God Speaks - History of The Writing

History of The Writing

Meher Baba began dictating God Speaks to Eruch Jessawala by way of alphabet board in Dehradun, India on August 1953. Points were dictated to Jessawala every day, who would jot them down and write them out at night. The next day Eruch would read to Baba what he had written. This dictation was continued for several months in Mahabaleshwar and also subsequently at Satara.

Eruch completed his writing work in July 1954.

In October 1954, Baba discarded his alphabet board and began using only hand gestures from then on. The "Ten States of God" was written by Eruch Jessawala under the direct supervision of Meher Baba, describing and interpreting an original diagram devised by Meher Baba. It and the Conclusion were written by Jessawala in elaboration of notes, and are a recapitulation of the previous sections dictated directly by Meher Baba.

When dictation of points was completed and Eruch had worked these up to Baba's satisfaction, Feram Workingboxwala and Bhau Kalchuri coordinated the typing of Eruch's handwritten pages. Kalchuri also was partially responsible for dividing the book into chapters.

English author and Meher Baba biographer Charles Purdom was given a copy of the manuscript of God Speaks to edit, but wrote to Baba that it would take him two to three years to edit and prepare the book for publication in England.

Before leaving the "Three Incredible Weeks," on the final day of the sahavas on September 30, 1954, Baba gave American Sufi Lud Dimpfl the manuscript to deliver to Ivy Duce and Don Stevens in America to determine if they could fix the grammar and punctuation and prepare it for printing.

Correspondence began between Baba's sister Mani Irani in India and Ivy Duce in America regarding the preparation and publication of God Speaks. After Ivy Duce and Don Stevens had done their grammar and punctuation work, the manuscript was mailed back to India for Baba to check and correct and add any additional points of interest. Eruch Jessawala and Ramjoo Abdulla did the final corrections and writing work according to Baba's dictates. The Supplement to God Speaks was compiled from Dr. Ghani Munsiff's notes over several years. Ghani was an expert on Sufism and familiar with the various Islamic Sufi cults.

On 10 January 1955 at 4 P.M., Baba broke a fast with rice and dal. During this period, Baba would trace letters with his finger on either a stool or any other convenient surface. But it was very difficult for the mandali to decipher them quickly. Yet Baba was patient and would literally spend hours to convey something. Even if the mandali failed to follow what he meant, Baba would keep repeating it through this "unwritten writing" until they understood. This method of gestures was also used to correct the supplement sections to God Speaks, which Ivy Duce had sent to Baba for his approval in early December 1954. God Speaks was published the following year.

In December 1959, in the mornings, Baba began discussing with Don Stevens publication plans for a new edition of God Speaks. Stevens discussed some questions about various subjects in God Speaks which the Sufis and others had been asking, and Baba promised to elucidate these for the second edition.

In May 1965, during the war between Pakistan and India, in Guruprasad, Baba was checking and correcting a glossary of God Speaks, which Lud Dimpfl had prepared. Bal Natu would read out every word and its meaning and, when required, Baba would correct a point. The glossary had been compiled with Baba's approval to aid the reader in distinguishing the terms.

Editing of the second edition ended on 10 September 1965. However, it was not released until 1973.