Silence Day Slip-Ups

Wendy Haynes Connor has a marvelous Silence Day story. It was during the 1970s, she was at lunch in Dilruba, an annual event, with Elizabeth, Kitty, Margaret, Jane, and Charles.¹

“Suddenly, the phone rang and before we could stop her, Kitty jumped up, ran to the phone, picked up the receiver and said, quite cheerfully, ‘Oh we can’t talk, it’s Silence Day’ and hung up,” Wendy recounts. “When she returned to the table, Kitty saw all of us looking at her with varied expressions of amazement. Abashed, Kitty said, ‘Oh dear,’ and sat down, completely unaware that, within the space of a minute, she had broken her silence again!”

Silence Day slip-ups happen to the best of us. Yes, even Mehera and Mani² were known to utter a forbidden word or two. From affectionate sweet nothings to beloved animals to “Jai Baba’s” during the prayers, the unintended utterances are great fodder for a good chuckle as well as remembrance of Meher Baba’s infinite compassion. They’re also handy for pricking one’s ego, when one gets a bit too self-satisfied.

Baba’s Silence, of course, is of a magnitude we can’t even begin to fathom. The marking of 100th anniversary this past July 10th, is just a small reminder of the enormity of His sacrifice. He was clear that He undertook and maintained His Silence ”solely for the good of others.”³

“My Silence and the imminent breaking of My Silence is to save mankind from the monumental forces of ignorance, and to fulfill the divine plan of universal unity. The breaking of My Silence will reveal to man the Universal ONENESS OF GOD, which will bring about the universal brotherhood of man. My Silence had to be. The breaking of My Silence has to be – soon.”⁴

And in Baba’s wonderful way, with His seriousness He also maintains a lightness. That’s evident with His close ones. They clearly enjoyed sharing with Him their own Silence Day slips. In a letter to Jane Haynes in 1962, Mani writes about their recent Silence Day.

“We were happy ours was observed in Meherazad this year, and next morning we had good laughs over our “slips” as we related them to Baba: dear Mehera had spoken to Mastan and I had talked to the birds!”⁵

Animals, inevitably, can get the best of us on Silence Day. Wendy recounts another delightful story about Elizabeth.

“I was walking through the hallway on my way to the kitchen, when I suddenly heard Elizabeth’s voice coming from her bedroom. Astonished, I stopped, wondering who she was talking to. As I listened, I could hear ‘tsk, tsk’ sounds followed by several repetitions of “No, you mustn’t do that,” in a gentle but firm voice.

I poked my head in and discovered Elizabeth trying to shoo the cat (one of six living at Dilruba) off the bed. The cat had found the cream for Elizabeth’s morning coffee on her tray and had successfully licked most of it up. Now, she (Puff) was pushing her sharp claws into Elizabeth’s legs with the determined kneading motion, characteristic of cats.

Elizabeth saw me and when I put my finger up to my mouth, she realized what had happened. Unperturbed, she smiled a rueful smile and together we managed to pull the cat off her lap and put her outside.

It hit me, there was only one thing that could make Elizabeth talk on Silence Day and that was when one of her beloved pets crossed her path.”

I once managed to make it through an entire work day in a busy newsroom without uttering a word. I was feeling very satisfied, rather full of myself you could say. I got home to my apartment, opened the door and announced loudly, “Hey Ollie!” to my cat. So much for my pride.

For Melinda Buckwalter, it’s the plants that get her. In general, she finds Silence Day particularly challenging. That’s because she talks to herself all of the time.

“I have to bandaid my lips. Usually my first mistake is saying ‘Jai Baba’ out loud during my prayers,” she says. “I don’t have a cat to talk to, I talk to my plants and they are EVERYWHERE! It’s a tough but humorous day for me.”

Jane Brown Mossman’s Silence Day efforts once brought the police to her door. She was living in New York City and she and her friend Raphael Rudd used to call each other up on Silence Day and use the touchtone keys to play melodies to each other. The phone rang, she picked it up, and realized it wasn’t Raphael, but her roommate’s mother.

“I blew into the phone just to let the Mom know that someone was there, but of course it just weirded her out more,” Jane says. “About 10 minutes later the NYPD appeared at my door. I just wrote them a note saying I had laryngitis. And, fortunately, they went away.”

One of Damien Triouleyre’s favorite slips involved Bhau, who was on the Center for Silence Day. Bhau wanted to watch “The Ten Commandments” and so, with about thirty others, they piled into Dilruba for a screening.

“Bhau just loved that movie, you know,” Damien says. “And so we’re all focused on it. And in the midst, I got so into the movie, I just started speaking. I made a comment about Moses. People were so shocked. And I was like, that was a valid comment, there’s nothing wrong with that comment. Then I realized I had broken my silence in front of 30 people!”

On this past 100th Anniversary, Martin Sheridan managed to make it through the whole day, lips firmly sealed. In the evening, he watched a video of Charles Haynes giving a talk at Meherana. At one point, Charles stands up and has the audience say the Prayer of Repentance. Martin dutifully stood, and out loud began, “We repent, oh God most merciful…” before realizing what he’d done.

“Well, I guess if I had to break my silence, what could be better than praying for repentance?” he says, with a smile.

To listen to Darwin Shaw share some of his delightful Silence Day slip-ups and stories, click here.

1.Elizabeth Patterson, Kitty Davy, Margaret Craske, Jane Haynes and Charles Haynes.
2.Letters of Love, by Jane Haynes, p. 214
3.“The Awakener,” Volume 5, Number 4, p. 34
4.Ibid, p. 6
5.Letters of Love, Jane Haynes, p. 214