Silence Day
Encyclopedia
Meher Baba
Meher Baba , , born Merwan Sheriar Irani, was an Indian mystic and spiritual master who declared publicly in 1954 that he was the Avatar of the age....
give to their practice of commemorating July 10 of each year by maintaining verbal silence for twenty-four hours.
From July 10, 1925 until his death in 1969, Meher Baba was silent. He communicated first by using an alphabet
Alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
board, and later by hand gesture
Sign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
s which were interpreted and spoken out by one of his mandali
Mandali
Mandali from the Sanskrit mandala meaning circle, connection, community, is a term that Meher Baba used for his closest disciples.-Inner circle:...
(devoted disciples), usually by his disciple Eruch Jessawala
Eruch Jessawala
Eruch Byramshaw Jessawala , born in Bombay, India, was a close disciple of the silent Indian master Meher Baba, and one of his mandali. Jessawala was also the primary interpreter of Meher Baba's , and later his unique sign language.- Early life :Jessawala was born in Bombay to Zoroastrian parents,...
. For many years, Baba asked his followers to undertake austerities on this date. These took various forms: in addition to keeping silence, Baba had asked his followers to fast
Fasting
Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. An absolute fast is normally defined as abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually a single day , or several days. Other fasts may be only partially restrictive,...
, to pray, to repeat the names of God, and similar practices. In his last request to his followers on the subject, in 1968, he asked only that they keep silent.
While Meher Baba did not establish any ongoing requirement, even after his death the majority of his followers voluntarily keep silent on July 10. Some stay in seclusion for the duration, while others attempt to engage in their typical activities; there are therefore many humorous anecdotes associated with keeping silent on Silence Day.
About his silence Meher Baba wrote,
Man’s inability to live God’s words makes the AvatarAvatarIn Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
’s teaching a mockery. Instead of practising the compassion he taught, man has waged wars in his name. Instead of living the humility, purity, and truth of his words, man has given way to hatred, greed, and violence. Because man has been deaf to the principles and precepts laid down by God in the past, in this present Avataric form, I observe silence.