"I speak more eloquently through gestures and the alphabet board." - Avatar Meher Baba
Meher Mount
Your Friday photo is in honor of the 100th Anniversary of Avatar Meher Baba’s silence on July 10th…
This photo of Meher Baba using gestures to communicate was taken in Meherabad, India, in 1949. Courtesy of Meher Nazar Publications.
“...I would say I am not silent, and that I speak more eloquently through gestures and the alphabet board.”
Meher Baba explained about His silence:
“If you were to ask me why I do not speak, I would say I am not silent, and that I speak more eloquently through gestures and the alphabet board.
“If you were to ask me why I do not talk, I would say, mostly for three reasons. Firstly, I feel that through you all I am talking eternally.
“Secondly, to relieve the boredom of talking incessantly through your forms, I keep silence in my personal physical form.
“And thirdly, all talk in itself is idle talk. Lectures, messages, statements, discourses of any kind, spiritual or otherwise, imparted through utterances or writings, is just idle talk when not acted upon or lived up to.”
~Avatar Meher Baba
Why Meher Baba Observed Silence — FREE eBook
Why did Avatar Meher Baba observe silence for 44 years?
Was there a spiritual benefit? What is the deeper meaning of His silence? Why do Meher Baba’s followers observe Silence Day on July 10th every year?
This eBook provides perspectives on Meher Baba’s silence. It’s a collection of stories about Meher Baba’s silence including comments by Him and His close disciples.
Source
Bhau Kalchuri, Lord Meher: The Biography of the Avatar of the Age, Meher Baba, Online Edition, pp. 3555-3556, accessed May 23, 2025. ©Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust, Ahmednagar, India.