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Avatar Meher Baba in Quetta, 1925

II_ •11Editor’s Page

Dma Snow

Yet another of the Beloved’s Mandalihappily heeds His call and goes home.

Korshed Irani, born in 19 10, grew up withBaba and was called to His ashram in 1925.Dr. Anne and others give us an accountingof her life.

Korshed’s passing, following closely onMansari & Nana Kher’s, reminds us veryforcefully of Bhauji’s words: “The Wineshopis closing, make haste to get there.” Thosewho did not get the chance to meet the Be-loved in the flesh, have been so lucky to sharethe closeness of His Mandali, who couldbring Him to life so vividly with their stories, their hugs; just their very essence imparts a glimpse ofwhat it was like to be withHim. Don’t let the chance to meet these veryspecial men and women slip by. Make everyeffort to get to Meherabad and Meherazadas soon as you can. It really is very important!

I have taken all 3 of my children to In-dia — Teresa got to meet Mehera and Mani,Christopher went after Mehera had passed,and Michael missed

us.We have just had the

devastation caused byHurricane Floyd, whocreated the largest peacetime evacuation inAmerica. Two millionpeople on the East Coasthad to leave their homesand flee to higher ground.on the Baba Listserv we kept track of howit was affecting South Carolina and theMeher Spiritual Center, with residents giv

ing us hourly updates. Finally came the newsthat the storm had, once again, passed overthe Center and done very little damage there.Other places close by were not so lucky! Butthis seems to happen every hurricane sea-son. I remember hearing one year how theraging storm parted as it approached theCenter — blew destruction to the north andsouth of it, but again — little damage to Babahome as it passed over. Maybe in the decades to come when Babaism has regrettably become a fully fledged religion, we toocan celebrate our own Passover! Whateverhappens in this world of ours, happens atHis whim. He always has His Nazar on us.Remember Mother Teresa’s words, “It is easyto tell what is God’s will — it is what hap-pens!” I felt the dream Mani had that is excerpted from her divine book Dreaming oftheBelovedis very apropos at this time:

Flooding WatersMani S. Irani

I had this dream when we were goingthrough a very stressful time at the Ava

tar Meher Baba Trust, when all of us oldmandali whom Baba had nominated as trust-

ees of His Trust were drawn into a court case.In the dream I was walking along a coun

try road in Ahmednagar, and came across

Adi K. Irani squatting by the edge of a field,frantically trying to put together two endsof a burst pipeline which was flooding thewhole area. Water was gushing out at a tremendous rate, no matter how hard Adi triedto fix the pipes.

Soon I saw that the matter was gettingtotally out of hand and Adi could not savethe situation. There were none of themandali around to help him. So I ran, call-ing out to Eruch.

I was running alongside a public transport bus calling out Eruch’s name, while thepeople seated in the bus looked down at me.At last one of the passengers put his handout of the window and silently pointed to alittle hill in the distance. I understood himto mean “the person you’re calling is overthere.”

I found the hill he was pointing at; it wasright out of a fairytale, with a little crystalcastle on the hilltop. There were small stepsgoing up, and I hurriedly went up the stepsand entered the castle.

I went from room to room but could notfind Eruch. At last I found him sitting at atable in the central room of the castle busilywriting. In a very agitated voice I called out,“Eruch, Eruch, you have to help Adi! He

.- , can’t control the waterwhich is gushing outfrom the broken pipes.It won’t stop! It will

?: cause a flood and every-

! thing will be drowned!”Very calmly Eruch

looked up from what hewas writing and said, “Itwill stop when Babaturns it off at themains.”

I woke up and saidto myself, “Yes, Baba isat the mains, and incontrol of every situation.”

And so it was withthe court case. It endedsuddenly when the per-son who had initiated itpassed away at his hometown shortly after thedream.

(

them both, but derived so -

much from just being ..

with the other Mandali.R . . ‘ ..

emember aba has said, . , .. . ‘

the children being bornto Baba lovers the world ‘ ‘ . .

over are ones that havebeen with Him. Theseare the 6 month old babies that will grab a photoof Baba and kiss it! Theyknow who He is - takethem to India while Hisclosest ones are still with

Wodinpaintingfrom Dreamingofthe Belovec’ byMani S Irani

From Dreamingofthe Be1ovea by Mani S. Irani,Copyright 1998 AMBPPCT, Ahmednagar,

India Published by Sheriar Press, Inc.

A publication of the A vatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California

£ove&eet JCamj2osrwelcome

_________

The £oveStreetfamEPosr is dedicated with love

to A vatar Meher Baba. Its primary purpose is to

contribute to a sense of community among all His

lo vers by pro viding a place for sharing His

remembrance. All the members of the Baba family

are invited to contribute to this feast ofLove.

Your stories, photos, art work, poetry, letters, articles, and humor

are all actively solicited. We seek expressions of Baba’s message

of Love and Truth.

Please submit your text on computer disks if possible (in any

software format) ; typewritten copy on white paper is also

acceptable. Be sure to clearly identify all submissions and credit

every quote or reference.

submissions, subscriptions, donations:Love Street LampPost

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deadlines:

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Khorshed Joins Her Beloved various contributors 4

Third Anniversary of Manis Passing Irene Holt 8

Finding God Brian Jones 9

Los Angeles Sahavas Barbara Robertsand Steven Berrie 10

Meherana Sahavas Cheryl Johnson 14

McNeely Nuptuals Dma Snow 18

BhauToast Staff 19

Our Man in Meherabad James Cox 26

NorthEast Gathering Steve Koren 27

Palace Chats with Bhau Kendra Burroughs and Gary Nedzweck 28

Is That Baba with You? Eruch Jessawala 32

Avatar’s Abode Sahavas Brad Kunin 34

Live on Earth... T.K. Ramanujam 36

Adi Shakti Bhau Kalchuri 38 -

Book and Music Reviews various contributors 23

Kudos to the Gift various contributors 24

for the January - March issue: November 8th

April - June issue: February 8thJuly - September issue: May 8th

October - December issue: August 8th

Love Street Bookstore:Dma Snow (at the addresses above)

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credits:

Editor’s Page

Announcements

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Notes from the Internet

Huma: a Letter from God

Poetry

Children’s Corner

DinaSnow 2

various contributors 16

DinaSnow 20

various contributors 25

BoLozoff 31

various contributors 33

Mani Kunin and Gavin Davenport 35

We extend our heartfelt appreciation to all the individuals and

organizations that own the copyrights to the Meher Baba pictures

we have used throughout this issue to bring joy and love to the

hearts of all Love Street LampPost readers.

All words, images, and graphics in this publication are property of

the copyright holders and/or the contributors. Messages and photos

of Meher Baba © Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable

Trust, Ahmednagar, India, and © Lawrence Reiter.

Unauthorizedduplication isprohibitedbyla w.

editor: Dma Snowdesign and layout: Cherie Plumlee, Nancy Purham

digital preflight: Tom Hartdistribution: Chris Lyttle

cover: AvatarMeherBaba in Quetta, 1925

Painting by Dma Snow

The £oveStreetJ.amjLbsr s published quarterly in 4

January April July and October

All contents 1996 Avatar Meher Baba Center of

ri SouthcrnCahfoia ‘

All quotihons otos or books ofAvatar Meher Baba

t AM1PCt Indit;, i . ., .

e:’1w’ t

Alittle after 7 am this morning, Indiatime, Khorshed Irani went to Baba.

She had been ill over the weedend, butseemed to improve on Monday, when shesuffered what was apparently a heart attack.Even thought she was in a great deal of pain,at one point she laughed, and her doctor andthose who were around her said it was asthough she had been tipped off to some special information. After that, she lapsed intoa coma for a bit over a day, and finallybreathed her last this morning. Khorshedhad first met Baba around 1920 in Sakori,when she was a little girl, and is the last per-son ofwhom I know that had actually heardBaba speak. Khorshed lived in the Trustcompound for the last part of her life, andmany Baba lovers would go to visit her there,hearing wonderful stories of Baba and learn-ing songs from her. She was alsounique, I believe, among theMandali in wanting to live a longlife, which she did. She will begreatly missed.

James Cox, Post Meherabad,Ahmednagar, India

[Posted by Liselotte Scheu on theBabaListServ as soon as it was received from her husband Rickpostedfrom the Cyber Cafe in Y\/agerJ

Ihave just come from Khorshed.She is in the process of dropping

her body. Her pulse stopped at 7:15 •:

am Wednesday. I came in on thericshaw and have been sitting withher since lOam. She has the sweet-est smile on her face. She is on herbed. She has on a very pretty pinkscarf, lined with gold thread. Herhead lies on 2 pink pillows embroidered with white flowers. A white cloth coy-ers her. Two garlands of tuber roses andmarigolds lie on her chest in a circle with agolden marigold in the middle. Rose petalsare sprinkled all around with about 2 dozenroses lying on top of her feet. Music is play-ing, songs sung at the Sahmadhi: GataChelo,Babas arti, You Are the Ocean. Incense isburning. The room is lit and her favorite songssung. All through the night a vigilwillbe kept.Larry and Mehera and Bif and myself and IalT’ sure others will stay through the night.

Telegram from AMBCSC:

We rejoice that Baba’s beloved Khorshedis reunited with her eternal Beloved. Withour love in Meher Baba, Avatar Meher BabaCenter of Southern California.

by Anne Moreigne, India

K horshed Kaikhushru Irani left uson 4th August 1999 to be reunited with

her Lord, Avatar Meher Baba. She had beenwith Him since her childhood, and her lifeencompasses most of Babas history.

What a life she had! She was born on 2ndMay 19 10. Her parents, Soona Masi andKaikhushru Masa Beheram Irani, were spin-tual seekers. Her childhood memories wereofSheniarji coming to visit her father and talk-ing about his wanderings in the desert in searchof God; of going to Sakoni with hen motherand meeting Upasni Maharaj; ofbeing treatedby Hazrat Giloni Shah for a stomach ache; ofhaving visions of Laxmi Devi asking her not

to marry — her’s was no ordinarychildhood!

Khonshed was also present atSakoni in May 1922, when Upasni

I Maharaj announced to his followersgathered for his birthday that he had“given his key to Merwan’. She wouldrecall how Maharaj had askedShireenmai, Gulmai and Soonamasito prepare bajias with neem leaves todistribute as pnasad for this occasion.

Later, when Baba was staying inManzil-e-meem, He instructedKhorshed to stop by and visit everyday before going to school.

In 1925 Baba called her, alongwith her mother, to stay at Meherabadto be a friend to Mehera. They livedin the Post Office building, cooking,stitching clothes for Baba to distribute to the poor, doing whatever Babaordered them to do. The only daugh

ten of rich Bombayjewelers accepted this austere life because of her immense love for Baba.Later, Mehena, Khonshed and the otherwomen moved to Nasik, while Baba spentmost ofhis time traveling. In November 1933,they returned to Mehenabad. Khorshed lovedto tell the story of Baba walking the womenup the Hill and surprising them with the keyto the East room, where Mehena, Mani,Konshed and Soonamasi stayed for some yearswith Naja and Valu. It was Baba order thatMani on Khonshed should always be with

Khorshed Irani Joins Her BelovedMemories of Khorshed

At7lOaiii on4thAt,1999 dearest Khorshed o1d

man1! close companion orearly?twent to Baba her Be-loved J.rd and Master whom;

adored through-

Mehera, dandMani

Guitars and tablas and hanmoniums will bethere. Bifsaid that the fine will burn for 2 days.Then her ashes will be interned next to Meheraand the women Mandali that are on the Hill.

i:‘“‘z •“““L ,,,(,,,,:zi”

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Mehera, who was never to be alone. I

remember Khorshed saying: “When

there were only the six ofus, we were

so happy. No dispute, no complain-

ing.Sometimes it was cold, and we

would have to drink tea without

milk, yet we would still feel happy.

These were very good times.”

Very good times indeed. ‘Small’

Khorshed was on the Blue Bus tours

and went to France with Baba in

1936. Baba gave her the duty of look-

ing after various children. At one

time she took care of a baby whose

mother had died. “Baba knew I loved

children, so He gave me some,”

Khorshed would say. She lived on

Meherabad Hill till Baba disbanded

the ashram for the New Life and told

her to go back to Bombay with her

mother Soonamasi. There, they con-

tinued to live under Baba’s direct orders.

Khorshed was often called to join the

women in Meherazad or Guruprasad ev

ery summer, even during the last summer

in 1968, when Baba was in strict seclusion.

After her mother passed away, Khorshed

returned to Nagar in the mid-seventies, to be

near Mehera as per Baba’s wish. They re

rnained close friends till the end.Khorshed

had an independent, adventurous spirit, andwas always ready to go to

Goa, or Hamirpur, or to lunch in a restau

rant in Nagar. And when she was unable to

walk more than a few steps, she still loved

company; loved the opportunity to tell the

stories of the beautiful good old days with

Meher Baba. She was very hospitable, and

also very perceptive. She would know im

mediately if something was wron, or if you

were not in a good mood. She was a real

friend to so many of us. She would often

dream of Baba and Mehera, and these

dreams made her very happy. Awake or

asleep, she was always centered in Baba, and

that made her very strong. Looking at pic

tures of her with her thick white curly hair,

I can understand why Adi Senior would call

her “Babajan”.Khorshed’s life with Baba was not all

roses. She had a good share of suffering,

starting early with her father’s death in 1931.

Baba had told her not to cry then, and so

Khorshed endured all the other troubles

down the years without shedding a tear. Her

old age was plagued with numerous health

problems and broken bones, and she ac

cepted it without complaining. “Now I can-

not walk, but before this I roamed so much,

traveled so much, how can I complain?”

About a year ago, after she had been quite

ill, I remember her telling Don Stevens:

“Those were good times with Baba. I had a

good life, I am very happy with my life.”

Khorshed never doubted that Baba loved

her, and this gave her an unusual strength.

This was even more obvious during her

last days, when she seemed to know what

was in store, and was radiantly happy, yet

very calm. After she was diagnosed with

pneumonia on Sunday and then had a heart

attack on Monday, there was an incredibly

peaceful atmosphere in her room. She

slipped into unconsciousness, surrounded at

all times with a lot offriends and music, and

faithfully cared for by Asha, Sudam and

family. The children who live in the Meher

Nazar Compound came every morning to

sing her the songs she had taught them over

the years, and rushed back to her side the

moment they returned from school. At night

we played the tapes of the Songs of Huma,

and the beauty and power of these words

from Baba were astounding. Khorshed had

grown up with these songs, had sung them

to Beloved Baba, had taught them to many

Eastern and Western Baba lovers. And now

the songs were coming back to accompany

her in her last moments, bringing back with

them the fragrance of those early

years when Khorshed was among

the select few who had earned the

honor of being a companion to the

Avatar of the Age. Khorshed was

probably the last person alive to have

heard Baba’s voice, to have heard

Him sing. What a witness she was.

When her body was brought to

Beloved Baba’s feet in Meherabad’s

Mandali Hall, I felt as if it was

Christmas. The hall seemed unusu

ally bright, alive, vibrant. And

Khorshed had such a smile on her

face that it left no doubt that she was

with her Beloved. All men and

women mandali came from

Meherazad. We sang “Ishtiake” ...

“Deva maza mi deva cha” . . . and also

“Swanee” , the English song that

Baba had learned from Mehera...

Sudam lit the pyre and the wind

whipped the flames. It burned beautifully.

The Christ’s Cradle cactus in the Pilgrim

Center had bloomed that night, as it had

for Mehera, and for Mani. The smoke from

the pyre was blue. By Baba’s order she is one

of the women mandali whose ashes are to

be interred on Meherabad Hill next to

Baba’s Samadhi.Yes, dear Khorshed, you really had a great

life. An incomparable life. We will miss your

company. We will remember you as we con-

tinue the singing of God’s songs. Thank you

Khorshed! Thank you Baba!Jai Meher Baba!

:‘

:4 ‘

Khorshed with IvyBoyen (top right) andMiranda Kentf!eid (lower I7ght),

byLynn Douglas, 1999.

- - -

Meditation, Writing God’s Name,and Sewing

After returning to Meherabad Babacalled many for darshan. He asked the

girls how they occupied themselves, andthen gave them orders. Baba told Khorshedto get up at 6:00 AM and take a bath, meditate on Baba’s photo for an hour, write forone hour the name of Yezdan in tiny writ-ing, cut off each name of Yesdan for onehour, and to sew on the machine three sizesof shirts. These they made on Baba’s instructions for Him to give as prasad to the poorvillagers of Arangaon. They sewed the shirtsafter lunch and tea, but after 15 days only100 were sewn. When a much larger number were done Baba said that was enough,and the shirts were sent to Meherabad.

Khorshed Called to StayPermanently at Meherabad

At the end of 1924 Baba called Mehera,Daulatmai, Naja, Khorshed, and bigKhorshed to stay with Him permanently atMeherabad. They lived in the Post Officebuilding. The two Khorsheds had goodsinging voices, and Baba one day taughtthem a beautiful Krishna song. He was stillsinging and speaking at that time. His Si-lence began on 10th July 1925.

During these two years the women remained in the Post Office. Baba had a bamboo-matting fence built round it for privacyto screen them from the outside world andthey did not go beyond it. For exercise Baba

taught them to play cricket in their compound which they enjoyed for an hour every day.

Baba had by now started the Meher FreeDispensary and the Babajan School for village boys. Naja, helped by Mehera,Khorshed, Dolly and others, cooked for allthe children in the makeshift kitchen whichhad also been built in the compound, andthey were kept very busy.

Making Oleander Garlands

for Baba - 1927The girls were still living in the Post Of-

fice, but as Baba did not come down fromthe Hill they had not seen Him for somemonths. So one day they decided to make agarland to send to Him with Masa. Theycould not leave their compound, or send tothe bazaar, so how to obtain the flowers?Then they thought of asking Valu to try tofind some growing nearby and bring themback to the Post Office

Valu was a wealthy landowner ofArangaon. She had married when a girl andwas widowed while still very young.When Baba came to Arangaon shewas very drawn to Him and wishedto be with Him and serve Him. Inthose early days she would workhard all day at Meherabad carryingwater from the well to the Post Of-fice compound, sweeping and do-ing other duties, returning to herhome in the evening.

At this time when Mehera andthe girls wanted to make a garlandfor Baba, Valu finished her work,walked some distance to a creek bednear the village and gathered manyflowers from the oleander busheswhich grew there. Although it wasgetting rather late, she went straightback to the Post Office carefullycarrying the flowers in her sari andgave them to the delighted girls.

There were so many flowers thatthey sat down straight away, happily able tomake a garland, bracelets, and small crownwhich they wrapped in a damp cloth to keepfresh until they could send them to Baba.In the morning the girls asked KaikhushruMasa to take them to Baba when going up

the Hill to visit Him. Baba sent back a message that He had put them on, and that Hewas happy with their loving thoughts forHim.

Champa

A white donkey named Champa wasbrought to Meherabad for Baba to ride,and on July 8th, 1936, Baba sat on it forthe first time. Dr. Ghani was speciallycalled from Lonavlajust to hold the reins.It was a matter of amusement for all themandali and provided them an occasionof merriment.

Gustadji was fond of riding, and Babaonce directed him to ride the donkey. Nosooner had Gustadji climbed onto its backthan the donkey, instead of moving for-ward, went backwards! Gustadji did hisbest to bring it round, but it stubbornlykept going backwards and then threwGustadji off. Laughing all the other menran to help him to his feet.

One day in July, Mani took photo-graphs of Baba on the donkey.

Cannes

And then followed in mid-1937 thewonderful time when Baba took Mehera,Mani, Naja, Khorshed, Soonamasi andValu to Cannes for a few months. Some

11

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Collected Stories KhorshedExcerpts taken from Lives ofLove by Judith Garbett and LordMeherby Bhau Kalchuri, AMBCPPT

it :;

4’: fSeated: Mani andSoona, Standing: Khorshect

Mehera anciNaja.

vie:amjI:thsr ..

ii :i

of the Western women traveled with them,

and various Eastern and Western men

were called at different times by Baba, but

the Eastern women mandali remained se

cluded throughout the stay. Even so, when

traveling to Paris for the World’s Fair,

driven by Elizabeth Patterson in her car,

and also on their returnjourney to Cannes,

they were able to enjoy picnics with Baba.

Various group photographs show

Khorshed amongst them looking happy

and relaxed during that period.

The Krishna Robe

Whenever I went into the Museum on

Meherabad Hill I always enjoyed looking

at the richly embroidered cream silk

Krishna robe and crown, and the garland

of hand-made roses displayed in one ofthe glasscabinets.They hadbeen madefor Baba during the1930’s whileHe was awayon one of Histrips to theWest. Theembroideryis magnificent—it coy-ers the fulllength of thefront of therobe and thewide cuffs, aswell as theentire crown.I used to

stand there, marveling

at the delicate design

and fine stitches done

with such love for Him.

Baba wore the robe

at the time of His birth-

day celebration at

Meherabad in 1938.

! Hanging in the East

: Room, which is at the

opposite end of the

building from the Mu-

seum, there is a lovely

large photograph taken

on this occasion—Baba is sitting on a bed

in the East Room with Mehera standing

beside Him.I asked Khorshed about the embroi

dery. The robe, crown and garland were

designed by Mehera, and she and

Khorshed, as well as Naja and Mani, did

the embroidery. The silver thread came

from Khorshed’s kusti (the long cord

wound round the waist, given to Zoroas

trian children at their Confirmation or

Thread ceremony) , which was very thick

with many strands. The small fine sequins

came from an elaborate sari, and embroi

dery threads were also carefully reused.

Khorshed said that some of the embroi

dery silks were brought for them from

Poona—being in the ashram they could

not go and get anything themselves. Theymade use of what they had on hand there,

and cut up another silk sari to make theflowers for the garland—small pink roses

and buds with touches of green for leaves,

each flower so carefully fashioned. Truly

these were gifts fit to adorn their King.

Blue Bus Thurs

After the upstairs dormitory was added tothe water-tank building on Meherabad Hill

during the summer of 1938, a number of the

Western women and some Easterners werepermitted tojoin theashram. In December 1938Bababegan theflrstofthe Blue

‘ Bus tourswhich for thenext threeyears tookthem all overmd Ia.Khorshednaturally wenton these tours,and at some ofthe stoppingplaces shehelpedMehera cookBaba’s meals.

: c.- ,--

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,,

Villa Caledona, Cannes, 1937 SoonamasL Anita de Caro, Naja, Mani,Mehera next to MeherBaba, KittyDavy Rano Gayley, Irene Bib,unidentifle Debia DeLeon, Khorsheci unidentifiea and Vbu Pa war

p_ ; ,,: “

________________/1/%

-

Mther Baba with Khorhsect Mani andMehera at apicnicin Ahmednagai 1938

‘7 , ic1. ...

By Irene Holt, Ahmednagar

Thursday August 19th was a beautiful day on Meherabad Hill as we

gathered together to remember Mani andhonor her reunion with Baba three yearsago. All the Meherazad mandali, bothmen and women, came for this occasionand it was a somewhat unusual treat tohave everyone together near Baba’sSamadhi. People began to congregatearound the Samadhi well before thescheduled 10:00 am. arti.

The men mandali arrived fromMeherazad early for their own individualdarshan and time on the hill. Eruch,Aloba and Bal Natu all spent time stroll-ing and chatting with Baba lovers. Thewomen arrived in two cars by about10:00. They werejoined by Baba’s loversfrom East and West, both old and newerlovers. The atmosphere was very family-like, though the crowd was fairly large.

After arti and prayers, we sat to-gether in the portico and offered songsto Baba, many of them especially chosenfor Mani’s day - her favorites, or thoseshe had composed for Him. Katie sang“ Baba Nu Nam” in Gujarati, a song composed by Mani which playfully enjoinsthe lover to take Baba’s name in all dailyactivities such as sitting and rising, eat-ing and drinking, dancing and playing,etc. It’s a bit of a Gujarati tongue-twister, but we all did our best to singalong with her. Neeladevi led the MeherRaj arti, the oldest arti composed forBaba. It was written in 1927 by Rustom,Meheru’s father, and put to music andsung to Baba by Mani who was just achild at the time. Meheru narrated thishistory for us and Katie finished it bysaying Rustom was quite a poet, andMeheru takes after him!

Garlands, flowers and rose petalswere all offered at Mehera’s and Mani’sshrines where we silently bow to theirlove for Baba which inspires our heartseven now. Meheru charmed us with alittle inspiration of her own. She saidthat one day while dusting a few thingson her bureau this thought came to her:

Only One

THERE IS ONLY ONE Meher Babain the Beyond-State of God, sex does

not exist. There, only the One, IndivisibleExistence prevails. It is in the realm of theillusory phenomenon called the universe,that sex asserts itself. Babajan, the PerfectMaster, who in less than an instant, mademe experience my Ancient Infinite State, hadthe Muslim-form of a woman. UpasniMaharaj, who brought me down to normalconsciousness, had the Hindu-form of aman. As a young and beautiful girl, Babajan,who was of a noble and rich family, re

nounced the world just before she was go-ing to be married, because of her great lovefor God and the urge to be One with God.It was at Poona, with one kiss on my fore-head, that Babajan made me know that I amthe Ancient One. She was then about onehundred years old, sitting under a tree like atrue faquir.

Every one of you, man or woman, of anycaste, creed, or colour, has an equal right toattain Divinity. It has been possible for manto become God through love of God. External renunciation is not at all necessary. Eachand all, man or woman, whilst attending to allduties in the everyday walk of life, can attainto Divine Fatherhood and Universal Moth-erhood through honest love for God. To express your love for God, you must live a life oflove, honesty and self-sacrifice. Merely tochant the arti, to perform the puja [Hinduprayer ceremonies — ed.] , to offer flowers,fruits and sweets and to bow down, can nevermean that you love God as He ought to beloved. Similarly, merely giving darshan tomasses, having crowds flocking around, delivering messages to multitudes, and perform-ing so-called miracles may be conventionallyaccepted attributes of a Divine Personage inyour midst, but I say with Divine Honesty thatall this is not necessarily the sign of true Di-vinity. God is not to belured, but is to be loved.God is not to be preached, but is to be lived.Only those who live the life of love, honestyand self-sacrifice, can know me as the AncientOne.

I can say with Divine Authority that I experience eternally, consciously and continually,being One with you all, and One in you all.Any worship or obedience to any deity — animate or inanimate — to any saint, master,advanced soul, or yogi, eventually comes to Me.By offering pure unadulterated love to any-one and to anything you will be loving Me, asI am in every one and in everything, and alsobeyond everything. I want you all to know thatwhatever you do, good or bad, the one thingnot forgiven by God is to pose as that whichyou really are not. With Divine Authority Irepeat that we are all One. Being rich or poor,literate or illiterate, of high caste or low caste,need not interfere with your loving God —

the Supreme Beloved. I give you all my bless-ings for the understanding that loving God,in any form, in any way, will make you eternally FREE.

The Third Anniversary of Mani’sReunion with Baba

Mani sparkles. ...

. . . .Mehera glows. ...

. . . .Baba shines!AnditisHishht thatshines on them.May their light ever shine on usto help us see thepath to Him.”

(b e i1

I was agnostic until Iwent into a trance. I was

at the Meher Baba YouthSahavas in Myrtle Beach,South Carolina, an international gathering of high

school students who belongto the same spiritual corn-rnunity. The word Sahavasmeans corning to Baba’slove. There I fell in love with i

God. The reason I went was •

my mother is a follower ofMeher Baba, and she bribed me with a

full year of car insurance. I had thought

that Meher Baba was some odd ball that

my mother believed in, but six days of hell

would certainly be worth a year of car in-

Meher Baba said, “I have come to sowthe seed of love in your hearts so that the

feeling of oneness through love is broughtabout amongst all nations, creeds, sects, andcastes of the world. “ His general message is

to love God through loving humanity. He

: also has specific directives which he would

like us all to follow. Meher is against the use

of hallucinogenic drugs including marijuana.

Baba once said, “Drugs harm you mentally,

physically, and spiritually.”I was nervous about going to the Youth

Sahavas because I didn’t know anyone

there. I was afraid that I wouldn’t make

any friends with the kids there because I

wasn’t a Baba-Lover (follower of Baba).Iam generally shy and quiet among new

people, and I have been like that since

about fifth grade when my parents were

divorced. Another thing which contrib

uted to my shyness was my stuttering. I

stutter when I’m nervous, stressed out, or

for no apparent reason. Stuttering is ex

tremely embarrassing. Sometimes I would

rather not talk if I feel like I am going tostutter, so I can avoid ridicule or laughter

from my peers.At Youth Sahavas I felt the love that

was there for Baba, from Baba, and for

each other. I was having a great time mak

ing new friends, being open with people,

and singing. This is the opposite of the way I usually

4am. I don’t sing because I amusually afraid of being off

. key, but at Youth Sahavas Iknew nobody would care.

I When I was there I felt agreat weight lifted off me,

$l : and I didn’t stutter once.

‘; . ‘. .. . The atmosphere there was

(: ..::.. “• • open and understanding. I

‘ , —N,, felt free to talk without haying to worry about what

other people would think. At Sahavas I

lost a large portion of my self conscious-

ness, which I had gained from middle

school and my first two years of high

school.On the last afternoon I went to Arti,

which is worshipping by saying prayers

and singing songs about Baba. There were

about seventy students in Baba’s house

where Arti is taken. I went to the bed-

room where people pray in silence. I was

sitting down looking at various objects on

the walls. Suddenly my eyes became

locked on a painting of Him above the

bed. I don’t know why but I couldn’t, nor

did I want to, take my eyes off of the pic

ture. Then before my eyes His face

changed into another man’s face. Baba’s

nose shrank, mustache disappeared,

glasses appeared, and His head was now

bald. I was utterly confused and couldn’t

believe my eyes. I didn’t tell anyone about

my experience because I didn’t know what

to make of it.At night everyone went to the barn.

Some people say that you can feel His

presence the strongest at the barn. The

barn is an immensely emotional place.

There is lots of crying, singing, hugging,

talking, whispering, praying, and musical

instruments playing. There was a guest

speaker, Tex Hightower, who knew Baba

when He was still in His physical body.

Tex said he was with Baba one day when

Baba asked a room full of people if they

were ready to follow His commands. Ev

erybody in the room except Tex raised

their hand. Baba looked at Tex with a verygrave face. Then Baba put on a radiantsmile and said to Tex that it was okay thathe was not ready yet, but he would comearound. Seconds after he said this, I real-ized why I recognized Tex, though I hadnever met him. It was his small nose,glasses, and bald head that Baba’s face hadmerged with in the photo I was lookingat earlier this afternoon. I felt like Tex’swords were meant for me. The messagethat Baba loved me and eventually I wouldcome to love Baba is engraved in my heartforever. Back then I wasn’t ready to follow His teachings, but now I am doingmy best. I quit smoking marijuana forHim and for myself. I always try to remember to respect everyone, no matterhow much I dislike them or their ways,because respecting them is loving God. Ihave become more honest and less self-ish. Through good times and bad times Iwill always know that God is watching

and helping me.

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Finding Godby Brian Jones, Palo Alto, CA

LIT

[aLL ( ‘3 0 t; (

An Ocean ofJoyThe Los Angeles Silence Day Sahavas

The rose of the 25th Sahavas, July 2-5,1999, came to full bloom

after four days of sharing inMeher Baba’s love. Each of thenearly 300 participants left en-veloped in a pink cloud of Hisdivine fragrance.

At beautiful Pilgrim Pines,Mr. Esfandiyar Vessali beganthe Sahavas with Meher Bababy speaking of How Babapulled me toward Himself.”

Esfandiyar, who radiates theBeloved’s Presence, was part ofthe Prem Ashram. In 1927 as aboy of 14 in Yazd, Iran, he heardthat Meher Baba was providing a free education in India.Esfandiyars father was againsthis going, but the boy convinced his motherwho, in turn, convinced his father that heshould be allowed to go. So, after a two-week delay at Iran’s border, he arrived, eagerto see Baba; but for the first 10 days, Babaignored him. He thought he must be a badboy, and that was why Baba would not lookat him. Upon hearing that man becomesGod, he became intoxicated by the idea.After that, he just wanted to meditate onhow to find God. While in class, unable toconcentrate on his studies, Baba came to himand drew out of him that he only wanted tofind God. For the next 10 minutes, Baba heldhim in His arms. Later, they walked upMeherabad Hill together, and Baba hadEsfandiyar hold on to Him. Baba said thespiritual path is like that, “You have to holdon to Me or you will fall down.”

Esfandiyar repeated, “I want to findGod.” (He did not know at that time thatBaba was God.)

Baba replied, “To find God, you have tohold on to Me.”

Esfandiyar remained in the PremAshram for 1 year and 1 1 months, of whichten days were spent in school, and the restswimming in Baba’s Ocean of Love. He said,“In meditation, the bliss was so strong andso tremendous, I would become breathless,because I saw Baba as God.”

After his return to Iran, in the middle of

winter, he had to go from his village to purchase medicine for his sister. It was intenselycold, but he bundled up and headed out ona donkey, thinking, “I’m young. I can do this.”

After three or four kilometers, a freezing wind came up and blew into his face sothat ice formed. He thought he might freezeto death and no one would find him. He in-wardly berated Baba, “You promised me youwould come, and it’s been two years. I’m verydisappointed, and now I’m going to die.” Justthen, he felt hot water being poured on hishead. He was able to continue to Yazd, 12kilometers more. He said it was like ridingthrough a garden in spring. He heard beau-tiful music.

Esfandiyar was mediating once, and hefell into a blissful Ocean of Joy. He wasdrowning, but because Baba had warned himto be careful of too much joy, with great effort he was able to swim to the surface andpull himself to shore where he threw him-self at Baba’s feet. He told us: “A PerfectMaster knows these things and saves us fromdanger.”

He emphasized that spiritual experiencesare not Reality, and that nothing matters butbeing in love with Baba and being loved byBaba. Without His love, experiences becomeobstacles on our way to get to Baba. “I don’thave anything except from Him; it’s all be-cause of Baba that I was able to go to Baba.”

Later he said, “If you can control yourmind, you will get all the experiences, see the sights, hear mu-sic, fragrance, but the mostimportant thing is Love. Babawill take you all the way. Youshould not be concerned withexperiences. The person on thespiritual path comes across lotsof danger, but if one has a Per-fect Master, there will not beany danger.”

When asked how he knewBaba was God, he explainedthat you have a gross body, asubtle body, a mental body anda soul. The soul has to fall inlove with Baba; if your soul canfall in love with Meher Baba,

then you can know Baba is God.In 1963, Esfandiyar wanted to see Baba

again, at the Hindu Darshan. He wrote toBaba, “Due to the uncertainty of our cherrycrop, I usually do not have enough income,but I am writing You for permission to cometo the Hindu Darshan. “ Baba wrote backthat Nature does not have permission to ruinthe crop, and so Esfandiyar was to go to eachtree in the orchard and tell it not to ruin thecrop and to say to each, “I want to see Baba”!That year, they had a bumper crop of cherries. His brother lent him the air fare, andhe was able to attend 2-3 days of theDarshan.

Bhau Kalchuri talked that evening on thetopic, “Revelation ofan Amazing Secret,” thefull story of which he does not want pub-lished . . . yet! However he did tell us that afew pages ofwriting in Baba’s own hand hadbeen found. A xerox copy had been made ofthese pages, but greatly enlarged, (see photographs) and Bhau explained the words tous. Most were in English, but some of it wasin Hindi. It was very reminiscent of GodSpeaks - esoteric, to say the least. Bhau toldus, from Baba, “God is with everyone, Godis indivisible, God is part of everyone, andeverything is happening in a dream.” (Babais here to lovingly shake us awake.)

Bhau first met Baba in 1952. At thatmeeting, he took the banana that Baba gave

by Barbara Roberts, Colorado

Esfandiyar 1ssa1i, Virginia Rudci Bhau KaichurL andRadha Delamarter

EL io I

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him as prasad and ate it, skin and all. Eversince, Bhau has, in his words, “starved myfalse self in service to my Beloved.” And whata service! In addition to writing superbghazals and the multi-volume biography,LordMeher, he was Baba’s night watchmanfrom 1953. One night, while Bhau was onduty as usual, Baba awoke. Of course, Hedid not speak, so when He opened His arms,Bhau though He wanted embracing, and hetried to hug Him. Later, Baba was tellingthe story to the other Mandali and said, withHis customary humor, “I wanted a blanketand this man kept embracing Me. He is avery dangerous man!”

Bhau, safe in Baba’s love, conveyed whatBaba had said of His Silence, this being HisSilence Day Sahavas: “If I really became silent, the Creation would cease to exist. Ispeak My language of Soundless Sound—this language can only be experienced, andis not learned nor understood.”

Bhau reminded us that we are all in Paradise [God-Realizationi all the time—no oneleaves Paradise even for one moment. Weare eternally in His Ocean, bubbles on thesurface. We have bubble consciousness. Hehas come to burst our bubble, so that we mayknow we are One with the Sea of God.While in the Ocean, we must tend to theFire of Love within. Meher Baba says,“Please

Me by following My Wish.”The

next day, Virginia Rudd spoke ofgoing “From darkness to Light.” In 1952,her husband, Harold Rudd, had heard ofMeher Baba, and he wanted his wife to accompany him to the Meher Center in Myrtle

lead the life of Riley.”) We laughed untilBaba nearly broke His Silence. (DoesMeherazad really have voice mail, MitchellRose? Charlie Morton, does Bhau really havea spiritual chart featuring “dirty, stinking garbage; talk and talk and talk; and “Ifyou wantit or you don’t want it, you will have it” asstages on the Path? Billy Goodrum, is therereally a “J. Baba” fund-raising catalog?Maybe not, to all ofthe above, but with Him,there is definitely fun-raising!)

The musical entertainment flowedthrough the many creative and talented per-formers from the City of Angels. We wereMeher-mesmerized by the likes of Rob andKathy Thornburn (Love is Everything andThis Heart’c Your Home); the amazing graceof Robert Een, cello, and Tibetan overtonesinging (“I’m going to soak up all that rainuntil I drown in a sea of fire—of love anddevotion” ; “Repeat My Name constantly soI become awake for all time in your hearts;repeat My Name and awaken Me in yourhearts so you awaken for all time. “—Meher

JeffMaguire asJohnnyManonash

Beach, South Carolina, to see Baba. Shewent very reluctantly and openly skeptical.While in line at the Lagoon Cabin, she heardthat each person was to have just five mm-utes alone with Baba. She turned to Haroldand told him to take herfive minutes! Mar-garet Craske overheard her and said, “ You

are going in. You belong to Baba!” Virginiathought, “I don’t belong to anybody. I be-long to me,” and then, in Virginia’s words,“ I went in, and the universe disappeared.They say He was glad to see me. I didn’t seeHim. I was in love . . . For three hours, I lostconsciousness, but I was divinely happy. I wasin love with Someone I hadn’t seen andhadn’t talked with. They say I sat on His lap,and He hugged and kissed me. I don’t remember anything. I was the Sky.”

Baba later told her, “ True love requirescourage. I do not know how you should loveMe. It is foryouto show how you love Me.”

To please the Beloved and to participatein His Divine humor, apart of the Sahavas enter-tainment was the 13th edition of the “BobbyManonash Show,” with EdMcMaya as sidekick (JeffMaguire and FredStankus) , and sponsoredby Sanskara Lite (“Feelsgreat—less binding! Whileyour soul leads the life of

L_Gandhi, your body will . .

Z

___

nhaujis hitherto undiscoveredmusical talents brought forth.

L*_ -

-

Baba) ; sweet and gentle Harry Thomas(HymnsforHim); lively Billy Goodrum

( 14 k1/ll Always Be Thgethei) ; angelicand energetic Raphael Rudd (ComingHome) ; the sparkling Still Yet MorePlayers, Chris & Pris Haffenden; clevermischievous George Gerdes (ZenBlue-grass Trance and Some Enchanted’Evening); and soulful MichaelCampagna and Deborah Ash (You aremy Sun, my Only One and I wake upsinging Your Name,). We all danced toHis Tune with the Lord of the Dance.

On the last day, Ron Greensteinconveyed these words of Baba, as toldto Sam Kerawalla:

“Everything that exists,that is God. Everything that

does not exist, that too is God.And ifby chance, anything is

left over, that too is God.”

Bhau declared, “Fortunate are those whocome in His contact, “ and as Baba said in theFamilyLetter “Be true to the trust reposed inyou. “ and “I will see My lovers sometime,somewhere, somehow.”

In giving parting thoughts on the subjectofselfless service, Bhau told the story ofa man,his son and a donkey: One day, they set outfor town, the man riding on the donkey. Peoplecriticized him, saying “Why make the sonwalk?” So the son rode on the donkey. Thenthe passers-by asked “Why make the donkeycarry?” So the man, the son and the donkeywalked. Then they were asked “Why makethe donkey walk?” So they entered the townwith the man and the son carrying the don-key. If we try to please God, we will ride thedonkey. Baba is the easiest, fastest way. WithHim, we are transported in style. In servingothers, think: “I am serving the Beloved inthese people,” and then we are free. Ifwe think,“Lam doing good,” then we are bound. Ifsomeone is needy and we think, “Oh, my Be-loved wants something and my Beloved is suffering in this person, “ then we are free toserve; if not, we are bound. Baba has said:

:“

,((l(;!! z :*‘:L : z:z. I: I

@ I1

Chi/dren Talent Show

Karmak the Magnificent knows ‘theanswers and tells us before ‘he reads thequestions (with some hilarious results,,).

Harry Thomas

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The LoveStreet Bookstore atPilgrim Fines

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Robert Een and cello (not to mention theTibetan Overtones!

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“Ifyou serve Mewith love and with-

out expectation,you are serving thewhole of creation.”

And so, afterjoiriing in Be-loved Meher Baba Arti, it wastime to departwith Baba in ourHeart, our tears at the thoughtof separation for the year likedrops from His Ocean of Joy.They serve as a reminder onwhat we sail, until we againmay be together as pilgrimswho pine for more and moreand more and more and still yetmore Meher.

L.A. Sahavas

by Steven Barrie, age 18, CA

Ijust returned from the LA Sahavas, andmust say that I feel wonderful. I love

:; nothing more than being around other

‘-Baba-lovers focussing on Him. The love

? was almost tangible. My mind gets socleared up when I go to these Sahavases.Previously, my mind felt so incrediblycluttered with “dirty stinking garbage, “ asBhau would say. Now I can’t say that Ifeel perfectly centered, but I do feel likemy priorities are much clearer and moreintact, and there is a greater love in myheart and a buzz even in my veins.

The Sahavas guests were just incredible. Esfandiyar Vessali, who attended thePrem Ashram, and led a Baba group inIran for many years, was there, along withBhau, Virginia Rudd, and the LA musicians (Raphael Rudd, Billy Goodrum,Michael Compagna and Debby Ash,among others.) Esfandiyar was amazing.He spoke through an interpreter, and

people kept asking him complicated questions regarding the mechanics of spirituality and Baba’s spiritual philosophy—buthe wonderfully answered many questionsby taking the focus away from the mindand guiding it towards the heart, by explaining that none of that really pertained

to him, that loving Baba is all that reallymatters. I believe that Baba at one pointsaid that Esfandiar is on the planes. During Esfandiyar’s talks, however, whenever

someone would ask him a question regard-ing the planes, he would dodge the ques

tion. Finally someone asked himpoint-blank: “ Will you explain to us your

experience of the planes?” After the ques

tion was translated, Esfandiyar smiled andlaughed and laughed. The whole audiencestarted laughing. Finally he said, “Yourquestion has no answer. “ Perhaps you had

to be there, but that just seemed like the

perfect answer, and the question was fi

nally put to rest.Saturday night was the big concert—

and you can imagine how all those fan-tastic musicians just rocked the houseeveryone just moved away the chairs and

started to dance. Altogether it was a fabu

bus time.

J ai Baba everyone! I just can’t wait for

Youth Sahavas—my heart’s all filled up,

but it can never be too full. Love, StevenP.S. I talked to Billy about the Sahavas

situation, and he says that he could have

gone this year, but he didn’t get the in-

vite, and it may be too late at this point.

However, he’ll definitely go next year, pro-

vided he is invited. Oh, and he has the

cutest baby girl!!

Steven I

Whoisthatvr Who is that noi

—-

What is that gleam in youiWhere in the world are we all t,

When will we all eventual

,What is that feeling I get in

That warmth and that glow“Onward!” -

But who is the end, and the

Ai•. I can answer all questions,all queries and cries

two silent words from my soulSc spilled they will always be with you

!ndwiI lead two blind eyes to our goal:Meher Babal Meher Baba! Meher Baba!. Our souL our beginning. our savior;

The welcoming hand from the womb,and back to ashes and sand,

It is Héin our every behavior.It is Baba when we are kind and forgiving;

It is Baba when we forget tube kind;

-4 It is Baba in our smiling ai1 crying;

I’ It is beloved Babvho promptsr

when we forur line

,When we are hajways know

thatits13S aba whos hapwho wants us to be

4 When we arshen we cry:- and ••“ : Know that it’s Baba crying,

that you do it wjb-flm.With every smile, withevery tear;

.‘

With every fall, with every next year;i With everykiss, with every kind deed;

With every sad scene, every person in need;No matter the person, how rich or how poor

How charming and handsome,

‘ or ugly and scarred ‘

,-For each one ofus, He will open love’s door;

Ad out ofthepantry and into the yard!iiAnd out of the yard, all together we’ll run!:

i And down to the sea and into its depths!ijifrnmersing ourselves in what we ye

p alwayslonged to beTaking and loving those final steps;

-A kingb,s a bear and bear a peasantA wiema a fool all warring clans cease

ind ofeverything felt helpings

w most pleasantvnd love blooms unfurled in the

“bureonm peace

Mia Compagna andDannyMaguire, KicLi Talent Show

I “:‘

:

________ _____

IL•• • •• 4 .ii

MeheranaSahavas

Northern California, June 18-20

by Cheryl Johnson, CA

Meherana’s Fifth Spring Sahavas wascharacterized by the music and the

spirit of togetherness that filled the heartsof everyone.

The moon was low,

a silver sickle on a field ofblue,

when Imetyou,andlovedyou with a love that hadno fear-

Francis Brabazon.

Evocative poetry, Bhau Kaichuri ghazals,and Cole Porter songs, came alive throughDavid Miotke’s powerfully resonant voice.David was Meherana’s Special MusicalGuest, and delighted all with his beautifulrenditions of songs, poems, and ghazals.

Bhau Kalchuri, our Special Guest,piqued the curiosity of all Sahavasees, rightfrom his opening words on Friday evening,with promises that he had momentous rev-

tee shirts, photos, jewelry,and books. The shop stayed open until lateSaturday evening so last minute shopperscould purchase additional treasures.

In other areas, DanielComerford staffed the ToddyShop, with soft-serve icecream and other snacks.

Ioanna Tompkin (aka Preserver) was available to answerquestions about Meherana’son-going development and tosell Fly-to-India Sweepstakestickets and Meherana tee-shirts.

The tradition of afternoonworkshops continued this yearwith a variety of options, in-cluding a musical sharing withDavid Miotke, an art demon-stration by Jeannie Moje, amovement activity led by Sue

Jamison, a discussion of theBhagavad Gita with HughFlick, and a discussion ofMeher Baba as our Compassionate Father facilitated byKatie Mink.

An added feature to thisyear’s Sahavas was a play per-

formed by the teens and children. The playre-enacted the time Baba’s twin nephewsimpersonated Ann Conlon just before herfirst visit to Meherazad. The cast includedBetty Lowman, Luke and Jake Jamison,Daniel Comerford, Danny Maguire, BrianDolan, Brad Feldman, Anna Cooper, JuliaPearson, and Reid Pearson. The play wasdirected by Brian West and Anna Cooper.

All those involved deserve kudos for theirwhole-hearted and very humorous performances.

In spite of the hot weather and cold water hosings to prevent heat exhaustion, therewas an incredible and overwhelming out-pouring of love whenever we requested volunteers for various duties. The most heavilydemanding and heavily staffed area was thekitchen, due to the exquisite meals preparedby Roz Taubman, Bobby Buggia, BillPearson and company. Hermann and

Jeannette Loew once again headed up thekitchen clean-up crews. The entire kitchenstaff and volunteers received a much-deserved standing ovation!

The Dhuni by moonlight was somethingno one wanted to miss. Bhauji provided anexplanation of the origin of the dhuni tradition and then lit the fire. As the woodburst into flame, everyone stood for prayersand arti. In the stillness of the beautifullyclear Sierra Nevada night, songs to and forthe Beloved rose up, creating an avenue forall Sahavasees to share their mutual love forBeloved Avatar Meher Baba.

elations to make during the Sahavas. JeffMaguire, Master of Ceremonies, fanned theflames of intrigue with his witty repartee.On Saturday morning, to our delight, Bhaujiunfurled enlarged copies of six hand writ-ten pages by Meher Baba in the 1920’s, recently come to light. The content wasfascinating, as we struggled to make the leapfrom Unnatural Light and Unnatural Dark-ness to Natural Light. In .. .—. ,.

the evening, Bhauji called ; ;on Jeff Maguire to read : •

out the material and sum-marize the fine points.And Bhauji, in his ownunique way, balanced thenew information with hisheartfelt stories about remembering and lovingMeher Baba.

The amazingly mobileLoveStreet Bookstorecame to Meherana de

—

lighting all with a wide ar- Photo by Evie Lindemann

ray of videos, CDs, tapes, Meherana Flay--Left to Right, Daniel Comerforci Brad Feldman,andLukejamison

Photo by Evie Lindemann

First ofthe 6pages Bhaupresented to us. Denagh Patrick andChristi Pearson holdthe enlargedcopy, as Bhauji explains.

iL•“ ‘“

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Transcription of 4 Pages of Meher Baba’sHandwritten Pages, Shared by Bhau

Natural Light = God Realization

by Barbara Roberts, CO

Natural Darkness = Nirvana

Unnatural light i.e.The whole universe(i.e.) The whole maya

i.e. Lightwhere only Self is, only nothingness (i.e. natural sanskaras) is.

From this natural darkness (i.e. nothingness) , unnatural darkness(i.e. mind working) (the false I, egoism) is produced.—(darkness written by Baba and then crossed out and egoism written above it)From the unnatural darkness i.e. egoism, unnatural light i.e. body + universe,the universe is produced—the mind is unnatural darkness.

This mind stopped is Light, God, Self (permanantly)mind working is false I (Urdu word, banda” , pronounced bunduh”,

written in, I believe, Marathi script & meaning “slave”)

Thus in everyone of you there is natural light (i.e. your real Self)& natural darkness (i.e. the ashtito=Hindi, “existence”)(i.e. spirit)& unnatural darkness (i.e. mind)& unnatural darkness (i.e. universe & body)the whole universe.

page 2

page 3So Kabir says (the following Baba wrote in Hindi [?1 script, translated thus:)(1) One Ram swings in the cradle at the Palace of Dasrat (i) (body)

(Dasrat is Ram’s father, the King.) (body) (2) (mind)(2) One Ram speaks (boli) in every heart, (3)

(spirit)=energyi.e. Infinite Mind. (mind) (4) (Self)

(3) One Ram has created this Universe (everything)(spirit)(4) One Ram is aloof from 3 worlds (i.e. everywhere God is)

or beyond everything. (Self)

now natural darkness seesnatural light every second

and natural darknesssees unnatural light every second.

(i.e. The spirit sees the Self& the mind sees the body & universe.)

In the sound sleep, the natural darkness (spirit) sees natural Light (Self)& in the awake state, the same natural darkness (i.e. spirit) becomes theunnatural darkness (i.e. mind) . So to say in the awake state—the spirit &mind are linked & the body & the universe exist/because the mind is mergedin the spirit, then the universe & the body exist, but mind does not exist.We have seen before that when the mind exists the body & the universe

exist. That is when the universe and the body exist, the mind exists.But here (when in the awake state the mind is merged in the spirit),

the universe & the body exist—but the mind does not exist i.e. the mind& spirit unlimited & this is realization.

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Announcements

II B

Baba’s PearlTom Hart, Santa Rosa, CA

On Thursday morning at 7:26 am, June10th, 1999, Wasitee Isabelle Hart, aka

“Pearl” was born, weighing in at 6 lbs., 2.6oz., and 18 inches long. An hour or so afterthe birth, as my wife Jai and Pearl weresleeping, I went down to the hospital’s giftshop to get some flowers for my wife and alittle toy for my beautiful new daughter.

I chose a nice bouquet and wrote “ThMommy, From Daddy’ on the card. I thengrabbed the first toy that caught my eye, itwas a purple lamb with a yellow face andribbon and a heart-shaped tag. It seemedwholly appropriate since I love the purpleand yellow color combination and my wife’sfavorite color is purple, and we are all three“Harts.” I paid for everything and took itup to our room. I put the flowers on mywife’s bedside table and placed my baby’sfirst toy next to Pearl in her little cradle. Itwas then that I decided to read the heart-shaped tag on its ear. Along with themanufacturer’s information it stated that thecreature’s name was “Baba. “ Surprise!

I felt then that my heartfelt prayer immediately after Pearl’s birth that ‘Babawould please watch over and protect her always’ was being fulfilled by Him.

Jai Baba little PearlHis world!—

/;

Mani Lee

We say a hearty Congratulations to firsttime mother Christina Arasmo, on

the birth ofher daughter Mani Lee ArasmoGmelin born on 7/27/99 at 9:23 am, weigh-ing 7.777 lbs. (love those sevens!), and 19.5inches long.

It took determination and ingenuity onChristina’s part to have a baby, yet still findtime to create the Millennium Baba Calendars for us. You go girl!

Mitchell Alan

C ongratulations also to Roger and MariaBird of Colorado Springs on the birth

of their second child, a boy. Mitchell AlanCanete Bird was born on March 16, weigh-ing in at 6 lbs. and 10 oz.

After a long battle with cancer, ChrisMarie (also known as Arlene Bolitsky)

passed away onJuly 24, 1999 at age 50. Chrisheard of Baba in 1967 and her heart becameHis in 1968, while His beautiful form stillgraced this earth. Over the years, Chris madeher home in Myrtle Beach, New York, andlastly, Los Angeles. Although she had nonatural family, Chris considered her Babagroup her family. She received the support offour Baba lovers during the last few difficultmonths of her life. On her last night with us“Avatar Meher Baba Ki Jai” was sung to herfor about 15 minutes until she fell asleep. Shedied in her sleep the next morning at 08:30am.

Chris left the disposal of her estate toWendy Ward and Steve Berry. Any proceedsfrom the sale of her home and furnishingswill benefit the Trust, the LA Baba Center,Meherana, and the republishing of The PathofLoveby Fiis Fredrick. Chris also left a beau-tiful painting by Diane Cobb to the LA Center. Happy trails Chris onyour onwardjourneyto our Beloved.

John Talmo

J al Baba to John Talmo of Lewes, Delaware — a good friend and a wonderful

soul, who amidst the sometime drearinessof this old world, spread to many the glowand warmth and sparkle of Baba’s love, andwho passed into Baba’s waiting arms after along illness, last night Sept. 6, at 1 1 : 1 3 pm.He died at home, peacefully, surrounded byhis family and friends, including his devotedwife Shelly.

Jai Baba, John you brightened up mylife, and a big hug for you as you journeyforth to Baba, with Baba always by your side.

-David Silverman

I previous issues we have told you aboutthe poem Rob Narke wrote entitled Baba

Baba Everywhere. He has asked that children (or adults) submit drawings to illustratethis book. Rob sent us this update from theBhopal newsletter:

“The Meher Baba Bhopal (India) Centre organized a painting session on the 12thSeptember 1999 on Rob Narke’s Poem ‘BabaBaba Everywher . The session started at10.00 a.m. with the Parvardigar Prayer. Thetranslation of Rob Narke’s poem in Hindiwas the read out to the group and the ideabehind Rob’s project was explained. Children and adults were given paper sheets andall started painting which continued till12.00 noon with Baba’s Bhajan’s playing inthe background. The group had childrenfrom the age of 3 years to 67 years (all areBaba’s children) . The atmosphere was festive and all thoroughly enjoyed the sessionbringing out their creative best. The meet-ing ended with recitation of the Australian,American and Gujarati Artis. The paintingswill be sent to Rob Narke.”

Rob tells us: “I’mjoyfully grateful for thisoutpouring of Baba’s loving creativeness, andI hope that it will inspire Baba lovers every-where to let the creative juices flow for this

Reporth

0 1 ‘Baba Baba EverywherePassingsChris Marie

and welcome to

‘

FeariHart at two anda halfmonths with thepurple Beanie Babylamb named ‘Baba.”

‘“

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[14 1_ ( 4 ‘3_( * @ Eliloving project. May Baba continue to blessus with his grace.”

To read the poem, hear it, or learn moreabout the book project, please log on to theBhopal Newsletter:

http : //members . tr ipod. corn!rneherbhopal!index.html

The AvatarMeher Baba Trust

The Trust is continuing to move forwardwith the development of the Five Year

Plan which includes the building of a newpilgrim center, funding for the museum!archives building and other developments atMeherabad. As I’m sure you’re aware, love-donations for this project are tax-deductibleand can be forwarded to our Southern California Center c!o Kanji Miyao, Treasurer.

As Trustwalla, I am still collecting love-donations for the Beneficiaries. While nottax-deductible, these donations are stillneeded and very appreciated. If you’d liketo support the Beneficiaries, please makeyour check payable to: “Friends of theMeher BabaTrust” and mail to:Lynne Berry,267 Hanover Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Premsay Bhiksha Dijye (Give Donationswith Love) Jai Baba!

Plan for Renovating theCenter’s Main Building

by Lois Jones. President

Recently, the voting membership reviewed an extensive Progress Report on

the financial and structural planning for theLos Angeles Center’s renovation. All of thesteps we have taken up until that time wereoutlined and the membership was asked tomake a decision regarding the next steps. TheCenter does not yet have all the funds nec-essary to completely renovate the main build-ing and add the new library!bookstore at thistime so, in short, we were asked to considerthe following four options:

A. Commence renovation to the mainhail and replace the roof by the end of theyear with funds we have in hand.

B. Temporarily fix the roof. Take up to a1 -year extension to file for building permits

IL:

and the Zoning Administrator’s sign-off.Continue fund raising. Start constructionwhen all the money is raised or at the end ofthe 1 year extension. This leaves a further 2years to complete construction and to raiseadditional funds if necessary. The mortgagewould continue to be paid down. Full repay-ment is due by February 2004.

C. Finance a second mortgage now to:1 . Complete all renovations, including the library!bookstore; OR.2. Complete Phase 1 only (no library!bookstore)

D. Refinance a new mortgage to:1 . Complete Phases 1 & 2 andinclude the balance of the originalmortgage in the new one; OR2. Complete Phase 1 and include

the balance of the original mortgagein the new one.

At a Special General Meeting held onSeptember 12, 1999, a majority ofthe membership voted in favor of Option B.

If you would like a copy of the 8-pageProgress Report, we would be happy to sendyou one. Please contact the L.A. Center.

And the Winners are...

The winners of the Fly to India Sweepstakes were drawn out of the hat at the

July Sahavas. This year was the first time inour long history that not only was the win-ner an LA member and present to boot, butthe 2nd and 3rd runners up were even onthe Sahavas Committee! And no! It wasn’tfixed! We were all stunned when those 3names were drawn - and also very happy. Itis so rewarding to see the joy on the face ofa person who has just been told Baba hasdecided that they, above all others, are mostdeserving of a free trip to India. It was also avery rare event when we all felt that yes in-deed, Baba had chosen right this time - inother words, His choice would also havebeen our choice.

Vesta Clinton was the very deserving andecstatic winner. Second prize was a copy ofLord Meher that Bhauji had very sweetlyinscribed for Lynne Berry, and CathyBroadley got to take home a CD of herchoice from The Love Street Bookstore. Ourvery sincere thanks to all who contributedto Meherabode and its renovations by try-ing your luck at the Sweepstakes.

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Wddings

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YES!was a surprise!

r First-i

; They met for coffee

.

(for 4 years.

‘ ThenThey had a romance

(for 3 weeks. . . go figure).

Finally-July 2, 1999

The intractable bachelor

Daniel Sparks

married the incorrigible bachelorette

,r ynn arnett

Come see us at

3321 N. Walker Ave

Oklahoma City, OK 73118

(405) 521-9349

The McNeely wedding followsonpage 18

17.

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Baba Showers His Blessings on McNeely Nuptuals!Dma Snow, Los Angeles, CA

I ndicative of the guests love for thecouple, they came from around the ..

world and all across the country to attendthe marriage that some thought theywould never see. David McNeely, a 46 yearold confirmed bachelor —wed?! I guesswhen Baba sees two people that are sup-posed to be together, Hejust makes it hap-pen. They met in Los Angeles where

David had been one of the backbones of •

the Center since the early 1980s. Clea wasworking at the RAND Corporation. Oneof Clea’s sisters lives in Panama andshe and her husband and child flewin, as did one of David’s brotherswho lives with his wife and familyin Switzerland. Clea’s friends fromgrade school and college werebridesmaids along with her two sisters. They were partnered byDavid’s two brothers and Jim Wilson and Steve Slemenda, both Babalovers from Oregon. LeatriceJohnson, with her husband John,flew in to conduct the ceremony,which was a very Baba-full event. ,

The wedding was held in anoutdoor garden next to theGovenor’s mansion. The day before, about50 family and friends gathered at a sum-mer cottage by the lake for boating, swim-ming, eating and all round good fun. Theweather in Minnesota is a hot topic, andFriday turned out to be the hottest day on

style over the shoulders and draped to the

J im Wilson welcomed us all, David’s. brother John read from Corinthians 13

and then we all said the three prayers —

The Masterc Frayei Prayer of Repentanceand Beloved God Just as we finished thelast prayer Baba showered down His bless-ings! Not enough to ruin fancy hairdos orbeautiful dresses, butjust enough to let usknow His Nazar was on the lucky couple.All the Baba lovers looked at each other,

realising the significance of it, andlet out a great “Avatar Meher BabakiJai!” We then moved indoors andthe ceremony continued with Lois

J ones reading from Francis

Brabazon’s words on “ You WhoMarry Today” Before starting read-ing though, she explained to theother guests that among Baba by-ers, rain on a significant event wasconsidered a sign of His blessing.“Ah, that explains it” one personwas heard to say, “I couldn’t imagme why they were all so happywhen it started to rain!”

Clea and David will spend theirHoneymoon in Alaska. We wish

them all much love and the very best fortheir future life together.

May they always have Baba foremost in

their hearts.

1

record in four years, but as the guests startedarriving, the weather presented a beautifulface and Saturday was gorgeous. Sundaylooked a little overcast by midmorning, sojust in case the rains did start, a back up planof chairs arranged in the fireplace room in-doors was readied. By 1 1 a.m. the guests wereall seated in their outdoor chairs, a hugephoto of Baba was hanging under the roseentwined arch, and David Miotke was en-

tertaining us with some of his wonderful lovesongs — So In Love and Stay 1/1/2th God Hethen changed to the Bridal march fromLohengrin and Clea, on the arm of her father Ed, walked up the grassy aisle and stoodbeside the waiting Groom. David in a tuxedo was quite a sight to see! As Clea laterremarked, looking ever so fondly at her new

husband: “Isn’t he handsome?!” As for thebride, it’s very hard not to look terrific whenyou are a slender 5 foot 9 inches tall! Butshe did indeed look gorgeous in a verysimple, extremely elegant, straight ivorydress, with a matching scarf worn Indian

Clea, DavicL andDma

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T was Bhau Ka1churis wish to parI ticipate in a Renovadon Fundraiserfor Meherabode when he came to visitthis year. We decided to hold it in theafternoon so we could enjoy the beau-tiful gardens and sunshine at our Cen-.ter. A delicious lunch of Parsi food(thanks to Korshed Pasricha) was servedunder the Indian pine tree.

We liked the format ofa Roast, butnot for Bhauji, we wanted to Thasthirn!So Jeff Maguire, as our MC, came up

:i with some delightfully funny toasting&that kept the Honaree and the audi-ence in stitches. Billy Goodrum certainly showed us what a BhauToastwas

*

all about as he cooked up a batch in his

After the Toastings came the Auction.That is always very exciting. bothto watch and to participate in. We hadsome wonderful items up for bid, verygenerously donated by our members.We raised $ 12,SQO to put towards thenecessary renovations.

Thank you to all who attended and

I helped us. It was a great afternoon.

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51ep 3nside.The

Think Christmas! It will be here soonerthan you know it and Chanukah is just

around the corner.Now is the time to start thinking of all

the Baba lovers to whom you would like togive a special Baba gift. And this is the rightplace to choose those gifts!

For the past few years we have beenmaking it even easier for you to gift thatdear friend or relative who lives miles awayfrom you: for an extra $3 we will gift wrapyour purchases in very special Christmas orChanukah paper.

Cherie Plumlee designed a Baba giftcard, which for $3.50 we can add to yourgift. You can also purchase them outrightto send to your very best Baba friends. (Seepage 22.)

So here follows the top all time favor-ites. I’m sure you will be able to find some-thing for everyone on your list amongst thefollowing selections!

The best selling poetry book in the country, notjust the Baba world, is the third bookby our own Danny Ladinsky, The Gift. Ifyou don’t already have it, see page 24 forKudos to The Gift. Paperback,333 pages,$14.

Bal Natu has written the third in the trilogy of his ever-popular Conversations withthe Awakener. This one is titled IntimateConversationsand is in the same format asthe previous two. People tell me they lovegiving these books to non Baba lovingfriends, but ones who have a spiritual lean-ing. Ifyou have not read Bal’s previous two,they consist of very loving conversations be-tween Bal and his Beloved. The name Babais never mentioned —just “You”. $12.

Lives ofLove, the stories about all thewomen mandali, is written by AustralianJudith Garbett from over 30 (accumulative)years spent in their company. It was hugelypopular when I brought it back with mefrom Avatar’s Abode and sold out almostimmediately. We have a recently arrived sup-ply. The book is in a large format - $17

Ifyou, along with Baba, feel that FrancisBrabazon is one great poet, you will reallyenjoy The Water Carrier. It is written byRobert Rouse, who was one of the original

builders of Avatar’s Abode, & whom Babaasked, along with his wife Lorna, to stay onthe property as caretaker. He has spent manyyears in the company of Francis. Robert callsit a mosaic of Francis, and it is a fascinatinginsight into the workings of the mind ofFrancis Brabazon. Paperback, 86 pages $12

The third book from Australia is a coloring book for older children & adults whostill love to pick up the colored pencils andcolor in — especially when it is The Beloved’sface you are working on. These are excel-lent 9 x 12 portraits of Baba that ClaireMataira has done for the cover of the Aussienewsletter Meher Baba Australia. Surrounding the portrait are all sorts of flow-ers, trees, animals etc. that make it adelightful pastime to color in. They are in awriting pad format, 15 in all, so after color-ing each picture you can tear it off & put onthe refrigerator, laminate it, frame it, or whatever. $5.50 each.

DreamingoftheBelov&L Mani’s bookof her most profound dreams given her byBaba, is very popular. When you add to herwords, the full color art creations by Wodin,you have a treasure of a book. It has 80 pageswith 24 full color paintings, hard bound,measures 8.5 x 10.5 and has a very low priceof $22.

Two books released last year to great acclaim were from EliNor publications— Let-ters ofLove and Norina Gift. Both arehardbound, the former, $25 and the latter

$20. LettersofLoveare notjust the letters toand from Jane Haynes, Baba and theMandali, but also a lot of information aboutElizabeth Patterson and the founding of

Meher Spiritual Center at Myrtle Beach.Norina Giftis a re-publication of the longout ofprint FragmentsFromA SpiritualDi-ary and Forty Spiritual Messages. CharlesHaynes and Christopher Wilson uncoveredsome great archival photographs of PrincessNorma Matchabelli and combined themwith a comprehensive biography, tracing thedevelopment of her life and work, fromworld-renowned actress and film star, to cofounder ofthe famous perfumery, to discipleof Meher Baba.

A must for every artist is the wonderfulbook In QuestoftheFaceofGod It is writ-ten by Lyn Ott and is filled with full colorreproductions of many of his finest works,with many stories about his time with BabaLarge format, hard cover, $30.

Also for artists and those who appreciate art is Rano Gayley’s book Because ofLove. Not only does this have dozens ofpages of her gorgeous portraits of Baba andthe paintings that Baba directed her to do,down to the last touch of paint, but alsomany wonderful stories of her life in theAshram with Baba from the early years.Large format, hard cover, $35.

Gift of God, the autobiography ofArnavaz Dadachanji, is a very intimate accounting of her life with Baba and herstruggles to abide by His wishes at all times.A really beautiful book, very heartwarming.Paperback, 242 pages, with numerous photographs $18.

Another ‘must have’ is that wonderfulcollection of Baba stories from Eruch. If atrip to India is not on your horizon, purchase ThatcHowit Wasand be transportedto Mandali Hall, while sitting comfortablyat home, listening to Eruch speak of his lifein the service of the Beloved. This book is acompilation of 2 other long-out-of-printbooks plus a whole new set of tales of ad-ventures with the Master. Hardbound $25,paperback $15, 412 pages.

Listen Humanity written at Baba’s request by Don Stevens, has recently been reprinted and is now available paperback $15and hardbound $20. An excellent book togive to ‘seekers’ or to have in your own Ii-brary.

It should go without saying of course,that God Speaks (also recently reprinted)hardbound, $27, and Discourses, paperback$15 and hardbound $25 also make goodgifts.

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- L. . .,

I

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1

Companion Books, under the auspicesof Don Stevens recently completed GodSpeaks in Spanish — Dios I-labia. It will beon the market across the country soon. Thepublishers wanted a biography of Baba tobe released at the same time, so Don turnedto and wrote MeherBaba, TheA wakeneroftheAge. It will be available in Spanish soon,but currently we have on our shelves theEnglish version. As it arrived only a few daysprior to this writing, I cannot tell you any—thing about it except that it has 314 pages,a beautiful color photo of Baba on the coverand sells for $ 1 5. There will be a review inthe January issue. Don has very sweetly of-fered to help us out at “Meherabode” with alittle fundraising. He has promised to signyour book for you for an extra $15, whichgoes directly to help support our Center.Don will be here in November, so he cansign your book then, and I can still send itoff to you in time for the holidays.

For the past year or so, Rumi has beenthe best selling poet in America, and although Hafiz and Danny Ladinsky knockedhim off that perch with The Gift, we stillthought you would like a very beautiful booktitled The Illuminated Rumi. It ishardbound, 9 x 1 2 and exquisitely producedwith wonderful and varied illustrations oneach page. The way in which it is laid out istruly a work of art. I was expecting Persianminiatures and so was very surprised to seethe artwork that accompanied it — mosteclectic. $30

Another item that has to be oneverybody’s list is the Meher Baba Calendarfortheyear200li It is something every-one wants and needs to start the Centuryoffright and keep it going allyear long. Eachtime you look at it, you see the beautiful faceof Baba looking back at you, read His in-spiring words and seejust what in the Babaworld transpired on what particular day, especially your birthday! A hanging calendar,it measures eight and a half by — fully extended — eighteen. Christina Arasmo, thevery talented Floridian who creates theseworks of art for us each year has kept theprice to a low $8.25. If you buy 5 or more,you get them for $7 each. Any profit fromthe production of these calendars goes tothe Trust.

A book that is only available in India orThe Love Street Bookstore is Much Loveby T.K. Ramanujam. If you can only afford

one book about Meher Baba this is the oneto get. It is incredibly comprehensive: theindex alone covers eight pages. Part 1 con-tains a chronological listing of the events inthe life of the Avatar from birth to death;Parts 2-7 cover all His important messagesand declarations, prayers, songs and on andon. Apart from making good reading, hay-ing it all under one cover makes it an excel-lent reference book. It is hardbound, 6 x 9with 606 pages, and sells for $20.

Delving into the musical realm we havethe incredibly popular, runaway best-sellingCD by Marc DeMatteis -HowManyLifetimes?Words, music, melodies, instrumentations, it has it all — ballads, gentle sweetnumbers, poignant songs, rousing rock androll — everything, for a special holiday priceof $12

Relentless Love is a tape by the incomparable Jim Meyer. It has been around for afew years now, so if you don’t already ownit, this tape comes highly recommended atthe reduced price of $9.

We told you about his new CD Ways toAttain theSupremeRealityin our last issue.We did not have it at the time, but this fabubus piece of work words (MalcolmSchloss’) , music, arrangements, productionvalues — all go to make it one of the bestthat has ever been released! Better yet — it isnow in stock. $18.

There is also the double CD fromRaphael Rudd TheA wakening. One of theCD’s is a re release of Skydancerwhich con-tains the exquisitely sung Gujerati Arti by

Jane Brown. The other disc in the set is aselection of songs and instrumentalsRaphael recorded in the late ‘70’s with PeteTownshend and a pick up drummer nameof Phil Collins! $20 is a fabulous deal fortwo CD’s!

SongofHuma, Volume2is another bestseller. For those of you unfamiliar with thisbeautiful tape, it was produced by ElaineCox who took top recording equipment toIndia and recorded the women Mandalisinging the ghazals that Baba had writtenunder the pen name of Huma in the early‘20’s. As the women were singing a cappella,Elaine then had the recordings beautifullyaccompanied by some very Indian sound-ing flutes, tablas and synthesizers. Beforeeach song Elaine reads the English translation so we get the full beauty of the piece.The words are all written on the inside of

the jay card, and at over an hour of superbBaba music, $12 is a very reasonable price.

The tape MyHeartis Calling Juis alsovery popular. This is a collection of the songsMani wrote for her Beloved Brother. She issinging and accompanying herself on sitaron a number of them. The others are sungby people in India at the time — includingthe Twins singing the song Be Be Be WithBaba that Mani wrote specifically for them.$10

We have so many new CDs, the Babamusicians have been hard at work, but it isimpossible to list them all here. See yourback issues for more ideas.

We stock over 40 different videos. Thereshould definitely be something for every-one. The latest release from Meher Prasad

(the company responsible for most of ourBaba videos) was entitled Mebera, MeherBabacBelovect It gets rave reviews from allwho see it. This tape runs 42 minutes andsells for $40

Also a beautiful video on Mehera andher life is MeherBabaLordandFrien Thisis part of the Witness Series WendellBrustman is producing that are very informative, yet personal, interviews with theMandali. It is as though you are sitting withMehera in a personal interview. It runs foran hour and is $55. In the same series is oneon Mani, Agnes Baron and Irene Billo. Asmore are edited (from footage taken in the‘80s), they will be released.

Then there is Beyond Words, producedby Sheriar Foundation from the 1967 documentary shot by professional filmmakerLouis Van Gasteren. It is breathtaking (andindeed, beyond words!) in the immediacyof the footage. Short of being in His presence, this is the next best thing! The qualityofthe 35mm film is unlike anything we haveever previously seen of Baba. Worth buyinga VCRjust to view it! 28 minutes $52

A video that has been out for a few yearsnow but is still one of our best sellers is EternalBeloved Produced by Meher Prasad, ithas a run time of 40 minutes and some fabubus footage of Baba that has been color corrected and sharpened to the point where thequality is just about equal with the recentlyfilmed interviews with Mani, Goher, and theother mandali who tell us what Baba wasdoing and where He was in the precedingframes. Very well worth the $50!

An excellent video to enjoy yourself and

..‘ .

Ishow your friends is an interview with Bhaumade in New York for Public Television. Iteven has Bhaus words in subtitles for thosethat have difficulty with his accent. He isspeaking on Three-Quartersofthe Worldandwhat Baba meant when He said it would bedestroyed. Also has some great footage ofBaba. $12.

If you are looking for an inexpensive giftthat will please enormously, I suggest the12x12colored photo in brilliant clarity of theview that greets you as you stand on the thresh-

old of the Samadhi. Along with this photocomes four 4” square reproductions of CharlieMills beautiful portraits, as well as 3 cards, alsoin beautiful color that have the artis printedon the back. All of these items are excellentlyprinted and the whole pak sells for only $12.How many would you like?

Also in our last issue we showed in TheGallery of the Heart just a few of the manyvery beautiful cards with our Beloved’s photoon them.

Ifyou think the cards featured on this page,TheAncient One, and Belovedcreated by CheriePlumlee are as beautiful as we do, better buythem now, because the license of copyrightpermission given by the copyright holder ofthe original black and white photos of Babawill expire in December of this year and theywill no longer be available for sale. Check outher web page at www.avatarmeherbaba.org in

December as she hopes to have several newBaba art cards/paintings on display at thattime.

You may also want to check out CharlieMills web site at www.MillsStudio.com

We sell the lithographs of many of hispaintings for $25 each and we also stock thecards with envelopes.

For many years we have been selling thelarge photographs of the whimsicaldrawings of Wodin — the artist whoillustrated the very popular book ofMani’s dreams entitled DreamkigoftheBeloved But with the start up of hisown web site Steve Jameson has decided he would rather sell direct to thegeneral public.

So you can visit his virtual art gal-lery at www.wodinart.com

So that it from the Bookstore. Ihope we have helped you decide whatyouwould like to put on your holidaywish list and given you plenty of ideasto bring joy to your friends.

And that is what I wish for you

In His love, Dma

Meher Babas Gift to UsEarth

Out ofinihions ofworldsin this vast universe.Kiii have chosen this one earti.

hir, You haveadornedtbeiand with beautyI-fore alone Thu take birth and walk among us

On thispredous soiJ asa man,To fulfill the mdiant mystery of Yourplan.

HawBlesseditic to be born heir!To serve the earth is to serve

)4;, here Your love takes root.Here air lives airportofYours

h!re, Yourlove bears fruit.Th walk the earth Ic to walk holyground

To tooth the earthis to touth GodMysteryToknowthe earth is to know God

To serve the earth is tojoin Rfrbeauty TojothThs beauty.

“The Elements, An Oratorio in Praise ofMeher Baba.” ©Searchligbt, 1984

The Christmas greeting on the facing

page reads:

During this 1-JoliclaySeasan andthroughout the Pv’w Yearmayyour

hearts be filled withA’liS Boundless Love.

Christmas Cardavailable atthe Love Street Bookstore.

The inside poem reads:

all.

I 22j_

£ovetreet,Lamsr

LightlyWayne Gallers’ new CD

by Jessica Willis

Once in a great while, an album of recorded music enters our lives that has

the capacity to remind us ofwhat is good andsweet in all the worlds, seen and unseen.Wayne Galle?s Through The Light ofitAli isone of those albums. In an age of super-ad-vanced music technology, muffed lyrics andspecial effects as a replacement for emotion,Galler never lost faith in the beauty ofthe unaffected voice and the acoustic guitar. He hasmastered both of these instruments. Hissongs-whether it be the tender vocal harmonies of “Whais the Purpose” or the urgentplea of “Heal Me Tonight-are a new take onthe call and response style ofgospel song structure. In every track on the album, Galler asksthe oldest question: where we are going? andGod responds: straight into My heart. “I Re-member” should be a staple on every choir andcoffee bar troubadou?s song list, and “WakeUp Baba”, with its swampy, slick Southem rocktempo, breaks the quietude and offers one ofthe best lines in recent memory when Gallernicks a few lines from the Lord and wails: “flyby me, I’m the Ancient One.” God in Throughthe Light of It All visits poolhalls as well asmore traditional places of worship. This album is a clarionjoy, icicle and sunshine pure,and a perfect soundtrack for wherever the heartmay go.

Out ofthe SourceGabriella Tal’s new CD

by Mary Weiss, San Francisco, CA

When I was asked to write a review ofGabriella Tal’s new CD and cassette,

OutoftheSource, I was very pleased, as I havebeen a long-time admirer of Gabriella’s mu-sic and its lyrical quality. And I was not disappointed in this new offering. Out of theSource contains an eclectic variety of songspertaining to the elements — either, air, fire,water and earth — in the tradition of Polar-ity Therapy. Each piece is full of poignantand memorable harmonies and woven in,over, and through it all — that pure, unadorned, and soulful voice.

The lyrics (a written version is part ofthe package) are most interesting as well,containing Sanskrit, Native American, andeven African songs or poems, they celebrateour connection to the Source of Love andLife. Or, as one stanza proclaims:

From the Source, all ofus comeMeetftig the spring ofJifHere on earth i our special chanceTh love, to live, to dance.

But my all-time favorite is the harmonicmagic that Gabriella creates with MeherBaba quote: “True love is no game for thefainthearted and weak. It is born from strengthand understanding. “ This song takes on special meaning when we consider that the compositions and recording cover a period of timewhen Gabriella was going through incrediblelife challenges in healing after a serious accident. The music has a transformative quality.It is as if somehow, from the pain of a grain ofsand in the oyster, Our Beloved has produceda shining pearl of musical devotion.

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BookRiews*tp

Shore Th ShorelessA Vyage Across the Ocean ofExistence with Meher Baba

by Professor J.S. Rathore

hiveindividuals - Mary, Mika, Ram,

Rahim, and Professor - tormented bytheir own personal problems meet accidently.Mary, an English lady, is a physicist: Mika, a

Japanese, was a Buddhist monk and now aspiritual pilgrim; Ram, an Indian, is a scholarof Hindu philosophy; Rahim, a Muslim, is abiologist from an American university; and,Professor, an Indian, is a university teacher.All of them are in great mental agony, and areseriously in search of the ultimate Reality inorder to discover man’s real position in thecosmos. They arejoined by Merwan who tellsthem about the existence of two oceans - theOcean of Nothing and the Ocean of Every-thing. He assures them that all their problemswill be solved once they reach the Ocean ofEverything, where alone they can find real joyand happiness. Howevei in order to reach theOcean of Everything, they would have to sailacross the Ocean of Nothing with AvatarMeher Baba as their companion and guide.

All of them agree to undertake this voyage across the Ocean of Nothing with MeherBaba as the Captain of their ship. Togetherthey traverse the macro and micro realms ofthe gross universe and the inner subtle andmental worlds to reach the Shoreless - theSupreme Divine Being, in whom they discoverlasting happiness and peace. Shore to Shorelesspresents an integrated Cosmic Spiritual-Physical Overview in the light of AvatarMeher Baba’s “thought.” The book endeavorsto integrate the worldview emanating out ofthe physical and biological sciences with thatof the spiritual wisdom as revealed by the Supreme Divine Being, the Ancient One andthe Highest of the High, descending as theAvatar or Buddha or Rasool or Christ.

In addition to acknowledgments, preface,bibliography and an index of quotations, thebook has twelve chapters, which are : WeLaunch Ourselves; Not One Universe; FireWithout and Fire Within; Stairway to BigBang; Chasing the Desire to its Source; Shad-ows of Shadows; The Hall of Mirrors; Begin-fling of the Beginning; Sugar Doll’s On aDiving Mission; Mary Magic Mirror; Shoresof Shoreless; and Splashing Joy, Swimmingin Eternity.

Professor J.S.Rathore, the author, an ardent devotee of Avatar Meher Baba, is aformerVice-Chancellor and Professor of En-vironmental Science. He is the first recipientofthe coveted Katju Award for Science, instituted by the Government ofMadhya Pradesh,India, from HE. Giani Zail Singh, the thenPresident of India. Professor Rathore is also arecipient of Commemorative Medal ofHonorfrom the American Biographical Institute.

.t . .. .. .. .. $ .,t. .

Through the Heart,

: .

L2J1

[ I. ®

Kudos to The GiftDaniel Ladinsky’s translations of Hafiz

There may not be many Baba loversalive who have not heard of Danny

Ladinsky’s wonderful renderings of the di-vine work of Hafiz. His first two books, IHeard GodLaughingand The Subject Thnightis Love were extremely popular amongst theBaba community. But when word of thebeauty of these two books leaked out to theworld in general they soon were selling inBorders, Waldenbooks and other commercial bookstores. Such was their success, a bid-ding war evolved over the publishing rightsto his third - The Gift. Penguin Putnam wonand to their delight (and ours) it sold over10,000 in the first month —August- and isnow in its third printing. For August, TheGift was the top selling poetry book inAmerica and perhaps the whole world. It isexpected to be one of the top ten selling poetry books in America, and the Englishspeaking countries, for several years.

With this stunning collection of250 ofHafizs most intimate

poems, Ladinsky has succeededbrilliantly in translating the

essence ofone ofIslam’s greatestpoetic and religious voices.

“This deliriously enchanting collection of250 poems is one of the best books of 1999.”

from the opening line of the 3 paragraph review in the magazine connected withthe Trinity Church in New York City.

Amazon.com, the most popular on linebook seller has published these reviews:

sence of one of Islam’s greatest poetic and religious voices. Ladinsky spent five yearscompiling and translating the 250 poems collected here, drawing on rare 19th Centurytranslations of the work from Farsi (the lan-guage of Hafiis Persia-now Iran) , as well asseveral thousand pages of material about thelife of Hafiz. The result is a brilliant collection ofHafiz’s most intimate poems, complemented by an overview ofthe lifejourney thatbrought about this body of work.

Shams-ud-d-dim Muhammad Hafiz,though relatively little known in the Westernworld, is often considered one of the mostbeloved poets of Persia, along with Rumi andKabir. Born in Shiraz, in southern Persia, helived about the same time as Chaucer in En-gland, and about one hundred years afterRumi. When he died at the age of 70, he wasthought to have produced an estimated 5,000poems, 500-700 ofwhich have survived. Morethan any other Persian poet, it is perhaps Hafizwho accesses the mystical, healing dimensionsof poetry. Because his poems were often ecstatic love songs from God to his belovedworld, many have called Hafiz “Tongue of theInvisible.” His Divan (collected poems) is aclassic in the literature of Sufism.”

In The Gift, DanielLadinsky continues thevenerable work of bringing the wisdom, passion and beauty of Hafiz’s work to the West,which began largely through the efforts ofGoethe, who wrote “In his poetry Hafiz hasinscribed undeniable truth indelibly.... Hafizhas no peer. “ Goethe enthusiasm infectedRalph Waldo Emerson, who translated hiswork in the nineteenth century, and called it“the model of lyric grace and felicity.” EvenSherlock Holmes quotes Hafiz in one of thestories by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Hafiz, a secret Sufi, came to prominencein his day as a writer of love poems. That lovetransformed into an all-consuming passion forunion with the divine. In The Gift, DanielLadinsky bestows on us the impassioned yetwhimsical strains of Hafiz’s ecstasy. Neverforced or awkward, Ladinsky Hafiz whispersin your ear and pounds in your chest, namingGod in a hundred metaphors.

I once asked a bird, “How is it that you flyin this gravity Of darkness?” She responded,“Love lifts Me.”

Like Fitzgerald’s version of Khayyam’sRubaiyat, the language of The Gift strikes acontemporary chord, resonating in the readermind and then in the heart. Ladinsky’s lan-guage is plain, fresh, playful—dancing with

an expert cadence that invites and surprises.

Ifit is true, as Haflz says, that apoet is someone who can pour

light into a cup, readingLadinsky’s Hafiz is like gulping

down the sun.

— Brian Bruya From Booklist , August19, 1999.

Less well known in the U.S. than his Sufipredecessor, Rumi, Hafiz (Shams-ud-dinMuhammad) is also worthy of attention, andLadinsky’s free translations should help seethat he gets it. Hafiz is so beloved in Iran thathe outsells the Koran. Many know his versesby heart and recite them with gusto. And gustois appropriate to this passionate, earthy poetwho melds mind, spirit, and body in each ofhis usually brief pensees. Ladinsky has deliberately chosen a loose and colloquial tone forthis collection, which might grate on thenerves of purists but makes Hafiz come vividly alive for the average reader. “You carry IAll the ingredients I To turn your life into anightmare—I Don’t mix them!” he advises,and “Bottom line: I Do not stop playing IThese beautiful I Love I Games.” Nothing istoo human for Hafiz to celebrate, for in humanity he finds the prospect of God. In everything from housework to lovemaking, hecelebrates the spiritual possibilities of life. Afine and stirring new presentation of one ofthe world’s great poets. Patricia MonaghanCopyright© 1999, American Library Association.

The Gift is an extraordinary new translation of the world-renowned mystic poet Hafiz.More than any other Persian poet—evenRumi—Hafiz expanded the mystical, healingdimensions of poetry. Indeed, DanielLadinsky, the accomplished translator of thisvolume, has said that his work with Hafiz isan attempt to do the impossible: to translateLight into words—to make the LuminousResonance of God tangible to our finite senses.

Each lfrne of The Gift imparts the won-derful qualities of this master Sufi poet andspiritual teacher: encouragement, an audaciouslove that touches lives, profound knowledge,generosity, and a sweet, playful genius unparalleled in world literature.

With a growing awareness ofthe grace andsimple beauty of Sufi poetry in the West (wit-ness thejust-released CD “A GiftofLove,” featuring celebrities like Madonna, Martin Sheen

[F :=mJ-

“Daniel Ladinsky brilliantly captures the es

DanieiLadinsky

.. .. . .

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‘4 Noçes from $1 begin to function as rfwe azehappiness not

t I ,tlL that we should close our eyes to what is

S the Internet •Adifficult or disturbing in life If an

*:n

L:tb we are more present more aware of suffer-

4b$t Se C4 ing But beneath it all we are rooted4joy

r4enYossen Burroughs wrote I buoyed up from within by our veféhist

& jes tell people that Don tence as conscious Spirit confident tkjat all

wBe Happf is notjust a snappy little °°“ (real) needs will be met We are not

. .. . —it’s actually a profound spiritual in- upset by factors that re cannot change or

S ction ::N:./ control or have; not fearful of what might

Michael Key answered: Ye1inthat same next; not derendent bn any par-

vein, an unknown Baba-Lover wrote the fol- ticular response from life to make us feel

lowing piece on the phrase: Dont Worry, Be OTC And thus we look with a full heart at

Happy” a few yearsago which I always liked others around us and co9sider how we

. alot I tried to find out who wrote it without might serve as an instrumnt ofthis awak

succes& If anyone knows, please let us knoy ening, 50 that itht become a little more

A’ ‘ accessible to evJfrie

thDon’t Worry Be Happy This then is jactice the choice 1*4taAnd people without knowledgSt is a of struggle It

. . .

c • aba interpret this wimgly, I think.is the very struggle that leads to the Coal.

.. d, “Take it easy, be cool, yoiire notMoreover, we find that to do any less than

p 0 to struggle Just ignore what isthis when facing the crush of events and

oubit you and stay amused somehow”.circumstances is to allow worry to ch5ose

*Lt that is not it at all, really.: us, so to speak. And it will! It will catch us

:fA better interpretation would be some-

up in endless complications, rhairitaining

thing like this: the praâice to which we areits control over us by a kind of mental in-

called is to choose happiness; to deliberately ertia until at last we realize that the prob

and intelligentlvefbravely,throughah actlems are never solved, Circumstances will

of internalwil,T4erélse the innate power ofnever be made perfect. Life will never be

our spirit to return, right now and in eveijiall fixed up. ‘

moment to a state ofcomplete sufficiency. . .bRather, then, we choose happiness in

already happy. . ... even when confrontedeach moment, . . and by this

with every apparent reason why we shoáldpractice gradually build ourselves a new life,

retract from that happiness into doubt andright here, in this happy place that out-

.

self-concern.shines the old and dissolves the illusion of

t1 —

separation perfectly It is a process of con-

It is to stand fret:L1 the midst deathinte:ven::bethretheprocescoinofalithe misery in the ocJd, , plete. . . . . so what?! ‘

- tdl r

I!& ..;.;:..¶ C COflSCIOUS

‘a mpr $nrmng our tSJ1Fits tws

:—‘ ‘yremem eringour

‘ inherent being in God_t a

This remembrance is possible throughhaving the Grid-Man to relate to. We shouldalways do this, but especiallywhen negative tQ%C

experiences arise, We should remember at .

those times that which is cause for celebraltlljflur knowing that God actually exists

Pd that He has begun, somehow, to awaken.

us toHis Reality. We mujestablish this 4a

•ofrememy$jm this state

and Demi Moore reading their favorite Rumipoems) , The Gift is certain to find an ever-growing and passionate audience.

Ladinsky says “My goal is to bring across,right into your lap, the wondrous spirit ofHafiz that lifts the corners of the mouth.” Injust a few pages, it becomes clear that he hasachieved his goal. He tells us “You are Godsweetheart. One of the great wonders of Hafizis that one cannot seriously read him withoutthen knowing you are Gods sweetheart. Andthe range ofthis poet-saint dazzles; he says, ‘1amahoiein aflute that the Ghristflireathmovesthrough listen to this musk. “And, ‘YZook atthesmie on the eartMhs thismornilig she iaidagahi with me iast night.”

ThereisawilddMnepartygoingon in this bookthatwlll lift thecorners ofyour soufs mouth,

probably comfort, inspire and freeyou as few books ever have.

To again quote from The Gift, Hafiz says,“Dear ones,leñ anoint this earth with dance!”

Indeed.

A Note from OurTrust-walli

by Lynne Berry

I you’ve been thinking that some timeyou’d like to make a love-donation to the

Trust, today may be the perfect time.The Avatar Meher Baba Trust runs a first-

rate school, provides medical care for villagersand maintains Baba’s tombshrine and Trustproperties. There are also beneficiaries of thetrust whose living expenses are covered bydonations from Baba-lovers. All ofthese worthy projects were specified by Baba Himself,in the Trust Deed. Many of the Truss charitable projects and outreach projects are car-ned out by Eastern and Western volunteers.

Some projects, however, require the assistance of paid Indian workers, and as Indiaraises its standard ofliving, the cost of materials and labor is on the rise also.

More love-donations are also needed forthe ongoing archives project; preservation ofthe precious articles used and touched by Babathat mean so much to all of us.

If this appeals to you, please make yourcheck payable to Friends ofMeher BabaTrust,and send it to: Lynne Berry, 267 HanoverDrive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Our Man inMeherabad

by James Cox, India

Reporting on events June through September

Meherabad is off on another pilgrim season, and the openfrig of Meherazad is

quickly approaching. Ifyou want to be at Me-herabad when it isn’t crowded, this is the timeto come. Sunset palettes through the monsoon clouds are incredibly sharp and clear dueto the total absence of dust, and the land islush green from our early May rains, now about10 inches cumulative over the last 6 weeks. Ifyou never went into Ahmednagar, you mightforget where you were.

Last Friday morning, Eruch and the menMandali pulled a surprise visit to the Samadhi, and I think only two other people hap-pened to be there. Must have been nice forthem to go for darshan without a crowd. After staying for about 10 minutes they buzzedoff.

And as the crowds increase, this year findsprobably the most construction activity evertaking place at Meherabad, both private andTrust. The final roofslab on the Archive build-ing was just completed, and new Amartithigathering sites are underway, plus about 30private residences. The Arangaon telephoneexchange continues to grow, but not withoutpains. The lines into and out of Meherabadare usuaflyjammed during the day due to over-loaded capacity, and the telephone companyis looking for space for a new building whichwould be connected with underground fiberoptic cable. A local internet node is also scheduled by November, so streaming video fromthe Samadhi would become a technical possibility once that happens. As usual, somepeople want it and some don’t.

Since more development in and aroundMeherabad is taking place, the conveniencesof life become a bit more accessable, but Babaalways manages to put a bone in the egg. Oneof the constant problems we face daily here isadulteration in many forms, not the least ofwhich is milk. There are numerous small (twobuffaloes, three buffaloes) dairies in Arangaon,and the dudhwallas make their rounds in themorning, bringing milk to your doorstep. Theonly problem is that almost all ofthem mix invarious amounts of water out of concern for

our cholesterol, no doubt. Sometimes peoplebecome so frustrated that they threaten to gettheir own cow, and Dadi Kerawala, in chargeofagriculture at Meherabad, didjust that. Butsince Dadi is getting a bit old to milk his owncow, he hired a helper to get up early in themorning and again at 6 pm to milk. And sincea cow produces more milk than one personcan drink, he started distributing part of it.Soon he came to notice that his milk was get-dng thinner and thinner, until he became suspicious and had her milked right in front ofhim. Sure enough, upholding an old tradition,his helper was helping himself... and villagelife goes on. I guess in some things you reallycan’t win.

Silence Day July 10thI woke up this morning and thought that

I ought to start off writing a piece about theday since I presumed it was going to be slowand relaxthg, a semi-holiday even though I wasworking. But I should have known you canonly tell about something after it is over, andlong gone are those peaceful, relaxing days atMeherabad, at least for me.

Since there is no Arti on Silence Day, Islept in til’ about 7: 1 5, got up leisurely andthought I’d catch the Samadhi about 8 am,when most people would have gone down forbreakfast. Wrong. Today, about 1000 peopleare staying at Meherabad, and a big chunk ofthose were still in line after 8:00. As the yearspass by at Meherabad, procedures and rulesgo on evolving, and one such policy has to dowith how people are ushered through BabaSamadhi at crowded times. We have seen thegamut of just folding our hands and saying“Jai Baba,” to actually pushing them to bowdown 3 and 4 at a time, and physically pullingthem out of the Samadhi if they lingered toolong. Both ways have their advantages, buttoday it was the former, and a line of about100 people took nearly 2 hours to clear be-neath a monsoon sky with a crystal sun occasionally peeking out through huge dark clouds,which for some reason, never turned into rain.

Of course, in between, Goher and Arnavazcame for darshan, but that didn’t stop thequeue for more than a couple of minutes. Itwas obviously a great effort for Goher to walkthat short distance, but she took time to greetall who were there, stopping to make eye con-tact with almost everyone. The other womenMandali arrived about 1 1/2 hours later, andthis was the only occasion on which I have

seen them come at different times.I remember now a time that doesn’t seem

so long ago, maybe 1975, whenJimmy Mistryand I sat silently under the tin shed oppositeMansari’s room and played chess on the hillall day. There were maybe 2 or 3 other peoplearound, and Jimmy won most of the games.Nobody had cars and there were no telephones, maybe not even electric lights, I can’tremember now, but as my friend fromNizamabad told me this morning, those daysare gone.

Reports 9-9-99:Rain Report: Iis raining again in Mehera

bad after a 2 month hiatus. The southwestmonsoon hits in early June and then usuallydwindles down to nothing by early August,except this year it wound up by early July, andthe countryside was looking the usual crispyMeherabad shade ofyellow brown by the timethe northeast monsoon started falling 5 daysago. Our temperature has plummeted, andsome of the locals look dressed for frost, although the thermometer is holding at 210

(70°F). We have had over 3” since Monday,the yearly Meherabad total now standing atjust over 17,” less than last year, but a bit bet-ter than normal. We could very well get an-other 10 inches by early November, Diwali,and the traditional end of rain for the year.

Road Report: I have just returned fromBombay yesterday, and while there was nocomplete halt of traffic in the ghats, the pacewas extremely slow and the difficulty of driving magnified by the complete deteriorationof the uphill bound pavement. The road hasbecome so washboarded that the horizontalruts are 6 to 8 inches deep, and I saw almostno small cars attempting it. For my LandrovertypeTata Sumo it was very difficult, as at manypoints broken down and waiting trucks closedoff 3/4 of the ascent, leaving only one steeplane on the inside of the curve which manyvehicles could not make. It was so steep andso slow that a few trucks had someone run-ning along behind with stones to arrest theirdownward slide should they have to stop, nota very comforting proposition for anyoneforced into following them up the hill withmaybe a 2 foot interval between vehicles. I recommend the plane or the train until they fIxthe road, which will take months. Note thatthis problem only faces Bombay to Pune traffic, and the reverse direction is not bad, unlessyou get caught in a landslide.

I [

Eruch Report: He looks a bit tired, thememory and hearing have small lapses, buthe is still talking in Mandali Hall 2 or 3 days aweek, still attends the Trust Office work,doesn’tlike to be “mothered,” and still touchesthe hearts of those who come in his contact.Eruch birthday is October 13, and we all wishhim Happy Lingering, well at least as happyas one can expect without sugar, without salt,without oil, without carbs, and without cake.

Mosquito Report: There aren’t many.Some say it is due to the vigilant septic tankand soak pit inspection work carried out byone Rustom Falahati, arid some say it is justthe cycle down time, but whatever the cause,you are definitely not in danger of being car-ned off by ravenous swarms at the Samadhi.

Live Netcast from the Samadhi Report:Since Nagar will probably have its own nodeby December, and we will be getting OpticalFiber Cable lines laid to Arangaon by March,it will then be technically possible to have acontinuous live Netcast from the Samadhionto the Web. Some of us are interested inpreparing a proposal for this and any one wish-ing to provide technical consultancy would bewelcome to add their 2 cents, especially if theyhave any related experience.

Man Must Think ButHe Must Not Worry

Meher Baba

Eyen a great soul like Gandhi worries,because he wants results. One must sin-

cerely try to do his duties, but the results mustalways be left with God. Worrying about theresults is no good and of no use. If a personwishes to do anything for others, he must doit sincerely. And having done it, he should notworry about the results, for results are not inhuman hands. It is for humans to do, but forGod to ordain.

To remain aloof from results is not difficult, but men do not try. Because it is humannature to think of the results of ones actions,however, it does not mean one should worry!Man must think, but he must not worry.

Try to attribute all your acts to God andlet results be His. Gandhi says he does every-thing for God and attributes it to Him, but hestill worries because he cares about the results.

LordMehei Vol. Five, Bhau Kalchuri, p. 1866Copyright 1986 AMBPPCT

The NortheastGathering

September 3-5

by Steve Koren, New York

The Sahavas was held over Labor Dayweekend at Camp Lennox situated in

the Berkshire Mountains, Massachusetts.The featured guests were Tex Hightower

and Donald Mahlei two ofMargaret CraskWsdancers who met Baba in the 1950s. WendyHaynes Connor, Elizabeth Sachalis and Virginia Sadowsky spoke of their experiences inthe physical presence of Baba. Wendy’s husband, Buz Connor, was the musical guest. Textold us that when he met Baba in the lagooncabin in 1952, Baba hair was long and flow-ing. Tex wept as he described the beauty ofBaba face and the Love that emanated fromHim. He said he misses Baba dearly, but feelshis presence is actually stronger since Hedropped the body.

Don told us that while Ms. Craske was anindomitable woman, she changed when shewas around Baba. She was so devoted to Babaand so focused on Him, that she got lost inHim. Both Don and Tex said that her devotion to Baba was passionate, and beyond comprehension. Wendy Connor spoke aboutmeeting Baba when she was 6 and how shefelt Baba love even at such a young age. Shewas moved to tears as she spoke about the impact of meeting Baba the first time and thefeeling of love and security He gave her. Shealso told us about Manis statement, that aswe proceed on the spiritual path, we have tobe ever vigilant because Maya actually becomesmore insidious. However, our best protectionis to remember Baba constantly. Elizabeth andVirginia, who are sisters, both met Baba atthe Delmonico hotel in New York in 1956.They both said that when they met Baba, itwas as if time stood still and they got lost inBaba love.

There was a fine talent show on Saturdaynight, which consisted of music, poetry, and apuppet show. The guests, scenery, weather andfood were perfect. Volleyball, swimming andkayaking in the cool lake were enjoyed bymany. We ate communally, reminiscent of thepilgrim center in India. Over 120 people camefrom all over the U.S. All in all, a loving goodBaba time was had by all. We closed with the“Ocean of Love” played by Bill Cliff. Kudos’to all who helped make this a wonderfulSahavas! We’re looking forward to next year!

I

L The Path ofLoNeeds ReprintingAdele Wolkm Los Angeles Ca

;L /ran thhttYeJa our lastissue andarehappytorepatsofar wehaverai44.t $1200 JustarDJ:4000ana’ecanget.itprintedandll..eagain. cdl

ItJs thmughthejiumof TheAwak-enerjournal that.::her Baba chose to

—‘

have many of Hisigmal messages firIcircujated m the Eiiglish language It isI4beforgotten whatBaba told Donns about His own words, “My spintual charge is in those words.” Filisijederickfounded and edited “The Awak4..er” from 1953 to 1986. 1 was present at

time when Fihs personally presentedBaba herlong cherished dream to pub-. h:. ajournal dedicated to Him. Baba’sre

sponse to Ellis was of full approval alongwith a few conditions, which she fullyobeyeiThus. with Baba’s blessing and di-rection, Fiis nurtured her ‘baby’ “TheAwakener”, for33yearsThenin the 197Qsshe made an exquisite selection from artides that shewas so privileged to receivefrom Meher Baba directly That uniqueselection Filiscoflected In asoft cover booentitled ThePath OfLove. For many yearsthis priceless treasure has been out ofprintdespite requests for reprints from BabaLovers throughoutthewonldNawSheniaPress has determined thaOOO is re-quired to ... . ound withPerfect Bind I4lt!newly designed cover. Asv?tirst and foremostraising funds for the County mandated

to “Meherabode, we do notto have a spare $5000. We need

your help! All wishing to contribite to-wards this undertaking please contact theAvatar Meher Baba Center of SouthernCalifornia, 1214 South Van Ness Ave.. LosAngeles, CA 90019-3520, Attn:Treasurer.And please mark your çonation Path ofLove. We appreciate so very much all helpyou can give — this book must be madeavailable again. Donations of $50 or morewill naturally net you a free copy. hot offthe press!

For further information contAct;Adele Wolkm ;çp714A Pacific Coast Highway j$i

Redondo Beach CA 90277 ,4,(310) 540-8414

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A+d. 7)gA4thnhau ‘,

Spiritual Bombby Kendra Crossen-Burroughs, Ojai CA

(Thefoiowthgian excerptfrom thefune 5/6lnternetchatin theFalace withBhau, edited toincorporate subsequent explanations that Bhausent me.)

Q uestioner Could you elaborate onBaba’s remarks about three-quarters of

the world being destroyed?Bhau: What I feel is that everyone will

lose three-quarters of their unnatural impressions. But why, then, will there be physicaldestruction? People have innumerable impressions; but those who come in contact with Godand love God wholeheartedly begin to losetheir impressions. Suppose Steven has thirtybillion impressions, David has thirty-five billion impressions, Mehera Milen has forty billion impressions, and likewise others have sixtyor seventy billion, and the rest have innumerable impressions. So when Meher Baba universal manifestation takes place, Steve will losethree-quarters out ofthirty billion impressions,David will lose three-quarters out of thirty-five, and in the same way others will lose three-quarters of their impressions. But those whohave innumerable impressions will receive agreat shock when they lose three-quarters oftheir unnatural impressions, and they will notbe able to retain their physical bodies. Whenthey come back, they will come back withawareness of Divinity. But this awareness willdiffer from person to person. The one-quarter who retain the physical body will also losethree-quarters of their impressions. But be-cause of their love for God, they have alreadybeen losing their impressions. And out of theleftover impressions, they will lose three-quarters and will maintain the body, with aware-ness of Divinity. But this awareness will alsodiffer from person to person. It will be likethrowing a spiritual bomb when Baba manifests universally. And though three-quartersof the world will be destroyed, it will be for aconstructive purpose. They will come backagain with awakening, and their low desireswill be minimized to a great extent. And theywill not only accept God but also follow Him.This will be the universal manifestation ofMeher Baba.

(Excerpts from the Chat with Bhau atTheFalace.com, Sunday, l5August 1999.)

uestion What was Baba’s opinionabout abortion?au: Of course abortion is not a good

thing. But I can tell you that the soul entersthe fetus at five months. Ifan abortion is doneat that time, when the soul enters, that is very,very bad. It is like murder. Even before that,an abortion is also bad, but it is not as bad as itis later.

Question: Our hearts must become emptyof desires. Is everyone’s way of becomingempty different?

Bhau: Youjust depend upon Him, and Hewill take care of it. Just remember him, lovehim, and think about him. But don’t thinkabout your desires, otherwise you will remember the desires and forget Him. So rememberHim, and forget the desires. And the desireswill be wiped out.

Question: Did Baba give any tips for dailyliving that are conducive to remembrance ofHim?

Bhau: He has said, when you get up inthe morning, before starting any work, justremember Him. Tell him that you are start-ing your days work, and He should guide you.Then start your work honestly and sincerely.And when you go to bed, offer at His feetwhatever you did during the day, whatever youthought, and whatever you spoke. And thensleep well. Don’t worry.

Comment: “Don’t worry” is so difficult!Bhau: You wantyour desires to be fulfilled,

and that’s why you worry. Beloved AvatarMeher Baba has said: My remembrance is thesolution of all the problems in life and in theworld. So if you want to worry, worry to remember Him. And that will please Him.

Question: Is there any spiritual significance to whether we heard about Baba beforeor after he dropped his body?

Bhau: If you heard about Him after Hedropped his body, do not feel that you did notsee Him. He is always active in His infiniteform. He is active infinite consciousness, andtherefore He knows everything; He has beenwith you all the time. He is thousands of timescloser than your very breath. It is good thatnow you have come to know about Him. Thisis the period of His advent. He is infinitelyactive during this time of His advent, becauseHe has to manifest, and therefore you shouldfeel happy that you have come to know aboutHim, when He has started His cleaning pro-cess. Because you are undergoing this process,you are blessed.

Question: Bhauji, were you there whenBegum Akhtar came to Baba?

Bhau: Begum Akhtar was a very popularghazal singer in India; she was called the

Queen of Ghazals. Baba wanted her to comein 1930 to sing at Meherabad. And at thattime, she demanded 100 rupees per day. Thatwas too much at that time, so Baba said forgetabout her. But in 1960 Begum Akhtar herselfcame to Ahmednagar specially to see BelovedAvatar Meher Baba. She met Baba secretary,Adi K. Irani, and he told her that Baba was inseclusion and would not see anyone. She weptand wept, and she said, please send the message to Baba, and Adi did. Baba replied thatHe was in seclusion and not seeing anyone—but since she wanted to see Him, she wouldbe allowed to come for five minutes. How-ever, she should not sing before him. I wasthere when Begum Akhtar came toMeherazad to see Baba. She caught hold ofHis feet, she bowed down to Him and shewept. That was against Islam, but she did it.And then she said, Baba, please allow me tosing a ghazal. Baba said: I told you that I amin seclusion and that you should not sing atpresent, but on one condition I will allow you.Ifyou can come to Pune when I am there andsing before my lovers, I will allow you to singone ghazal. So according to the promise shehad given, she came to Guruprasad in Pune,and she sang before Baba when His lovers werethere, and she did not charge anything. Shewept and wept, and Baba dried her tears, andHe gave the hanky to her as His prasad. Afterwards, she would go to different centers established for Beloved Avatar Meher Baba, andshe would sing there without any charge. Shecame again to Ahmednagar during BelovedBaba birthday, and she sang before a big gathering, and the next day she came to Meherazadto see Beloved Baba.

There were many ghazal singers whowould sing for Baba. One particular party ofsingers came when Baba was in Khulabad, nearAurangabad. Baba was in very strict seclusion,and one day He said to the mandali that Hehad taken on a great burden. In order to lessenthis burden, He wanted a good qwaali partyto come and sing before Him, so Eruch andPendu went to Aurangabad to find a goodparty of singers. The next day, three singerscame, and they were very tired. Every nightthey would give a program, but they were verysleepy, so Eruch and Pendu wondered whatBaba would think about them. But then Babacalled those three persons and gave them teawith His own hand. They drank the tea andsang from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. , and Baba was so

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happy, and they also felt amazed. How couldthey sing for so many hours when they wereso tired? Baba told them that He would callthem again four times. So when there was aSahavas program at Meherabad, that party wascalled. And they requested that Baba give themtea, because they thought thatwhen Baba givestea, they will get strength. So Baba had to givetea to them. And they sang and sang. But thistime, a very amazing thing happened. During the singing program, Aloba would jumpand hit his head against the wall, and I had totake him to some other bungalow and keepwatch. This time, Baba told one strong per-son from Pune to take care of Aloba. He wassix feet, four inches tall—Baidul’s son-in-law,his name was Pasi—and he was very strong.When the program started, Aloha was veryquiet, and Pasi startedjumping. Baba laughedand laughed. To control him, ten persons triedto take him out, and the qwaali singers thoughtthat it was because ofBabas tea that they couldsing, and because of Baba’s love they werejumping. Baba did call them three more times,so they sang before Baba five times in all.

(Excerpts from the Chat with Bhau atTheFaiace.com, Sunday, 12 September 199)

Question: Bhau, why does Baba need abeloved, Mehera? What was her pur

pose to Him?Bhau: Mehera was like Eve, representing

thewhole creation. And, through His beloved,He works for the whole of creation. There areother circle members who represent only oneopposite attribute of God. For example, Godis infinite knowledge, so there must be some-one in the circle to represent infinite ignorance;God is infinite light, so someone must represent infinite darkness; and through those circlemembers He works for the whole universe.Babawould always call Gustadji His dark side,he represented infinite darkness. Each circlemember represents some opposite attribute ofGod, and Mehera was the one who was rep-resenting all opposite attributes of God, rep-resenting the whole creation; and that’s whyshe was the beloved of the Beloved.

Question: Did Baba tell you that youwould be God-realized in your next lifetime?Or if not, when? And what attribute do yourepresent in the circle?

Bhau: He did not give me any attributeand He did not say that I would get God real-ization. So take it for granted that I am quiteignorant. And the only hope is that I followHis wish so I don’t worry about God Realization. I worry how to follow His Wish.

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Question: Remembering Baba is so important. When we remember Him, what is itwe should remember?

Bhau: Just remember Meher Baba; thereis nothing (else) to remember. If you remember that Meher Baba is infinite knowledge,infinite power, infinite bliss, then you’ll feeltempted to get infinite knowledge, power andbliss. Sojust remember Meher Baba, and thatis enough, so that there should not be any expectation

When the Avatar, or the Christ, starts awar, know well that He helps all mankindthrough His act. And this is His Compassion. Suppose the king of a country wages waragainst another country for his own selfishmotive, he does not know how he will suffer.He gets the impressions of all those who arekilled and all those who suffer.

When Beloved Baba met Gandhi he wasfighting for the independence of India, andhad started the movement of non-cooperation. Because of that, so many people went tojail; so many families were suffering; that iswhy Beloved Baba was very, very anxious tosee Gandhi. He was a very sincere, honestand God loving person. And, because of hisinstructions, many people were sent tojail; andthe families were suffering and Gandhi wasresponsible for that. So Baba released him fromthe sanskaras, which he had taken upon him-self without knowing. He was doing goodwork, but it was not selfless work. Nobodyknows this secret. Only God knows, and Godhelps. After the assassination of Gandhi, Babadeclared that Gandhi would be a Perfect Master after 3 more births. It was Baba compassion. He loved Gandhi very much.

Question: Did Baba break His silencewith the dropping of His body?

Bhau: Baba released His Universal Workwhile dropping the body and His breaking ofsilence is gradual. He speaks in every heart.Once I said to Baba “Why do you not givedarshan to your lovers, when you are in seclusion?” And Baba said to me “You have noidea what I am doing for them. If they cometo see Me, what will they see? This physicalbody? I am stretching My bow, and when Irelease My arrow, it will touch heart by heartto the end of the whole world and people willget the awareness ofMy divinity.” And, there-fore, when Baba Universal Manifestation willtake place, the new humanity will emerge and3/4 of the world will be destroyed. And whatis that destruction? 3/4 of unnatural impressions will be wiped out. And there will beawareness of the divinity; but this awarenesswill differ from person to person, and it will

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be considered as the breaking of His Silence.He had observed Silence for His Univer

sal Work. When He was in the original stateof God, (that is, Beyond Beyond}, He got theWhim and His Silence was broken, and theWord was given. And where is that Word?God is Indivisible, God is Infinite and God isOne. And it means that Word is in everyone.And what is that Word? “Who am I”. And,because this Word was in everything and everyone, there is progress in consciousness fromgas to stone, stone to vegetable, vegetable toworm, worm to fish, fish to bird, bird to animal, and animal to human beings. But a timecomes when unnatural process begins.

In human form, the gross consciousnessis full, so one should turn towards the subtleworld; but, because of gross impressions, onegoes on reincarnating again and again. This isalso in dream because the Soul does not takebirth and it does not die. Mind takes birth,but mind does not die. Even ifhydrogen bombis thrown, mind does not die. Mind dies onlythrough Love divine. And when mind diesthen one knows who he is. But at present whatdo we see? All the kingdoms of evolution ofconsciousness are exploited right from stoneto animal kingdom; and human beings are responsible for exploitation: breeding, cross-breeding and so many unnatural processes arethere. So Beloved Baba observed silence towipe out the unnatural impressions, which arecreated, not only in human beings, but also inlower kingdoms. And it is only the Avatar, orthe Christ, who can do it; and it is called Universal Push. So when He gives Universal Pushit will be considered as if He broke His silence which was the medium for His Universal Work.

Question: Bhau, Is homosexuality an unnatural impression? What did Baba say?

Bhau: Forget about such things! As soonas one gets human form, one must turn to-wards subtle world; and when one has onlygross consciousness, and does not try to havesubtle consciousness, all his deeds are unnatural. So please don’t think about this. Thinkabout the Beloved and know that He is theOcean of Compassion. He forgives all thosewho are not thinking about Him, but thinkabout the world. So why do you worry? Youthink about Him and ask His forgiveness. AndHe will forgive you. He embraces the saintsand He embraces the sinners. He says, “thesinners are my liability and the saints are myasset and My business is to turn the liabilityto asset. And He does this business; so whyshould we think about homosexuality, or heterosexuality?

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Today, I heard, people were saying that thispresident was sexually addicted. Other presidents will be drug addicted. So this goes on.We should become addicted to His Love andHis remembrance. Then there is no problem.Otherwise life itself is a problem. Nobodythinks about it. People think about differentproblems; but if one realizes that life itself is aproblem, all the problems are automaticallysolved. So, my dear friend, forget about all thisand become addicted to His Love. Rather HisWine; and you will get such an intoxicationthat your mind will not work. Then your heartwill start working; and I will be very happy tobow down to you.

Question: What is the best memory thatyou have living with Baba?

Bhau: Memory of course: every day, every moment, every hour was memorable. Sowhat to say? Only thing I can say, that some-times when Baba would become indifferent Iwould feel that I must die. But then, aftermonths, He would change His mood, and Iwould realize how much compassion He had,and how much He was suffering for me; soevery moment is really memorable. But I cantell you of an incident: one day He called mefor watch at 3:00 pm and He said to me, “I’mvery tired today, so you just sit quietly. Don’tmove and dont make any noise.” He was lying on the bed. After some time, I felt a cough-ing sensation and I was wondering how to stopit. I closed my mouth but I would get moreand more sensation. And then I put a hankiein my mouth to stop it and yet the sensationcame. So a noise came out, “OHH!” Baba gotso upset. He said, “I asked you not to makeany noise and you did so. Now I’m gettingpalpitations! Call the women mandali, and yoube here just near the wall, don’t go out.” So Irang the bell, and Goher came and all thewomen mandali came in Baba room. I waitedoutside. Baba tells them, “this boy has notcome to serve me but to kill me. I had askedhim not to make any noise and he made noise.”And I was listening. And Mani says, “Baba,he would not have done that knowingly.”“Knowingly or unknowingly what do I haveto do with that? He made a loud noise andnow I have palpitations. Goher, take my bloodpressure. “ Goher was taking His blood pressure and she was examining Him and so, whatcan I do? I am feeling so restless. Half andhour passes. He was complaining against me,and I was listening. And then after a whileHe asked the women Mandali to go, and Hecalled me. And then He said, “Tell me whyyou made a noise?” And I told Him I was get-tfrig a coughing sensation and fri order to check

it, I went to the extent of putting a hankie inmy mouth and closed my mouth; I would havedied rather than disturb you!” And Baba said,“Is that so? I did not know that. Come, come.”And He embraced me and He kissed me andI forgot everything. So there are numeroussuch incidents and every incident is memo-rable. But one thing is there: my life now isnothing but the life of repentance. I remember all those ththgs, which happened when Be-loved Baba was physically present. So the lifeI am leading now is the life ofrepentance. Andthis is most memorable for me now.

Question: I have alot of Christian friendswho asked me that if Baba did not speak

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against what Jesus said, how do you reconcilethe idea of reincarnation? How would youanswer them?

Bhau: There is no question of reconciliation; theTruth isTruth. And it is not that LordJesus did not say anything about reincarnation; He did not use that term. But He alsodid not say that reincarnation is not true. Andin fact, there is no reincarnation. Because Souldoes not take birth and Soul does not die. It iseternal. Only mind takes birth, but it does notdie. When it dies then of course, the goal isachieved. So mind creates a dream, and weare dreaming. And the dream is false. So rein-carnation is also false. It is not the Truth. Andthat’s why in the Bible it is not mentionedbecause it is false; it is a dream. Baba has alsosaid that there is no reincarnation. And if thereis reincarnation it is only in a dream. We seethe dream of creation and in this dream wepass through different kingdoms of evolutionof consciousness: gas, stone, vegetable fish,bird, animal, and human being. And why hasthis creation taken place? In order to knowthat only God exists. Nothing exists besidesGod. And, therefore, whatever we see, it isnothing but illusion. It exists in non-existence,and for that purpose, in order to know thateveryone is not everyone but the Reality, in-divisible, we are in creation. And only whenwe wake up from this creation, we find thatwe never took birth and we never died: it wasjust a dream. Clear?

Question: Baba has said that without HisGrace, none can love Him as He ought to beloved. What can we do to inspire Him to givethat Grace?

Bhau: You cannot inspire Beloved MeherBaba. You have to obey Him. Ifyou want HisGrace, follow His Wish and remember Him,and one day you will get His Grace.

Question: We often ask friends visitingIndia to remember us with flowers & prayersat Baba’s Samadhi, as we like to remember our

friends and loved ones when we are there aswell. Is there special value in these prayers &remembrances at Baba’s Samadhi, more sothan at any other time or place?

Bhau: It depends upon the love. And be-cause we don’t have that love, it is better tovisit His tomb, because there He distributeswine to His lovers. He has opened the WineShop, and now His work is to distribute wthe.So, when it is possible, go there. When it isnot possible, think about going there, and collect the provision for going there; and this willbe as if you are there. So wine will come toyou.

Ajewel in His Hand

comparab1efeeling mightbe this:

imagine you are in an old garden thatonce belonged to the czar. You are strollingalong the pleasure paths, which are quietflow, lovely. a park for the public. And tak/1g

a turn in the garden, you come upon a

,

Fabergejeweled egg, relic of a royal Easter-egghuntlong ago amazingly beautiful Step-€thg closer yàu see hidden just beyond it.deep within the bushes, another one, far

exquisite than’ihefirst, priceless. Howwrnd you,, Jref&ofcoe4EJ’ tothe corn-ing to light” offlve volj of discoursesgiven by Belovedàmjlate 1920secorded m an ulhn ses hand indto the priceless jewel thirty’-nme pagesBabas own handwriting. spiritual truths inpencil on separate sheets of small notepaper.The first, the discourses, had been in Eruch’scare; the second, Baba’s handwriting, was in. MiIfli1:ollection of personal papers. Muchof the (Qj3r history of each is unknown.eytfrat present both being prepared for

ATh•ition. .. .. .$JVho could haveguessed thatthirtyyears

afterHe dropped Hisbody and seventy-twoyears after He gave up writing. wewouki allbe treated to this: the beauty ofBaba’s hand-writing page after page. and the great won-der of seeing spiritual truthswrftten in Hisownhand!

But then it’s easy to imagine that youturn the corner and HE is there, under the

neemtr,writing in a notebook or onaslate,or pointing toletters on a board. doing whatHe did all life long — seeding the futurewithjewels from God.

,.

.c Heather Nadel, Sept. 1999 in correspondencefor Avatar Metier Baba Trust

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LI ° Z”1 I

by Bo Lozoff

/Bo wrote the following artide for the HunianKindnessFoundationNewsietteratChrist-inas time, 1989. k felt Baba wouldget a kickout ofthis otally 90s’letterJ

Date: Eternity

From: GOD

To:

Re:

My Children on EarthIdiotic Religious Rivalries

My Dear Children (and believe me,that all of you), I consider myself a

pretty patient Guy. I mean, look at the GrandCanyon. It took millions ofyears to get it right.And how about evolution? Boy, nothing isslower than designing that whole Darwinianthing to take place, cell by cell and gene bygene.

I’ve even been patient through your fashions, civilizations, wars and schemes, and thecountless ways you take Me for granted untilyou get yourselves into big trouble again andagain. But on this occasion ofMy Son’s birth-day, I want to let you know about some thingsthat are starting to tick me off.

First ofall, your religious rivalries are driving Me up a wall. Enough already! Let’s getone thing straight: These are your religions,not Mine. I’m the Whole Enchilada; I’m be-yond them all. Every one of your religionsclaims there only one of Me (which, by theway, is absolutely true). But in the very nextbreath, each religion claims is My favoriteone. And each claims its bible was writtenpersonally by me, and that all the other biblesare man-made. Oh, Me. How do I even be-gin to put a stop to such complicated non-sense?

Okay, listen up now: I’m your Father andMother, and I don’t play favorites among MyChildren. Also, I hate to break it to you, but Idont write. My longhand is awful, and I’vealways been more of a “doer” anyway. So allyour books, including the bibles, were writtenby men and women. They were inspired, remarkable people, but they also made mistakeshere and there. I made sure of that, so thatyou would never trust a written word morethan your own living Heart. You see, oneHuman Being to me — even a bum on thestreet — is worth more than all the holy booksin the world. Thasjust the kind of Guy I am.Holy books and religious rites are sacred and

powerful, but not more so than the least ofYou. They were only meant to steer you in theright direction, not to keep you arguing witheach other, and certainly not to keep you fromtrusting your own personal connection withMe. Which brings Me to My next point aboutyour nonsense: You act like I need you andyour religions to stick up for Me or “win souls”for My Sake. Please, don’t do Me any favors. Ican stand quite well on my own, thank you. Idon’t need you to defend Me! I just want youto be good to each other.

And another thing: I don’t get all workedup over money or politics, so stop draggingMy name into your dramas. For example, Iswear to Me that I never threatened OralRoberts. I never rode in any ofRajneesh RollsRoyces. I never told Pat Robertson to run forpresident, and I’ve never ever had a conversation withJim Bakker, Jerry Falwell, or JimmySwaggart! Of course, come Judgment Day, Icertainly intend to...

The thing is, I want you to stop thinkingof religion as some sort of loyalty pledge toMe. The true purpose of your religions is sothat you can become more aware of Me, notthe other way around. Believe Me, I know youalready. I know what in each of your hearts,and I love you with no strings attached.Lighten up and enjoy Me. That’s what religion is best for. What you seem to forget ishow mysterious I Am. You look at the pettylittle differences in your scriptures and say,“Well, if this is the Truth, then that can’t be!”So why not open your hearts to the simplecommon threads in every religion? You knowwhat I’m talking about: Love and respect everyone. Be kind. Even when life is scary orconfusing, take courage and be of good cheer,for I Am always with you. Learn how to bequiet, so you can hear My Still, SmallVoice (Idon’t like to shout). Leave the world a betterplace bylivingyourlife with dignity and grace-fulness, foryou are My Own Child. Hold backnothing from life, for the parts ofyou that candie will surely die, and the parts that can’t,won’t. So don’t worry, be happy (I stole thatlast line from Bobby McFarren, but he stole itfrom Meher Baba in the first place.) I’m verytired of being your main excuse for all yourupsets. Do you think I care whether you callme Yahweh, Jehovah, Allah, Wakantonka,Brahma, Father Mother, or even The Void

or Nirvana? Do you think I care which of MySpecial Children you feel closest to Jesus,Mary, Buddha, Krishna, Mohammed or anyof the others? You can call Me and My Special Ones any name you choose, if only youwould go about My business of loving oneanother as I love you. How can you keep neglecting something so simple? I’m not tellingyou to abandon your religions. Enjoy your religions, honor them, learn from them, just asyou should enjoy, honor, and learn from yourparents. But do you walk around telling everyone that your parents are better than theirs?Your religion, like your parents, may alwayshave the most special place in your heart; Idon’t mind that at all.

But My Special Children — the ones yourreligions revolve around — all live in the sameplace (My Heart) and they get along perfectly,I assure you. The clergy must stop creating amyth of sibling rivalry where there is none.My Blessed Children of Earth, the world hasgrown too small for your pervasive religiousbigotry and confusion. The whole planet isconnected by air travel, satellite dishes, telephones, fax machines, rock concerts, diseases,and mutual needs and concerns. Get with theprogram! If you really want to help Me celebrate the birthday of My Son Jesus, thencommit yourselves to figuring out how to feedyour hungry, clothe your naked, protect yourabused, and shelter your poor. And just asimportantly, make your own everyday life ashining example of kindness and good humor. I’ve given you all the resources you need,if only you abandon your fear of each otherand begin living,loving, and laughing together.Finally, My Children everywhere, rememberwhose birth is honored on December 25th,and the fearlessness with which He chose tolive and die. As I love Him, so do I love eachone of you. I’m not really ticked off, I justwanted to grab your attention because I hateto see you suffer. But I gave you Free Will, sowhat can I do now other than to try to influence you through reason, persuasion, and alittle old-fashioned guilt and manipulation?After all, I Am the original Jewish Mother. Ijust want you to be happy, and I’ll sit in TheDark. I really Am, indeed, I swear, with youalways. Always. Trust In Me.

YourOneandOnly, GOD

An Impatient Letter From God

FL. (b ‘3 0 t • (S 0 t (S @ êij

Is that Baba with you?Eruch Jessawala

Baba went to great lengths to see that no one recognized him. Hewould tuck his hair up under a hat and wear glasses and disguise

himself. For years and years. decades actually, Meher Baba traveledthroughout India, covering thousands of miles by train and car and busand bullock cart, and yet never disclosing his identity. So those of uswho traveled with him knew that he preferred to remain incognito. Buteven so, sometimes people would recognize Baba in spite of the precautions he took.

We might be sitting in a train compartment and someone else onthe train would nudge me and say, “Is that Meher Baba?’

Now what could we do? On the one hand we couiddt simplylie andsay, ‘No,” because Baba would not like that. But on the other hand, ifwe said, “Yes,” that too would displease Baba because it interfered withhis work when people recognized him.

So what we would do in that situation was to look at the personquizzically and say, “What?” as if we were hard of hearing.

“Is that Meher Baba with you?”“Who?’“MeherBaba.”“What’s that you’re saying? and so on and the person would con-

dude that if we didn’t recognize the name Meher Baba then we cer—tainly couldrft be traveling with him_and so they would stop askingquestions and wouldilt try and approach Baba.

Is That SoZ ci Bill Le Page, p. 70 ©Copyright 1985, Bill Le Page

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Waves ofLoveby Beth MacWhirter

Waves of love lap on the shores of YourSamadhi-Like the playful chatter and chase ofYour chipmunks--Like the birds calling out and the dogssleeping next to the cabin wall of theCreator- -

Like the lizards and bugs that scurry acrossand over this place of living love.

Waves of love lap on the shores of YourSamadhi-Like the train calling from its tracks--Like whistles and chanting beckoning Yourlovers to awaken in the earlymorning time--Like the trucks, cars and rickshaws weavinga path close, close, close to Your way up.

Waves of love lap on the shore of YourSamadhiLike the stars and moon shining out to Youthrough the night--Like the sun beaming with itsfiery delight--Like the clouds that shadow and sprinklekisses on the earth that holds Your Samadhi.

Waves of love lap on the shore of yourSamadhi-Like the footsteps of your loverscoming up the hill--Like the silent whispering hearts that singYour name on this path of love--like the joyful children with eyes alight withyour sweet smile.

Love is a Rare BirdNancy Eaton-Shev

Love is a rare bird that I am willing tolodge and feed.

I will abide by its unclipped wings anddance along as it sings.

So, come, Love-bird, and stay. I willwork for you! I will slave for you! I will playwith you!

Your magnificent flight is my soul’s RealDream, where I soar with you!

When I wake unnoticed millennia willhave passed and One of us will be God-Re-alized.

ThisBeingHuman is a GuestHouseRumi

This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness, somemomentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and attend them all! Even ifthey’re a crowd of sorrows, who violentlysweep your house empty of its furniture, still,treat each guest honorably. He may be clear-ing you out for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and in-vite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes, becauseeach has been sent as a guide from beyond.

Welcome difficulty. Learn the alchemyTrue Human Beings know: the moment youaccept what troubles you’ve been given, thedoor opens.

Welcome difficulty as a familiar comrade.Joke with torment brought by the Friend.

Sorrows are the rags of old clothes andjackets that serve to cover, and then are takenoff. That undressing, and the beautiful naked body underneath, is the sweetness thatcomes after grief.

From The Illuminated Rumi, Translations &Commentary by Coleman Barks, © 1997

Coleman Barks & Michael Green, Pub. byBroadway Books, New York

Tender flame, I declare a tattered love.I come in weakness to your strength

Faithless to your knowingPraying kneeling hoping to your stillness.

Oh that I could rise up and go to you!How can I shake the bonds oflethargy and

Constant negotiations for dark treasuresdragon booty.

Oh Flame where are you!I am blind — distracted

I carry so much baggage I cannot moveSo distant from the Sun

So cold.

How can I become naked when only youhave the courage

To strip away my clothes?Oh for the courage to die in love

To pour myself as oil into the flameof now-loving.

Again I beg unable to be brave.

I am restlessA flip-flopping

Fish out of waterAll the while strangely happy.

I will lose you! I will lose you!My fear fragrant with

Healing worshipping griefTearless cleansing weeping

Deep drinking in precious longing.

Be still. The flame is silent. Be Silent.No! Move! Draw His arrows!

When can I dareHow can I contrive to draw closer?

Contrive not to contriveMy contriving your prey — I pray.

On, on and on you lead usExhaustion feeding energy

Restlessness supporting peaceBanishment leading us home

Disintegration releasing confidenceQuietly revealing infinite power..

Be still my heart.Settle your restless longing in quiet tasks

And the art of His remembranceListen to His silence

Delight in the gentle joyFound in every moment

Praise the love that pervadesEvery home and hearth.Then you will feel the

Eternal warming flame.

EternalFlameby Owen Cooper

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11•

by Brad Kunin, Swanson, New Zealand, June, 1999

The Random House Dictionary definesthe word “abode” as “a place in which one

resides.” What meaning and significance arewe able to understand and attach to that won-derful word.

This question was floating around some-where in my conscious mind as the date ofour departure from Auckland, New Zealandneared. I have been fortunate to have visitedAvata?s Abode twice before, first in 1970 andthen eighteen years later in 1988 for the 30thAnniversary Celebrations ofBaba’s stay. Nowa further eleven years had somehow passedand the idea of revisiting Avata?s Abode be-gan to grow in my thoughts soon after my50th birthday in April of this year. The real-ization that I had spent 50 years on this planetin my present lifetime precipitated a state ofmental uneasiness and questions about my lifeto date, and more pressingly how to live theremainder of the finite life span still allottedto me. These thoughts and questions I knew,of course, had an answer—the same ever-changing yet changeless answer that I havebeen slowly learning more about for 30years—Meher Baba!

I briefly considered a pilgrimage to India,but that wasn’t practical and Baba always reminded us to be practical and not to “shirkour responsibilities.” My attention then shiftedacross the Tasman Sea. It is only three hoursflying time from Auckland and I could organize a week away from work commitmentsto be in Queensland for the 4 1st Anniversaryof His stay. After some family discussions itwas decided that my ten-year-old daughterManija would accompany me to Australia.

(Some of her impressions are contained in aseparate “interview.”)

Now back in N.Z. I’ve got hours of as yetunedited video tapes and my mind is still filledwith many wonderful kaleidoscopic imagesand memories of our trip.

Recalling Mani and me walking hand-in-hand to morning Arti in the cold, clear morn-ing along the gumtree-lined path past thesimple grave of Baba’s poet, Francis Brabazon, with the winter sun rising above the seaand shooting golden rays oflight and warmththrough the trees as kookaburras and butcherbirds greet another day at the Beloved Abodefills my heart with gladness and thankfulnessfor the natural bounties He has given us.

Over the course of the four days a mar-velously varied array of poets, ghazal readers,singers, musicians, actors, inspired artists and

joke tellers entertained the Beloved each dayand evening with their talents and heart-in-spired offerings.

The delicious, wholesome meals expertlyand lovingly prepared by a tirelessly workingcrew was, according to some long-time anniversary attendees, a minor miracle in itself!

The smoothness of the entire event is afine tribute to all those who obviously workedso well to plan arid coordinate times, activitiesand venues. Good on ya!

I remembered visiting Avatar Abode inNovember 1970 and being very impressed bythe obvious simplicity in which Francis Bra-bazon lived, right down to the sawdust dunny!*

I couldn’t help wondering what he would havemade of the scene this year as I ordered an-other cappachino from the on-site espressocoffee house!

Meeting and re-meeting of our Aussiebrothers and sisters, some of whom I hadn’tseen for 29 years, was great fun (strange howmuch older they all looked). Many of thosewhom I recalled as children now have children of their own! And speaking of children,there were children everywhere! From liter-ally babes in arms to the youth with their ownspace in which to do their own thing. And partof “that thing” was to make an outstandingcontribution to the entertainment and generalatmosphere and energy of the entire gather-ing. From what I could see and hear Babaseems to be assembling a very special group ofyoung people, like moths around His eternallove flame.

And oh yes, there was someone namedBhau Kalchuri at the anniversary this year. Andlike the Beloved he so faithfully serves, Bhaujiwas “very, very active.”

My daughter Mani was amazed that oncehe got started he could talk for more than twohours while hardly seeming to draw a breath.What was even more amazing to me wasMani’s ability and clear wish to attend moreand more, (and stillyet more!) ofBhauji talks.Natural and Unnatural Sanskaras; False Imagination; Baba’s Manifestation; Ghosts; TheMischievous Chicken; New Life Phases;Gandhs Disciple; stories of cobras, donkeys,yogis and swamis; Adam and Eve; Divine Will;Mahapralaya; Banana—wallas. All this and thenwho could believe it? Pages from The Book!?Hopefully a good portion is on video so others can also soak up some of the flavor andscent of the love that emanates so readily fromBhau.

Then there is Baba’s Room itself. Manyhomes have a special place, a center. Often it isthe kitchen or where meals are shared. (Per-haps in this age it has become the computer orTV room.) Like the Samadhi on MeherabadHill or Baba’s Bedroom at Meherazad, theheart ofAvatar Abode is Baba’s Room. It is asimple room constructed of dark Australianhardwood. There is a bed, some pillows andbed coverings, fresh flowers, a few chairs, asimple table, a window with curtains, photo-graphs above the doorway, both inside and out,a glass and wooden case with a pair of sandalsplaced on the bed. Thas what my eyes saw,but oh, how much more is in that room!

One day, alone in His Room, I had thethought that it is also His Operating Theatrewhere, when the patient is ready, He is alwaysperforming delicate, exacting “open heart surgery.”

Baba has said many times that He residesin our hearts, in each and every heart. FrancisBrabazon has written, “Avatar’s Abode is astopping place on the road to the Beloved, forHe stopped here on the road to our hearts ...

No stopping place can be a destination exceptthat place where mind stops forever and oneknows that one is God. Your destination is yourown heart in which the Eternal Ancient Oneeternally lives, but because Avatar Meher Baba,the all-loving one stayed here, the perfume ofHis Love may refresh and strengthen you onthe way to His Feet.” Indeed, this is my state—refreshed in His love, and strengthened in mydetermination to be His.

So fellow Kiwis, (and you Aussies, too) hereis my prescription for a dose of the winter illsand chills. Hop on a plane to Avatar Abodeand take the largest dose of “B” (for Baba!) vi-tamin that you can swallow. For here is one ofthose unique spots on earth where we can getthe scent of the Master Thief and still meetand talk with those who were actually at the“scene of the crime.”

And also know with certainty, fellow BabaFamily members, that He resides there becauseHe named the place!

(I just checked my dictionary and it saysreside means “to make on&s home fora considerabie time.” About 700 years I reckon!)

Meher Baba has said about Avatar Abode,“It will become one of the great places of pilgrimage in the world.”

As far as my “spiritual geography” is con-cerned, it already is.*hUsIl toilet

Avatar’s Abode Revisited

® 11

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Children’s Cornerthe morals, things like that have happenedto me.

Brad: In particular?Mani: That donkey one when they were

riding it. It says no matter what you dopeople are going to make remarks and stuff.Not everyone’s going to like it. Sojust carryon, don’t try to impress people by not being

Brad: What are some of \ \your favourite memories \ \from Avatar’s Abode? . .

\\

Mani: Listening to Bhau \speak because I learnt a lot ‘

\\ . .

and got answers to some • . .

questions that I had. ., I 7

Brad: Questions? .

Mani: For everything,animals, every living thing

‘,

He comes as that for them.

: To a sparrow He’s a sparrow.I learnt heaps more aboutBaba. Why He came. What ‘

,

He does and who He is. Ivan- the comedian was funny and‘ that ghazal Peter Milne

wrote and Steve Hem deliv-: ered had everyone in stitches: including, Bhauji!

Brad: Many adults I’venoticed find it hard to sit andlisten to Bhau for one to twohours. How were you able tosit and listen so long? yourself.

Mani: Because I enjoy it. I like it. It isn’tboring for me, also I’ve had a lot of practiceat sitting for long times and it makes senseand I understand him. Some of the stories,

felt familiar though I’d never seen it before,but I’d seen a lot ofstufflike it at other places,Myrtle Beach and India. His Room was likethe Lagoon Cabin at Myrtle Beach.

Brad: What did you see?Mani: In the cabinet there were moulds

of His feet, hair, toe nail clippings, prasadlollie wrappers that Francis Brabason savedwhile in India. In another case was a pinkcoat and two sadras. I was amazed they werenot tattered. They’re kept in really nice con-dition. It’s really neat cause it’s like bowing

down to His feet because Hissandals are on the bed. To me it’s

,- - like He’s really there because of

/ the painting that Diana Le Page. did of Baba sitting on the bed.

Brad: What about the otherkids there?

Mani: Before I got there Ionly knew Lizzie, then I metAleshia, Kendra, Montana andheaps of kids, some really littleones. It was good being with allthe kids because at most of theother Baba places I’ve been tothere haven’t been many otherkids my age.

Brad: What would you sayto other New Zealand kids andyoung people who are not ableto go to India because of the distance or the money?

Mani: I would encouragethem to go (to Avatar’s Abode)because I learned heaps therethat I didn’t know anythingabout.

Brad: Thank you Mani, Jai BABA!

Interview with Mani Kuninby Brad Kunin, New Zealand, June 1999

The following interview was conductedhigh above the Tasman Sea as my ten-

year old daughter, Manija and I were return-ing to New Zealand after participating inthe 4 1st Anniversary Celebrations at Avatar’sAbode, Queensland, Australia, June 11-14,1999.

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. . .‘

Brad: Sounds like good advice to me!What about Baba’s Room?

Mani: Before I came I didn’t know whatwas there. Baba’s House, Baba Room. Itjust

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/Perhaps inspiredbyourlengthyartideson warm thepreviousissu Mr Ramanujam sent us this compilation ofBaba words. TK Ramanujamis the author ofthe verypopular bookMuch Love, also WorryNot, Be Happy EdJ

Live on Earth as the Children ofthe One Father:A Message from Avatar Meher Baba

Cbuds are hovering around the worldindicating that a World War may begin

at any time. We are also seeing smaller warsgoing on at many locations. Almost all nations posses destructive weapons and as suchwe are all sitting on the top of a mountain ofdestruction. If there is war it means nothingshort of racial suicide and total destruction.Mere propaganda against war or an appeal forworld peace by various world organizationswould not stop it. To avoid wars and to bringpeace, humanity would have to have Spiritualunderstanding.

On 1st November 1962, while addressingHis Lovers from the East and the West,Meher Baba said, “All religions of the worldproclaim that there is but One God the Father of all in creation—I am that Father.”Meher Baba has come to remind humanitythat all should live on this earth as the children of One Father until His grace awakensthem to the realization that they are all onewithout a second, and all the divisions andconflicts and hatred are but a shadow-play oftheir own ignorance. Humanity has ignoredthe simplicity and beauty of this Truth by in-dulging in hatreds, conflicts and wars that di-vide them in enmity, instead of living as onefamily in their Fathe?s House, e.g., on thisplanet Earth.

It is time humanitylistens to Meher BabaSilent words and acts in a responsible way be-fore it is too late, and prepares itself for receiving the Word ofWords, forwhich Meher Babahas come. In October of 1967, Meher Babasaid that, “The fate of the Universe hangs onMy Seclusion and the redemption of man-kind depends upon My Manifestation.”Meher Baba observed silence for 44 years andHis Manifestation is directly linked with thebreaking of His Divine Silence, giving theWord of Words. Meher Baba has said, “Thetime has come when I shall break My Silence.The whole world will get a spiritual push andthe hearts of My intimate lovers shall beopened then. Such a time will not come againand has not come in the past. When I breakMy Silence the world will be shaken into therealization of Who I Am. When I break MySilence, the impact will jolt the world out of

by T.K. Ramanujam, Mangalore

its spiritual lethargy and will push open thehearts of all who love Me and who are con-nected with Me. What will happen when Ibreak My Silence has never happened before.”

On another occasion, He also said that“Something great will happen that has neverhappened before and which will not happenfor billions and billions of years to come. Itwill not happen in developing stages but willcome suddenly. People will be going abouttheir daily duties until the moment ofits hap-pening. In the world today, there is pain, suffering and a gloomy depressive atmosphereeverywhere. This depressive atmosphere willbegin to increase. Just as a pregnant womanhas to undergo all sorts of troubles during herpregnancy which become worse during labor,so there will be suffering before—and it willreach its zenith when I break My Silence.”Every great change must be carefully timed.How else would it be with the greatest revolution in the history of the world—the revolution in the mind ofman? The time to preachin the market place will come—only after theworld has been humbled and purified by a car-nage, greater than the world has yet seen.”

So many prophecies have been made byNostradamus, astrologers, clairvoyants, etc.regarding the destruction ofthe world, but noone is very sure about Doomsday. So manyprophecies have proved wrong. But the worldmoves on day by day becoming more en-tangled in the atmosphere of fear and uncertainties. Meher Baba’s words give soothingassurances for a bright future.

In 1945 Meher Baba underwent a seclusion in the dense forests of Angiras RishiMountain. When He came out of seclusionHe dictated to Adi K. Irani that a giganticdisaster would overwhelm the world whichwould wipe out three-quarters ofmankind. InHis Final Declaration on 30th September1954, Meher Baba dictated, “The time hascome for the pre-ordained destruction ofmultiple separateness which keeps man from experiencing the feeling of unity andbrotherhood. This destruction, which will takeplace very soon, will cause three-fourths of theworld to be destroyed. The remaining one-fourth will be brought together to live a life of

concord and mutual understanding, thus establishing a feeling of oneness in all fellow-beings, leading them towards lastinghappiness. Before I break My Silence, or immediately after it, three-fourths of the worldwill be destroyed.”

On 9th of July 1925, as Meher Baba retired for the night He dictated that “From to-morrow I will be observing silence” and Healso said that, “Until the world cries out forGod I will not give up My Silence.” On an-other occasion He said that, “Of My own, Ishall not break My Silence; Universal criseswill make Me do so. When the crisis will reachits absolute culmination, it will make Me utter the Word.” Till then, humanity shouldbehave in a responsible way, becoming awareof the presence of God in their midst, irrespective of their nationality, religion, caste,creed, sects, sex, societies or cults. Meher Babaassured that “I shallbreak My Silence and withMy Word of Words arouse My children torealize in their lives, the indivisible existencewhich is God.”

The spiritual enlightenment ofman is essential for a solution to the individual and so-cial factors underlying the war. When one getsenlightened to the truth, when one begins toappreciate that all humanity, nay, all creationis one, the problem of wars will begin to disappear. Meher Baba explains that “Wars mustbe so clearly seen by all to be both unnecessary and unreasonable; that an immediateproblem will not be to stop wars but to wagethem spiritually against the attitude of mindwhich generates them.” Ignorant humanitygets involved in war in the name ofGod. Thereis no justification in saying that God favorsone side and not the other. God does not scaleHis grace to suit man temporal quarrels andprejudices. His favor knows no discrimination;His Love is all embracing.

While giving a discourse on World Peace,Meher Baba said “Humanity is not going tobe saved by material power, nuclear or other-wise. It can be saved only through divine in-tervention. God has never failed humanity inits dark and critical periods. The greatest dan-ger to man today is not from any natural catastrophe, but from himself. It is not possible

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to realize human brotherhood merely by appealing to high ideals or to a sense of duty.Something more than that is essential to release human consciousness from the clutchesofselfishness and greed. Today the urgent needofmankind is not sects or organized religions,but Love. Divine love will conquer hate andfear. It will not depend upon other justifications, but will justify itself. I have come toawaken in man this divine love. It will restoreto him the unfathomable richness of his owneternal being and will solve all his problems.”

The reader ofthis article may have doubtsabout the breaking of Meher Baba’s silencewhen He has already dropped the body. Ifyougo through Meher Babas literature in full, yourdoubts will be erased. Before Baba droppedthe body, He summoned His secretary Adi K.Irani to Meherazad in December 1968, per-mitting him to have His Darshan for a shortwhile. Baba asked Adi—”Do you really be-lieve that I am the Avatar of the Age?” Adiwas astonished, being a disciple of 40 yearsstanding. He said “Yes Baba, I believe you arethe Avatar of the Age.” Again Baba asked“Under all circumstances?” “Yes Baba, underall circumstances. “ “Even if I go into a coma?”Adi replied, “Yes Baba, you are the Avatar evenifyou go into a coma.” Then finally Baba toldAdi “I will go into a coma but I will comeback.” When Mohamed, the 5th Plane mast(who still lives at Meherabad) was informedthat Baba dropped the body he said “Dadagele; paratyeyeel” which means Dada (he usedto call Meher Baba Dada) has gone and hewill come back.”

Today followers of Christianity, Mohammedanism, Buddhism and Hinduism areawaiting the arrival ofthe second Christ, ImamMehdi, Maitreya and the Kalki Avatar. So alsolovers of Meher Baba are expecting the break-ing of His silence. It is time for humanity tobecome aware ofHis divinity and His author-ity. They may visit Meher Baba tomb shrineand get enlightened and feel blessed and takeHim into their hearts, awakening to His watchwords—Love and Service. Above the entranceto the Tomb are the words “Mastery in Servitude. “ On all four corners of the roof are symbols ofthe four major religions: Christianitycross, Hinduism temple, MohammedanismMosque and Zorastrianism Fire; a physicalreminder of Baba statement that He wouldbring together allreligions like beads upon onestring. Perhaps, in His Loving Grace, He willbring all of us together — one humanity, let-ting us experience within our hearts the fruition of His manifestation and the breaking ofHis silence.

Love AnnihilatesIllusion ofSeparateness

Meher Baba

Complete identification of the Masterwith the spiritual ideal is responsible for

removing such barriers as might exist betweenthe aspirant and the Master. This gives rise tothe release of unrestrained love for the Masterand leads to the meditation ofthe heart, whichconsists in constant thinking about the Master with an uninterrupted flow oflimitless love.Such love annihilates the illusion of separate-ness, which seems to divide the aspirant fromthe Master; and it has in it a spontaneity thatis virtually without parallel in other forms ofmeditation. In its final stages, meditation ofthe heart is accompanied by unbounded joyand utter forgetfulness of self.

Love for the Master leads to increasingidentification with the Master, so that the as-pirant desires to live in and for the Master andnot for his own narrow self.

From Discourses, by Meher Baba, Copyright1987 AMBPPCT Ahmednagar, India, ThirdPrinting 1995, Printed by Sheriar Press, Inc.

No Smoke Visibleby Eruch Jessawala

Meher Baba would often tell us thatthere was no smoke visible with the

fire of real love. “The flame of love withindoes not even give out smoke for others tosee, “ He would tell us. “When you love Me,you burn within yourself and yet appearcheerful with a broad smile. You bear thepangs ofseparation calmly and quietly. Eventhe sigh of the pang of separation is an in-sult to love.”

Baba, would tell us to, “Attend to all yourduties and you can still love Baba by dedicating all good and bad to Me. Just as youdress your body with clothes and then for-get all about the dress you wear during theday, similarly dress your soul with thoughtsof Baba, and Baba will then be with you allthe time, even without your paying any fur-ther attention.”

From That HowIt Was, Stories ofLife WithMeherBaba, by Eruch Jessawala, Copyright

1995 AMBPPCT, Ahmednagar, MS., India

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27 years old - a multi-part summary ofhis decent from God-Realization into grossconsciousness:

“...the prohibition movement started in In-dia and protests against liquor and toddy shopsarose. The liquor shops were picketed and business drastically fell off. On this pretext, one day inJuly 1921, Meher Baba told his parents, ‘I am go-ing to Sakori to see Upasni Maharaj and requesthim to put a stop to this prohibition. I will comeback in about a week.’ With these words, Babaleft Poona alone; however, he did not return forsix months. During this period with Upasni atSakori, Meher Babacompletelyregained his nor-mal human consciousness of the world to beginhis divine mission as the AVATAR OF THEAGE.

To understand what Merwan Sheriar Tranihad undergone during those eight years (fromJanuary 1914 to January 1922) is to understandthe process of Realization and Perfection. AfterBabajans kiss, Merwan had attained God-Con-sciousness; his inner state was that of aMAJZOOB - one drowned in infinity For almost two years, creation did not exist for him - inhis indMdual mind - inanymannerorformwhatsoever. Merwan consciousness was divine - itwasinfInite - it was perfect, but he had no mastery ofall-knowledge, all-power, and all-bliss. Merwanwas conscious of infInite light, and was Light It-sell but totally unconscious of Its shadow (thecreation) - his own self and the world.

As the Avatar, the direct descent of God intoa male human body, God had descended into thebody ofMerwan from His state ofthe Absolute -

Beyond-God.This man, M. S. Irani, never passedthrough the process of evolution, reincarnationand involution prior to his birth. The five PerfectMasters of our Age brought him down into theform ofMerwan from his formless state of God.But from 1894 to 1913, the five Perfect Mastersveiled him from his own divinity, his own identityas Original God. Babajan gentle kiss in January1914, tore away that protective veil of vidnyanisariskaras, and within minutes he became oncemore infInitely aware of his Real Self as InfiniteExistence. However, after Babajans kiss, sirnultaneously with the attainment of the ‘I Am God’state, Merwan lost every tinge of normal humanconsciousness. He had a human body that auto-matically acted, but he had no awareness of thatbody; he was only conscious of being infInite inknowledge, infinite in powei infInite in bliss.

Itwas through Babajan that Merwan attainedinfinite bliss, through Sal Baba that he attainedinfInite powei and through Upasni Maharaj thathe attained infInite knowledge. Narayan MaharajandTajuddin Babaplayed direct roles in bringing

Adi ShaktiOffered by Ron Festine, creator of

BabaDaze from LordMeher by Bhau Kalchuri,AMBCPPT

him into creation also, but indirect roles in bring-ing him down after he was God-Realized. Onemay conclude that Narayan Maharaj andTajuddin Baba brought Merwan down throughthe mental planes, and Sal Baba brought himacross the fourth plane of infinite power and di-vine powers, and then through the three planesofthe subfleworld.WhenUpasnistruckMerwanwith the stone at their initial encountei it wasthe first time in nearly two years that he experienced an iota of gross consciousness.

All five Perfect Masters play a direct or indirect role in bringing the Avatar into creation,forming a veil of vidnyani sanskaras through ablending of their individual personalities, thengiving back his God-Consciousness and bring-ing him back down to function perfectly on allplanes and all levels of consciousness. UpasniMaharaj played the most direct role in bringingMerwan back down to function on every leveland plane of existence. It was during this seven-year contact with Upasni Maharaj that Merwanfully regained his individual human conscious-nesswhilesimultaneouslybeing God-Conscious.

A worldly person has consciousness of onlythe grossworld, and knows nothing about God-Consciousness. Such a person does not have evenashadow ofan idea ofthe reality ofGod. A spin-tually advanced person on one ofthe three planesof the subtle world knows of the powers of God,and on the fourth plane (KUBER) one knowsthe full, infInite power of God. An advancedWALT on the fifth plane of the mental world

knows the infinite mind of God, while a PIR(saint) on the sixth plane of the mental worldsees the infInite existence ofGod. Only a PerfectSoul (SH1V-ATMA) on the seventh plane reaflyknows God, because he isfully, infinitely con-scious of actually being God himself

Once God-Realizationis attained, itbecomesand remains everlasting. God-Consciousness isnever affectedby anything in the three spheres orbyanycircumstances. Itis continually experiencedas an ‘infinite self-contained phenomenodwithinones own infinity. Howevei in order for a personwith God-Consciousness to do universal workin the three spheres, consciousness of thosespheres is required. Such is the functioning stateofthe Perfect Masters and the avatar.

To regain gross consciousness, seven stageshave to be passed through. A description in detail of each stage is not possible. After Realization, a person must pass from the seventh planeto the sixth mental plane maintaining seventhplane God-Consciousness; from the sixth planeto the fIfth maintaining seventh and sixth planemental consciousness; from the fifth plane to thefourthmaintainingseventh, sixth, andflfth mentalplane consciousness; from the fourth to the thirdplane maintainingseventh, sixth, fifth and fourthplane subtle consciousness; and so forth, main-tainingthehighersixplanes ofconsciousness, untilthe Perfect Being crosses the fIrst plane into thegross world maintaining consciousness ofall sevenplanes. To regain normal human consciousnessis to come down through these seven planes fromthe very heights of divinity - from Infinity itselfThis is the blessed state of Perfect Masters.

Diving to the bottom of the ocean of divinelife to obtain the pearl of Realization and to resurface to show the pearl to others comprises thelives ofthe Perfect Masters. But the Avatar doesnot have to dive to the depths of the ocean be-cause he eternally possesses the pearl of divinelife. Yet to show it to the world, Merwan S. Iranihad to regain his worldly awareness to functionas Avatar Meher Baba. Side by side with the di-vine consciousness of Units the Avatar has theconsciousness of the interplay of duality.

The difference in coming down through theseven planes between the Perfect Masters andthe Avatar vastly differs. When a Perfect Mastercomes down, he becomes conscious ofeverythingand everyone in creation; he becomes one witheverything and everyone, but he does not becomethose very things and beings. Whereas, the Avatar actually becomes everything and everyone, andhe alone suffers everything that everyone suffers.Therefore, in his coming down, there is infiniteagony. For example, when the children threwstones atTajuddin Baba, although they appearedto have hurthim, he neverfelt the pain.Tajuddin

••

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only acted as if he had felt the pain. Whereas,when Merwan was hit on the forehead by thestone thrown by Upasni Maharaj, he actually feltthe pain of the stone striking his flesh and skullbone.

From 1915 through 1921, while regaininghis gross consciousness in Poona, Merwan veryslowly became aware ofhis immediate surround-ings. His name changed as the light ofhis innerdivinity became radiant to others and as his aware-ness of the world increased - from Merwan toMerwan Seth, to Meher Baba. He experiencedall things comingoutofhisbeing, emerging froman innermostpointinhimself- the OM POINT

He was God-Conscious and as a humanbeing he would be active, but his actions wereautomatic, without premeditation. His humanacts were similar to that of a robotic mechanismthat functions when started. From 1915, whenhe would do a certain action he would do thesame thing continuously until he was stopped bysomeone. Yeshwant Rao Boravke, UpasniMaharaj close disciple, was given the order dir-ing Meher Babas six-month stay at Sakori toprepare paan and betal leaffor Baba every night.Another disciple of Upasni Maharaj, namedTrimbak, was given the same duty during theday. Once Baba started chewing paan, he woulddo it continuously - asking for one paan afteranother. Both Yeshwant Rao and Trimbak hadto work like a machine - on a fast assembly line -

to keep up with Meher Babas requests, for hewould consume hundreds of the paan leaves inone evening.

Meher Baba would chew more paan at nightthen during the day. Once Yeshwant became soexhausted preparing the leaves that he collapsedandfell asleep exhaustedforafewminutes. UpasniMaharaj happened to come by and caught himresting. Kicking him, Upasni scolded, ‘Dort youever let me catch you asleep again! Consider ityour sacred duty to prepare paan for Merwan.Have you any idea how fortunate you are to serveMerwan? In the future, youa better not be sonegligent.’

Duningonestageofhiscomingdown, MeherBabafelt that hewas all alone in the universe. Heexperienced the whole universe existing for himalone. Whatever happened in the universe hap-pened solelyforhim. His experiencewas not thathe felt it to be so , but he actually saw it to be so.For instance, if he saw a man walking, eating ortalking, he saw himself and knew that it was hewho waswalking, eating or talking. He saw him-self become everyone and became conscious ofbeing everyone.

It is impossible to delve into and reveal thedetails ofMeher Babas experiences orto describethe experiences ofthe descent ofone who is God-

F

Realized and emerges back into the universal creation. What is essential is to comprehend thatGod-Consciousness is totally separate for theiranscendent ofall the varied aspects ofconscious-ness - mental, subtle, or gross. God-Realizationis the experience of the very Consciousness ofGod - and of Him alone. It is Absolute Exist-ence -infinite and eternal. In reality, nothing exisis besides It.

Meher Babas experiences during the majorstages of his descent - that he alone as God existed, that the universe was only functioning forhim alone, thateverythingexisted because ofhim,that he was everything, that he was everyone, thathe was responsible for everything and everyone,that by his very existence he was meant to helpeverything and everyone - were distinct stages ofhigher consciousness involved with his descentthrough the seven planes into the gross world.He was then, over a period ofseven years, gradually becoming more and more conscious of theworld, and the purpose ofhis actual actual beingand identity - his Avatarhood. In God-Con-sciousness there is absolutely nothing that per-tains to the universe - there is no consciousnessof the existence of the universe, or anything, oranyone else. To the Avatar or Perfect Mastei evenafter completely recovering normal consciousness,the whole universe, which he sees and is in chargeof looks like a mere shadow”

“During another stage of his regainingworldly consciousness, Meher Baba began experiencing the thoughts ofall human beings in theuniverse. The individual thoughts of those per-sons in the gross world, irrespective of whetherthey were near (on earth) or far (in another gal-axy),would instantaneouslypour into his universal mind at the moment they were created

(thought). The numerous thought-waves wereso forceful and so tremendously rapid, it is inn-possible to describe their effect. The very processof infInite thinking was rushing through MeherBaba individual mind; hecouldwithstand it onlybecause his mind had become universal.

Thought-waves vibrate faster than any speedknown to man; thus, all thought-waves of all ofhumanity on earth would stream into and per-meate MeherBaba universal mind in afewminutes. At the beginning of this particular stage ofBabas coming down, when his universal mindwas starting to function, he was sitting alone by awater canal at Sakori. Within a few minutes, theforce ofthe thoughts ofthousands and thousandsof persons on earth entered his universal mind.The impact of it was so tremendous that he be-came extremely agonized, as ifhis mind was be-ingpulled apartbyaflthe contradictory thoughts.He became extremely uneasy and restless, and atthat time, he had to submerge his head under-

water in the canal to try to break the shock. Heheldhis head underwaterfor several minutes untllhis indMdual mind found relief.

During another stage ofhis coming down atSakori, Meher Baba had another experiencewhich he later described:

‘Iexperiencedcircles and circles oflights coming out of my heart. My heart was open: therewere countless circles within circles bursting. Allthe infmite number ofuniverses were coming outof me - my heart - each containing an infInitenumber ofplanets, moons and suns!’

MeherBaba’s physical labor inthe toddyshopat Kasba Peth helped him tremendously in theprocess of coming down. While he labored inthe toddy shop, he was near the fInal stage ofregaining worldly consciousness. During thisstage he felt the impulse to work continuouslyand exert himself physically. This impulse to bephysically active came from Upasni Maharaj, forUpasni was directing Meher Baba descent.

This stage ofregaining normal human con-sciousness required the accomplishment ofdeedsof the purest virtue, done with the deepest humiity. To attain this pure humility, Meher Babaworked like a menial laborer in the toddy shopfor three years, in spite of the fact that he wasactually a divine man, completely full of the di-vine consciousness of infinite knowledge, powerand bliss. During this phase ofthree years, Babawould clean the toilets, sweep the shop floors andsurrounding areas, wash the dirty glasses, cupsand dishes of the customers and do all kinds ofmenial tasks.

On one occasion Behramji recounted: ‘OnceMerwan Seth started fIlling empty bottles withtoddy,hewould continue doingthe taskfor hoursuntil everybottle was fIlled.Though this taskwassqualid, he would show an interest in doing it.The majority of the customers were poor, crudepeople; mostwere ffliterate, attired indirty clothesand used obscene language to express themselves.They would spit on the floor of the shop wherever they were sitting, and Merwan would mopthe floors clean every day. Most were alcoholics,and when drunk they would find comfort lyingon the floor or in the street. Merwan, howeveiwouldservethese alcoholics and treatthem kindly,ifnot lovingly.’

The toddy shop was a ‘front’ which enabledMeher Baba to do humble, lowly physical labor.No sooner was its purpose served than the pro-hibitionprotests started in Poona.Theliquor andtoddy shops were picketed and people protestedagainst alcohol in any form.”

LordMehez Bhau Kaichuri, Vol. 1, pg. 315-317

Copyright (c) by AMBPPCT, Bhau Kaichuri,Lawrence Reiter, Mountain Data Works

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