Stay With God by Francis Brabazon - An Appreciation by Dr Ward Parks
Stay
with God: An
Appreciation
by Ward
Parks[*]
From Friday through Sunday, July 22
through 24, the Meher Center will host a study program on Stay with God, Francis Brabazon’s epic masterpiece. Written at
Baba’s express directive and published in 1959, Stay with God is, as Baba’s sister Mani described it in a “Family
Letter,” a “work of incredible beauty,” or as Charles Purdom put it, “a
presentation of Baba without parallel.” [†]
These three days will provide occasion for us to immerse ourselves in the extraordinary
poetic brew and visionary experience that Baba’s great poet has offered as
perhaps his greatest gift to posterity.
Stay
with God was undertaken by Francis in response to an order given to him by
Baba at the men’s Sahavas program at Meherabad in 1955. Though the sahavas was
intended for Baba’s Indian followers, Francis and Don Stevens, two Westerners,
were specially invited to stay on through the four one-week sessions that Baba
had organized for lovers of His from four Indian language groups. At the end of
that time, Baba directed Don to write and compile what was published in 1957 as
Listen, Humanity, while Francis got
the order to compose Stay with God, a
title given to him by Baba Himself.
Back in Australia, Francis conceived the idea of
composing this work in poetic form. The actual writing took him several years,
during which time, Baba visited Australia twice (in 1956 and 1958). When at
length Francis arrived in India to join Baba as one of His resident mandali in
early 1959 (seven months after Baba’s inaugural visit to Avatar’s Abode), he
brought the manuscript with him. Baba had it read out three times. And beyond
these simple readings, Baba personally went over its text closely, making
corrections, giving new material, and directing Francis to incorporate new
elements and features such as the philosophical “Foundations” section and the
extensive “Notes” which help guide readers through the maze of references that
saturate the main text. Rarely in His life did Baba involve Himself in a lover’s
or disciple’s literary endeavor to such an extent. Indeed, though the hand that
wrote was Francis’s, one can truly say that the book itself is Baba’s from “a”
to “z.”
And while Baba would often encourage
the efforts of His lovers with praise and commendation, the praise which Baba bestowed
upon Stay with God was of no common
order and surely must be construed as an indication of this book’s future
importance. According to Baba’s own Mehera in letters that she wrote to Diane
Dimpfl during this period, “we have never before seen Baba so enthusiastic.”
“Baba says that this book is a masterpiece, it is so beautifully written. To
quote Baba, ‘He who will read this book will have read everything,’ and ‘in no
Avataric period has a book been written about the Avatar to be read by the
Avatar Himself.’”[‡] As
Francis himself wrote in a letter in 1960, “I think the highest praise that
Baba gave Stay With God was ‘It will
appeal to the highest intellects and to those with simple hearts.’”[§]
And when the book was released by Edwards & Shaw for Garuda Books in
Australia late in 1959, Baba asked that it be distributed as widely as possible
and expressed the wish that every family own a copy. “Stay with God has come to stay,” Baba declared. “My love will touch the heart of all who read
it, as no book has ever done.”[**]
Fifty years later, as we look back
over the extensive and ever-growing body of literature associated with this
Avataric Advent, the singularity of Stay
with God as a literary achievement becomes increasingly obvious. The
majesty and sweep of what it undertakes and the character of the vision of
Meher Baba as Avatar that it provides are hard to describe to those who have
not read it. It is very much a modern work, in that it blends many different
styles and modes of discourse. The first of its five sections is a biographical
narrative of Baba’s life through the Meherabad Sahavas of 1955, interspersed
with many colorful digressions and passages of commentary. “The Love Song of
John Kerry” (the second part) provides a rare and intimate lyrical glimpse into
the passion and fire of Francis’s own very personal love for his Beloved. The
third section gives us a poetic retelling of the Divine Theme narrative in God Speaks; and part four, “The Steps to
His Feet,” meditates on the “turning” that brings one to the threshold of the
spiritual path and the feet of the Perfect Master. The last section, “God-Man
as World Axis and Living Perfection as Art”—which comprises about two-fifths of
the book’s totality—unfolds a vast survey of the cultural and spiritual history
of the world, replete with commentary and criticism, and proclaims and
celebrates the descent of the God-Man and the role that He plays age after age.
All of this makes for a most intoxicating mixture,
shot through with extraordinary glimpses and vistas and moments of rare lyric
poignancy. What other book in the Meher Baba library presents the Avatar and
Divine Beloved in this way? Stay with God
truly stands alone. It is a work for the ages. It will surely constitute one of
the major foundations for the civilization of the New Humanity that will arise
from the rubble of the world as we see it in its current deteriorating
condition.
And this to me is a compelling
reason for our devoting energy and effort toward the study and celebration of
this magnificent work at the present time. The mandali era has just ended, and
those of us in Baba’s fold have entered into a new age in which we no longer
have the personal guidance, so to speak, of our spiritual “parents.” How do we
make decisions and determinations bearing on the “Baba culture” that we create,
how do we relate the legacy which the Avatar has left us to the ideologies and
traditions we see all around us, descending from the hoary past? Francis’s
work, and particularly his work in Stay
with God, addresses this question with a rare penetration of vision and
deep heart-felt feeling. Indeed, among all of Meher Baba’s mandali, Francis
seems to have been uniquely oriented toward matters of culture and art and
history and the imaginative and intellectual conceptualization and envisioning
of the Avatar. This seems to have been central to the role which he played for
Baba, and Baba gave him a very visible and enduring platform for expressing his
views on these subjects. For all these reasons I feel that Stay with God calls for our closest study and attention,
perennially to be sure, but at no time more than the present, as the new age in
His love gets under way.
For those who take part, these three
days will provide an occasion to remove ourselves from the world and to drink
deeply from the draught of His love. By descending as Avatar Meher Baba has
established His place in our midst. The challenge to humanity and to the family
of His lovers in the days ahead is to cultivate that high art by which we stay with Him. Stay with God is one of the great tools and aids Baba has given to
assist us in that effort.
[*] This
“appreciation” extracts from an article published in Meher Baba Australia,
March-May 2015, pp 4–6, under the title “A Three-Day Celebration of Stay
with God at Avatar’s Abode, May 8, 9, 10.”
[†] Mani S. Irani, Eighty-Two Family Letters to the Western
Family of Lovers and Followers of Meher Baba (New York: Society for Meher
Baba, 1969), 23rd February 1959, p. 2, and C. B. Purdom, The God-Man: The Life, Journeys and Work of
Meher Baba with an Interpretation of his Silence and Spiritual Teaching
(North Myrtle Beach: Sheriar Foundation, 2010), p. 352
[‡] See Diane Dimpfl,
“Assignment from Meher Baba,” Glow
International, Spring 2011, p. 16.
[§] Steven Hein quoted to
me this line from a general letter that Francis wrote from Guruprasad on 24th
May 1960 to Baba lovers in Australia.
[**] For these andother of Baba’s
comments on Stay with God, see Eighty-Two Family Letters, 23rd
February 1959, p. 2 and 16th October 1959, p. 2.
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