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

416 THE GOD-MANfamous Bodhidharma, who brought Zen to China from the south of India in the sixth century, who is said tohave been seen tearing up the holy writings and throwing them away.(2)Baba himself wrote a book during the period between the silence and ceasing to write, which no one hasyet seen. There are, however, a number of volumes bearing his name, the product of the non-writing period,in particular a series of 'discourses' in five volumes, published in Ahmednagar from 1938 to 1942. These areonly a fraction, however, of a great many discourses, some of which have been printed separately or includedin various books; some hitherto unpublished are contained in the present volume; and there are many others.These represent a considerable volume of 'writing'. I have already described how this was done. Thediscourses are concerned with specific spiritual themes; the declarations and messages are more of a personalnature though containing important elements of teaching.(3)There is one book that bears his name, God Speaks; The Theme of Creation and Its Purpose, published inNew York (1955), rightly regarded as of major importance, which Baba usually tells those who come to himto be certain to read. The typescript of this work was given to Ivy O. Duce and Don Stevens to edit andprepare for the press, Mrs Duce being the Murshida of 'Sufism Reoriented' in the United States of America,and Mr Stevens one of its members. The book is an impressive work of 255 pages with seven charts, some incolor, illustrating the text.Parts I-VIII (pages 1-145) was dictated by Meher Baba through the medium of his alphabet board toEruch B. Jessawala; Parts IX-X (pages 147-76) were written by the latter under the supervision of Baba; theSupplement (pages 177-244) was compiled from notes dictated by Baba.As its title indicates this book contains Meher Baba's cosmology. The language is mainly Vedanticsuffused with Sufi terminology with some regard to Christian mystical terms. The first part might be thoughtof (though it is nothing of the kind) as a commentary upon the Brahma Sutra, taking account of Samkara andRamanuja. I am reminded of the Enneads of Plotinus, also of the fifth-century Dionysus the Areopagite, theteacher of St Thomas Aquinas, and always with great