Richard Blum

AMERICAN

Check out Richie's website

https://www.richblum.net/meher-baba

http://richblum.blogspot.com.au/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVwUV3Xckq8

http://www.asiantribune.com/node/15538

http://nmbabatalk.blogspot.com.au/2011_06_01_archive.html

VIDEO COURTESY OF ROBIN VOGEL

Courtesy of "Love Street Lamp Post" magazine ; May 2005

VIDEOS COURTESY OF ROBIN VOGEL

BOOKS  PUBLISHED

http://www.avatarmeherbaba.org/nextwave.html

A month ago, at Dilruba, discussing with Richard Blum the possibility of my saying a few words on the eve of Silence Day, and the difficulty I was having thinking of anything to say - in fact Richard recalls that I was deciding against saying anything at all - when out of the blue, the postman arrived with a package which he handed to me. I remarked, "Oh, this can wait - just a book no doubt. "I was about to lay the package aside to continue talking with my friend when, on second thought, I changed my mind and said, "Well, let's see what is here."

It was this black book. I opened the cover - a picture of Baba - and a letter from David Carter of the Chicago group. He had sent a most beautiful gift - the complete record of everything, a concordance of everything Baba has said on His Silence and the breaking of His Silence - David's work of two years of research, with over three hundred quotations. Final destination: The Saroja Library. Opening the pages, my eyes fell on the following quote from Baba:

"God's first Word was 'Who am I'. God's last word is 'I am God'. And the word that I, the God-Man will utter soon will be the Sound of My Infinite Silence."

Inspired by this passage, and with Richard's kind offer to compile a selection of quotations for me, the following thoughts have come to light.

Tonight, the night before Silence Day, it seems fitting that we should ponder the meaning of our being silent tomorrow. What role will we play while being silent? How will we be helping Meher Baba by keeping silent tomorrow?

Thinking along these lines, the following message from Baba, for the occasion of 14th anniversary of His Silence, keeps coming to the forefront:

"God's first Word was ‘Who am I’.  God's last word is 'I am God.' And the Word that I, the God-Man, will utter soon will be the sound of My Infinite Silence."

Yes, "The Sound of My Infinite Silence." How difficult to grasp - and Baba goes on to about Silence:

"External Silence helps the Inner Silence, and only in internal inner silence is Baba found - in profound, inner silence. I am never silent. I speak eternally. The voice that is heard deep within the Soul is My voice."

Tomorrow, we will be keeping external Silence, and by keeping external silence are helping to awaken internal silence. And the value of internal silence is that in profound inner Silence, Baba is found.

So we find that there are varying degrees of Silence: External Silence, Internal Silence, Profound Inner Silence, and Infinite Silence.

Quoting Baba again:

"And the Word that I, the God-Man, will utter soon will be the Sound of Infinite Silence."

"The Sound of My Infinite Silence" . . . What is this sound? Baba states, "I am never Silent, I speak eternally."

He also tells us:

"When I speak, it will be only one Divine Word, but it will be the Word of words."

This "Word of words" will be the Sound of His Infinite Silence.

It is the "Sound of His Infinite Silence" that stands out in my thoughts this evening. What meaning in connection with our own Path to God can we find in these words?

I have often thought of great artists such as Mozart and Beethoven and how they had access, as it were, to sounds unheard by their contemporaries. What equipment did they have that allowed them to hear such sounds?

Well, they were conversant with all the musical talent at that time accessible - coupled with tremendous desire, intuition, and a closeness to God. Indeed, they were equipped to hear a greater degree of the Silence within, and to reproduce what they heard in the form of the great art.

It seems to me that in this Avataric Age, the equipment which was available to only a few of the great artists of the past is being made available to humanity at large. This equipment is what Baba has left us in order to hear His Inner Silence.

Several thoughts come to mind about this equipment - the first, of course, being concerned with His Love and Presence. To quote Baba:

"If those who love Me will just for one minute be silent in their minds just before they go to bed, and think of Me and picture Me in the Silence of their minds, and do that regularly, this veil of ignorance will disappear and this bliss that I speak of and which all long for will be experienced."

If we give Baba the Silence of our minds, He supplies us with His Love and Presence needed to hear that Inner Silence. The 46th psalm of David comes to mind: "Be still and know that I am God." Desires of lust, greed and anger must give way, and will give way when there is inspiration to do so. Inspiration, a quality seen in the great artists of the past - as well as mystics and prophets - will be awakened in us.

The inspiration we have from Baba is the certainty that all of us have a role to play on the journey to God. Each of us is destined to return to the source, back to the original Sound of Creation itself - back to God.

When perhaps we become internally silent so that there is no sound - nothing - we will hear that Original Sound out of which came everything.

As Baba states, "All forms and words are from the Primal Sound or the Original Word."

Is that Original Word not the sound of His infinite Silence?

And this brings me to other aspects of the equipment Baba has left with us, during His sojourn amongst us as the God-Man. I speak of Consciousness, and its outgrowth, Awareness, which I have mentioned many times in previous talks.

On this subject, here is a welcoming thought given us by Baba in Kashmir in 1933: "In the beginning," Baba said, "there was Oneness - amongst all creation. This gave way to manyness, but now manyness has almost reached its zenith, and it is time to return now to Oneness, but a Oneness with Consciousness - whereas before there was no consciousness or awareness."

Yes, mankind has all the equipment available, given throughout the Silent Life of the Silent One and Dear Friend, Avatar Meher Baba.

So often Baba reminded us of His Silence. And I ponder today why it was that Baba did so often remind us? Perhaps it is that while He was with us physically, He was creating outward connections which were to grow into inner connections. While we recognize Baba outwardly as the Silent One, now we must also recognize Baba inwardly as the part of us which is Silent.

He is that which is ever speaking within us, the Sound of His Infinite Silence. "And the Word that I, the God-Man, will utter soon will be the Sound of My Infinite Silence."

In closing, I would like to share with you a cable received by Eli-Kit-Jane in Myrtle Beach from Baba in India for Silence Day, July 10, 1966:

"MY LOVE TO YOU AND ALL MY LOVERS IN MYRTLE BEACH AND AT THE CENTER GATHERED ONE-HUNDRED-AND-ONE PERCENT IN THE FULLNESS OF MY SILENCE."

Courtesy of The Awakener Magazine ; Vol.22, No.1 - page 75 & 76

Artwork by Richie Blum

( L-R ) sitting - Jeff Wolverton, Linda Beighle, Bevan Robinson, Bobbie Street, Jenny Zenner, Robin Reeve-Oppenheim, Kevin Dwyer and Ena Lemmon.

2nd row : ( L-R ) -?, ?, ?, Richie Blum

3rd row : ( L-R ) - Rob Bloeme, Ken Rickstad, Jerry Watson, Pilu, Duncan Guild, Buz Connor, Jerry L.

Top row : ( L-R ) - Fred Stankus, John, James Cox, Owen Cooper at the Dalwat Hotel courtyard, Ahmednagar, India - January 31,1972