will come to full expression, the day that the six months' self-speaking operation will bring outthe subsequent unfoldment of the spiritual revival and the day that the disciples of my circle will realize thetruth. My present seclusion will continue till 15th April, from April 15th 1941 to February 15th 1942, myseclusion will be more absolute."It will be observed that he speaks here of a 'speaking-to-myself' which was to last for six months. Whatthis meant he has not disclosed and he did not speak in February 1942. In Poona in November 1962 he saidthat the following year, 1963, would be devoted to 'preparation for the urge' to speak. No one has ever heardhim speak to himself, not