When you crack open Meher Baba's book God Speaks (1955) and turn its pages, you soon find yourself face-to-face with what some might regard as a puzzling or enigmatic Dedication. Conventionally, books can be dedicated to a dear friend, and oftentimes are sent into the world with a dedicatory tip of the hat to a special someone who has inspired and spurred one's creativity as manifest in the book one offers. Often, an author will dedicate a novel, say, to his or her sweetheart, or sometimes to his or her children. Scholars frequently dedicate their tomes to mentors. In publishing argot, a book's dedication is part of the "front matter" -- the various prefatory pages that introduce the work to the reader. At times, book dedications show marked signs of whimsy (this was especially so in the Victorian era, but the trait persists), as if the author, after the long, hard work of writing, is finally able to indulge in the luxury of a polite, convivial or amusing dedication.

One of the most sardonic dedications was penned by the poet e. e. cummings, for his collection No Thanks (1935). The dedication reads "NO THANKS TO..." followed by a list of many prominent publishing houses of the time (presumably all of whom declined to publish the book).

Pondering book dedications, I also suddenly remember these startling lines by a Russian poet: 

Yet until brown clay has been crammed down my larynx,

only gratitude will be gushing from it.

["May 24, 1980", included in Joseph Brodsky, Collected Poems in English (2000).] I seem to recall the poet placed these lines as a dedication for one of his volumes. Even if I misremember and invent this, it could have been so: for one frequent traditional function of a book dedication is the expression of the author's heartfelt gratitude. The title tells you what the book is about. The dedication may suggest out of what love it springs.

In the case of God Speaks, the book's title is itself provocative. The book's Dedication (which reads in full: "To the Universe -- The Illusion that sustains Reality") is provocative in perhaps more subtle but no less profound ways. That it is dedicated "To the Universe" is consonant with the content of the volume. God Speaks has many of the qualities of a philosophical treatise, an explanation of the Universe. It could be called Meher Baba's chief cosmological exposition, in which He sketches the vast story of God's cosmic adventure. That the Universe is defined as "The Illusion that Sustains Reality" adds a twist that sparks a reader's thought. It merits consideration.

 

Another interesting detail was the dedication. The dedication to God Speaks . . . was suggested by Murshida Duce. In December 1955 Mani wrote of the dedication in a letter to Murshida Duce, "Everybody loves the little piece you have chosen to go in front of the table of contents. Your idea of the Dedication has produced beautiful results. As darling Baba uses gestures alone, it took my dense brain ten whole minutes to get the wording he gives for the Dedication."

 

[Ira G. Deitrick, The Story of God Speaks: Its origin, development, editing and publication (2005), p. 17 (excerpted with kind permission of Sufism Reoriented)]

  

Strange to say, a few persons have floated the theory that Murshida, not Baba, authored the Dedication. While Ira's report that the Dedication was "suggested" by Murshida might ostensibly bolster such an argument, yet Mani's illuminating remark -- that "it took my dense brain ten whole minutes to get the wording he [Baba] gives [via then-new hand gestures] for the Dedication" -- would seem, on the contrary, to indicate a different idea: namely that the wording (or at least the final wording) was given by Baba. (What about "the wording he gives in the Dedication" don't we get?) Okay: did He elaborate on or perfect an initial suggestion from Murshida? Plausibly. Even if conceding that Mani's account, if pressed or finessed into some ambiguity, could perhaps be parsed to support more than this one reading, still, whatever may have been the exact back-and-forth give-and-take that "beautifully resulted" in a final formulation inarguably embraced by Baba, this delightful Dedication (the pithy paradox which announces the book's theme & anticipates its thesis: the astonishingly courteous interplay of Reality & Illusion knotted into a bon mot bow: Meher Baba's God Speaks salvo) emerged (we may hazard) from a creative dialogue. The Avatar then owned the pleasantry. Ira further notes:  

 

Many people have reported they were puzzled by the dedication, as Mani was initially, because it seems to reverse the expected statement, namely that Reality sustains Illusion. How does Illusion sustain Reality? Illusion is necessary for perfection. "Perfection does not belong to God as God, nor does it belong to man as man. We get perfection when man becomes God or when God becomes man. . . . The Infinite, therefore, has to discover its unlimited life in and through the finite without getting limited by its process. God's perfection is revealed only when He manifests Himself as man. . . . When there is a happy and conscious blending of the finite and the Infinite, we have perfection."

 

[op. cit., p. 17; quoting Meher Baba, "Perfection," Discourses (1967), vol. 1, pp. 119-120]

  

This wise & satisfying explanation notwithstanding, the paradox that Reality is "sustained" by Illusion might still manage to remain a thorny Baba Zen koan requiring the remainder of the 21st Century for the thoughtful reader to plumb its ultimate depth of meaning!

Avatar Meher Baba at Khushru Quarters, Ahmednagar (September 17, 1954) A form of this photo served as frontispiece for the 1st edition of God Speaks (1955); photograph courtesy of Meher Nazar Publications

To contemplate this mystic formulation is to ponder the whole of Meher Baba's Divine Theme in the dense twist of a 5-word puzzler: The Illusion That Sustains Reality. Is the Sustainer Himself sustained? Is the drop the benefactor of the Ocean? Precisely how and exactly why is Illusion required to "perfect" Reality? Thinking about this, we could turn to Kabir: 

I went looking for Him   till I lost myself

The Drop merged with Sea!   who can locate it now?

Madly searching for Him   it would cost myself

The Sea merged with the Drop!   who can locate it now?

In the first couplet, the poet recalls how he went looking for God. When the drop merged with the sea, who could find the drop any longer? This follows the expected order of things. (The same idea is voiced innumerable times by all of the great mystic poets.) But now look carefully at the second couplet. The poet reiterates he went looking for God. He then strangely asks: when the sea merged with the drop, who could locate the sea any longer? What a reversal! When man (the drop) drowns in God, a veil gets drawn over his Dropness; only Ocean remains in view. When God (the sea) drowns in man, a veil may likewise be said to be drawn (for a time) over its Seaness. He then walks or rides his bike around Poona like an ordinary school boy, none the wiser!

Of course gross consciousness (which epitomizes consciousness of duality per se) always involves such a telescoping of the Ocean into a drop; the Ocean then seems to be lost! This is the commonplace tragedy dogging us gross planers. But the sense we can get from Kabir's second couplet is that for one who has transcended duality (who has identified with the Ocean), the act of surfacing again as a drop is itself a great mystical achievement. (1) Just as the finite merging with the infinite is a stupefying marvel, so too, the Infinite assuming the guise (or the consciousness) of the finite is likewise a source of astonishment for a mystic poet of this caliber. One might go so far as to say, Kabir's ironic reversal of the expected order (in the second couplet) anticipates Baba's reversal of the expected order (of dependency vis-a-vis Illusion and Reality) in the God Speaks Dedication. Kabir is telling us: not only is it miraculous that the drop can manage to know itself as the ocean. It's equally astonishing that the ocean can manage to know itself as a drop!

The God Speaks Dedication is not the only time Beloved Baba has performed this sort of playful switcheroo (this flying in the face of expectation, this radical reversal of implication, this counter-intuitive formulation: this poetical rhetorical device in which the terms of a metaphysical truth are twirled around 180 degrees, to achieve a yet-deeper possibility of meaning). An anecdote from Rick Chapman's account of his 1966 visit with Meher Baba springs to mind; for that story affords another wonderful example. The two are worth considering in tandem.

Rick had gone to India (as a young Fulbright scholar) for a year, little expecting to be able to see Meher Baba, due to the prolonged seclusion He was maintaining. But at one point a letter arrived from Adi: "He [Baba] permits you to visit His abode -- Meherazad -- for 10 minutes at 9:00 a.m." on such-and-such date. Later the date was shifted by two days; anyway Rick showed up at the appointed hour and had a tremendous experience meeting the God-Man. Rick's striking description of that rare rendez-vous, which forms the culmination of his leisurely memoir, is, I'd say, among the most detailed portrayals to be found of the experience of conversing with the Silent One, on whose every (gestured) word the young man hung. Eventually, the conversation took this turn:

"Baba," I continued, "help me to love you as Mehera loves you." Once again, no change -- perhaps the slightest nod, an imperceptible smile. Baba's eyes registered my request, just as an all-wise and compassionate elephant might look upon an ant that had begged to join a great procession of elephants in a trek to another country. The difference was that, in this case, the Elephant had the power to grant the ant's request.

Baba's expression throughout my comments was intent, serious. After the last remark, he began to gesture once again: "God proposes, but man disposes," Baba said, and even in the state I was in, mind slowed down, moving in a different rhythm than it was accustomed to, I found myself feeling some vague sense that this age-old adage was backwards. Again Baba repeated, His face as serious as if the subject were of the deepest significance. "God proposes, but man disposes." Then, in an instant, Baba's face broke into a great beaming smile as He let me in on his cosmic joke: "I had proposed that you come here for just a few minutes and then go away, but you have disposed of My proposal! I want you to stay a while longer," Baba said. God Himself was turning the maxim of an earlier lover of God to suit his own purposes today. For it was seven centuries earlier, in his book on The Imitation of Christ, that St. Thomas Aquinas had formulated the notion that man may propose all he likes in this illusory little world of his but that things will damned well turn out however God disposes of them. And here the God-Man Himself was telling me that He had proposed to see me for only a few minutes, but that I had disposed of His proposal! I smiled broadly at His joke -- particularly inasmuch as it had extended my visit with my heart's Beloved!

[Rick M. Chapman, Meeting God in Human Form (2010), pp. 232-233).]

This particular switcheroo reveals the great courtesy of God: that sometimes He will (responsive to His lover's devotion) alter His plan and give more of Himself. Noting the qualities in Baba's witty reversal of a conventional truism (as unfolded in Rick's superb account), I wish to propose that similar qualities of playful irony and divine courtesy are called into play by the verbal gambit and philosophical somersault of the God Speaks Dedication. One might venture: in that Dedication, Maya is given Her due. She is offered the fullest imaginable tribute, where Her construct (the Universe) is recognized as the essential Illusion required to make Reality (strange to say) even Realer. Is Perfection Reality-Plus? Some day perhaps we'll know.

For we who linger on this endless shoreline, beached in the world whether we will or no, what, anyway, is the Universe? The Illusion that Sustains Reality. Whatever we find unfolding before us in this daunting game, friends, fits under that accommodating rubric.

My Baba-sister Mahoo wanted me to write something for this issue. I thought it might be fun and unusual to explore Meher Baba's surprisingly favorable view of Illusion -- the not-so-real material world -- and to speculate on its implications for Baba-lovers.

In one reading of God Speaks, I noticed anew the Dedication: "To the Universe -- the Illusion that sustains Reality." I found myself wondering, But isn't the whole point of the evolution of consciousness our escaping from Illusion? As I thought about it more, I could begin to see the Universe in a totally different light. Seeing the creation as both necessary and inherently divine has subtle but powerful implications for how Baba-lovers can "assist" Meher Baba's Universal Work, particularly in the coming advent of a New Humanity.

Yogic caves or not, on Earth, compassionate change in the world was and is certainly needed:  " Man's inability to live God's words makes the Avatar's teaching a mockery. Instead of practicing the compassion he taught, man has waged crusades in his name. Instead of living the humility, purity and truth of his words, man has given way to hatred, greed and violence. Because man has been deaf to the principles and precepts laid down by God in the past, in this  present Avataric form I observe silence. You have asked for and been given enough words -- it is now time to live them." ( 1 )

The God Speaks dedication (used with kind permission of Sufism Reoriented)

Meher Baba's Work in Illusion.  It is fascinating to note that almost every statement Baba has given about his work as Avatar somehow involves upgrading creation, improving this material world, and unfolding individual human consciousness toward appropriate understanding and behavior consistent with a new age. Meher Baba didn't need to work on "Reality." His unfathomable work and manifestation is all about the qualitative transformation of creation, especially in the behavior of human beings. As a role model in action, in addition to overtly spiritual activities (e.g., communing with the masts and the spiritual hierarchy), Baba gave remarkable and extensive time and energy to work with the poor and hungry, with the disabled, with the mentally ill, with children's education and, in the West, with the amelioration of drug abuse. Along with its deeper meaning, this work models for us true love and selfless service in the context of the ordinary world, to presage a new humanity that would understand the divinity of all, fueled by an unprecedented release of divine love.

There is little doubt that Meher Baba recommends a responsible life in the ordinary world: "God is not to be sought by running away from life but by establishing unity with the one in the many." ( 2 ) Simultaneously, he asks for a superhuman effort to curb the expression of lower desires (e.g., anger, lust and greed) and to treat others as well as we possibly can, especially those who suffer.

To penetrate into the essence of all being and significance, and to release the fragrance of that inner attainment for the guidance and benefit of others, by expressing, in the world of forms, truth, love, purity and beauty -- this is the sole game which has any intrinsic and absolute worth.(3)

Refining God's Dream through Love and Service. Meher Baba is, of course, one with his lovers. And like his previous manifestations as Avatar, he uses his lovers for his work. He asks a lot of us. Loving him, hanging on to his daaman -- that may be the easier part. But living the path of love and service, acting on the divinity of all other sentient beings -- now that's a challenge! Still, our collective gradual success in service to Baba's work can help speed up the development of a new humanity as well as forward our own spiritual evolution.

Regarding the value of selfless service to humanity, Baba stresses not only the positive outcomes but also escape from the false self: "When you are wholly occupied with the welfare of others, you can hardly think of yourself."( 4) As well,  he assures us that we also can serve by expressing love "in little things. A word that gives courage to a drooping heart or a smile that brings hope and cheer in gloom, has as much claim to be regarded as service as onerous sacrifices and heroic self-denials."( 5)  

Interestingly, if we look at Meher Baba's seven-point list of "How to Love God," ( 6) , five of the principles involve how we feel for and act toward others. Two have to do with our internal attitudes -- tolerance, patience and contentment with our lot. Summing up, he said: "The practical way for the average man to express love is to speak lovingly, think lovingly and act lovingly towards all mankind, feeling God to be present in everyone."( 7)  

  

From Baba's statements about the New Humanity and the unprecedented impact of his Manifestation, our reincarnating souls can look forward to better times: "It is through divine love that the New Humanity will tune in with the divine plan. Divine love will not only introduce imperishable sweetness and infinite bliss into personal life, but it will also make possible an era of New Humanity. Through divine love the New Humanity will learn the art of co-operative and harmonious life; it will free itself from the tyranny of dead forms and release the creative life of spiritual wisdom... it will enjoy peace and abiding happiness; it will be initiated in the life of Eternity."(8)

Back to the original thought -- Meher Baba knows that God's Creation is a divine masterpiece of imagination. God's Dream reveals a remarkable game of hide and seek. We, as characters in the dream, play this fascinating and liberating game to realize that we are really one with the Dreamer. Amazingly, without going through the illusion, we could not know real existence. Compassionately, the Dreamer himself has come down to refine the game and to help us with winning moves: "I give you all my blessing that the spark of my divine love may implant in your hearts the deep longing for the love of God."(9)

 

Meher Baba's counsel goes beyond the intellectual squabbling of the lower mind and beyond the ego's inexorable temptation to create dogma and orthodoxy. Here, let's take a last look at God Speaks, this time in Part 10, Conclusion, where Baba sees his explanations as intending "to appease the intellectual convulsions of the mind of man..." and again reaffirms the relative importance of what aspirants do in the game of creation, not what they believe:

 

God cannot be explained. He cannot be argued about. He cannot be theorized, nor can He be discussed and understood. God can only be lived. ( 10)

The first location of Meher Baba Bookstore in Pasadena --  at 31 W. Union Street (December 1970) This Bookstore opened its door in 1969

There have been Baba lovers in Los Angeles at least since the early 1930s. From the time Meher Baba came through Los Angeles in 1932 and again in 1934, there have been people in the area devoted to him. Perhaps the earliest ones on record are Malcolm and Jean Schloss. Aspects of their story of living in Los Angeles are written up in Jean Adriel's book Avatar (1947).

However, we probably can't assume that they had any sort of regular meetings with other people interested in Meher Baba. At least there is no record of such either written or in my many conversations over the years with Jean Adriel. However in the 1940s, Malcolm, since divorced from Jean, used to hold regular poetry meetings at his house in Hollywood. From the little information available, we can surmise that he and other like-minded people, all of a similar metaphysical background, used to get together regularly, and Malcolm made no secret of the fact that he was devoted to Meher Baba.(1)

John and Judy Page with Jean Adriel, early summer 1971

Amongst those early ones who knew Malcolm and used to attend his meeting were Marguerite Poley, Evelyn Blackshaw and Joyce Stermer. They were all to later meet Meher Baba and were all 100% devoted to him. Of course also in the Southern California area from time to time lived Jean Adriel, the author of the book Avatar. All of the above and many more were waiting to meet Meher Baba in 1952 at Meher Mount in Ojai when Beloved Baba suffered his fateful accident in Prague Oklahoma.

Later on in the early 1960s Filis Frederick moved to Los Angeles. Filis had been devoted to Meher Baba since 1943, first met him in 1952 in Myrtle Beach, and traveled with him on two more tours in 1956 and in 1958 in the United States. She began to make contact with the few scattered Baba lovers in Los Angeles. Also by that time, Dana Field, who first met Baba in India in 1954 at the fabled Men's Meeting, was also living full time in Los Angeles.

Adi K. Irani speaking at the Pages' house, summer of 1977 - Filis Frederick is standing behind Adi K. Irani

Filis was a communicator and loved to share Meher Baba with other people. In 1953 Filis founded the quarterly journal The Awakener- which is a treasure house of intimate stories and discourses by and about Baba. She began to gather people around her who were interested in Baba in the early 1960s in Los Angeles. Both at her work at the Mattel toy company and through advertisements in local alternative publications, she slowly got the word out about Meher Baba. Although Filis was a bit of a promoter, it was mostly through attraction that she slowly gathered around her the people who would later form the nucleus of the Baba group in Los Angeles.

Subsequently, in the later part of the 1960s there was a surge of interest all over the United States and especially in California in the search for God - often via unusual paths. Through a variety of means people in Southern California found out that Filis knew about Baba and they came to her to find out more. Filis saw people in her home, talked to them on the phone and began to hold regular meetings on Monday evenings.

Meher Baba Bookstore in Venice, California -- early 1970s

At the same time various bookstores devoted to Meher Baba sprouted up in the Los Angeles area. These bookstores, which functioned as Centers for him, carried a variety of books, posters, pamphlets and other items related to Meher Baba. They were all staffed intermittently by volunteers and were operated on a non-profit basis. As of early 1969 there were bookstores in Venice, Redondo Beach, Huntington Beach, Santa Barbara and Pasadena.

Each of these bookstores was staffed with whatever people were available in the area (usually students) and had periodic meetings. Some had regular hours, others did not.

This was the height of the "hippie movement"with rampant psychedelic drug use. Amongst the youth of the country there was widespread general dissatisfaction both outwardly (socially and politically) as well as inwardly (what is the purpose of life? - what am I doing here?). Many of those restless youth began to look outside of traditional answers and looked to the east and eastern teachings and masters.

As each of the bookstores entered into the 1970s, with the exception of the Pasadena Bookstore, they gradually begin to close their doors. The main reason that they ceased to function is that the local volunteers were mostly quite young and students. As they graduated from college, got married, moved to new cities or became employed, the pool of workers and the donations necessary to keep the bookstores open diminished.

The sole exception to the local Meher Baba bookstores closing their doors was the center located in Pasadena at 31 West Union St. in the Old Town section. I started that Center for Baba in early 1969 shortly after Baba dropped his body. I first went to the center in Venice Beach at 2700 Pacific Ave about that time. I had been living up in the San Gabriel mountains in the Angeles National Forest near Chantry Flats. My home was an old miner's cabin.

I had known about Meher Baba for a couple of years and had become devoted to him but was unaware of any other Baba lovers living in Southern California. One night I was listening to a radio program and there were a couple of people speaking about Meher Baba! I had never heard anyone on the radio speak about Baba before and a bookstore in Venice devoted to Meher Baba was mentioned. It held meetings on Sundays. I went to the bookstore the next Sunday and was very happy to meet a room full of enthusiastic Baba lovers including Filis Frederick. After the meeting was over I asked if there were there any places closer to the Pasadena area where one could buy books about Baba. 

The fellow behind the counter, Allan Saviskas, said that there were none in that area. I said, "Maybe there should be!" So I immediately began plans to find a place in the Pasadena area, in the hip Old Town area. After a month or so I was able to open the center, the Meher Baba Bookstore, at 31 West Union Street, which evolved into what is now known as the Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California.

Meherjee Karkaria at the Meher Baba Bookstore in Santa Barbara in 1970

Our center on Green Street was a much larger facility with separate rooms. It used to be an old real estate office. It had nice display cases in the windows, a separate library room, a separate children's room, an office, a large bookstore display/sales area and a meeting room. 

Legally the bookstore was a business owned by me -- John Franklin Page doing business as the Meher Baba Bookstore. And it continued that way until 1974 when it became incorporated into the Avatar Meher Baba center of Southern California. Even though legally it had been a "business" it always operated as a loss and had to reported on my tax returns as such! I was 20 years old when I founded the Bookstore and didn't know anything about business -- just that there had to be a Center devoted to the Avatar in the Pasadena area.

From the management point of view the center was run by various groups of people in the form of committees. There were different people who figured out the content of our weekly meetings on Friday nights and there were others who figured out the volunteer staffing for various days of the week. Plus some months after the Bookstore opened I married Judy Stephens (currently a resident of Meherabad) and we lived in the back of the Bookstore. We did so for a couple of years. There was only a half bathroom (sink and toilet) on the premises and no hot water!

Adi K. Irani at Los Angeles Sahavas, July 1977

The Center had had a committee of people for a couple of years who, with extensive input from the community at large, developed the criteria for what we wanted in a new center with the idea that we would buy it and have what we called a "permanent site."The finding and purchasing of a new site would not take place for a few years but in the meantime we found a Center which served us well in west Los Angeles at 10808 Santa Monica Blvd and stayed there for quite some time.

Eruch comforting Dhun in India. Photo: Meher Baba Travels website

My mother's family had a history of muscular dystrophy. There is actually a nice picture on the wall at Meherabode just outside the door [of the meeting hall] of my mother's sister Dhun [in a wheel-chair], with all the women Mandali. It was a great concern for the family, when Baba said "These two [Roshan and Sam] should get married," about what will happen with the children? Would the children be affected by this disease? So my grandfather and grandmother -- the respective parents of my Mom and Dad -- went to Baba and said, "Baba what should we do? You know we have this history of muscular dystrophy on Roshan's side. And if they have children, it could be that they get muscular dystrophy too, later on in life. And Baba said, "I am arranging the marriage! If I arrange the marriage, then I can tell you this, that not just their children, but seven generations after that" don't have to worry about having any kind of, you know, problem with genetics. And I think Minoo [Madon, in LA] asked me, he said, "So Baba was a geneticist?" I said, "No! He was the Avatar! So with His divine authority as the Avatar, He could say, "Seven generations will not have any problem." And I was just saying, maybe there will not be seven generations. He was just playing it safe by saying "seven generations." Because I only have one son. And unless he goes into production pretty quickly, we are not going to have any generations to follow!

But Eruch and Meherwan are my second or third cousins, I'm not quite sure. But somebody said to Eurch, "You know, you keep saying she's your niece. And she's not. She's your second cousin!" And he said, "Brother! She's my niece! I tell you, she's my niece! You keep your knowledge to yourself!"

Entrance to Bindra House, the residency for the Jessawala and Kerawalla Families    Photo: Meher Baba Travels website

So that's how we are related. I hope it makes it clearer to some of you, because you are all wondering how the family was connected to the Jessawalas. We stayed in the Jessawala home, Bindra House, in Pune, for a long, long time, because my father [Sam Kerawalla] was at sea, and my grandmother, Banumasi, who had lost her husband very early on, she didn't have very much money, so Beheramsa-Papa [father of Eruch and Meherwan] said, "Why don't you go stay there?" And when I was born, Beheramsa-Papa thought I was his daughter Meheru [reborn]. Somebody asked me whether I knew more about my last life than I would say. Was it you, David [Israel]? Right. So when I was born, Papa would go to Baba and say, "Baba, she's my Meheru come back isn't she?" And Baba would say, "No, she's not your Meheru come back." And he persisted. No matter how many times Baba said "No, she's not your Meheru," he would go and say to him -- you know hoping he'd change his mind, "Baba, she's my Meheru come back, isn't she?" And Baba would say "No."

So Baba's Mehera said to Baba, "Baba, he's an old man. Why don't you just say 'Yes she's your Meheru come back' and have done with it!" And he looks and Mehera and says, "I am the Avatar. Should I lie to him? Should I tell him a lie just to make him feel better? She's not his Meheru!" So then Mehera got some bee in her bonnet, and she pestered Baba, she said, "No -- if she's not his Meheru, then who is she? You tell me who she is! Because you said she was close to you in her last life, you brought her back very quickly. So you tell me who she is!" And Baba would say, "Don't ask me this question!" She persisted, just like Papa persisted in saying, "She's my Meheru come back, isn't she?" Mehera persisted in saying, "You tell me who she is!" So finally, to please Mehera -- because Baba never did anything to displease Mehera -- he did tell her who I was [in my prior lifetime].

Meher Baba with Mehera Arjani as a young child (photo courtesy of Meher Nazar Publications)

But Baba did say, apparently, that He worked [that person] so hard in his life with Baba that He brought me back to play with Him, [as an infant & child]. Which He did -- he played with me. He played with my toys. He would play with them before I could play with them. Yes! It was difficult getting my toys back from Baba. There was a little doll that my father had brought from somewhere, she was called Mary Doll. And she had a hole in her mouth and a hole down below. And Baba loved to sit with a dropper and put water in her mouth and hold a basin underneath and make her pee! Now Mehera [Irani] was extremely fastidious about all things to do with hair, nails, excreta -- she didn't like it. But he would call her and say, "Mehera, come come! Let's play with this doll!" And she would say, "No Baba! Thank you!" He would say, "No, come, sit. Bring the gindi" (gindi's a little bowl). "Bring the gindi. I'll put the water, and you hold the gindi below her." She had to do it because Baba said so. Baba really, really liked playing with Mary Doll.

And there's another toy I had, that my dad brought back from one of his voyages, it was a little dog which pulled a cart. It was an airport porter. And it had a cart full of bags, you put the batteries in, and the dog would walk, and then it would lean back against the cart and pant, and then it would walk again. And Baba loved letting that dog go backwards and forwards. Until -- until he would stop suddenly and say [gesturing showing Baba wiping sweat from his brow], "The poor thing is so tired. Turn it off!" And then after half an hour or so, he would say, "Put it back on." So -- this is the side that he showed us in this lifetime.

Now Meherwan, Eruch's brother, was extremely protected by Baba all through his life. For many, many years Baba would not let him go near women. Though he was the only child who lived in the women's ashram until he was 12 years old, he was not allowed to touch any woman, not even his mother, for many, many years. Baba had given him an order. But when I was born, Baba took me from my mother's arms and put me in his arms and said, "You can touch her, you can play with her, and you can now also touch your mother." So for many years we were the only two women he could touch. And that's why Meherwan and I have such a strong bond. Because he's been the father that -- I knew. He was there when I was growing up; my father was away at sea, and came back once for six months, every three years. So for three years we didn't see him, then he'd come back for six months, and it was like having a visitor who brought you lots of presents; he wasn't really my father. He was not involved in doing my homework with me, or telling me I shouldn't do this or shouldn't do that, or introducing me to reading books that he would bring for me. You know, the first books I ever read as a child were Homer's Odyssey and Iliad, the Greek epics, in an abridged form. Because Meherwan thought, "That's good! She will enjoy that." And I did enjoy it, I enjoyed it very much; and my love of reading stayed with me ever since. So that was why, and that is why, Meherwan and I are so close.

Bill Le Page, Mehera [Arjani] Kerawalla and Dolly Kerawalla  Photo:  Anne Elizabeth Giles

Now that was the first of what I think is, like, a minor white lie on Baba's part. [audience laughter] Because, while he has given my sister very hard-working genes, extremely hard-working genes, she works all the time and she still does other things. You know, I mean, she's been told, "Come work in the Trust [office]," and she said, "No no no no no." And I -- who don't have a hard-working bone in my body! -- was thrown into doing all of this cooking and stuff. But cooking is not really Baba's work, unless you think, "Oh if I'm feeding His lovers," then that is [real] cooking. I was feeding His Mandali, which I suppose counts as Baba's work. But you know, I'm still waiting for Him to show me what is this very important work that I am supposed to do for Him! When am I supposed to do it? There was [also] another small fib that he told many later, and I will tell you about that.

GaI Mai, Heather Nadel, Dolly Kerawalla., in the Cabin. Meherabad, India. 1975/77.  Photo: Raine Eastman-Gannett

 

Gai-Mama, Mehera A. and her sister Dolly   Photo:  Anne Elizabeth Giles

And so I take them back to Bindra House, where we were staying. And Gai-Mama says, "No Mehera, you've got so many sweets. Give one to everybody!" Now if you remember, I was born like that [making two tight fists], so I said, "No! They are my sweets! I'm not sharing them with anyone." She said, "So many sweets! You'll eat them by yourself?" I said, Yes!" So she said, "Alright." So I take the sweets, and I put them by Baba's photograph [gesturing upward], you know, thinking I'll eat them tomorrow morning. And I went to sleep. Now in the night, our servant Kesar, who had a habit of stealing things, she took those sweets, and she ate every single one of them. She did! Literally, in the morning all that was a brown paper bag and the wrappers from my sweets. There was nothing left.

But, you know very shortly after that I could say the prayers fluently. And after that, every time, Baba would say "Say the prayers in front of me." So I would say the prayers in front of him. And then in the Poona Center, the old Poona Center, which was in I think Patil's house, I used to do that every Monday there as well.

Recent photo of Mehera Arjani in Meherazad

 

As Meherabode is flourishing in His Love, He has compassionately blessed us with excellent financial shape at present. The regular fundraising and center's rental activities are in process, yet the basic financial foundation is on most solid ground.

The site rental activity (renting out the center grounds) has gained some momentum in the past couple years, particularly this year. How Baba sends these renters our way, is beyond me. Beside appreciable income, we have found that those drawn to our Center often include truth seekers ready to hear the sweet name and see the beloved form of Meher Baba!  

  

There was a notable site rental for an Indian classical concert featuring Rajeev Taranath (sarod maestro, a senior student of the late Ustad Ali Akbar Khan). Over the past two years, this was the 15th such Indian classical music concert produced at Meherabode; it turned out to attract the best concert attendance so far (approximately 80 people). Besides musical programs, and a group of community nonprofit activists who share Zen meditation practice renting the Center for their 2-day workshop, this year we've found film or television production companies approaching us increasingly to rent the Center.

Hand of God (Dana Delany and Ron Perlman)

Marc Forster (Director) and Ron Perlman sharing a meal

 

The production group for  Hand of God  (an American drama series created by Ben Watkins for Amazon Studios) has been filming their pilot series in the Victorian-style mansion next door, and has been renting our grounds to park their movie trucks, serve food, and use our reception rooms to hold meetings. This upcoming drama series did most of their shooting next door, and maintained their base camp at our Center while  shooting around Los Angeles. In fact, a Los Angeles Times  entertainment reporter interviewed the main actor, Ron Perlman, in our reception room while both sat on the couch under Baba's photos in Hollywood.   

 

The interviewer and interviewee together take note of Meher Baba's Hollywood (1932) photos in our reception room at Meherabode

Perlman plays the role of a morally corrupt judge who, suffering a breakdown, believes that God is speaking directly to him, compelling him onto a path of vigilante justice. See the photo. Isn't this amazing? It looks like He sowed all of these seeds when He visited Hollywood studios several times.

One of the actresses with nice hairdo

Food court set up on the Meherabode grounds

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

Also CBS Television broadcasting company has been one of our clients using the Center for

movie producing work. They sure enjoyed the serene atmosphere of the Baba Center.

 

Meherabode provides a spiritual thread amid one's daily life, an oasis where Baba-lovers can connect to Baba within. Life's distractions fall away. Weekly programs bring all together as a family in remembrance of the Beloved.

• Dr. Mahmoud Ajang a noted psychiatrist, who is also a longtime devotee of Meher Baba, discussed in an intimate group how Meher Baba differentiate between madness and God-Intoxication. He particularly covered phases of Baba's spiritual work in the 1940s, when Baba contacted and worked extensively with so many God-intoxicated souls (called Masts in India).

• Prolific author and vivid Baba-story raconteur Bill Le Page, along with his gifted artist-wife Diana Le Page, returned to the LA Center for a relaxing spring visit that started with an outdoor barbecue dinner, followed by Bill's talk sharing his memories from his first meeting with Meher Baba. Diana shared from her latest artworks for her 2015 exhibit at the Meher Spiritual Center (Myrtle Beach).

 

 

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• Shridhar G. Kelkar, new Chairman of the Avatar Meher Baba Trust in India, visited our Center for the first time. In an evening talk at Meherabode after a group dinner together, he shared about his life with Meher Baba, he having first learned of Baba in 1962 through his future wife, Perviz Talati. Shridhar first took Meher Baba's darshan (blessing) during the East-West Gathering in Pune, India, in November of 1962. He also attended Baba's last public appearance in December 1968. Shridhar's sharing was personal, frank, and straightforward, toned with hints of self-irony and conveying a gentle, loving perspective.

The new Chairman of the Avatar Meher Baba Trust in India, Shridhar Kelkar, visits "Mehera's Room" in the Dome at Meherabode in Los Angeles

Lois Jones, Shridhar Kelkar, Mahoo Ghorbani (with the Dome in background)

• The day after Shridhar's talk, we enjoyed a concert of devotional songs presented by Elaine Munson and Ron Greenstein, a power-packed Baba bhakti combo.

Elaine Munson and Ron Greenstein giving a musical concert

• In the spring season, we also had Dr. Ajit B. Soni, (son of Sri Bachubhai Soni) as a musical guest. He is a medical doctor by profession and a singer by devotional avocation. Dr. Soni played harmonium and sang Indian devotional songs.  His late father, Bachubhai, was a well-known Indian "light classical" singer on All-India Radio who first come in contact with Meher Baba in 1937, when, at about age 10, Bachubhai sang bhajans (Hindu devotional songs) for Beloved Baba. This was a love feast gathering with sublime devotional music. 

Ajit B. Soni singing  bhajans and  ghazals , accompanied by Javad Butah (tabla)

• Convivial Group Readings & Discussions on Lord Meher were conducted by Fred Stankus. This series is popular and attracts many interested people. This marvelous LA-area tradition pioneered by Fred involves a "round table" feel, where we enjoy a late breakfast repast while sharing selected readings from Lord Meher, laden with rich details if Meher Baba's life and utterances.

• A 100th Birthday Celebration honoring Filis Frederick (1915-1987) offered a group recollection of Meher Baba's great devotee, who was one of the founders of the Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California (and who played a crucial role in establishing AMBCSC as a non-profit organization).
  

  John Page, Lois Jones, and Elaine Munson recollect Filis Frederick

  Filis' life as a deep-thinking, independent artistic American woman drawn to Meher Baba in the first half of the 20th Century was variously celebrated by sharing memories and reading from Filis' poetry, and a great multi-media presentation.

• Our annual "Silence Day" Urban Sahavas at Meherabode, with the theme of "Beads on one String," was a three days memorable event, featuring special guest speaker Charles Haynes and special guest musician Jamie Newell. We enjoyed the companionship and stories of Charles as well as the company and wonderful music of Jamie. We will have a detailed report in next Gazette issue.

As an essential activity of the Avatar Meher Baba Center of So. California (Meherabode), Meher Baba Books offers a wide array of books by and about Meher Baba for Baba-lovers and the general public, including Meher Baba's primary works as well as diverse books published in America, India, and other parts of the globe. Also on offer are materials in other media -- CDs, DVDs, photographs, cards, buttons, lockets, and other specialized objects.

Meher Baba Books is the current successor to the various LA-area Meher Baba Bookstores described by John Page in his history-review, above. Its physical location is a charming space adjacent to our Meeting Hall at Meherabode in the heart of Los Angeles. There is also the online bookstore at MeherBabaBooks.com, which caters to customers throughout the United States and globally.

In this report, we would like to bring to your attention several new and recent arrivals at our bookstore.

Books:

• One Fine Thread, by Kitty Davy (2014, 290 pages, paperback). This is a collection of talks written by Kitty Davy between 1968 and 1990. It will come as no surprise that they are dedicated to the one subject that comprised the entire focus of her life, namely, Avatar Meher Baba, her spiritual Master whom she loved and followed since their first meeting in London in 1931. These talks were given mainly at Meher Spiritual Center, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where Kitty lived from 1952 until her death in 1991 at age 100.

• Baba Does the Impossible & other stories, by Winnie Barrett (2014, 153 pp, paperback). Winnie first heard Meher Baba's name in 1966 while part of the underground scene in Chapel Hill, NC, a counterculture of artists, writers, political activists and drug users. She longed for a higher reality and this search led her to Meher Baba in 1967. She felt great love for him from the beginning, and the love she felt from him was life saving and life changing in profound ways. The short stories, dreams and poems in this little book are examples of how Meher Baba has been an active force in Winnie's life for almost 50 years.

• The Architecture of the Universe: A New Framework of Existence, Time, and Space, by Richard Blum (2014, 109 pages, paperback). In this fascinating and unique book, Richard Blum attempts to bridge the divide between science and spirituality. He does so by extending Meher Baba's cosmology as presented in God Speaks and unites it with modern-day physics. Starting with the process of creation as described by Meher Baba, Blum develops a new theory of physics which not only unites God with the physical universe, but also offers explanations of aspects of Einstein's theory of relativity and quantum mechanics which hitherto have remained a mystery. It appears that the apparent conflict or convergence between science and spirituality is in the air, and some of the best minds in both camps are weighing in including Deepak Chopra, the Dalai Lama and Stephen Hawking. In response, The Architecture of the Universe offers an approach that seeks not only to find a way for science and spirituality to coexist but seeks a vision that unites them. Blum states, "If science is true and God is true, then a unifying theory must exist."

• Bhajan, by Tim Garvin (2015, 400 pages, paperback). A novel in which, for the first time as far as I know, the characters discover the advent of Meher Baba. The crew of a traveling zoo encounter a tiger, Bhajan, that was raised by a mast, and the tiger's purr elevates their consciousness. They then discover The Wayfarers, by William Donkin, which introduces them to the life and work of Meher Baba. The novel is entitled BhajanBhajan is a letter to the twenty year old kid as Tim Garvin and when he first noticed the inner world and became a seeker. When Bluey Macintosh adds a Bengal tiger named Bhajan to his mobile zoo, he is merely trying to change a few minds-maybe even a few hearts. But Bhajan, raised by an Indian mast, one of the so-called god-intoxicated, has a different plan. He intends to change the world. And does. Bhajan purrs-a phenomenon unknown in tigers-for six hours each night, and his purr has a mesmerizing effect on the inner being of all who hear it, including the other animals. Bluey and his crew of four embark on a journey which leads them to deepening consciousness, widening courage, and love. And they will need all the love and courage they can find to confront JJ, a nearly mad Iraq war vet, whose arrival at the compound changes everything.

• New Issue of Glow Magazine International, a Quarterly Journal Devoted to Meher Baba's Message of Love, edited by Naosherwan Anzar, published by Beloved Archives. Summer 2015 (28 pages) -- this issue includes: Spiritual Lessons: Meher Baba's words from the notes of Dr. C. D. Deshmukh, collected by Anna Khandale; The Biographer's Biography: Meeting Meher Baba at the Devonshire Retreat-- Excerpts from a biography of Meher Baba's biographer, Charles B. Purdom by Bob Mossman; and The Emergence of Meher Baba: Ray Kerkhove writes about the origins of Meher Baba and his spiritual authority.

Compact Discs & DVDs:

• You're All There Is (CD) by Buz Connor. The very popular "Nothing Less Than Everything" is one of the 15 songs on the CD. It is a very uplifting CD to listen to, with every song wholly focused on Meher Baba.

• Suite for Darwin Shaw (CD) by Ken Richstad. Just released! The 12 songs on this CD touch on the life of Darwin Shaw with Meher Baba, from the very earliest years onward. Characterized by songs in various musical styles, this high-quality production draws the listener into the discipleship of Darwin Shaw over many decades. A complete lyric book with some biographical notes is included.

• Way Up High (CD) -- Baba Songs for Baba Kids by Ken Richstad. Features 14 songs for Baba kids from the very young to the not quite so young. Brisk tunes and engaging lyrics will have young and old singing along and dancing in no time.

• In the House of Their Father (DVD) by Robert Fredericks. Avatar Meher Baba's 1962 East West Gathering. A 2-DVD Set (2 hrs. 20 mins.) -- Produced by Robert Fredericks and Gokaran Shivastava for the 50th Anniversary of the East-West Gathering, held on Meherabad Hill in 2012.

Our online Bookstore is designed to showcase Baba's works and treasurers, featuring books, DVD, CDs, photos, jewelry, apparel, trinkets. Working in concert with our Archive Committee, we have also made many rare and unique DVDs available, considered to be precious items.

It is joy to serve all of the people of this new humanity, knowing how the thirst of their search for truth has brought them to this entry to the ocean of Meher Baba, Avatar of the present age.

In His Love and Service,

Mahoo S. Ghorbani