God Speaks

Rating:
Summary: I realized I was not alone anymore...
Review: I first read this wonderful book in 1970, when the soil of my life, the ground of my being, had been torn apart by the tempests and storms of growing up in the 1960's, and I had developed an eager and insatiable, even desperate thirst to find out what is my purpose in life, what am I doing here, who am I....

"God Speaks" provided an answer and planted a seed that has developed into a mighty tree whose beautiful and radiant branches have spread lovingly over the entire landscape of my life, even while revealing in contrast ever more clearly the beauty and wonder of the infinite sky beyond. In its last chapter, this book says that the Truth about God and Creation and Reality is still far beyond what can be put into words, but the words of this book at the time not only satisfied my mind about all the questions of why and wherefrom and whereto -- a mind that had eagerly absorbed all the science and math and art and psychology and philosophy it could handle and still came up hungry and thirsty -- but it also seemed to answer questions welling up from deep within that I could not yet even formulate.

The first words of Chapter One still ring in my heart: "All souls (atmas) were, are and will be in the Over-Soul (Paramatma). Souls (atmas) are all One. ..."

This book is really a mighty poem about the evolution of consciousness of the soul, through earthly forms of stone, metal, vegetable, worm, fish, bird, animal, and human being, and then through numerous lifetimes of every sort of experience -- of being man and woman, rich and poor, happy and miserable, good and bad -- until the soul's consciousness turns inward and it begins to experience stages and worlds of increasing unity of sensation and perception ... until it finally comes face to face with God the Beloved, and after gazing at the Beloved for an eternity of love and longing ... finally becomes one with the Beloved, and realizes Who, in Reality, it has always been.

Once you read this book by Meher Baba, you will never again look out at life with the same eyes.

Rating:
Summary: Take your time
Review: This isn't the easiest book to read on your own. I read it with a group every week for 4 months. It was better that way for me. Very deep material. Well worth it in the end. Meyer Baba said to read this book at least 5 times to understand it. I've read it twice, so far.

Rating:
Summary: Straight to the heart
Review: This one of the most remarkable books you'll ever read; over and over. It is the book you grab when your house is on fire. People pestered Meher Baba to tell all. He perfered jokes and games. So, the Avatar explains how the whole of humanity is structured. As only he can. There are large fold out illustrations and graphs to augment to His unbelievable words. Mind you, this is not an easy read. I would suggest reading "The Discourses" first. But this is a crowning acheivment amidst a vast array of so called "spiritual" books. I wouldn't live without it.

Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: What a book worth reading. It's kind of hard to get into, but please keep going. No matter what you think about Meher Baba, this book should be read if not for answers, then for his gentle soul.

Rating:
Summary: Testimony to a Very Great Enigma
Review: Yes, I wholeheartedly recommend reading this book. Here's my story so far that may shed some light on why I rate GOD SPEAKS so highly.

I read GOD SPEAKS a year and a half ago on a lark. I'm interested intellectually in syncretism, and I like The Who (Pete Townshend is famously a Baba devotee), so I figured that GOD SPEAKS with its charts delineating Baba's vocabulary in Sufi, Vedantic, and Plain Vanilla terms would be a worthwhile diversion.

Instead, it set off an earthquake. I began unconsciously to compare everything I read or thought about or experienced to what I gleaned from Baba's book. It seeped into the pores, so to speak, and now even my breath is stained with it. And I have to say I'm better for it. I hadn't realized this until last week, when I finally figured out that something has been going on right under my nose.

This is the Being and Time of twentieth-century spirituality.

Peace to all.