In 1956, when Avatar Meher Baba visited Meher Mount, caretaker Agnes Baron took Him on a tour of the property.

As they crested the hill overlooking a corner of the property, a large oak came into view. Agnes turned to Meher Baba and said, “Baba, I’ve always thought of this as Your Tree.”

There was a large Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia) forming a natural canopy over the area.

When they reached the tree — now known as Baba’s Tree — Agnes said, “Here’s your tree, Baba. I’ve let the limbs come down so they would enclose it. I think it’s a very loving little temple.”

Meher Baba walked over to a spot in the center of the canopy and sat down. “And just as the others came panting up to the doorway and rushing forward, He gestured very sternly, ‘No, no!’” Agnes remembered.

He waved the group back with His hand, and the group stood back in a circle. Meher Baba sat there very, very silently, very solemnly for about five minutes. “You just felt worlds moving, worlds moving…” Agnes recalled.  

“I don’t think anyone else came in,” Agnes continued. “I don’t know why He made a big issue of no one following Him in.  You could tell by His expression that He loved it.”

Agnes said she thought He commented about the cables that had been installed to hold up the large limbs. “And I was very concerned because the weight was so heavy that I decided to let the limbs come down to the ground and, rest, which they have.

“And over the years, you see,” said Agnes, “it makes a complete little enclosure.  A perfect temple.”

Meher Baba sat about eight feet from the main trunk under a large limb that ran parallel to the ground.  The spot where He sat is now marked with a heart stone, often adorned with flowers.

His eyes shone, and He said He was happy.  Then he rose swiftly and led the group back down the dusty trail.

Baba’s Tree was severely burned by fire twice — in 1985 and in 2017.

Each time the tree survived to remain a touchpoint for visitors — a sacred spot to spend time in quiet contemplation to find inspiration, solace, and joy.

“The tree not only helps us to remember Baba’s stay here… But also, the tree has a memory of Baba’s stay here, as it’s a living being. And it can help us if we just sit with the tree and think about Baba,” said visitor Joan Dimpfl Harland.

Since the 2017 fire, Baba’s Tree has become the centerpiece of the emerging Baba’s Tree Grove where seedlings were planted around the canopy and saplings have come up naturally.

The spot where Meher Baba sat — and the whole property — is eternally imbued with His presence.