Love Street Lamp Post 1st Qtr 1998

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. e Editor’s Corner

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by Dma Snow Jai Baba folks and a happy New Year to you all!

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we were ready to go to press, yet another of The Beloved’s close ones left us and joined Him. Minoo Bharucha finally got his wish and is merged in the Ocean of Love. We did not have the time nor space to print nearly as much as we would have liked to about Minoo, who was so very dear to so many people. There have been many stories posted on the Baba Listserv with people telling us personal anecdotes of times spent in his company; but there are approximately 360 people on the Listserv and probably a thousand or more who read the LampPost. So let’s share your stories with all of us. We invite you to send in your fondest or funniest memories (for Minoo could be quite a card!) and any especially good photos you may have. We

will give Minoo his own spread in our April issue. But remember the deadline for submissions is February 8th.

At this point we are not exactly sure just who will be doing the design and layout ofthat issue... David McNeely (October’96, April ‘97 issues) will be in India, Tom Hart, (July and October ‘97 issues) will be either on his honeymoon or a very newlywed (and even I wouldn’t ask him to spend 8 hours a night for three straight weeks working on the LampPost!) So that leaves Liz Gaskin, the Australian designer of the beautiful J anuary issue you are now holding. It does seem that Baba has been giving these wonderful and talented people a baptism by fire for their first issue and then allows them to do the next issue and really enjoy it! If there are any other professionals out there very proficient in Adobe PageMaker, with the desire and the time on their hands, please contact us, we’d love to hear from you.

Responding to our request in the last issue for your yearly donation, we have been getting some wonderful letters from many of our readers as they pop a check in the mail, telling us how much the LampPost means to them. Ten dollars will just cover costs, but many of you have sent $20, $30 and even $50. Thank you all so much! . .

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The money is very important to our continued ability to publish, but far more than that, is the knowledge that this magazine means so much to you. It is a wonderful validation to the folk who put in so many hours (months!) putting it all together. As we go to press, we have received donations from 89 people.

We have over 800 on our subscription list, so except for those who have sent a check within the past few months, we would really appreciate your help in our continued ability to bring you the Love Street LampPost.

Don’t forget to send us your jokes for the Humor for Huma page (a joke you would have told Baba ifHe had called upon you to entertain Him!) We are also looking for more of the marvellous Baba insights our very youngest Baba lovers have been saying. (As in ‘Kids Say the Darndest Things!’) Cynthia Barrientos is collecting them, so email her at Cybar7@AOL.COM or send them to the Center here and we will forward them on to her.

Remember—this is your magazine—what you send to us is what we can sharewith our whole Baba family. Enjoy!

CALENDAR OF EVENTS C1ndr ,f f Avata- Mh- Bab Southcr Caifoni

FarsiMnetings Threr nstssge ear€ drnatrd Is thr dseeaee as sfBrlarndBesbes essdbrgss sto:OOprs.

Jantaary3sd,l7th,and3lst February 14th and28th March 14th and28th Cserdinated by: Dr. Mahmsud Ajang.

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hld& th C,t.1214 S. V N€sA CA (213) 731-3737. Mtig frdp t thpthl Ify h€ d! ??qtfr (714) 725-9552

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Vesta Clinton Marguerite Poley Dma Snow (top), Fred White (bottoni) Dma Snow Dma Snow Win Coates g Mik and Mary Hamilton Mik and

DinaSn. Parr

lamulton

snith Baha since the ‘60’s and is a cetrsnnt resident ef India snillhn shas-ingstoriestfhnrlifewithMeherBaha.Saturday 7:OQpne.

January 10th GalloNsght. CometoFrrdandGiGi’sfamous Guttanight foran eneningoffian,food,highspinitual humo; andfniends, all focused on Beloned Baba. Saturday 7:00pm.

:00pm sharp By request Saturday meetings mill start at 7 and endby 9:00pm.

FEBRUARY Fsbruury7tb Lirisgin Isdiofrrss 1974 to 1979. Come and hear of Vnstu Clinton’s life with Mehnraand ofher work at the Meher :OOpm. Fret Dispensary in Mehnraead. Saturday 7 Fsbruary 14th

Jassuaryl7th Is the P rerser rfthr Br/oneS Tonight our dear Marguerite Foley continues the fascinating story of her life and the eireumstanees thatled to hermeeting Meher Baba.Wr are fortunate to bane so many in our midst mho actually met Baba. Saturday 7 :00pm.

Januaey24th Retarsrrrfronslsdso.Tonightouvpilgnimshaningreerny returned from the ‘home Once: home’ Meherabad and Meherazad, eometoshavenems anduntoldstories. Saturday 7:00pm.

Bobea,Yra err roy Valentine Come celebrate Valentine’s night

with the Ocean ofloee, MeherBaba. Music, Games, Poetry, onsnrn Baba films, and lots offun. Flosted by Dma Snow.

Saturday 7:00pm.

Frbruary2lst A Drlighfful Emssisg seirh Mrhrr Boboi Istsrseatr Fo,s,(y Rejoice in Baba’s life tonight with our dear guests ‘Franry Irani’(Babals sister in law)andherdaughterShireen Bonnev :OOpw. (Babak riser). Saturday 7

January3oth Ansaveithi.Tonightwe markthrpassingofthe one mho nenerdirs, Brloned AvatarMrherBaba. Special guettThom Fovtson,mhohasmorkedontherestoration oftheSamadhi, millbe sharing his stories along with slides. Slotted by Pat Griffin Friday 7:00pm.

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MARCH Mareh7th DissrsAaerirs sight. Tonight the Center’s Annual Dinner Auction mill be held at Meherabode.This is going to be a very fun evening, so make your vestryaS onrarly. Look for aregistvatton packet in the mail. Saturday.Thetimewill be announcedlatnr.

Macrb 14th Psvoo, Near Year Ring in the Persian new year. Special guest, Dr Ghafani from Northem Califomiawilltalkabout MrhnrBabo’The Onetn the many.’ Stones, Dance, Music and rrfreshmrnts. Saturday 7:00pm.

March 21st MrhnBoboo,dHrl(yseord,PovtffJoin us for alonelytalk

Fnbruary25th 104:hBoshdoyrf’ThrErwLirungPrvJhet Osc’A glorious

Januory3lst Amorti/hi Film Night. Come to film night and see our Beloved’sradianthumanform onfilm.Iloscedby Charlie Morton. Saturday 7:00pm.

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NrseSru:isg, EsdsngtsmrforSotasdoy rsrntssge!

MyLfiseitbMrhrrBabnJudy Stephens (Page) snhsssebeen

‘1 Vesta Clinton

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SatsardayMrrtiosgs

JANUARY Jassssary3rd

Lynne BelTy Lynne Berry Vesta Clinton,

Jeanne Moje

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MssssdayMertissgs LnsdMthn&udsnge.’Drspinttdninkthn neetarsfMeher Baba’s dininelesne.Readings andditruss: sn oflsrdMehry byBhau Kalehusi. Coordinated by Fred Stankus. Begins at 7:30pm.

Arti Jrir us at the ‘Domr’ 6:3Oprr rrrry Sattarday night ta sing in A-ti tt Bnlovnd Baba. Bring ystsr fansritn ssng ts share.

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crlnbration ofMeherBabaslifrthrough Readings, Poetry, Music and Dance. Special guests Pvancy Irani, Shimen B onner and evrs—chavmingJackSmall singing.Wednesday 7:OOpm.

byJrff Maguire aboutl934 trip and Mrhrr Baba’s Film Project Marcb22nd Thr Hrllyserrd Thor Join us in a tour of0lollywood sites visited by Meher Baba in the ‘30’s and ‘50’:. Coord:nuted by our sweet Oily Goodrum. Sunday 12:00pm.

Frbruuey28th AdrlriBobo Tmsenme. Adele Wolkin, who met MeherBaba

Mareb28th

in 1952, has accumulated a vast collection of photographs, cables and countless other Baba treasures. Tonight she continurs to share ber archiret.llosted by Fred Stankus.

Saturday 7 :00pm.

ThrJekrirs Or MeherBabasays “Life is ajest.”Comcand share your funny Baba stories from your life with the ‘WrycstoftheWry.’ ModeratedbyMitchel Rose. Saturday 7:OOpm.

I Apublication oftheAvatarMeher Baba Center ofSouthern California

LoveStreet £amL2osr welcome The £oveStreetj,amLPost is dedicated with love to Avatar Meher Baba. Its primary purpose is to contribute to a sense of community among all His lovers by providing a place for sharing His remembrance. All members ofthe Baba fam ily are invited to contribute to this feast of Love.

features: Meher Baba on Prayer Meher Baba Eruch on the Master at Prayer Eruch Jessawala You Alone Exist Bhau Kaichuri A Ghazal Meher Baba Dana Field M K Shubat-Hage, L Berry & A Wolkin Minoo Bharucha JamieNewell Meher Baba on Worry MeherBaba 1965 Birthday Message MeherBaba

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.

special features:

Please submit your text on computer disks if possible (in any software format); typewritten copy on white paper is also ac ccptable. Be sure to clearly identify all submissions and properly credit every quote or reference.

The New Life Sahavas at Meherana DinaSnow Fifty Years with Meher Baba Marguerite Poley A Quilt for Baba Anne Makeig A Wedding at Meherabode Pamela Wolfe Roshan Kerawala’s Story, part II Linda Zavala Little Ways ofLetting Us Know Jane Barry Haynes I Wont Hold Back Life Gabriella Tal How ItAliHappened Ward Parks Festival ofthc Arts at Meherabode Pictorial Dear Baba-family, Jai Baba! (A Letter from theTrust) Bhau Kaichuri An Invitation to Avatar’s Abode 40th Anniversary in June, 1998

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submissions, subscriptions, donations: Love Street LampPost Avatar Meher Baba Center ofSouthern California 1214 South Van Ness Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90019—3520 phone (213) 731—3737 e-mail Bababooks@aol.com

Monkey Mind Takes Darshan Jamie Newell at Meherana

: November 8 : February gth th : May 8 : Aug 8th

Edito?s Corner

Love Street Bookstore:

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Dma Snow (at the addresses above) (310) 837—6419 between 7:00 and 11:00pm (310) 839—BABA (2222) 24-hour fax or e-mail Bababooks@aol.com

Calendar of Events Humor for Huma Notes from the Internet Childrens Corner

The Love Street Bookstore Center Report Announcements (Meetings, Weddings, etc)

Love Street LampPost: art direction design and layout digital scanning distribution

Steve Klein

DinaSnow

: Dma Snow : Avatar Meher Baba : Liz Gaskmn : Thomas Hart : Chris Lyttle and Don Douglas

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DinaSnow Mahoo Ghorbani Marguerite Poley various contributors various contributors DinaSnow Michael Ramsden

£ove.*.Street £amj.J?osr

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published quarterly, in

January,April,July, and October.All contents © 1997,AvatarMcher Baba Center ofSouthem California. All quotations ofAvatarMeher Baba or books, © AMBPPC’I India.

2 2 17 28 29 36 39

reviews: The Samadhi—Slar qflnfinity The Samadhi—Star A View fGod—Mther Baba

Heather Nadel Michael Ivey Steven Goodman

credits: The

:..

departments: .

editor

14 15 20 21 23 26 27 30 33 37 38

miscellaneous:

deadlines for submissions: J an-Mar issue Apr-Jun issue Jul-Sep issue Oct-Dec issue

4 .5 9 10 12 13 18 37

Cover: Panday Backcover: Panday Photos: See page 2 All other words, images, and graphics in this publication are property oftheir respective copyright holders. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited by law.

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Meher Baba on Prayer I There

has been much discussion—pro and con—regardingprayers. Somepeople want the threeprayers Babagave us saidat every meeting, others would rather not say them in unison with thegroup, butprefrr them to be something very p rivate between Baba and themselves, to be said at home or whenever the mood strikes them.

Here at Meherabode we attempted to make everybody happy by havingArti held separately in Babac Room in the Dome. So those who love to be apart ofa largegroup allpraying together to the Beloved, andsingingHis songs ofpraise, assemble in the Dome at 7pm before the Saturday nightcprogram starts.

One ofour Saturdayprograms was hosted by a member who expressed concern at the development of “Baba-ism”—freling that the worshz ofMeher Baba was becoming too ritualistic. There was concern by many that the spontaneous expression oflove wefrelfor our Beloved was in danger ofturning into a religion with allthe attendant rites andceremonies. Yet Baba repeatedly toldus He hadcome to do away with such things. But He also stressed the importance ofprayers, telling us what was the right way to pray, andjust what constituted a goodprayer. Ed Following is a selection of The Avatarc words on this subject.]

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Prayer as Inner Approach

by Meher Baba or most persons, the outer ceremonies and rituals prevalent in the diverse religions are the established approach to God and Divinity. They are regarded as indispensable. However they are neither essential nor necessary, though at times they have been allowed or given by Masters byway ofinevitable accommodation to human weakness. They may also be practiced with benefit when they are thus allowed or given by a Master, but only during the period for which they have been prescribed, and in the context in which they are intended to be given effect. They have

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no lasting value nor can they be made eternally binding. They were never essential or indispensable; they are never essential or indispensable; and they willneverbe essential or indispensable.

Let us take for example the stern discipline and fasts associated with Ramadan. No doubt they serve some spiritual purpose. But one way of looking upon it is to regard them as a sort of compulsory rationing of food and water in those areas where they were rare, and where such control was necessary in the interest of society.

It is not necessary to convert the instructions of the Prophet into inflexible and eternal rules ofdiscipline. In the context in which they were given they served both material and spiritual purpose.

What constitutes the essence of prayer?

Many prayers to God are current among the lovers ofGod, arising as they do from diverse cultural contexts. Some of the prayers invariably contain an element of asking something from God, either material or spiritual. In fact, God is so merciful and bountiful that even without their asking He always gives much more than His lovers can receive. He knows their needs more deeply than they do. Therefore the element of asking something from God is superfluous.

It often mars the inner love and worship which a prayer tries to express.

The ideal prayer to the Lord is nothing more than spontaneous praise ofHis being.

You praise Him, not in the spirit of bargain but in the spirit of self-forgetful appreciation ofwhat He really is. You praise Him because He is praiseworthy. Your praise is a spontaneous appreciative response to His true being, as infinite light, infinite power and infinite bliss. It is ftttile to attempt a standard prayer and hold it up as an ideal for all people of all times. The glory of the Almighty transcends all human understanding and defies all verbal descriptions. Eternally fresh and selfrenewing in its unlimited amplitude, it never fades. Nor is it ever confined within the limits ofthe best of hymns.

God Aoe

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The ritualistic and repetitive expressions ofprayer do not and cannot dojustice to the innermost essence of prayer, which is adoring love for the eternal Beloved. To attempt to standardize prayer is to mar its intrinsic beauty.

Ifyou pray with a motive to do good to some one, your prayer may actually bring about good both to him and to yourself.

Some people pray for the spiritual benefit of those who have done them some wrong.

There also, they are helping others spiritually.

But all prayers with a motive fall short of the ideal prayerwhich is without motive. In the entire spiritual panorama ofthe universe nothing is more sublime than a spontaneous prayer. It gushes out of the human heart, filled with appreciative joy. It is self expression of the freed spirit without any actuation of a motive. In its highest form, prayer leaves no room for the illusory diarchy ofthe lover and the Beloved. It is a return to one’s own being.

From BE/IMS FROMMEHER BAB4

by Meher Baba,pages 72-76, © 1958 by Suftcm Reoriented, Inc., USA.

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3 Eruch on The Master at Prayer

I.IFE:IEss FORMS

Adapted from recordings by Tim Owens at Meherazad, 1980.

CEREMoNIEs

Qi What about the prayers Baba has given—can you tell us about the circumstances under which they were initially given and any significance they might have that we might not know?

A: Regarding the circumstances surrounding the prayers given by Baba, He has given us many prayers besides the ones you read about or recite, such as the Master’s Prayer first given to us in Gujerati language on 20th August, 1953, at Dehra Dun, and the Prayer of Repentance, which was given to us earlier.

I have a prayer book with me of prayers given to us by Baba, which He wanted us to recite before Him time and time again.These prayers are all new to you. There was nothing particular about the situations which led Baba to dictate these two prayers; when He gave out the Prayer of Repentance and the Universal Prayer, it appeared a simple and natural thing for Baba to dictate something.

The Lord gets a whim, He says, ‘Come, take dictation.’ He dictates the prayers, and the prayer then becomes universal. People love it, recite it. In the same way, when He first gave the Repentance Prayer, He would say, ‘Come now, recite this.’ So we recite it, and that’s all. Now we find so many Baba lovers reciting the Prayers, and many knowing them by heart.

QWhen He gave these prayers, did He just rattle them off perfectly composed, or were they revised?

A: When a prayer was given by Him, it remained a prayer. Some words were in Gujerati, Urdu, some in Hindi or Persian, most in English. Then we’d do a little dressing-up in English and read it out to Baba, and He’d approve what He had dictated. He also inspired the ones who would do the dressing-up. The whole thing was ‘rattled out’ in the first place, given quite spontaneously.

Qi Without a stop?

A:Yes.

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byMeher Baba

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ften the aspirant is concerned in the early phases of his awakening by his attitude towards established religions and their rituals. All ofthese have a tendency to encourage the spirit oflove and worship, and as such they help to a limited extent in wearing out the ego-shell in which human consciousness is caught. But ifthey are followed uninteffigently and mechanically, the inner spirit oflove and worship dries up.Then they harden the ego-shell instead ofwearing it out.

Rituals and ceremonies cannot carry one very far towards the path, and if they are unintelligently followed they bind as much as any other unintelligent action. In fact, when they are deprived ofall inner life they are in a sense more dangerous than other unintelligent action, because they are pursued in the belief that they help towards God-realization.

Due to this element ofself-delusion, lifeless forms and ceremonies become a sidetrackto the path.Through mere force ofhabit one can become so attached to these external forms that intense suffering may be required to dispel their imaginary value.

LISTEN HUMAMTY ed D. E Stevens, p.176 © 1982 AMBPPCT

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hen we were on The New Life, He gave us this prayer and told us to recite it every evening: Yesterday passed somehow— Today passes by this way— Who cares for tomorrow?

Or, colloquially, to hell with tomorrow!

Then He tells us, this is our prayer; He wants us to say: ‘I’m not the body, I’m not the mind, I’m not this, I’m not that, I’m nothing but the living lie of that Truth that is me; and unless the lie is dead the truth cannot live. (be known).

This is the poem read out at 6:45 p.m.

7th October, 1953. It is the occasion when He gave up the alphabet board. It is the last thing He dictated on the board: 0 Sai Baba, 0 Upasni Maharaj, 0 Babajan, 0 Tajuddin Baba, 0 Narayan Maharaj,You the five-in-One and the Onein-five, the divine Beings representing the Absolute One! I bow down to You in perfect

homage. It is due to you five Men-gods that I am what I am, the Ancient One, the Everlasting One. May the Beloved God with whom You five are one, for whom you five are working universally, give me in your Names, the strength, the power and the wisdom to fulfil all that I have taken this form for and see that what all I have declared at the last Meherabad meeting comes to pass.

1 now give up using the board, it being my gesture before God for breaking My Silence soon.

The Prayer for Baba’s lovers and mandali was dictated by Baba on 25th August, 1959 at Meherazad: Beloved God, he’p us all to love You more and more and more and more and still yet more, until we become worthy of union with You; and help us all to holdfast to Babac daaman till the very end.

(continued on next page)

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ne thing you should remember, whenever Baba expressed His desire that we should collect ourselves and gather for prayers, it was a serious and solemn affair.

We still have that water pot and that blue basin here in Mandali Hall with which He used to wash His hands and face before the prayers. He would not only participate with us in the prayers, but prepare Himself for such prayers. He didn’t say anything to us, that we should keep prepared for prayers; but knowing His ways and how He would want us to keep clean and tidy for prayers, we also remained prepared, not knowing when He would ask us to recite the prayers. We would keep our feet ready, washed and clean, for who knows when He would want us to put our foot forward for Him to bow down to; with the God-man putting His head on our feet, we couldn’t stand around dirty or with wet feet! We had to keep ourselves clean and prepared for all such occasions. But many times, we were caught unawares; then He would say, ‘It’s all right, it doesn’t matter.’

He would be the first one who kept Himself prepared for the prayers, after having washed His hands and splashed water on His face, and after properly drying His face and hands with a napkin He would call the rest of the mandali in His presence. He wouldn’t want anybody to miss the occasion. He wanted all His mandali around Him at the time of prayers; then He’d start. He would stand up and gesture, “Say the prayer.”

Naturally, in the beginning, we had read it out—the Master’s Prayer. It came to my lot to read the prayer aloud while all would remain silent. All present had to be silent, while any one person would recite or read the prayer. Baba would stand up and remain standing during the whole prayer, and all of us would be standing around Him in a circle.

He remained the central figure, either here or at Guruprasad or anywhere in the country wherever He chose to pray.

At the time ofreading aloud the Master’s Prayer, I once felt that Baba would want me to recite it instead ofreading it out. So I tried to learn it by heart; also in case no prayer book was available. I felt confident that I could now do away with the book, when Baba called as usual for the prayer book I replied, ‘Baba, I have learnt it by heart.’ ‘So you learned the Prayer?’ ‘Yes, Baba.’ ‘Good, recite.’ ‘0 Parvardigar, the Preserver and Protector of..??!’

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t* “The idealprayer to the Lord is nothing more than spontaneous praise ofHis being.”

I couldn’t even remember a word beyond this. So Baba waited for a while, and I tried again. Eventually, He gestured, ‘Go get the book.’ Never again did I attempt to recite it by heart. I always read the Prayer in front of Him. To this day, I don’t know any of the prayers by heart.

So I had to read them out from the prayer book every time He asked for the prayers.

All would be there. Baba would join His hands and stand as one of us in our midst, and His look and His gaze would be of one deep in the act ofadoration, totally absorbed, participating in the prayers. The God-man participating in the prayers means He is totally absorbed in the prayers He has given humanity. He becomes one of us and He stands with folded hands, with all attention, adoration and reverence on behalf of His loved ones.

After the prayer ended, with ‘You are named Ezad—the only One worthy of worship,’ He would bow down in the act of worship. After a minute ofthis, Baba would want the prayer to be followed by the Prayer of Repentance. Everyone would be in readiness as I would begin to read out ‘We repent, 0 God most merciful...’

His gesture for Repentance was that He would begin to softly slap His cheeks with both hands. Now this is the gesture denoting repentance (Eruch slaps his cheeks). It’s not just this. .patting your cheeks. Among the worshippers, may they be Muslims, Hindus or Zoroastrians, while the prayer for repentance is being said it is customary for one to slap one’s cheeks with both hands while saying ‘I repent.. I repent.. The mandali were there with Baba for the prayer but He didn’t want the mandali to slap their cheeks as a mark of repentance, because it .

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was He who did it on our behalf We could hear Him constantly slapping His cheeks during the entire prayer, but this was not at all disturbing as He slapped softly but audibly. Once Baba guided me to say at the end of this prayer, ‘Amen’; so I do it every time I end the prayer.

The sequel to the Prayer of Repentance in the presence of Baba was very thought provoking. This is how it was: He would sit down in Mandali Hall after the prayer on His chair and some sort of a high footstool would be improvised in front ofBaba, so that He could easily bend down while sitting and place His forehead on the foot of the mandali. He would gesture, ‘Put your right foot here. At the moment of contact, when My forehead touches you, you call out aloud one name ofGod that is dear to you, as many times as My forehead touches your foot.’

So Zoroastrians used to call out ‘Ahura Mazda’ at the moment of contact. ‘Ahura Mazda’ would be heard by the rest of the mandali each time Baba made contact. It might be six or seven times—we wouldn’t know the number of times He’d wa.nt to do it. The Muslims said ‘Allah’ aloud at the moment of contact. Christians called out ‘God the Beyond’. And some called out ‘Parvardigar. ‘The Iranis called out ‘Yezdan’ The Sikhs were heard saying ‘Wahi-Guru,’ which means God in the Beyond Beyond State. We were a cosmopolitan group around Baba. It would not be a crowd, but just a few mandali—about ten, eleven or twelve of us around Him, that’s all, but we were a cosmopolitan group!

So this would happen, day after day.

Sometimes it would be a daily affair and then sometimes there would not be such prayers for months at a time. There was no set schedule, no such things as a daily repetition.

Yet, ifit was His pleasure, you had to present yourself at the time of the call to prayer, when you had to leave everything and be in attendance.

In later years—in 1968—when His health was visibly deteriorating, going from bad to worse, He ordered the prayers to be read out daily. He was in seclusion, and all we could hear, all the time, was a sort of thumping noise, as He pounded His thighs with His fist, especially His right thigh, continually. There was no elasticity left in His thighs they werejust like logs ofwood.

There was nothing much left ofHis legs, as -

the muscles ofthe thighs had lost elasticity and had become solid lumps—having no weight-bearing capacity At the time of the prayers, Baba would ‘-In t6e name 6e’at&i andfthe son andftfieci-[o5i g6ost: 0 ask someone to help Him stand up, because cf[earmy)rayer andiet my cry cone unto ‘t6ce: ‘T’6ou w1c artthc g’oc(ft6e t6cather &ver(astinBr one must stand up for prayers; and He said He had to participate in the prayers. So He 0 7f(ing1tyat6er! dfd! ‘ifie tinqqf&Jnsr 1(t6e cart6 c(ot6 wors6p cfhee. started with one person helping Him stand ‘fo cT’6ce aI(angc&, to ct’fice tie lcavens ana11yowcrs up. Then I would begin to read the prayers. cr& agsaints ania(( emns witI unceasIng voice di cry: 6 Often He would gesture, ‘Let’s finish it off ‘t&cfj,! 6cfI11kS! soon.’

3’Jare t6e bravens an1rcecirrI, ft6c9uiajrsiy fct’6y ‘Iory.

Now the prayer He had dictated for ‘f6ou t6e WIorIou.c! ‘T6ou t6e &xa1céeffu4jcnce; humanity is meant for human beings to say ‘f6ou tfie caIsewort6y in tEe asseinilage ft6e p6ets; with all their heart and soul, so you can’t rush ‘f6ou the CeIestiaIc&auy! ‘t’hau arc c6e &crna1.song ft6y lovers. through any prayer, much less the Master’s cf6ou wIo are acnowtjedpraIseéanc(wors6pj,eI Prayer. Yet, the author, while He participates tI,rougbout t6e worl in allC6urc es, synaogues,Mosques cfenijies andQ,’aodis: 6 ‘ro r6 1mostIumfil 6ow down. as one ofhumanity, says ‘Finish it off soon!’

So naturally I say it out a little bit more ‘-r1;ou oJ(LLfl6oundkéYclajeety! ‘l’fiou art tIeJ’atIer ft6e CreatIon; rapidly, knowing that His health condition anion(y c.acgouen son, r& c6rIst, c:r€v ‘rI;ou art t6e ‘*g flory,t6e &iviour fianIIndt1eyfncient one, does not permit him to stand up for a longer theci-fi,q6estft6ec+Iq6t time.

Then as months passed, it wasn’t possible 0 C6rIst! ‘f6e3sessia6t ‘f6ou qft6e yat6er verIastIng are t6e Son &verlastIn,g: for Him to stand alone; someone had to hold ‘-fI;ou 4ost3ifcrcffu(Qrd? Las tóen upon ‘fIee to dkllver manfrom fioniage, to 6tcrnal’lory: Him. And all the time, He remained 0 T’1k9tncIentOne! ‘2”6c qgemcrz standing with hands folded and joined like ‘f6ou, fiavInsfirstovercome t6e sting fjnorance, this (Eruch demonstrates). The time came adt qpen to afft6e &Jn.qdm fliss. ‘tpwlede andweri when He gestured ‘Read it faster.’ So I read fmosthum51vj,raise ‘f6ee, 0 my Wodi the prayer faster and more rapidly each day. fmosiflrm(y acknowle4e ct’6ce, o my g’odi Then two people had to hold Him, and 0 fly sou(qf5ouIi He looked as if He wasn’t there with us— 1eGeve in q”&e, fiecaust cflou art c.E’rutI 1tse faraway, somewhere else. but He continued qI; 6ecause ct’6ou art the Ont One wort6y fyL’dratIon; 4 1wars6#; cf6ce, o c-s4qlest ftIe -1 ‘1’ love cf6ee a6ave alltfiIn,qs andEeIn,qs, fiecause cf6ou artioe tiIvine ltse1f to participate as solemnly as ever before. cfEescecfi cf6ee, fiecause ‘Thou artiQrcy ltseIj Then He’d say, snap-snapping His fingers, rfffer cfiee allmy t6ouglts worth anclactions, my sfferings animyjoys, fiecause ‘flou art the Qni ‘Hurry up, hurry up, read it faster!’ Later on, çaelovea at the very end ofthis period, I’d read it very, 1therv fieseec6 ‘T’fiee, my oth very rapidly, skipping periods, commas, and Cf1se9ncient One! 0 &ive mercy on me according to cl’Iy n6oundcy, andiet my cry come unto ‘flee: Cf so on. One day it came to such a pitch, when He gestured ‘Do it—snap!—fast! I can’t 0 my t1oved sffir me not to fit sparate1from ct’6eefor ever and ever! stand up any longer!’

9frnenl I rattled offthe prayer at such high speed that it echoed in my mind as if I were an THE GOD-MA? C.B. Purdom pp 236-237 express train, going through a station without any stops! I’m in the midst of reading like finished and we settled down. have given it to humanit to posterit to this, all of a sudden I burst out laughing, After a while, He asked ‘What made you say it. And, whenever anyone recites it after because it was so ridiculous to me to pray laugh? What made you do that in that I pass away, because ofMyparticipation now like that! I could hear my own voice echoing Prayer?’ So I said, ‘It happened it will help the one who repeats this prayer. as ifl were rattling through all the stations. uncontrollably, because I could hear my own So that is why I want the prayer said; it has The picture came to me ofa speeding express voice rushing through the whole prayer. It nothing to do with your speed or how you train, and I laughed loudly, halfway through appeared to me I’m a railroad train rattling read it out, or anything ofthis sort. All that the prayer. Then I controlled myself and through all the stations without stopping, matters is My having participated in the resumed my reading ofthe prayer. without caring for passengers. It was so prayer. So every time anybody repeats the Baba didn’± say anything, He just stood ridiculous that I burst out laughing.’ prayer, I am there with him, My presence is there; everyone around me was serious. After He gestured, ‘You’re mad! You have no there.’ the prayer ended, He sat down in His chair. idea what is happening here. To you it seems Everything was done as usual. He bowed ridiculous. For me it is no joke in this state down to each one of us. Everything was ofMy health, to participate in this prayer. I

:r1;e C6rIstIan iayer

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“OM Parabrahma—Paramatma,” “Ya-Yazdan, La ilaha illallah,” ‘o God, Father in Heaven!”

The Prayer of Repentance We repent, 0 God Most Merciful; for all our sins; for every thought that was false or unjust or unclean; for every word spoken that ought not to have been spoken; for every deed done that ought not to have been done.

We repent for every deed and word and thought inspired by selfishness, and for every deed and word and thought inspired by hatred.

We repent most specially for every lustful thought and every lustful action; for every lie; for all hypocrisy; for every promise given but not fuffilled, and for all slander and backbiting.

3 [From an interview with Bhau Kaichuri by Ward Parks about the writing of the “You Alone Exist”prayer (see page 9), originallyprinted in The Meherana Messengei Reprinted by permission.]

ne day Baba told me a prayer ought to be included in the book He was having me write—The Nothing and the Everything, and He told me to compose it.

Now in 1960 Baba had given me a line of poetry, and I had kept it unused. But when Baba told me to compose the prayer, I remembered that line and wrote six couplets to go with it.

The next evening when I went for night watch, Baba asked me, “Did you finish the prayer?” “Yes, Baba.” “Then bring it.”

So I brought the couplets and read them out. Baba was in a very good mood, and when He heard what I had written, He Himselfbegan to compose, drumming His thighs as He did so. In the end the poem included 28 couplets, ofwhich I had actually composed only six and Baba the rest. But Baba inserted my name in the final couplet, as if I had written the whole thing. This is the prayer entitled: “You Alone Exist.”

When we were staying at Guruprasad in Poona during the summer months, Baba had His nephew Shiroo sing this prayer out before His lovers who had come for darshan.

At the time I was upstairs doing more work

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on the book. At three o’clock when I came down for my usual evening session with Baba, some one was laughing at me. “What happened?” I asked, “Why do you laugh?”

“What kind ofprayer have you written?” he replied, “You are a pig,’ ‘You are a stone,’ ‘You are a mosquito.’ Is this how one prays?”

I did not reply, but when I came to Baba, I broached the subject “Baba,” I asked, “should I change this prayer?” “Change?”

Baba gestured in surprise, “Why do you want to change it?” “I will use better words”, I said.

“Pig, gnat, mosquito—these aren’t good words in referring to God.” “Listen to me,” Baba replied. “You have no idea about the importance ofthis prayer.

It is the only prayer which conveys the allpervading nature ofGod. God is in the good and God is also in the bad. Doth change a single word. You have no idea: in the future this prayer will be recited in every house.”

So I kept the prayer as it was. But later, when Baba had dropped His body and pilgrims were coming to Meherazad, I told a pilgrim about the prayer; and he told others, saying, “Bhau has a very sublime prayer composed by Baba Himself.” And when the man who had been laughing at me heard this, he said, “Yes, this prayer is really sublime.” And I thought to myself, this is the very man who was laughing at me, and now he praises the prayer for its sublimity Butlsaidnothing.

[Thefollowing is takenfrom a tape ofEruth giving a talk on Prayers, recordedNov 7, 1977]

Most specially also, we repent for every action that has brought ruin to others; for every word and deed that has given others pain; and for every wish that pain should befall others.

About prayers, Baba has always said: “Pray. It is good to pray. But the prayer that reaches Me is not a long list of your wants: That will never reach Me, butjust say My name. Even ifit be just My name, it will reach Me. But then, mans heart is such, when it pours out, it pours out in many words. So let those words help you to glorify Me, and even if there is a long, long list ofall the glories thatyou attribute to Me, that will reach Me. But when you pray asking me for something, that prayer does not reach Me. But ifyou ask Me and dont expect an answer, then that reaches me, too.”

In your unbounded mercy! We ask you to forgive us, 0 God! for all these sins committed by us, and to forgive us for our constant failures to think and speak and act according to Your Will.

Sometimes we follow Him the way that He wants us to, and sometimes we make Him follow us, and that’s where the trap is. religions crop up, dogmas form, churches, temples and mosques are built, trying to edify Him. But we forget Him and adore the mansion of the Lord. As Baba Himself has put it, very humorously, You pray, you pray with great devotion, but you pour your devotion into the prayer and you forget the Lord to Whom you pray. You remember the prayer and forget the Lord!” ..

[This prayer was dictated

by Meher Babain 1952j

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YouAlone Exist A Prayer by Meher Baba and Bhau Kaichuri

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h priceless treasure of Knowledge!

You are within and without, and You are the Ocean of Mercy.

You are in all the worlds; You are the Ocean of attributes!

Oh Meher God-Incarnate, You alone exist!

You are Yezdan. You are Ezad.

You are Allah and lshwar.

You are Ram and You are Buddha.

You are Beloved Lord Krishna Who with one finger lifted the mountain; You alone exist!

You arc the Beyond God and the Beyond-Beyond God also.

Oh Ocean of Kindness, You alone exist.

You are Mohammed, You are Perfection Personified; You are Knowledge ltself and You alone Exist.

You live in everyone and You are everyone.

Oh Beloved, You are the Enlightened One, and You alone exist.

You are with attributes and without attributes!

You are the sole player in the divine game.

You alone exist.

You are matchless, the Only One! You reside in every heart, and You alone exist.

You are eternally motionless, and immovable is Your abode.

You are the Highest, for You alone exist.

You are the Doer, the deed, and the cause of doing!

The sustainer You are, and the Master of Masters.

You alone exist.

You are the seeker the worship and the Sadhana.

Oh Meher God-Incarnate, You alone exist!

You are in front and behind, You are above and below 0 Lord, You live in every house, and You alone exist.

You are beyond Beyond. yet You remain within everyone.

You are All-Pervading, and You alone exist.

You are in each neighborhood.

You are the Sustainer.

You Yourself are all worlds, and You alone exist.

Everywhere, whether above or below You are complete; You alone exist.

You are unseen, yet seen also.

You live in everyone forgiving each his sins.

You alone exist. ....

There is no one without You! You are manifesting and unmanifest as You alone exist.

You are man. You are birds.

You are fish and animals, for You alone exist.

You are bugs and gnats, You are snakes and scorpions.

You are ants and mosquitoes, for You alone exist.

You are insects. You are lice.

You are dogs, asses and pigs.

You alone exist.

You are deer and elephants: You are cats and monkeys; You alone exist.

You are the moon and the stars, the dawn and the night. and the sun and also the light.

You alone exist.

You are wind and watei, and the animals of the water; You alone exist.

You are silver and gold, You are copper and iron, You are brass and stone; You alone exist You are tea and coffee, and the sugar also; You alone exist.

You are paper and the book, You are the school and office; You alone exist.

You are pen and ink and You are the gifted writer.

You alone exist.

You are the door and window.

You are the marble floor; You alone exist.

You are the medicine and the disease and the doctor also; You alone exist.

You are the game and the player and the spectator also; You alone exist.

You are the flower and the thorn, and You are the fragrance.

You alone exist.

You are the singer.

You are the musical instrument.

You are the sweet tunes, for You alone exist.

You are the prayer and the words of the prayer.

You are the forces of evil and the powers of light.

You alone exist.

You are the soldier, the army and the Supreme General.

You alone exist.

You are the sailor the ship, and the wide Ocean; You alone exist!

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You are the storth turbulence and the tranquil waters.

You are the Pearl and You are the shell.

You alone exist.

You are the shore, the ferryman and the Sea also, for You alone exist.

You are the beggar the giver and the charity; You alone exist.

You are the slave and the Lord; You are the Beyond God. You are God. You alone exist.

You are Mother and Father; You are Master, brother and friend.

You are family and relatives; You alone exist.

There is no one besides You! Eternally You are, for You alone exist!

You are Pran and You are heart You are also the Beloved of the heart; You alone exist.

You are the Beloved and the Lover and You are the nectar of Love as You alone exist!

You are breath and life itselE Our minds are enthralled

by Your beauty!

For You alone exist!

You are the house.

You are the inhabitants and the bricks and furnishings.

You alone exist.

You are the worshipper his worship, and the One worshipped, as You alone exist.

You are Consciousness and the Way to Consciousness!

Oh Meher God-Incarnate, You alone exist!

You are Khwaja, You are Qutub!

You are Pir and Q1andar!

You alone exist.

You are Haflz, You are Sanai!

You are Dara and Alexander!

You alone exist You are Jesus Christ! You are Elahi!

You are the Ocean, infinite and pure; You alone exist.

You are the Koran and the One who prays!

You are Vali, and You are the Messenger You alone exist.

You are the Beginning and You are the End. You are also beyond the Beginning and beyond the End. You alone exist.

You are infinitely beautiful and infinitely close!

Oh Meher; God-Incarnate, You alone exist!

You are Brahma and You are Vishnu; You are the guileless Shankar.

You alone exist!

Bhau says “0 Beloved Meher You are The Word and You are The Letter!

You alone exist! ,..

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[(K3t

A Ghazal

by Meher Baba This world exists; but is not your final abode.

Turn your face toward God. How long will you live in this transient world?

It is a testing ground ofvirtue and vice for you to experience.

Slacken not your effort in worshipping God; look upon every breath as your last.

You know not what will happen tomorrow; so be prepared today for the future.

Conditions in the world have not changed but marvelous have been the visitors to this world.

From the garden of this world have departed millions of beings like nightingales; hundreds of thousands more will come and go.

Atma, the Soul, is one; varied are the bodies indeed like the many sons of one Father cherished.

Behold there, on the meadow of love, many a rider ofvariegated colors flourishes.

Avatar Meher Baba

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rayer to God or Avatar is like a spiritual shield and is indispensable for the protection of our mischievous mind; from where our thoughts originate, thoughts are turned into action and from where our decisions and responses originate. So we know that our mind is the main arena of our daily battle, more so in case of the persons spiritually inclined where spiritual battle is fought every moment of one’s life and the battle has to be faced and protected with the shield of one’s prayer to the Lord and seekHis unfailing help to take up right decisions, give correct responses, bring good thoughts in and act accordingly In this regard, a small prayer is suggested—

Without adversity there is no rest.

In hardship and sorrow be grateful and at peace.

In distress, always keep content; have patience and at all times be at ease.

Continuously washing your clothes is a waste of time; instead, purify your heart with the thought of God divine.

Behold, at the feet of one God in form, every moment hundreds of souls lie in sacrifice.

Do not take forbidden intoxicants; better to live a life of honor and esteem.

Learn to live in the unique intoxication of the early morning love of God. God is matchless, one in all! See Him in your heart.

See Him also as the God manifest, the God concealed, the God within you and the God without.

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iae my nana LA.flcJJ, And lead me through each day, step by step, and Remind me that, I cannot do everything I wish, Nor do any ofit perfectly.

Only You are perfect, and with Your help, 1 can do my best, Help me to remember to ask for that help.”

Man, in your boast you lost the status of an angel, pride has reduced you to a devil.

Oh Huma, in this world of passing show, behold, like you, such innumerable players come and go.

From MUCHLOVE by TK Ramanujam 4nuj,” © 1994 byAvatar Meher Baba Infrrmation, Madras, India

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—Meher Baba.

Written in the early 192Oc. From LORD MEHER, Volume Two, p.417

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[This is an excerptfrom The Meher Baba

Iournal May 1940, reprinted in Treasures ftom the Meher Babajournals, in the chapter

“Excerptftom ‘Sacred Verse in East and West’

by WillBacket. 7

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a another occasion at Meherabad after Meher Baba had been explaining the Bhagavad Gita to some of the Western disciples, He gave them the following Western hymn to memorize and added: “Everything in the Gita is expressed in these few lines by the Western mystic.”

Take my life and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.

Take my moments and my days, Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

The Master’s Pray&r 0 Parvardigar, the Preserver and Protector of All, You are without Beginning, and without End; Non-dual, beyond Comparison; and none can measure You.

You are without colour, without expression, without form and without attributes.

You are unlimited and unfathomable, beyond imagination and conception; eternal and imperishable.

You are indivisible; and none can see You, but with eyes Divine.

You always were, You always are, and You always will be.

Take my hands and let them move At the impulse ofThy Love; Take my feet and let them be Swift and beautiful for thee.

Take my voice and let me sing Ever only for my King.

Take my lips and let them be Filled with messages from Thee.

You are everywhere, You are in everything; and You are also beyond everywhere and beyond everything.

You are in the firmament and in the depths.

You are manifest and unmanifest; on all planes and beyond all planes.

You are in the three worlds; and also beyond the three worlds.

You are imperceptible and independent.

Take my silver and my gold, Not a mite would I withhold.

Take my intellect and use Every power as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will and make it Thine; It shall be no longer mine.

Take my heart, it is Thine own, It shall be Thy royal throne.

Take my love, My Lord, I pour At Thy feet its treasure store.

Take myseIf and I will be Ever, only, all for Thee.

by Frances Ridley Havergal, 1874

[Thefollowing is excerptedfrom one ofManic letters]

...This little prayer we read in a book ‘My soul is like a rusty lock, Oil it with Thy grace.

And rub it, rub it, rub it, Lord Until I see Thy Face.”

You are the Creator, the Lord of Lords, the Knower of all minds and hearts.

You are Omnipotent and Omnipresent.

You are Knowledge Infinite, Power Infinite, and Bliss Infinite.

You are the Ocean of Knowledge, MI-Knowing, Infinitely Knowing, the Knower of the past, the present and the future, and You are Knowledge itself You are AIl—merciftil and eternally benevolent.

You are the Soul of soails, the One with infinite attributes.

You are the Trinity ofTruth, Knowledge, and Bliss.

You are the Source ofTruth, the Ocean of Love.

You are the Ancient One, the Highest of the High.

You are Prabhu and Parameshwar; You are the BeyondGod, and the Beyond-Beyond-God also.

You are Parabrahma; Paramatma; Allah; Elahi; Yezdan; Ahuramazda; and God the Beloved.

You are named Ezad; the only One worthy of worship.

May His love teach us to accept the “rub” with the oil —

82 FAMILYLETTERS, p. 47, Copyright 1976, AMBPPCT

[This prayer was dictated by Meher Baba in 1953]

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3 e: E Dana Field

A biography by Mary Kay Shubat-Hage, Lynne Berry, and Adele Wolkin

Born: David Kasakevitch in Kiintsy, Russia on June 28, 1910. Later changed his name to David Cossak, then to Dana Cossak Field in 1941.

Died: November 1, 1997 at 12:12 p.m., Huntington Beach, CA

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lovers of the Ancient One, life really begins at that moment when Baba consciously comes into our lives. For most ofus that celebrated event is a cherished internal contact. Baba comes for all of humanity but there is a handful ofsouls who have the good fortune to have been in His physical presence. Dana Field was one of these lucky fewwhose destinywas to be with Baba on four occasions. Dana first met Meher Baba in New York in 1954.

He was present when a men’s darshan program was announced. Adele Wolkin was part of the group, and recognizing Dana as an intense and sincere seeker, encouraged him to go. Dana got his invitation and was ne of the lucky few to attend the Three Incredible Weeks. His second and third meetings with Baba were in 1956 and 1958 at Meher Spiritual Center. The 1957-58 “Awakeners” give detailed accounts of these blessed days with Baba. Dana also attended the East West Gathering in India in 1962, his last visit with Baba.

Dana was a caretaker at our former L.A. Baba Center in the early ‘80’s. When he suffered a stroke injanuary 1990, he had just finished typing his last manuscript on education and evolution in relation to Meher Baba’s writings.

How far Dana had journeyed from the Russia he escaped in 1922 as a persecuted youngJewish boy, to being in the love-orbit ofHis Beloved! The suffering he experienced as a child helps explain why Dana was quite harsh on himself and sometimes unnecessarily critical of others, yet underneath it all filled with enormous love for Baba.

Since the stroke almost eight years ago, Dana was confined to convalescent hospitals.

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Dana Field with Marguerite Poley.

Photo taken at Meherabode in Losuingeles onjuly 9th, 1997.

His visit to our new Center last summer during Bhau’s trip made him very happy to feel so much love and see many friendly and familiar faces from his earlier days at our Center.

Dana lived a life worth living: he whole-

heartedly loved, served and remembered his Beloved Meher Baba. Memorials in Dana’s remembrance may be made to the Avatar Meher Baba Trust to which Dana faithfully contributed until his stroke.

Ahmednagar, 25th August, 1983 Jai Baba dear Dana Your letter ofl2th reached meyesterday. You askfor an item ofBelovedBaba. Ifyou like, Jean send some ofBe1ovedBabac Hair (from dear Mthera) with anyone comingfrom LA. But in any case dear Dana, you yoursefare a Baba relic (as we are). touched and embraced by Him and His Love will protect you wherever you are..

Asfrr developing ofintuition. .1 do not have enough ofit to comment on, dear Dana—IJèel that f we can develop our lovefr Baba (more and more by His grace) till we can love Him as He should be Ioved that is all—sufficientfor a loverc goal.

Yes indeed. Ranoc book is quite a gem. She sendsyou herJai Baba.

My Jai Baba to you too, with much lovefram all yourfamiiy here, and a united Avatar Meher Baba kijaif Your sistei Main

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S ervice

by Dana Field To be Thy slave Is myfreedom: This is the tie Ifervently seek. ..

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Th think ofThee In silentjoy And serve Thee In uttersecrecy, Thisismywish.

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L. Meher Baba with Dana Fie1t

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M 1fl0 0 BIi a4ru. C a On Friday, December 5th, at 12:05am Mmoo Bharucha, long time follower ofAvatar Meher Baba and former disciple ofUpasni Maharaj, who also knew Narayan Maharaj and had met Babajan, died of apparent heart failure at Deenak HosDital in Ahmednaar. Earlier in the . evenmg he had been taken from Meherabad to . . . . the hospital. Mmoo was 93, yetvery active right up to the end. He was often seen riding his bicycle around Meherabad. His body was cremated around 11:30, Friday morning, at Meherabad.

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byjamie Newell

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was very

saddened to learn of our dear

I friend Minoo Bharucha’s final

departure. Not for him, of course, but for me and mywife Zo, for those who knew him, and for those who never will. Those who only saw him in passing knew him as a great wise-crackingjoker who delighted in making the pilgrims laugh, but he was also a man of profound depth, a true lover of God, and a true disciple. I’m so thankful that Zo and I

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were able to see him one last time this past August at Meherabad. His hearing was almost completely gone, and it was clearly frustrating for him to communicate with others, but he could still draw a crowd at tea time.

Pilgrims still listened in amazement to stories ofhis time with Meher B aba, Upasni Maharaj, and Narayan Maharaj. He would also tell of how as a i

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Behram (also Baba’s brother.) He said that they were a gang offriends, and got into all sorts ofmischieftogether. Ofcourse, at this time Merwan had not yet been kissed by Babajan and there was no hint of what was to come. After high school Minoo went to a college of engineering to learn to be an electrical engineer and lost touch with his old friends.

Upon graduation from college in the late 20’s Minoo

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Doy, ne anu nis scnooi

chums would run in horror when they saw Hazrat Babajan coming, for they thought she was mad and were afraid of her.

Zo and I had the great good fortune to spend countless hours with Minoo over the years. enever we visite e era a Minoo would enlist us to round up pilgrims to come to his room for tea. We would all pile on to Minoo’s bed, line up chairs, and listen to Minoo tell his matchless tales.

Often I would have to interpret for him, as manyWestern ears had trouble with Minoo’s thick Indian accent. I’ll try now to interpret for Minoo one last time.

Minoo Bharucha grew up in Pune and went to what he called “the Parsi High School.” His classmates and cohorts there were Padri, Pendu, Jal (Baba’s brother), and .

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gotaJoo1nv.as1K attnepower

station there. Serendipitously this power station was only a few kilometres from where Meher Baba’s Nasik Ashram would eventually be located.

After he had been working in Nasik for some time, Minoo was walking down the roa one ay an was e ig te to see is old school friend Behram. They exchanged pleasantries, and Behram told him that Padri and Pendu were also staying nearby, and that he should come and have lunch with them. This Minoo did and as a result he had the unfathomable good fortune to meet and dine with Meher Baba himself.

Baba told Minoo he liked him, and he should come back to visit whenever he liked, which Minoo did.

At first Minoo would fold his hands in .

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(continued on page 17)

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3@ ij E ( 3 t ( 3 The New Life Sahavas at Meherana yen before the weekend began, volunteers worked frantically (but steadily) to construct the pandal housing the outdoor dining area and the Love Street Bookstore. The theme ofMeher Baba’s New Life was beautifully carried home throughout the weekend with Jamie Newell’s music, and through the humorous tales (all true) and music of special guests Rustom and Sohrab Irani.

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Lynn composed this little introduction ditty to ‘Double your pleasure, Double your fun:’ ‘My name is Ten, My name is Lynn, We are the twins introducing the twins.

They made Baba laugh, you know that it true.

4 Hole in the Bucket” will make you laugh too!

So double yourpleasure, double yourfun, With Sohrab andRustom, Babac dear nephews, Thefun has begun!”

Above. Babac twin nephews, Rustom and Sohrab. Top Right: The giant Mischievous Chicken created in the childrenc workshop. Right.Jamie Neweilsings to Baba. Below. Twins Lynn Maguire and Ten Adams introduced Rustom and Sohrab.

[Thefoiowing was transcribed by Phillzp Creagerfre#n a videotape of Eruch, who was reading Babac wordsfrom his notebook.]

The principal of St. Vincents High School in Pune had written to Baba about his delight that Baba’s twin nephews, Rustom and Sohrab, were attending the school. Baba replied (on 2 May 1959): “My nephews Rustom and Sohrab should learn to thinkwell ofothers, see good in others, make others happy tell the truth, shun all hypocrisy, and learn to love God. This is true education. All other education is oflittle use.

Those who educate themselves as above are my real relatives.”

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Years with Meher Baba Fifty

“The First Fifty are Always the Hardest”

by Marguerite Poley as told to Nancy Merwan

Above: TheDhuni atMeherana Sahavas.

Below: That Mischievous Chicken and ‘Baba.”

John Mathew Echeveste

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arguerite’s life has been incredibly M fascinating, in many instances unbelievably tragic, or as she would describe it, “never a dull moment.” I would love to have seen her stunt riding in the circus. She says that “outside ofbeing with Baba... the happiest time in my life was being with horses.” She is a gifted artist, a born teacher, and has spent close to forty years ofher life working with animals.

Marguerite was born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1909. She was an only child.

When she was two, her family moved to beautiful Montreaux, which is near Lausanne. Marguerite enjoyed a happy, idyllic early childhood as daddy’s little girl.

Her father loved horses and inspired her own love for horses. After the sudden death of her father when she was nine, Marguerite’s life changed significantly. She became .quite an unruly child and my mother decided to send me to a convent boarding school in Germany. it was a very very strict school, but the Franciscan nuns were so

wonderful that I dearly loved them..”

Marguerite finished school at sixteen.

She and her mother (on the recommendation of two friends) were admitted to the United States in May of 1925.

Her first summer in America was spent working on a farm in Ohio. In the fall, she and her mother moved to Cleveland where she engaged in several occupational endeavors, “I wasn’t entirely happy because I wanted to have more to do with animals and horses. At a horse show she met Adele Parker, a well known lady in equestrian circles, who took on Marguerite as a protege.

Marguerite became a stunt rider at state fairs and also a circus performer, touring throughout the U.S. and Canada. She was written up in the Billboard publication many times. . .“

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1935 she was on tour in Canada where it had rained heavily. She was (continued next page.)

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fi doing an act standing on a horse when the horse’s hind foot slipped in the mud; she was thrown offand he fell on her. Her back was seriously injured. She was attended by doctors for several months. Unable to do many ofher riding stunts, she eventually left the circus in 1937.

After that, she became a “jack of all trades.” She was working in an aircraft parts factory in Los Angeles on the last day of November 1944: “. . .1 was inside a power shear. . . the air was fill of electricity and this new hairnet I had put on my hair. . . caused an electric static which pulled my hairnet into the machine...”

Her hair and scalp were pulled into the machine. It was a horrific accident and her suffering indescribable. She endured weeks ofhospital care and over two years of being in and out ofhospitals, suffering skin grafts which didn’t take. She was tormented, “I studied different religions. I wanted answers to what had happened to me, I felt I didn’t deserve it. I read everything...”

In 1947, Marguerite and a friend heard about a master called Meher Baba. Although warned against Baba, they went to Meher

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Mount in Ojai where they metJean Adriel.

They looked around, saw Baba photos, and although Marguerite was unimpressed, her friend boughtJean’s book, AVATAR. A few weeks later, the friend called to say the book was very unusual and that she was mailing it to Marguerite. It was late September, 1947: “Lo and behold, somewhere in the book I read something and I heard this voice as you can hear my voice now, ‘This is God.’ I was in seventh heaven for two or three days, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep. . . I was perfectly happy that Meher Baba was God.” After Marguerite’s bliss experience, she eagerly waited for Baba to come to America. “...I had to wait from 1947 until 1956, nine years, before meeting Him. . . here comes Baba with His entourage, He walked slowly but He had a particular way about His walk, majestic in a way. He walked towards me and embraced me and when He embraced me I had such a shock, I saw His arms go around me but I couldn’t feel anything, couldn’t feel any arms at all. . . but I tell you it was such a wonderful feeling... I was in a daze and I forgot where to drive and got lost... I don’t know how we got there

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but we finally got to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel...”

Baba was in Los Angeles for four days in 1956. In May of 1958, Marguerite had another opportunity to be with Baba.

“1958 stands out as one of the greatest years ofmy life because that year we went to the Meher Baba Sahavas at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was an unspeakably beautiful experience to be near Baba. . . one time we were in the barn where Baba gave talks everyday. He told us to close our eyes.

Then Eruch, who interpreted His gestures, told us that Baba had forgiven us all our sins from the time we sinned in this life until now.

Everybody was so overcome, I cannot adequately in words express the feeling that overcame us. . . we just couldn’t believe this profuse love, it was almost impossible to grasp. . . it was almost too much to bear it was so powerful...”

“One day after being with Baba I was very thoughtful about things that had been talked about. I reluctantlyleft and very slowly walked towards the exit and all of a sudden, I happened to catch Baba’s glance, who also was moving very slowly with His Mandali to go out. When I saw this glance I felt impelled to go towards Him, it was just like a magnet. So I walked towards Him and just as I was about to be very close to Him, He started looking everywhere, to the right, to the left, up and down. I quickly sensed I shouldn’t get any closer, I was very close already, so I stopped to let Him pass. So He just passes and as He passes, He picks up my right hand and kisses it just in front of the wrist. I was completely overwhelmed and I cannot tell you the feeling that overcame me. I thought I was in a dream.”

Marguerite is a remarkable woman; courageous, loving, talented, passionate about things close to her heart, and a lot of fun to be with. She says, “.. .you have to have joy... if you have joy, you can put up with a heck of a lot... it takes the thorns away...” “...without being too attached to things of this world, enjoy what you can. . . because we’re here to enjoy and to love and Baba certainly is the ultimate example of love.”

Marguerite Paley in action.

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(‘Minoo” continuedfrompage 13)

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‘Namaskar’ to Baba, but, being a Parsi, he had no appreciation for the Master-disciple relationship, and could not conceive ofa man calling himself God. As time went by, however, Minoo was more and more drawn to and amazed by Meher Baba. One day he asked Baba ifhe could bow down to him, as the Mandali did. Minoo says that Baba then looked at him sternly and snapped his fingers several times to indicate: “Yes, quick, quick!” and Minoo began a lifelong practice of taking Meher Baba’s darshan.

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[After the 1958 Sahavas,Adi sent a letler saying thatBaba wantedeveryone who had attendedthe Sahavas to write to Him. Marguerite panicked because she didi?t know what to write, so she silently askedBabafrrheip. Then she remembered thatBaba sometimes askedto be toldafunny story or ajoke, “...I b&ljust read this little story... I knew Ihad to write something so Isent Him the joke. 7

Jakefrom Margeurite to Baba here was this gardener who loved to garden, to pick outplants and things.

He was constantly faced with an unkempt lot near his home and he hated it.

One day the owner ofthe lot showed up and asked the gardener if he would clean it up a bit and maybe plant a few things to make itlookbetter.The gardener wanted to know if he would be paid for doing this work. So the owner looks at him and says, “yeah, okay, lll pay, go ahead.” So the gardener did go ahead.

He cleaned up the lot, planted seeds and did all the things he wanted to do.

A newcomer in the neighborhood, an old lady who had come to live with her daughter had seen him plant the seeds and work the lot. Eventually the seeds became blooms and everything looked so much better. The old lady saw the gardener who had done the work, this man who loved gardening and she said, “Oh, isn’t it marvelous what God and you have done with this place!”

The gardener replied, “Yeah lady thanks, but you should have seen it when God took care ofit alone!”

ne day, while sitting around after a meal Minoo began reading the ‘Meher Message’ magazine that was being published at that time. It was through this magazine that he began to get some inkling of who Baba was. He also began to read about Baba’s Masters and wondered if he shouldn’t go and meet them, as he was particularly interested in Upasni Maharaj.

He asked Baba about this, and Baba encouraged Minoo to go and see Upasni.

Baba would then call Minoo aside, after he had visited Upasni, and asked Minoo to tell him what “the old man” had been doing while Minoo was there. It seems that Baba knew all along of Minoo’s connection with Upasni, and perhaps that is why he encouraged Minoo to continue seeing him.

Many pilgrims have also had the wonderful opportunity to meet Minoo’s very sweet and devoted wife Aimai (pronounced: eye my). Aimai also spent time with, and was much loved by, Meher Baba, Upasni Maharaj, and Narayan Maharaj. Both Minoo and Aimai were particularly close to Upasni, and Upasni was very fond of them.

Upasni visited them often in their home where they kept a special swing-seat prepared for him. Upasni was particularly fond ofAimai, and she lived at his Ashram for manyyears during a period ofiliness and recovery In 1980, or ‘81, Minoo and Aimai moved to Meherabad and lived in the ‘Interview Cabin’ where Ted &Janet Judson now live.

Every evening they would walk incredibly slo-o-owlyup, and then down the hill (Aimai was very tiny and frail, and walked very slowly). They were always very loving and sweet together, and had many little private jokes. Zo remembers seeing Aimai sitting against the wall in the back after Arti one -

t’( night. Minoo had just taken Darshan and walked by her. He stopped in front of her and without speaking, they stared into each other eyes, looking as ifthey were very mad at each other. Finally Minoo, without taking his eyes off ofAimai, suddenly grabbed the flashlight that she was holding on her lap, and theyboth burst outlaughing. Very sweet.

Our first tea with Minoo was with him and Aimai in the ‘Interview Cabin.’ They both regaled us with tales oftheir times with Baba and the Perfect Masters.

One of the most unique things about Minoo is that he enjoyed the distinction of having been told by both Upasni Maharaj and Meher Baba that this would be his last life. Minoo usually would not like to talk about this, and would discourage people from discussing it ifsomeone brought it up.

Even so, he once told us that, when Upasni had told him that this would be his last life, he went and asked Baba ifit was true. Baba said, yes it was. Minoo was amazed and said, “Baba, do you mean that if I went to the powerhouse (the Nasik power plant where Minoo worked) and grabbed the power lines with both hands, I would be free ofall this?”

Minoo said that Baba then looked at him very seriously and said, “Yes, but that would not please Me.” Minoo was best known to pilgrims as a jokester and wise guy who loved to laugh at his own expense. Minoo particularly loved puns. The following are a few ofmy favorite ‘Minooisms’: “Peter Nordeen comes from ‘machine-gun” (translates as : Michigan).

“Come, we’ll stay up and drink whiskey in the night, and eat turkey pies and ‘filet manure” (fillet mignon). “Do you know the Countess ‘Malaria’?” (Valeria). And many more jokes, running gags, mannerisms and spoofs.

Though Minoo loved to joke about drinkingwhisky and cognac, all should know that he never touched a drop. Though he teased about wanting dancing girls, or a young wife, he remained faithful to his beloved Aimai even long after she was gone.

It was obviouslypainftil for him to talk about her after she passed away, so he kept himself and us, too busy laughing to think about it.

I already miss Minoo very much. I know that I am a better man for having known him. Avatar Meher Baba ki Jai!

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Meher Baba on Worry IIfany onephrase summed up the teachings f Meher Baba, it might well be Vont worry be happy. ‘He stressedthatso much, He toldus over and over again how very important it was to keep a cheerful outlook and not expendpsychic energy on worry. We have gathered herejust a small selection of the many profrunc1 and oftimes humorous, linesHegave us on that most insidious ofhabits. *Ed]

“Dont Worry Worry. accumulates and grows in strength, it becomes a habit long after the original cause has ceased to be.”

—Avatar Meher Baba

“Do not worry. Be happy in My Love andcontinue to holdfast to My damaan to the very end.

Rest assured that all! will be divinely well. God does not abandon those who trust Him.”

Why worry Worry is unnecessary. Necessary worry is notgood, butunnecessary worry is madness.

Ifisay: “Be happy!”be happy at once!

Forget. Away with it! Why brood I never brood.

Laugh!Be cheerful.’It is aiillusion—why notbe cheerfid, happy?

Start now!!

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AND LOiS WAU(ER & BROWNE

I We are not sure when Ikatar Meher Babafirst said those very memorable worth. “Dont Worry—Be Happy. “But we can be sure that there was not as much worry in

the worldthen as thereseems to be now!Infact, worry has become so ailpervasive thateven this recentlypzthlishedcomicstripportrays a baby worrying about worry! Ed]

You worry now about some condition, yetyou have experienced ailconditions. You have been blind, sick,poor, old,young, beautiful, ugly.

You worry aboutyour children— you have bad numberless children, and they have had numberless p arents and children. You worry aboutyourjob—you have been in every sort ofoccupation. You worry aboutyour wjfe—you have had so many wives. You have been everything and experienced all conditions, andyetyou worry about the slightest thing that happens to you.

While talkingto a woman atMyrtle Beach in 1952 Baba said: ‘Voveyou, do not worry aboutyour weaknesses. Eventually they will go; even fthey linger, love will one day consume them. Everything disappears in the Ocean of love.

Because Iloveyou, you have apool oflove within you. When you frel wretched, when youfall in your weakness, have a dp in thatpoolof love. Refreshyoursefin thatpoolof My love within you. It is always there. Even fyou wash your weaknesses every day in thatpool, it will remain clear. Don’t worry.

Baba loves you, that is what really matters.”

Do your best then leave the rest to Live more and more in the present me. Dont worry, behappy andiwill which is ever beautiful and which heip you. There arefiw things that reallystretchesfarbeyondthe limits exhaust energy so much as worry. ofthepast and thefuture. Ifat all Remain cheerful in allyour trials you want to worry, letyour only andknow thatlam withyou. worry be: bow to remember Me constantly. This is worth worrying about, because it is the antidotefor worry.

ReadGodSpeaks—you cangrasp it.

Ifyou understand itproperly, you willfindthatthere is nothingin the world to worry about! Whatever happens, happens due to impressions or sanskaras. Sanskaras make the Dream ofCreation appear to be real and lasting, and they create undue worries.

So-called ‘goodtimes”are like happy dreams. Owing to the congenial atmosphere, they become a long and p leasant sight, and you want to enjoy them more and more. But when you awake from sleep, you findthatthe worldofdreams has no value.

“Bad times” are like frightening dreams. You crave to remove yoursetffrom such situations as quickly aspossible. Iffrr example, in addition to this, a tigerjumps on to you in your dream, you awaken instantaneously.

The lines have been gatheredfrom a large selection ofbooks by andabout Meher Baba

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A Quilt for Baba byAnne Makeig he idea of making a quilt for Baba as a gift to Meherazad started small, like a seed that would grow. Mehera Makeig heard about a technique for making quilts using iron-on pieces of fabric, and found that family and school groups enjoyed working together on “quick” iron-on quilt projects. As Mehera thought she would have free time at this year’s Los Angeles Sahavas, she proposed a quilting workshop to the Sahavas Committee. The idea grew, and eventually we made quilt square material available for all at the Sahavas, as well as to several others who later wrote, phoned, or emailed requests for squares to work on.

As Mehera ended up working full-time at the Sahavas on childcare with Betty Loman and family, I manned the quilting table which we set up outside the dining hall covered with pencils, iron-on fabric swatches, scissors and embroidery thread. Mehera remembered to add flowers and a photo of Baba but forgot to bring embroidery needles, so we struggled with huge needles meant for darning socks, or tiny ones we couldn’t get the embroidery thread through. We all managed happily anyway.

The table didn’t take much supervising.

People picked out a cloth square, some patches and scissors or thread and sat down to work. It was so nice to watch. Many times the tables nearby were full of a group of women—talking, laughing, and sewing, their happy chatter tinged with a sprinkle ofBaba’s magic presence and the delight of being together making a gift for Baba. Most ofthe time I stood behind the table, smiling inside, feeling Baba’s sweetness and humor. It was touching, too, to see someone come up, take a square timidly, unsure ifthere was anything beautiful inside that would come out for Baba. But it always did. People would bring back their completed square, so proud and happy.

It tickled me to see men join in, too. I loved it that they didn’t exclude themselves.

Maguire andTeri Adams at the sewing machine, me at the iron or in the kitchen fixing lunch for all, and Mehera coordinating everything gently. Amidst laughter and goodwill, the quilt began to take shape.

Sometimes the Center seemed full, everyone finding a job or creating a new square in his or her particular style.

These quilting bees One made a beautiful pink rose any were also full of stories. One Saturday, seamstress would be proud of. Mehera Mehera looked JeffMaguire in the eye and encouraged some of the shyest ones by told him we needed a few more squares to complete the pattern and he should make showing them Mitchell Rose’s unique one. Actually, he made two, a beautiful flower “minimalist” square (“Oh, I could do something like that!,” they’d say). So many with Baba’s embroidered image and a second stories come to mind. Each square had a which says, “Baba loves Buddy loves Baba” (his dear puppy!). Danny Maguire made a Baba man-in-the-moon (with sunglasses), and Ten made two beautiful depictions of Mehera and Mani. I can’t forget Wendy Ward’s square.

She must have spent a hundred hours on it, an embroidered masterpiece both artistic and inspirational.The stories roll around inside me.

Top: The quilt being stitched Some were so touching.

Above: The quilt on Baba bed at Meherazad.

I remember one whole morning when the sound of sewing story. Children came by too, and invented new ways ofmaking squares, not limited by machines was punctuated with sniffs and prescribed imaginations. wiped tears. I hate to leave anyone out of When the Sahavas was over Mehera and this story, but the story of the quilt is like I had a pile of nearly a hundred quilt the quilt itself each square a bit of someone’s squares—and no idea of what to do with heart.

With Baba’s usual timing (and twinkle), them. Lynn Maguire offered to organize a the quilt was almost finished when Mehera quilting bee at the new Los Angeles Center, hoping Mehera could figure out by then how left for Meherabad. As she was stitching the final details on the plane, she imagined to actually make a quilt. Back in San Diego, asking the stewardess to announce a quilting Mehera found a local quilting expert who seemed delighted with the project and didth bee in row 23! She arrived on August 19— exactly one year since our precious Mani object to frequent phone calls from home and Los Angeles saying, basically, “Help! joined her God Brother. Mehera carried a present for Meherazad from us all that I Now what do we do?”

For the next several weekends, Mehera think Mani would like very much. and I drove up to Los Angeles to quilt at the Center. Sometimes, we’d be a few, Lynn

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Sunday evening, October 5, 1997, Tamara Mark and Donald Short were married in the first wedding held at Meherabode. The ceremony took place on the lawn in front of the entrance to the Dome. A beautiful arched treffis ofroses and greenery, erected in front of the fountain, provided the backdrop for the wedding party.

The couple received two special Baba blessings before their ceremony: the night before the wedding, at Margueritte Poley’s request, Baba’s sadra was taken from its glass case and made available for darshan. The next day, moments before the ceremony began, Wendy Ward approached Tamara and Don separately and gave them a smudge of dhuni ash from a 1954 dhuni that Meher Baba attended.

Baba’s chair inside the Dome was lovingly decorated with roses and other graceful flower arrangements. It seemed to absorb and radiate the golden light of the day. Tamara took the Beloved’s darshan, then emerged, the radiant bride, took her father’s arm as a trio struck up the Wedding March, and went to join the bridegroom.

Tamara and Don had asked several friends to join in the ceremony. Lois Jones read a Kahlil Gibran poem on love, Debra Ashe sang an original song, “I’ve Been Waiting for You,” and Lynn Maguire read a special blessing sent from Bhau Kalchuri, and her son Danny recited the “Beloved God” Prayer.

Prior to the ceremony Chris and Pris Haffenden played their beautiful guitar and oboe version of”Begin the Beguine,” along with a song composed especially for Tamara and Don. For the first dance Billy Goodrum performed John Lennon’s “Grow Old with Me.” When Tamara and Don began dancing the room was abuzz with chatter and revelry, but as Billy’s song continued, the room progressively quieted until the song ended in a moment of complete silence. Michael Campagna’s band played music for the dancers long into the night.

As the happy couple departed, theywere showered with bubbles. As the filmy iridescence played around the couple,joy and

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—21afiz love seemed to dance in all hearts. Whether one was physically present or not, it seems a special blessing for all of us to have had a wedding at Meherabode. Weddings are events to celebrate much that is hopeflil and joyous in life, they are a celebration of union in love, and a reminder of our own eventual union with our dear One and Only Beloved awaiting us all in His Infinite Ocean ofLove.

Above: Tamara Mark and Donald Short.

Right 1: Thmara and herfathei 2. The rings are exchangei 3. Thmara and Gretchen.

4. Baba lovers Mitchel Rose (cinematographer), DeborahAsh, andMichael Campagna.

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Monkey Mind Takes Darshan

by Steve Klein

0 Parvardigai thepreserver andprotector ofall.

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he preserver and protector of all. the preserver and protector ofall? What does that mean? Preserved and protected from what? We all die. No one is protected from disease, or suffering. So how are we...? . .

...and without attributes. You are unlimited and unfathomable, beyond imagination and conception.

Well, at least that’s true. I can’t conceive of what even half of this means, and I can’t begin to imagine why it’s so difficult to keep my mind from wandering.

I wonder if there’s something special about the prayer, something which makes it impossible to pay any attention to it once you begin. I don’t have this much trouble reciting anything else. Why is it that the only way I can say the prayer is to simply chant it as meaningless sounds, but the second I actually try and put my heart into it, and think about what I’m saying, then I can’t make it through a single line?

Oh well. Maybe if I recited it as loudly as that fellow over there, I’d be able to cOncentrate better. My goodness, he’s practically shouting. Well, who knows, Baba calls Himself the “Ancient One,” maybe he thinks He’s hard of hearing.

And just listen to the drama she’s putting into her recitation. She must think she’s on stage. Or maybe she thinks God will be convinced she’s sincere if she puts a little vibrato into her voice as she recites His attributes.

Oh, that’s nice! Not only are you not paying attention to the prayers, but now you’re using them as an excuse for backbiting!.

I admit it, it’s true, but at least it gives me something to really repent about when I say the repentance prayer.

But tell me, do you think it’s a false or unclean or unjust thought to wonder why we all have to say the prayers at the same speed? I mean, we must be spending more time concentrating on making sure we end

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up at exactly the same time than we are on actually repenting.

0 Baba, listen to me! What am I doing here?

Maybe it would have been better to stay home and occasionally think of God than to come here to His Tomb and make a mockery of His prayers.

Mockery? So who’s making a mockery? It’s true I can’t control my mind, but at least I’m not the one making such an elaborate show ofbowing down in the Samadhi. What is it now, five minutes she’s been in there? What’s she doing, telling Baba her whole life story?

Who is it, I wonder?

What difference does it make? Just forget it, don’t worry about anyone else, just think about Baba.

Right, think about Baba, that’s the ticket.

Think about... aha! So that’s who it was. But she’s been here for weeks and is staying another two months. She can spend all day long in the Samadhi if she wants. So why does she have to get so devotional on my time? Doesn’t she know there’s a long line ofpeople waiting to take darshan?

Oh, that’s great! Now you’re even criticizing how people bow down. For all you know she was overcome with emotion.

Come on, who are you trying to kid?

Well, it happens, you know. It could even happen to you someday.

Fine, I’m ready. Let it happen. But until then, let’sjust go about our business without all these big hypocritical emotional displays.

As ifyou can tell what’s an emotional display and what’s a genuine feeling?

Well, I can certainly...

SHUT UP! Stop this incessant chatter. 0 Baba, what a burden the mind is, always racing in circles. Why do I let myself get caught up in it? Just let it go, ignore it, let it go... go... go... god... god...

0 my God. 0 God, how unimaginably great you are. There are no words with which to describe you, 0 Lord. There is no way to even praise you. You simply are, and your

very existence glorifies you. You are glory itself. You are your own praise.

0 my Lord, let me give my life for you. No, even were I to give you my life a thousand times, it would not be enough. I can never be worthy ofyou. But please, I beseech you, let me be consumed in your service. Let me plunge into the fire ofyour being, let me be reduced to ask and smoke like incense burning before you. For what else is there?

There is only you. You are. You. you. you... . .

. .

What was that? Did I just have an experience? Could it be, after all these years, I’ve finally had an experience?

What are you talking about?

Just now, I felt so much love, I felt...

You felt love?

Well, maybe not love exactly, but I had such a strong feeling of unworthiness, and of wanting to sacrifice myself for God. I saw God everywhere, I...

You saw God everywhere?

Well, maybe I didn’t actually see God, but I felt as if God were everywhere. I...

You felt it?

Come on, give me a break. I tell you I’ve never felt anything like this before.

So what are you going to do now, write a poem about it?

Well, why not?

Some experience. You feel one tiny spark of something and now you want to dissipate the whole thing by spewing it out in words.

It’s not that. I want to share the...

Share what? You don’t have anything to share.

What do you mean. I...

Beneath the never-ending chatter of the mind is stillness.

And deep within that stillness, like a rising sun, dawns the fact that You are there. You have always been there and You always will be there. The surface of the ocean is constantly churned bythe wind, but my heart is beginning to drown in the depths of the certainty that You alone are.

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Roshan Kerawala’s Story, Part II

by Linda Zavala [In the October issue wefinished with the strange happenings at their wedding in 1958.

We continue with the many interesting stories Roshan shared with us during her stay in Los Angeles last year. Roshan tells us Baba was always watching over andguiding their lives.]

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fter the wedding, Baba told us to come to see Him the next day at the Botanical Gardens where He was staying. So with our arms full of gifts, we took a big horse chariot called a buggy and showed Him all the gifts we had received.

Then Baba asked “Sam, do you have plans for your honeymoon?” Sam said, “Yes Baba, I think we will go to Delhi to see the Taj Mahal.” Babalaughed and laughed and then said to Eruch, “Look at your cousin. He has gone all over the world and he doesn’t even know that the Taj is in Agra!” Baba, again laughing, asked, “Sam what will happen after that?” He then said, “Since you are going up to Delhi, why don’t you take Roshan to Kashmir?” At that time, in the Zoroastrian religion, most people give money to the wedding couple. The money we had been given was Rs. 3,000. And on those Rs. 3,000 you would not believe how much we did. We went from Bombay to Delhi, Delhi to Panipat always travelling first class. From Panipat to Kashmir we took a plane my first air ffight. When we arrived it was raining. Even in March it had not yet become springtime in Kashmir. But as the plane landed we noticed that there was bright sunshine. We stayed in a posh hotel for twenty days, and there was bright sunny days throughout. Every night when we would go to dinner in the hotel dining room, the waiter would say to us in Hindi, “we have never had this much sunshine at this time of year!” The very day we left, it started raining again.

In 1959, my first daughter was born.

Baba named her Mehera. When I was seven months pregnant there was a Zoroastrian celebration for me. When the woman is seven months pregnant we call the families, and we have a big dinner and then we

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distribute sweets to the families. The mother-to-be is given a new sari and new clothes by her mother. The mother then places all kinds of grains and fruits and a coconut in her daughter’s lap as she holds up her sari skirt to receive them. Then you have to bow down to your mother and then go and take Baba’s darshan. Since Roshan didn’t have her mother, Baba said, “I will do that ceremony for Roshan.” So Baba came to Bindra House. He is sitting on a sofa and tells Gaimai, “Keep everything ready.” So everything is ready on a big plate. Baba told

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me to put on my sari and then said, “Hold up your sari and He placed everything in there. Then He gave me a coconut. From His pocket, He took out one single old time rupee which was made of silver. He put it into my hand and told me that when I start getting pains in my stomach I must keep that rupee in my hand at all times when I go to the hospital. I wrapped the coin in a hankie I had. Then Baba said, “Give it to me.” He held it, then He gave it back and said, “Keep it safe.”Then He told everybody in the room, “When the pains start, she will take my name. But, all ofyou in the house should take my name, even for 24 hours, no break.” Then He told Eruch’s mother Gaimai, “When it is time to go to the hospital, you stay with her all the time.”

When my time came, she was chanting Baba’s name all the time. When the baby was born Gaimai was saying, “Baba, Baba, Baba.”The nurses said, “No, it’s not a Baba, it’s a baby!”

“Now, in 20 days after she was born, Baba came from Guru Prasad to visit us.

Baba came to see her at Bindra House and told us that neither I nor any of the family members could kiss Mehera. He said that they could hold her but none of the family members could kiss her. He explained “If you kiss her, the energy I have put into her will be spoiled. Another thing is that this child is never to be scolded, and you must never beat this child. Ifyou do that I will be hurt.” So we never kissed her. It was very very difficult for me to control myself. Then later on, the second child was born, and Baba never gave me an order about that child. But, years later Baba said, “Now, you can kiss Mehera, but also, you must not ever scold or beat this second child. I have brought them into this world for mywork. I give you the responsibility of bringing them up in such a way that they will be worthy of doing my service when I want them.”

Now the girls are grown up and Mehera is moving to Meherabad.

Sam and Roshan reside in Meherabad for much of the year.

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al Natu’s new book is entitled The Samadhi—Star ofinfinity, and he has kindly kept a copy at the Samadhi portico for Baba—lovers to read. Any time of the day, youwill find someone sitting on one of the benches there engrossed in this wonderful book. On November 5th, Bal came to Meherabad to offer his creation to our Creator at the Tomb. As such occasions with Bal are always a treat, lots of people joined him, including Dagmar Lai who had taken the marvelous cover photograph of a rainbow arching over the Samadhi dome.

Dagmar’s “coincidental” visit at the time is what Bal would call a “happening,” one of those sychronicities that swirl around Baba.

The happening that swirled around this dedication was joyfhl and spontaneous; all sorts of things happened! Balaji with deep love and reverence offered his book to Baba along with garlands, the Master’s Prayer was recited in Norwegian, there was an impromptu cello concert and some Mongolian throat-singing, a number of people just “happened” to come upon the scene, and many tears flowed. In short, it was an occasion only Baba could create, and after Bal left for Meherazad, those who had enjoyed it came down to the Pilgrim Centre, full of laughter, faces aglow, and told everybody else all about it.

Later on Bal shared with me aletter that he had written to the publisher, when they were trying to choose between two different photos ofBeloved Baba taken when He was lying in the Samadhi after dropping His body in 1969. Bal calls this image of Baba “The Universal Face,” for reasons you will come to know when you read his book. There is a little story that goes along with the picture he selected. To quote Bal: “There is something I wish to sharewith you regarding The Universal Face and the question you have asked about choosing between two possible versions ofthe photo. “When I took the framed copy of The Universal Face [photo] into the Samadhi at Meherabad for the first time, along with a framed photo of Babajan, it was September 21, 1995. I took these two framed pictures because I had a

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dream in which I saw Babajan and Baba. I did not know then, or rather I did not remember, that it was on this same date, September 21, that Babajan had put aside her body in Pune in 1931. During my visit that day, Bill Stephens was the only other person inside the Samadhi. When he later visited Meherazad he told me about the 180degree rainbow shining over Meherabad Hill that same day, and that Dagmar Lai had

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taken a picture ofit. Her picture shows the rainbow shooting from the Samadhi’s finial as ifBaba’s divine energy is being dispensed from His Universal Face in the crypt. And this is the picture [of the rainbow] which will appear on the book’s cover. Since then the same framed picture of The Universal Face has rested on my table, and was there throughout my writing ‘The Samadhi—Star ofinfinity.’ Especially the contents of the (ccrntinuednextpage)

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“The Samadhi Star oflnfinity”

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ith this quote from Meher Baba, Bal Natu begins his latest contribution to the beautiful body of narrative story-telling and heart-felt anecdotes for which he is known. On the surface, it sounds paradoxical to start a book about Baba’s tomb-shrine with His saying that He never dies. But in this case, The Samadhi—Star oflnfinity, uses that very paradox to make its central point.

Actually there are two central points in this book. The first is that Baba is, as He says, very much alive and available to all who call upon Him—especially at the Samadhi.

The second has to do with the sub-title, Star oflnfinity. Bal uses that term to refer specifically to the point between Baba’s eyebrows, where Babajan gave Him the kiss ofGod-Realization; where the stone hurled

by Upasni Maharaj drew the Avatar’s blood and initiated the conscious link between God and the gross plane; and where Baba pounded His own head against a stone in the agony ofintegrating the super-conscious state with the gross. So, what appears to be a sub-title in this case refers to a topic of equal if not paramount importance to the central concept of Baba’s living presence at

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the Samadhi.

I have to admit that Bal Natu is my favorite author. Not just my favorite Baba author—my favorite author, period. Bal has a unique blend of innocence and insight, coupled with an honest humility. Bal is always insistent that his observations are not meant to be codified, they are simply his personal thoughts and methods for

(ReDiew contiizuedfrom previous page:) chapter entitled “The Universal Face” were as though coming to me from this face [of Beloved Baba in the photo]” Nowadays I enjoy reading a few lines from the book after coming out from the Tomb. The following touched me very deeply. Bal writes: “So how can we ever fathom the spiritual importance ofthe Samadhi in relation to any other place in the world? When anyone visits the

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Samadhi, this becomes the most significant moment in that individual’s life. It is the blessed time of being in the Avatar’s company.”

—HeatherNadelin correspondenceforthe AvatarMeher Baba Trust

approaching Meher Baba as the focal point ofhis life.

“Every individual’s relationship with the Avatar is an absolutely unique and uniquely personal matter,” Bal states in the preface, and then proceeds to describe his uniquely personal stories ofthe power radiating from the spot which contains the body of the modern Christ. This power is experienced in different ways by each pilgrim who enters the Samadhi.

In my own case, my first visit to the Samadhi was greeted with a delicious coincidence. While growing up inTexas, my family was Southern Baptist. Church life was a major part of my youth. Early in my life I developed a favorite among the dozens of standard hymns that were sung in the church. The hymn was called Higher Ground, with the lyrics referencing the attainment of a standpoint which is above the world: “A higher plane than I have found. Lord plant my feet on higher ground.”

By the time I first traveled to the Samadhi (February, 1988) I had already accepted Baba as the Christ ofthis cycle and had incorporated the concept ofthe periodic advents of the Avatar on the Earth in previous forms that had also included Jesus.

As I stood in line to enter the Samadhi, I was reflecting on the path that had broight me to this obscure spot in India. I remembered my love for God and Jesus as a child and tried to comprehend to some srhall degree how the old concepts had been allowed to die so that the new ‘wine’ could find its place in my heart. So, as the person in front of me crossed the threshold of the Samadhi, Ted Judson started singing the next song. It was Higher Ground. I entered Baba’s Samadhi for the first time accompanied by the strains of my favorite childhood hymn.

What a perfect ‘welcome home’ statement it was for me.

So, I guess that’s an affirmation from my personal experience ofwhat this book is all about. It starts with the living presence of the modern Christ at His tomb (a term which Bal has come to accept as an acronym for Timeless One Meher Baba) and gradually moves inside to the living presence ofthe Christ within.

I [e3t Little Ways of Letting Us Know He Knows All byJane Barry Haynes .. ..

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eloved Baba had waked me at dawn.

The thought came to me: If only I could read for the Beloved the portion in the Jesus book ofNorina’s that spoke of the Magdalene’s first meeting with Christ. It had moved me deeply.

I went to the Center early. As I came down the path I heard Adi’s voice call: “Elizabeth-Jane-come now.” I ran—and saw Elizabeth approaching; we entered the Lagoon Cabin. Baba was looking radiant.

He had us sit right in front of Him. Now Adi’s voice spoke as Baba gestured: “Where .

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is this book that Jane loves so, Elizabeth?”

She did not reply at first, then said, “You mean theJesus book, Baba?” He nodded. “It is at home, atYoupon Dunes.” He then said: “Elizabeth loves Jane, but she loves Baba much much more. Now come. And gestured for us to come to Him.” As we knelt before Him, He caught each of us in one of His arms in a viselike grip.

With all His suffering and supposed weakness, His embrace was like iron. We knelt in the crook of His beautiful arms— one on each side. I felt great compassion flowing from Baba. His Love was like a great ocean enveloping us. Later Mani wrote that Baba had said Elizabeth and I were spiritual twins. It is my belief that it was at that moment that He effected this bond; or perhaps He renewed an earlier one from long ago.

He then said, “Elizabeth you go and fetch the book. Jane will read for Baba.” My heart leapt up within me; I knew that He knew all; He had known when I was reading it over and over the previous year in pain and in confusion.

I literally staggered out ofthe Cabin and Elizabeth left in the car. As I stood there, I thought, oh, I look so untidy. That second, Adi or Eruch came out and said, “Baba says tell you that you have plenty oftime to go to the Log Cabin [where Elizabeth stayed] and refresh yourself”! What tenderness— constant little ways ofletting us know that He knows all. I raced to the Log Cabin— brushed my hair—washed my hands—I felt inside to return. Adi came out and said, “Baba says to tell you Elizabeth is coming.”

I looked towards the drive into the Center, and in a few seconds, the blue Ford appeared!

We entered the cabin. Baba had me sit in the chair opposite Him. I opened the book to the passage and began to read (though I knew it almost by heart, so that I was able to look up at the Beloved most of the time).

As I read the words, I saw Baba’s beautiful hands moving very swiftly—or rather His fingers. His hands were on the arms of the chair. I thought: Oh, I am not doing it well, Baba is bored—or a similar ignorant thought. In a split second Baba became motionless, absolutely still, and His eyes never left my face. (In time to come Elizabeth explained that when Baba’s fingers flew in swift motion, He was working in a special way.)

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I continued, fully at ease, to my amazement. I had expected to be nervous as I always am; but I was at peace. I finished; the last lines are “And I know not—I only know that on that day I became a woman. I became Miriam, Miriam of Migdel.”

As I closed the book, Baba looked steadfastly at me with a serious look ofsweet Compassion. He then gestured with His right hand towards His heart and said through gestures (Adi or Eruch must have spoken the words, as they were not with Baba’s inner voice): “The way that you have done this for Baba touches Me very much.

For you see, Jane, I was Jesus Christ. Now, come.”

I ran into His arms and knelt at His feet.

Baba’s embrace was indescribable. Even the greatest mystics and saints and close ones of the God-Man can never place in words this Divine Embrace. So how can I, the most miserable sinner of all? I only know that all was swept away—all that had gone before.

There was only this now that told me: This is the Christ.This is All. Baba gestured then: Sit. And inside it was as if He were saying to me: No, you do not know; not really know; but I will show you.

So it was on that day, May 28, 1958. All the pieces had fallen into place; and only now, years later, I begin to realize that while I had thought that my love for Christ had been a stumbling block towards my recognition of Meher Baba, this in one sense was true. But that in a deeper sense I could never have come so completely to Him without this love. Without this deep memory, this recognition. He had lifted the veil; then confirmed it in the most natural way. He had accepted me just as I was.

From LETTERS OF LOVE FOR MEHER BABA THEANCIENTONE, compiled and edited byjane Barry Haynes, copyright 1997 EliNor Publications, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA.

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‘I WoiñHoMBack Ljfe” A New Tape by Gabriella Tal

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midst the resignation to God’s will which I felt through all of Rumi and Hafiz, I found andgrasped this thread of hope. From deep within the surrender, comes the trumpet sound of His glory— calling”I Woiñ Hold Back Life!” It meets my exhaustion—my spiritual and physical demise with a sweet defiant smile. Gently gently then, He leads me back to the resurrection of the moment, to the acceptance ofthe day, to the sweetness of His beautiflil smile.

This tape comes out about 2 years after my accident. For those who don’t kno I was hit by a car November 1, 1995.

Many ofyou have held me in prayer or in your loving arms—physically or emotionally, since. I thank you. The healing has been significant. From a spinal cord injury at T12 (mid back) which left me wheelchair-bound, I have regained feeling down into my thighs and movement now into my quadriceps.

Trying everything out there from alternative healing methods to a radical nerve transplant surgery in Argentina this past July, Fve come through the fire with some improvement and a new view. It’s hard to reduce to words, but “patience,” “peace,” and “acceptance” have come to have new meaningfor me. So has theword “belligerence.” I wrote to Lorraine Brown recently, “I have courted acceptance and beffigerence both as spiritual imperatives during this time—knowing my pigheaded will has a vital role to play in improvement as well as my swan-like surrender towards peace of mind. It is a balance a tightrope walker would envy and the way continues to bç treacherous and demanding to avoid a plunge from grace— which would come if I give up either of the two polarities—like guy-wires they

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anchor me and keep mc sane and growing.”

Real healing is ofthe soul. And as my soul soars in His love, I can heal the heart, mind and body a bit too. Singing is a way to soar to Him. I am most grateful for His gift of song. He spared my upper body completely, so I can sing—my greatest joy and I can still do Polarity Therapy—my vocation. This tape, dedicated to Mani, honors my true heroes—Rumi, Hafiz, Bhau. Mark and I put music to and sing their poems for them. I also honor the new heroes I have met these two years past— the amazing people I have met on the road of disability I hear them in my voice too: Del, 20 years in a wheelchair who took me under his wing as I had to learn this new reality Peggy,who had her entire pelvis and leg amputated to have a few more years with her family, Zen and Michael—two men who live the challenge ofquadriplegia never losing their sense of humanity. I could go on and on. I amjust a babe amidst such dedication to God. The sign of itin these beautiful people is the willing cheerfulness which is born out of their honest grappling and wrestling with the Beloved.

I know we arc all like that. Physical suffering has been a new horizon for me to experience. But all my dear friends suffer and serve Him in their own way. We are all in the same seed-case, the soft fluff of His love about us. So life—no it can’t be held back, I realize. And it prevails in the oddest of bodies and circumstances— which is all of us.

Great thanks, as always to Mark Malachi for his talent, dedication and support as we made this tape-collaboration a rea1it Avatar Meher Baba ki Jai! .

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[Correction: The last issue ofthe LampPost erroneously includeda review ofthe video, 21 View ofGod—MEHER BABA through the Eyes ofBhau Kalchuri” by Steven Goodman that, unfortunately, wasn’tby Steven Goodman.

We dontknow how the mix-up occurredandwe do apologize, hut the real review by the real Steven Goodmanfoiows here.]

A View of God —MEHER BABA Through the Eyes ofBhau Kaichuri

by His Hand Productions Reviewed by Steven Goodman

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yen though it was intended for the general public, whether you’ve been with BABA for two weeks or thirty years, this video interview of Bhau Kalchuri, intimate Mandali, is as informative as it is flail of Love.

Beginning with wonderful views of the Beloved, accompanied by clear, concise narration ofBabã’s life (by Peggyjoyce),Jeff Maguire leads Bhau into some eternal questions and delightful stories. From the Banana and the Scientist, to Baba’s active influence after dropping His body, discussion is perfectlytimed for fatigued western minds.

Intermittent with the interview of Bhau are lovely scenes of Baba* accompanied by Mani playing sitar and singing, and 3 wonderful songs written by Bhau in recent years that make you want to sing along. They were put to music by Bhau and Janice Rieman. Especially captivating is the striking sychronicity of the music to Baba’s playing the cymbals.

In Bhau’s effable way, he captures the mind while Baba is busy capturing the heart.

Take a break from this sophisticated age of paying bills, and give your heart a treat: see “A View of GOD” with God. And see it several times; we got so much more out of it on each viewing. Better yet purchase a copy because ALL of the proceeds go directly to the Trust’s Conservation Project. *Thefootage ofBaba shown was excerpted from ‘Meher Baba Call” and “The Ancient One” by Meher Prasad.

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have been a follower ofBaba but a short time by many standards, just a few years, but have been a seeker for most ofmy life. My story is one of playing the intellectual ‘god in a book’ game until I began to learn of the Love and Joy that is Baba. I continued to search for Baba in my head also, but slowlylearned that the heart yields more intense training! So I am new to the days of bliss followed by the roller coasters of challenges, the ongoing releases so familiar to most of you.

Perhaps the most important lesson I am learning is to trust that Baba is everywhere in the eyes of everyone and that messages and insights abound in the stillness of the heart.

I have had the pleasure of being surrounded by friends who are Baba lovers, and have found that sharing day to day keeps the ember alive and burning within, as if our collective bonding strengthens my own sense offeeling enfolded in His Love. It also seems that Baba often works in waves, testing this one here and that one there, and that the balance often comes from the sharing that letting go ofthis attachment or that issue or that illusionary idea.

Some days are harder and todayis one— but then the lesson for this day was more intense than most—did my closet ever need a spring cleaning! The magic of detachment and surrender dangled and danced until I got the message loud and clear once again, knowing full well that I still only see the tip ofthe iceberg, but glad to be there none the less!

To even be writing this story is for me a blessing, one that could not have been possible without the loving support of close friends as well as guides I have met along the way as I traveled to the Center over these past few years. These wonderful souls, gifts from Baba, have been slowly teaching me to embrace Him all day, every day and to hold on tight to his daaman no matter the challenge! With deepest gratitude from Our Loving Baba!

—Cathy Kahrs -

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ovember 23rd was the wedding of Dara and Amrit’s son,Jamshed Irani.

Dara is the son of Baba’s brother Adi, who lived in London for manyyears.Jamshed has a graphic design oriented advertising business in Pune (he does Web pages), and his wife, Farah, works for Birla AT&’I the GSM cellular company that provides access to Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa, including Ahmednagar. (India is not what it was even S years ago.) About half of Meherabad emptied out to attend the wedding and reception, which was held at the Aurora Towers Hotel in Pune. The Zoroastrian ceremony was a first for many of the foreigners, and the reception was true to the second of the three basic tenets of the Parsi and Irani religion, “Good food, good drinks and good times.” —James Cox

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ews from Meherabad, 24 Nov ‘97 Jai Meher Baba! For the Meher Nazar Trust Office Computer project, two IBM Compatible 166 Mhz Pentium MMX Computers have been installed. One for accounting with a wide carriage Letter Quality printer and one for Bhau’s work with an Ink Jet printer (basically word processing); and a UPS for each. Site preparation is still in progress, but the electrical work has been completed, and the computers are up and running. Training for the staff which includes programming has begun. Trust letters are now being written on the computer. Several accounting Data bases will be written (mostly) by the staff as part of the training. S students are in the class and doing well. (I have an Indian assistant, Sujeet Hanspal, who has a masters degree in computing from a University in Pune helping me with the class.) The Amartithi registrations plan to be processed by computer in ‘Nagar and transferred to the Meherabad computer by floppy disk!

The programming work to be done mostly ifnot all by the staffin ‘Nagar. Automation comes to the Meher Nazar Trust Office!

—In His service, Jerry Edwards

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little girl was told to draw her conception of the Hebrews’ ffight into Egypt. She came home with a picture of an airplane, the passengers all with halos and one person up front without one. When asked about it, she explained, “Oh, that’s Pontius, the pilot.”

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The Lord’s Prayer has always been easy for kids to misinterpret, either through poor enunciators or from mumbling congregations. One little boy, always a classicjoke, said “Harold be Thy name.”

Two other lesser known prayers though, are a little girl saying: “Give us this day our jelly bread.” Or the little New York boy who petitioned God to “Lead us not into Penn Station.”

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he Ancient One sows deep. The seeds ofHis divine creativeness sleep through many long winters; but when the season of awakening arrives, the world’s wide landscapes are filled with its flowers. My story here—about the making of a cassette album—concerns merely one small bud that has blossomed in my garden; but germ of His working from which this bud grew will one day be instrumental in transforming the world of the dramatic and cinematic arts.

The aspect ofBaba’s working to which I refer was first evidenced during His visits to America in the early 1930’s. During the 1932 visit to Hollywood—which was attended by wide publicity and fanfare— Baba established many contacts within the film industry. Over the next few years a considerable effort was directed toward the creation of two films of Baba’s inspiration.

One of these, entitled “This Man David,” was conceived essentially as a spiritual allegory in which a mysterious stranger named David Lord takes up residence in the small town of Middlesville, transforms the lives of many of its inhabitants, and in the end gets lynched in a scene of crowd hysteria. [This playwas performed at Mani’s request for Baba’s Birthday celebration 1996] But it is the second and probably the more significant of these film projects, entitled “How It All Happened, that is our subject here.

The inception of the project took place in 1932 while Baba was staying at Harmonon-the-Hudson, forty miles upstream from New York City, at a retreat owned by Margaret Mayo, a Broadway playwright.

One day, as the story is recounted in Lord Meher Vol. IV, p. 1492: “the topic of making a film on spirituality was brought up; the “

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theme was according to Baba’s explanations on the purpose of creation, the outcome of the universe and the spiritual journey. On December 3rd, Margaret Mayo spoke to Jean and Malcolm Schloss about her friend who was a movie producer. She then explained to Baba that she could also write a detailed scenario if points were given to her. Baba immediately took her aside to work on the theme. In about an hour Baba finished dictating the whole plot—the beginning of creation, the developing stages of evolution, reincarnation and the stories of three characters through five lifetimes to Realization. After reading it to the group, all said it was splendid, and it was typed out.”

Later that evening, Margaret Mayo’s friend, the movie producer Mr. Artkin, was invited over. Baba’s story was read out.

Impressed, Mr. Artkin said it was a grand idea. “Can it be properly worked into a movie?” Baba asked him. “Certainly,” Artkin assured Baba, and the film was discussed further. This film project was an idea that was to develop over the next few years.

The plot line follows the careers of three souls, X,Y, and Z, through five lifetimes and traces the course ofspiritual development in human form from the primitive to GodRealization. The first scene opens to a view of three cannibals feasting on a human

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corpse and culminates in a murder as two male cannibals vie for the favors of the woman. In the succeeding lifetimes these three souls meet again in a variety of forms and contexts—now as man, now as woman, now as the dominant party, now as the inferior. Of course, Meher Baba has explained the principles ofreincarnation and karma in considerable theoretical detail in God Speaks, the Discourses, and other places; but what is remarkable about this narrative is that it actually dramatizes these metaphysical truths, enabling us to watch the same souls progressing through a diversity ofroles and experiences. While the first three lifetimes depict the soul lost in the broils of reincarnation, in the last two the narrative moves from the outer to the inner worlds, as the leader ofthe three passes through the seven planes of consciousness.

These are described in Baba’s notes in visual and imagistic detail, and many points of the description are, so far as I know, unique to this particular text. For example, Baba describes the subtle body as similar to the physical body except that it is “smoke-like, vapory, and transparent;” and he characterizes the soul on the third plane as being “engulfed” in a “shattered mass of light.”These kinds ofdetails and descriptions are not to be found in Baba’s more theoretical

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expositions on the planes of consciousness.

The climax ofthe story arrives in the fifth lifetime, when the three souls are reincarnated as brothers in a wealthy New York family. An Indian Perfect Master comes to town, and by his grace the oldest of the three brothers attains God Realization. With this the saga ends and the long journey, for this one particular soul, is complete.

Over the next five years this story given

by Baba, became the center and focus of an on-going effort that involved members of Baba’s own circle as well as a variety of contacts from the film world. In May of 1934 Baba dictated more material for the earlier part of the film, in which the story of creation is taken from its very outset, with the birth of space and primal energy out of the darkness, through to the end of the evolutionary process [LordMeher Vol. pp.

1873-75].

In a subsequent visit to Hollywood the following December, Baba held meetings with several screen writers, including Norma’s former husband Karl Voilmoeller and a friend of Gabriel Pascal’s named Hy Kraft [LordMeher Vol. Vl p. 1937]. Although at first skeptical about Baba, Kraft was greatly impressed by the force of Baba’s personality and he agreed to create a screen play based on Baba’s story. The screen play went through several versions and drafts, and work on the project continued in various forms for several years. Indeed, in the Nasik ashram in 1937, as Margaret Craske recounts in The Dance ofLove, Baba instructed her to choreograph dances for the film, and Kitty Rano and Delia were enlisted to help: Kitty by playing over and over again Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony” (the only available musical score) on an old, broken-down piano and Rano and Delia—representing sixty dancers each—by learning the dance parts that she had created. Eventually however the project was dropped, Baba’s contact with the film world evidently having achieved its purpose. And there, for many years, the matter slept.

More than half a century later, in 1ate1995, when Alan Wagner and Heather Nadel, director and playwright respectively, for most ofthe plays performed each year at Meherabad on Baba’s birthday, were casting about for a good theme and subject for the up-coming celebration, Eruch drew their attention to an old printed text of “This Man

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Right; Heather Naclel as ‘DeadBodf in “Opium Den” withullain Yuell the Dance Director.

Lower Right; Costume Director Christine Pearson and Cave Man Mark Kellei Lower Left Minoo Hamilton, Mark Keller (bearded), Pamela Woo/, andAlan Wagnerc kitchen man, as cannibals.

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in the Meherazad archives. The play that resulted was a resounding success, which emboldened Heather and Alan to take on for the 1997 celebration an even more challenging dramatic production. For Baba’s scenario for ‘How ItAllHappened” calls for swift set changes in which the principal actors, reappearing in five radically different ages and cultures, must adopt a series of new roles involving changes ofcostume, race, age, social status, and even sex.

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he birthday plays at Meherabad are always grand events. Well before show time the theater in Outer Meherabad is buzzing with excitement. Shortly before noon the Meherazad Mandali arrive; the capacity audience, probably in excess of five

hundred, takes its seat; the music subsides, the lights dim, and the show is under way.

It is one thing to read Baba’s text for 7-low ItAllHappened”on a printed page, and it is quite another to see it enacted on the stage. For the Meherabad audience this past February 25th the curtain rose to the spectacle of two cannibals—played by Minoo Hamilton and Mark Keller— gorging themselves on a human corpse and then, a few seconds later, locked in a deathstruggle as the female cannibal, played by Pamela Wolfe, looks on. In the next act Mark, now a sadistic Turkish sultan, first tortures and subsequently stabs to death an Iranian stranger—Minoo—together with Pamela, his (the sultan’s) adulterous wife. In the third act Pamela’s character, now an honest Chinese businessman, consigns his

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opium smoking wastrel of a son (Mark) to prison over a bad debt but eventually, melted by the entreaties ofhis wife (Minoo), learns to forgive, even as the son, for his part, comes to experience the pangs of repentance.

But the most remarkable sequence in the play, was Minoo’s passage through the seven planes of consciousness in the fourth and fifth acts. With his admission into the subtle world, a cyclorama curtain opened at the back of the stage and a corps of female dancers, like angel spirits of the higher planes, began to weave subtle and fascinating patterns choreographed by AlainYouell, who flew in from Japan to create this work. The combined spectacle of dance, lights and music constructed an extraordinarily vivid impression of the inner spheres and powerfully conveyed the feeling that these mystic realms that Baba has described in God Speaks and the Discourses are indeed realities that willbe brought into our present, living experience in that moment, as it were, that the curtain is drawn aside.

The Making of a Cassette Album

by Ward Parks .

y own part in this production entailed the writing ofthe songs and direction ofthe musical performers.

And though I have composed hundreds ofsongs in the last two decades, I must confess that I have never been faced with a more forbidding assignment.

Completely unacquainted as I am with even the faintest “buzz from the astral,” how was I to compose—as the script required—a song for each ofthe planes, including the seventh? And yet the experience proved to be a truly exhilarating one, not the least part of which involved a race with the clock.

Workinglong into the nights during the last week before the performance, a hard-worked crew of choral singers, instrumentalists, and sound technicians struggled desperately to master the material and complete the recordings by show time. Mixing together frantic

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Above.After theplay, Katie Irani, Di Goher andMeheru, with Meherose Hamilton who did narration throughout theplay. and husbandMinoo Hamilton who also appeared in theplay.

activity, exhaustion, and sublime subject matte; these occasions with Baba carry their own distinct intoxication and emblazon ineradicable memories in all those who take part.

After the play was over, the opportunity arose to make an audio recording of the songs; and this started a whole new chapter in the project for me. When finished, I had written a total of 16 compositions, roughly half ofwhich pertain to the soul while it is still lost in the broils and tangles of reincarnation, while the other halfdepict the soul in its involutionary ascent.

As an album ‘How It All Happened” is very much predicated on Baba’s plot line for the film and traces a movement from sheer barbarism through repentance, longing, and inner awakening. The songs of the planes arelargelybased on descriptions ofthe planes that Baba Himselfgave or couplets of Hafiz which (according to the appendices in God Speaks) refer to particular inner states. For example, concerning the second plane, Hafiz wrote, “How should I reveal to you that last night in the tavern, intoxicated and unsteady as I was, great good tidings were brought to

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me by the angel ofthe hidden world.”

In the song of the second plane, these lines become: “Latelast night when the wine shop with drunken revels swirled, Great tidings came with an angel of the inner world...

The song ofthe seventh plane takes many ofits poetic ideas from the ghazal which Hafizwrote on the night that he was God-Realized. The opening two lines, in fact, are taken verbatim from Paul Smith’s rendering: “Praise be to God for the wonderfiilwealth Given to me tonight!”

This ghazal, for me at least, is surcharged with an extraordinary exhilaration, and this feeling came to me powerfu.llywhile writing the songin the early morning hours at Meherabad.

Then back in Chapel Hill North Carolina in the basement ofJerry and Cynthia Llewelyn’s home, alarge group of very talented Baba lovers came together to record it all for posterity— and your enjoyment.

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Festival ofthe Arts at Meherabode October 1997

/Ibove.A specialguestjust infrom New York— Raphael Rudd—treated us to some pianistic pyrotechnics. Below: Marguerite Poley in front ofher beautful autumnal landscape.

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Below: Our host, Richard Stermer (aka Richard Arthur) performed some ofhis own compositions.

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Above: Charlie Morton, an excellent artist himse(/ takes in worksfrom the prolj/ic young artist Vanessa Counser. Below: George Gerdes gettin’ down with some original story songs.

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by Dma Snow

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ai Baba and a Happy New Year to you all!

Judging by the response to our offer in the October issue to make your Christmas shopping easy for you—you all had a very easy time of it!

I can see now that we need to do that every October. Many of you told me that not only was it great that we gift wrapped and mailed your presents to the recipients directly, but that we gave you a listing of our top 28 best sellers for you to choose from.

Come this October, there will no doubt be many an addition to the list we gave you in ‘97.

To start right in with the new items for 1998: The long awaited reprinting of Fragmentsfrom a SpiritualDiary and Forty Messagesfrom Meher Baba by Princess Norma Matchabelli has arrived. EliNor Publications (for Elizabeth and Norma) is dedicated to the preservation of archival material from the estate of Norma Matchabelli, Elizabeth Patterson and Jane Barry Haynes. Their first publication was the enthusiasticaly received Letters ofLove by Jane Haynes (definitely a top favorite on the Christmas lists!)

Besides the two titles mentioned above, this book, Norinac Gift, includes an introduction by Charles Haynes and Christopher Wilson tracing the development ofNorina’s life and work, from world renowned actress and film star, to co founder ofthe famous perfumery, to disciple of Meher Baba. Drawing upon her previously unpublished papers and photographs, this opening section aims to give the reader a fuller picture of the remarkable woman whom Meher Baba named “Noorjehan”—Light of the World.

It is cloth bound, 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches, 176 pages, 19 photographs. $20

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Also eagerly awaited has been the latest in the biography written by Bhau Kalchuri and published by Manifestation—Lord Meher Vols. 11, 12. We now have it.

Printing costs have risen and so these magnificent books are now $80 each.

Volumes Eleven and Twelve (in the one book) encompass the years 1952 through to 1954. Consisting of 672 pages, it has 175 photographs and begins with Baba’s first visit to the Myrtle Beach Center and His car accident in Prague Oldahoma. It culminates with His Declaration ofthe Highest of the High in Dehra Dun, the Declaration of Avatarhood in Hamipur, and His Declaration ofDivine Work in Andhra.

We do still have the previous volumes available, except for Vol. III. The only way you can obtain this particular one is to order the entire set (and hurry up about it!) You do get a 25% discount if you are buying all 12 volumes. To do this send your order to Manifestation P0. Box 2024, Ashville, NC 28802, prepaid, or have your credit card ready and call Bookcrafters at (800) 879-4214.

The latest from the pen ofBal Natu is a departure from his previous books, Conversations. and the Glimpses series. In The Samadhi—Star oflnfinity Bal gives us his very personal reflections on the unique significance ofMeher Baba’s Samadhi. Bal says he hopes his stories will spark lovers’ own experiences at the Samadhi, as it did for Michael Ivey. See his review on page 25.

In the book’s preface Bal says: “Some may find this an unusual book presented in an unconventional style. I would readily agree with them! It is not a chronological account ofmy life with Avatar Meher Baba. Instead, it is my attempt to present a theme connected with the Avatar’s Samadhi that has touched my heart, and which I have allowed to flow naturally as it came to me. In this flow there are some personal, even trivial, incidents, some historical facts, and some thoughts on . .

profound subjects based on Baba’s statements.” Paperback 125 pages, $12.

How ItAll Happened is the latest from Ward Parks and is the music he composed to accompany the play that was staged at Meherabad for Baba’s Birthday celebration 1997. See the article about it on page 30.

The tape is beautifully presented with the words to all the songs in the liner notes. $10.

We also have two other new releases in the audio tape department. The first is from Gabriella Tal—post accident. Gabriella first came to our notice a number of years ago with the beautiful BlessingsfortheNew Soul.

After coming to Baba she said she felt like a new soul and was moved to compose these songs of praise. Her voice is a beautiful contralto but can soar when called for. She writes all her own songs which are profound poems oflove to our Beloved. So Close was her next album. In 1996 she was struck by a car and sufferred devastating injuries. It has been a long road back from “the blessings that Baba has given me” see story on page 27. With her partner in song Mark Malachi, they have composed a beautiful album I Won’tHoldBack Lift, with the words based primarily on poems by Rumi, but also Hafiz and Bhau Kalchuri.The singing is top notch, straight to the heart, and beautifully accompanied by piano, flute and tambourine.

It too has all the words printed on the Jay card. $10.

The third new tape will probably have a number of people exclaiming “Well it’s about time!” Mark Trichka and his fiddle playing wife Lisa Brande, have been playing backup on other performers tapes for a long time, really enhancing the general sound.

Among them: Jim Myer, Cindy Lowe, Mani’s own tape, and Jamie Newell. [See the article on Jamie Newell on page 39] For those ofus who have heard them live, and its hard to have missed them—as they have performedjust about everywhere Baba

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Mehercà Garden November12, 1960, Meherazad .Baba spendsHis timepretty equally between our quarters and those ofthe mandali, and as He crosses to andfro to the Hall where the mandali await Him, the garden glowsfrom Him. For the many coloured bougainvilleas and otherfiowering bushes are looking ..

their most beautjftl atpresent. As our compound has many trees, many varieties ofbirds are attracted here.

Only the other day, Isaw two little bulbuls with wings aquiver and spreading tailftathers, lookingjust like miniaturepeacocks as they danced, their little lungs bursting with lovesongs. Nearoursitting-room window

lovers congregate—Meherab ad, Myrtle Beach Center, Meherana, North East Gathering and many other places—we say Wonderful!

This tape entitled Happy Trails contains a lively collection of music including well known Baba songs, three original ones composed for Him by Mark and Lisa, various love songs from the ‘30’s, and peppy bluegrass and swing numbers chosen with the Beloved in mind. To compliment Mark and Lisa’s vocals, mandolin, fiddle and guitars, a host of other musicians have contributed their talents on banjo, steel, bass and percussion. $10.

Cherie Plumlee had designed a beautiful

Baba Christmas card for us that was too late to be featured here, but we’ll show it to you next issue. It is a colored photo ofa youngish Baba with beautiful flowing hair. Thanks to the magic of Adobe Photoshop Cherie has placed a globe of the world, tied up with a golden ribbon in His hand that He is holding out to us. It features a beautiful poem inside on Baba’s Gift to Us—Earth.

I mention it here because this card is very appropriate for any time of the year, especially ifaccompanying a gift. The photo is mounted on top quality card stock with matching envelope. $3.50.

Till the next time...

See you at the Bookstore!

a pair oflittle honey birds with iridescent wings shimmering in the sunshine hover to andfro as they sip the honeyfrom theflower.

Ifone had nothing to do, one could spend hours watching nature andher creatures andlearn muchfrom them. Once heartandmindarefilledwith Baba andHis work, there is not roomfor anything else.

During this Seclusion period may our hearts be unitedin a love so strongthat nothing can break the links that bind us to our Beloved Baba.

BelovedBabac Love is with you.

My love toyou each dear ones andto Babac loving trio, with love to Sadie andBessie.

Lovingly, Mehera From LETTERS OFLOVE FOR MEHER BABA THEANCIENT ON] CompiledandeditedbyJane Barry Haynes, © 1997 by EliNor Publications

Cherie Plumlee created this Monet—like rendering ofMehera’c garden to grace our latest mug.

It is infull color on a 10 oz. mug with a wrap around design. $10

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Center Report

by Michael Ramsden

A Note From Our Trust-waffi

by Lynne Berry

he Conditional Use Permit Hearing was held October 30th. The AMBCSC was represented by the Board President Mike Ramsden, our Architect James Sonar, Margit Wypyszyk, Fred and Gigi Stankus, Linda Zavala, Bobby Dearborn, Dma Snow and Lynn Maguire.

There were many representatives from the local neighborhood and Country Club Park Neighborhood association. Following the presentation by Mike and James in support of our application, several neighbors voiced their personal concerns about our presence.

A11 comments were graciously presented and accepted by the Zoning Administrator. In particular the Vice-President of the Association, Ms Dinah Roussel, presented a 12 point list ofconcerns from the Association members. This had been most thoughtfully prepared by Ms Roussel who had spent hours on the phone answering the community’s concerns and formulating a manifesto for presentation to AMBCSC and the Zoning Administrator. The Board President had reviewed these prior to the meeting and found them not to conflict with any of our Articles, By-laws or goals.

The Zoning Administrator, after various discussions in the question and answer period, then asked both the AMBCSC and the Neighborhood Association to draft a joint statement and submit it to her within three weeks. She also asked the AMBCSC to submit documentation that there was adequate parking for all events to meet Neighborhood concerns and City laws. On Tuesday November 1st the Neighborhood Association Board ofDirectors approved the final draft of the Document. On Saturday November 15th the AMBCSC Board of Directors approved the final draft subject to our attorney’s approval. This was secured, and on November 17th the documentwas signed.

During the same period, another document was developed between our immediate neighbors and AMBCSC that will allow us to use the Tennis Court that belongs to the Mansion for parking when there are events that exceed over 80 attendees. Both Documents were submitted to the Zoning Administrator on November 17th. The

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Zoning Administrator promised that she would give the application her immediate attention.

And that’s where it stands at the time of writing. It is probable that we will obtain the Use Permit but the Zoning Administrator may also place limits on us according to legal limitations that we may not even be aware of. However, that is all in Baba’s Hands.

Assuming that we will have the Permit, the AMBCSC has a lot ofwork ahead.

First: We must attend to the issues that immediately impact the City and our Neighbors. Repair the curbs alongside our property. Restore the grass by the sidewalk and provide for its watering. Prepare the Parking lot inside our property to City Code Standards.

Second: We must decide exactly how we want the inside of our meeting place to be so that plans can be finalized and implemented in a prioritized way that uses funds available in the most economical way.

These plans can then be submitted to the city for building Permits. Building will then commence to meet City Codes and in time we will obtain our Occupancy Permit. We already have a working plan submitted by our architect which we may choose to accept or modify.

Third: Concurrently we must develop a Funding Program that will pay for all the City Code upgrades. We have approximately a quarter to one third of the necessary funds at this time. Much depends on the City’s demands and much depends on the amount of volunteer labor that can be used.

Fourth: A MEDIUM RANGE GOAL plan for the payoff ofmortgage debt that we can all agree to, must be put in place Fifth: A LONGER RANGE GOAL for further developments ofthe property can be established.

And ofcourse we will need to keep doing all the activities at the Center that we have come to love to do for our Beloved. This is the Labor phase of the NEW LIFE. Come and help live it at His Center.

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you’ve been thinking that sometime lyou’dlike 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 villagers and maintains Babas tomb-shrine and Trust properties. There are also beneficiaries of the Trust whose living expenses are covered by donations from Baba-lovers. All of these worthy projects were specified by Baba Himself in the Trust Deed.

Many of the Trusñ charitable projects and outreach projects are carried Out by Eastern and Western volunteers. Some projects, however, require the assistance of paid Indian workers, and as India raises its standard ofliving, the cost ofmaterials and labour is on the rise also.

Now this new opportunity presents itselE Love-donations are also needed for the exciting new project that involves the preservation of articles used and touched

by Baba—the precious treasures that mean so much to all of us. Contributions for the archives project will have long-lasting value indeed!

If this type of service appeals to you, please make youi check payable to “Friends of Meher Baba Trust,” and send it to: Lynne Berry 267 Hanover Dr, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 Please note what portion of your donation is for the Trust, and/or for Archives.

Jai Baba.

(Announcements continuedfrom page 39) Somjai Piyavatkul and Mr. Thomas Hart (of the Love Street LampPost staff) are to be wed on January 24, 1998, in a private ceremony. A reception, by invitation only, will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel in Rohnert Park, CA following the wedding.

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A Letter from the Trust Dear Baba-family,JAI BABA! he generous response ofBeloved Baba’s lovers around the world to the Trust’s Archive, Museum, and Research Project is much appreciated by the Trustees of the Avatar Meher Baba Trust Because ofyour care and concern for Baba’s precious and irreplaceable articles, the building construction is now under way.

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However in consequence ofthis loving response for this project, the amount of donations received this year for the Beneficiaries of Avatar Meher Baba Trust “Firstly” is very low.

Therefore we request thatuntil 31st March 1998—ALL donations to the Trust (except for Archive pledges already made) be sent to the Avatar Meher Baba Trust “Firstly.”

At present, 75% of what is donated to Avatar Meher Baba Trust “Firstly” is utilized for public charitable purposes. This 75%, which represents the share of the Beneficiaries who have passed away, is automatically utilized as Corpus Fund for Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust, according to the Trust Mandate. Only the remaining 25% of donations to Avatar Meher Baba Trust “Firstly” can be distributed to the surviving Beneficiaries according to the percentages dictated by Beloved Baba in the trust Deed.

Hence, by donating to Avatar Meher BabaTrust “Firstly” for the next 6 months, you will be serving the needs ofboth the public charitable objects and those ofthe Beneficiaries at the same time.

FROM 1ST APRIL 1998 THE DONATION GUIDELINES PREVIOUSLY GIVEN BYTHE TRUST ARE TO BE CONTINUED. They are: APRILTHROUGH NOVEMBER: All donations to AVATARMEHER BABA TRUST “FIRSTLY” should be received during these months.

DECEMBER THROUGH MARCH: All donations to AVATAR MEHER BABA PERPETUAL PUBLIC CHARITABLE TRUST should be received during these months.

If the amount of a donation exceeds $50.00, then the donation must be accompanied by a letter ofinstruction stating that the donation is for the ‘Corpus Fund ofAvatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust.”

1965 Birthday Message MeherBaba

B

e true to theTrust I repose in you and remember Me wholeheartedly.

All talk about the Path and the Goalis alantern carried by ablind man. A blind man needs a staffin his hand; the seeker needs his hand in God-Man’s.

No sooneryoubegin to love those whom you cannot love, you begin to love Me as I should be loved.

To love those whom you could not hate is natural, but to love those whom you cannot love is to love Me as I should be loved.

MEHER BABA CALLING, ed.

JamsbedB. Mistry andj Flagg Kris, Copyright 198 AMBPPCT

Please inform all in your area who would want to know that, because the amount received for Avatar Meher Baba Trust “Firstly” has been so very low, the Trust is now requesting that all donations up to 31st March 1998 should be made to Avatar Meher Baba Trust “Firstly.” (signed) VS. Kaichuri Please Note: An exception to the above guidelines is: individuals who wish to donate a LARGE amount to the Corpus fimd ofAvatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust may send their donations at any time of the year.

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Avatar’s Abode, Australia 3rd 8thJune 1998 1958, Meher Baba, accompanied by Eruch J essawala, Nariman Dadachanji, Dr. William Donkin, and Adi K. Irani stayed at Avatar’s Abode from the 3rd to the 6th June. This was Meher Baba’s last Sahavas outside India. It was during this time that He named the property and said that it will become one of the great places ofpilgrimage in the world.

The Anniversary of Meher Baba’s visit to Avatar’s Abode is a special time for all Australian Baba lovers and this is enhanced when the time is shared with Baba lovers from the international community.

On 12th April 1958 Baba sent a message to all those attending the Sahavas at Myrtle Beach U.S.A, and at Avatar’s Abode, Australia. “1 am coming to America and Australia solely to give My Sahavas to My lovers and I want each ofyou to come with the longing to receivejust that.

I want this Sahavas to be above all a close companionship between your Beloved and His lovers; and ifyou wish to maintain this unique relationship, then do not come with the question or the desire to seek discourses and explanations. Come with the preparedness to receive fullywhatever I maygiveyou, with the thought ofbeing completely resigned to My Will.”

Copies ofa brochure giving detailed information about the Anniversary, travel to Australia, accommodation, etc, and also how you can participate in the programs ofmusic, drama, skits or tales,

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etc., are available at most American Baba centres. (For details, contact Dma Snowj A copy of the brochure and registration form will be placed on the

internet and this will be advised on the Baba listserv.

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1 to the 40th Anniversary Celebration ol Meher Baba’s visit toj-Iis Abode in Australia * .

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J arnie Newell at Meherana

by Dma Snow arnie Newell has always been a crowd pleaser, and never more so than at the New Life Sahavas at Meherana. Not only did he sing up a storm, but he also gave a workshop on relationships, drawing his words and insight from Meher Baba, Carl Jung and Haflz (and no doubt a little life experience!) He interspersed his discussion with some ofthe fabulous new songs he had composed using HafIz’ words. We were all ready to go buy the new tape ofHafiz, they were powerful songs, but alas, we were informed the tape would not be available for quite a few months!

However, no one who wanted to take a little ofJamie home with them left empty handed. The Love Street Bookstore carries five of his tapes: The Window To God, The

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Second Coming, IDreamedlSaw My Savio and two Blues albums Blues Is My Business and Zen and the Art ofBlues.

J arnie does not approach his predilection

for Blues as a dilettante, he has done his time with the big guys: While still a teenager in Boston he joined Muddy Waters’ guitar player Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson as a sideman. Soon Jamie was traveling in packaged blues shows featuring artists such as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Mose Allison, John Hammond, Robert Lockwood, Jt, and other blues greats. The affiliation with Johnson ultimately led to work as a sideman with a variety ofbluesmen includingJohn Lee Hooker, James Cotton, J r. Wells, Big Joe Turner, and others. on his latest album, Window to God Jamie is joined by the New Life Revival Band*_Mark Trichka on assorted mandolins, Lisa Brande on fiddle and harmony vocals, and Carol Hamm on upright bass. This addition adds an unmistakable Appalachian/Bluegrass twist to Jamie’s folk-bluesy vocals, and creates a powerful backdrop for his original Baba songs. All ofJamie’s tapes are $10 each. *Mark Trichka and Lisa Brande havefinally releasedan album ofiheir own, titledHappy Trails.

See the story in the Love Street Bookstore reporL

eloved Baba took one of His jewels, Shirin Vesali, to Himself on Oct. 11, 1997. Shirin was born in Bombay, moved to Iran and married Esfandiar Vesali, one ofthe Prem Ashram boys and was thus introduced to his Divine Master.

During 65 years of wholehearted devotion to her Beloved, she and Esfandiar hosted in their home in Tehran many of his lovers including Doulatmai (Mehera’s mother), Adi K. Irani, Meherji, and Aloba.

They held countless Baba meetings and gatherings. Her generosity, warmth and unconditional love was that of a true slave to her Lord Meher Baba. Although she suffered from a loss of memory in the last years of her life, she remembered Baba all the time. Her husband told us that on her last night, she awoke from her coma, sat up in bed, and started to clap her hands and laugh joyfully. Certainly our Beloved came to her in her last moments. It is only the J eweler who knows the true worth of the jewels. Our heart goes out to Mr. Vesali and our Baba family in Iran.

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—Shirin Vahidi andthe LosAngeles group.

Book in the Making: ‘7-:Iow I Came to Baba” group ofBaba lovers has sprung from the Baba Listserv to begin work on a new book of”How I came to Baba” stories.

The group has formed an editing committee, a layout and design committee, and a fundraising committee. A publisher has also signed on to the project. The group is physically scattered across the United States, and will be collaborating via the Internet.

The book is intended for distribution in public bookstores as well as in Baba bookstores. Everyone is invited to share their story for possible inclusion. Writers are encouraged to be personal, and to share their love for Baba. Don’t forget to suggest a title!

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Rare Portrait Reluctantly Released to the Public A 14 x 18 inch original drawing ofBaba, byRano Gayley, c. 1974.

It is believed to be the only time that she included a self-portrait with Baba.

Ifyou are interested in purchasing this

treasureforyours4/ cailDina: (310) 837-6419, 7-llpm, PST

Ifpossible, please limit your text to 2,000 words or less. Submissions should be typed on white paper, saved as a text file to an IBM-formatted disk, or e-mailed as a text file.

Please submit your story toTerri Zee, 33 Hidden Valley Rd., Denton, TX 76208.

Phone: (940) 321-3401, or e-mail: zee2@airmail.net If emailing, indicate “Baba Stories Project” in the subject line. Feel free to call, write, or email ifyou have any questions.

Remember, we hold on to Baba’s Love by sharing it. Share your stories with us! (continued onpage 36)

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AVATAR MEHER BABA CENTER of Southern California

1214 SOUTH VAN NESS AVENUE LOS ANGELES, CA 90019-3520

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PAID

REDONDO BEACH, CA

PERMIT# address correction requested

DATED MATERIAL Please Expedite!

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