Russia Holds the Key
Source: Account of a meeting with Baba in January 1948, by Murshida Ivy O. Duce, quoted in Lord Meher 9: 3221. (This does not appear in Murshida Duce’s book How a Master Works, which gives a very abbreviated account of this meeting with Baba and does not mention “Russia holds the key.”)
“I had asked Baba if he would give me some slant on the political situation of the day since my husband and I are so involved in international matters. That afternoon he sent for me, and gave me an outline. He reiterated the point that everything is going according to plan, that the spiritual hierarchy functioning in world affairs have the reins in their hands; that Russia holds the key for the greatest destruction in the world; that America has the most important role to play; that the Arabs will fight. He charged me to tell my husband to do everything to keep the great oil concessions in Arabia for America. He also said Charmian and I must be out of India on the 16th. Later we saw why, because a great storm came up near Karachi and we barely missed it; the next plane got turned back, and now at this writing there are terrible riots in Bombay. He also told me we must be out of Arabia by February 10th, but I do not know why. Dr. Donkin later said that he gathered from older talks that the chaos we are in might mean the passing of close to half the population of the earth before it is finished.”
Note: In the online revised edition (2014) of Lord Meher (which is paginated completely differently from the previous edition), the above passage no longer appears. It has been removed, along with several surrounding pages, without explanation. Therefore, in Lord Meher online, there is no longer any mention of “Russia holds the key” in specific reference to Arabia and the oil industry.
The only mentions of the phrase now refer to World War II. For example, on March 17, 1941, Baba commented on the state of the war: “They do not know that no one will win and no one will be defeated. It will be quite a new, third result. England will suffer very much. India will be in a mess. Russia holds the key. She is very clever. Russia sides with all and none — and thus appears so aloof” [Lord Meher, online rev. ed. (2014), p. 2206]. In addition, Baba said on December 13, 1941: “Stalin is very cunning with his big mustache. He has proved a perfect actor in this great world drama, playing his part very well, giving a most astounding stand to Hitler and the attacks of the German army on their 2,000-mile front. Russia holds the key position in the final settlement, and America will be the deciding factor” [Lord Meher, online rev. ed. (2014), p. 2246].
In the following quote from Dr. William Donkin’s diary, Baba refers to Russia specifically as holding the key to World War II, and also predicts some of the natural catastrophes that we are plagued with today, including climate change.
14 November 1940
Baba has been sending me and others during the past few days to various places in Ceylon to find suitable bungalow. First Chanji and I went to Kandy, we found 3 or 4 bungalows there — at least a bungalow on a tea estate, with additional quarters for the Mandali, fine situation, but v. expensive; 500 Rupees per month. Baba came over to see it with us. As this was very expensive Vishnu went off to Bandarawala and I went to Hatton to try for better bungalows; but no luck; so yesterday we went up to Kandy again with Baba and took the tea estate bungalow, expensive as it is, for 2 months. Baba now in good mood. We mentioned to Baba about the Rumanian earthquake,* and he said that floods, famine and disease all to come, 1/2 the world’s population will die. Seasons will alter. Also he says that although Russia is the key to the war situation, and she will take Persia, she will not digest anything. Baba does not like Hitler’s speeches.
So on Saturday we all move up to Kandy, and gladly too by Jove, to get out of this steamy cocoanut place.
*An earthquake registering 7.4 on the Richter scale struck Rumania’s capital city, Bucharest, in the early hours of 11th November 1940.
Source: William Donkin, Donkin’s Diaries: Travels in India with Meher Baba, 1939-1945, compiled and annotated by Sarah McNeill (North Myrtle Beach, SC: Sheriar Foundation, 2011), p. 185.