9902 Sulphur Mountain Road
Ojai, CA 93023-9375
Phone: 805-640-0000
Email: info@mehermount.org
Wednesday-Sunday: Noon to 5:00 p.m.
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Sam Ervin, Preident
Ron Holsey, Vice President
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Richard Mannis, Director
Margaret Magnus, Secretary
Filtering by Category: Avatar Meher Baba
“Unity in the midst of diversity can be made to be felt only by touching the very core of the heart. This is the work for which I have come.”
~Avatar Meher Baba
Read MoreYour Friday photo is in honor of Global Belly Laugh Day…
Avatar Meher Baba always encouraged jokes and laughter.
Read MoreYour Friday photo is in honor of this season when much of the world celebrates the birth of Jesus…
Avatar Meher Baba said God incarnates in human form every 500 to 1400 years. Each incarnation is referred to as an Avatar. Past incarnations include Meher Baba, Muhammad, Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Rama, and Zoroaster.
“The Avatar is always One and the Same, because God is always One and the Same, the Eternal, Indivisible, Infinite One…the Highest of the High,” Meher Baba explained.
“This Eternally One and the Same Avatar repeats His manifestation from time to time, in different cycles, adopting different human forms and different names, in different places, to reveal Truth in different garbs and different languages…” [1]
“I belong to no religion. Every religion belongs to Me. My personal religion is My being the Ancient Infinite One, and the religion I impart to all is Love for God, which is the truth of all religions.
This Love can belong to all, high and low, rich and poor. Every one of every caste and creed can love God. The one and only God who resides equally in us all is approachable by each one of through love.
Religion, like worship, must be from the heart. If instead of creating churches, fire-temples, mandirs and mosques, people were to establish the House of God in their hearts for the Beloved God to dwell supreme, my work will have been done.
If, instead of mechanically performing ceremonies and rituals as age-old customs, people were to serve their fellow-beings with the selflessness of love, taking God to be equally residing in one and all and knowing that by serving others they are serving me, my work will have fulfilled. ”
[1] The Silent Master, Meher Baba, pg. 45, (c) Irwin Luck, 1967. Quotations from Meher Baba with permission of the Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Charitable Trust, Ahmednagar, India.
[2] The Message of Meher Baba, “Truth of Religion,” Meher Baba Publications, pg. 5. (c)Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust, Ahmednagar, India.
[3] Photo: Avatar Meher Baba. (c)Meher Nazar Publications, Ahmednagar, India.
Your Friday photo…
The following is an excerpt from Conversations with The Awakener, written by Bal Natu, a close follower of Avatar Meher Baba. This conversation, “An Ever Flowing Stream of Gratitude,” is part of a collection of internal conversations between Bal and his Divine Beloved, Meher Baba.
“Will you please tell me, then - what is gratitude?”
Meher Baba: "Gratitude is a most lovable way of acknowledging My unconditional compassion. And it strengthens your relationship with Me. I have no expectation of it, for My own sake, but it is for your personal good."
Bal Natu: "In what way?"
Meher Baba: "It opens up new informal avenues through which you may feel My presence more and more."
Bal Natu: "Will You please tell me, then — what is gratitude?"
Meher Baba: "In a sense, gratitude is the art of accepting life, moment by moment, in whatever situation one finds oneself, as being My Will. You offer everything to Me, and receive everything from Me."
Bal Natu: "I wonder how in my daily living I can remain grateful to You."
Meher Baba: "Well, if you are honest about wanting to do this, then you will recognize My tender little graces — and these are many — while attending to daily chores or any important work."
The extended internal conversation between Bal and Meher Baba is included in the free Meher Mount eBook on gratitude, "Does Meher Baba Want Us to Thank Him?"
Bal Natu, Conversations with the Awakener, pg. 24. (c) 1991 Sheriar Foundation. Used by permission.
Image: Avatar Meher Baba in Mahabaleshwar, India, on December 25, 1950. Photographed by Faredoon (Padri) Driver. MSI Collection, Meherabad, India. Used with permission.
Your Friday photo is in honor of Meher Baba’s affinity for the game of cricket…
Today, the India National Cricket Team plays South Africa.
Meher Baba enjoyed playing and watching cricket. Cricket and other games were often played in the ashram with His close followers.
In this photo, Meher Baba is playing cricket in Lower Meherabad, India, in 1936.
In 1959, He gave the following message to the players of the Poona Cricket Association before they left India to go to England for a test match.
“True sportsmanship is concentrated ability, enlivened with appreciation of the performance of others. And when this is manifested, everyone present, both players and spectators, receives spiritual upliftment as well as good entertainment.”
“In going to England [1959] to represent India in the field of sport, you also have the unique opportunity of practicing and of conveying to the people there the great spiritual lessons of concentration and love.
When you take the field, and if you play as eleven men with one heart, each enjoying the excellence of performance in another player as he would in himself, whether that player is on your side or on the side of the opposing team, and so eliminating feelings of jealousy, anger and pride, which so often mar the sport — you will not only be entertaining the spectators, but demonstrating the real spirit of sportsmanship.
True sportsmanship is concentrated ability, enlivened with appreciation of the performance of others. And when this is manifested, everyone present, both players and spectators, receives spiritual upliftment as well as good entertainment.
Some of you are ‘all-rounders.’ I am the greatest spiritual ‘all-rounder’ of all times, because I feel equally at home with saints, yogis, philosophers and cricketers, as well as with so-called sinners and scoundrels.
I give you my blessing that in all your actions you show forth the spirit of love.”
~Avatar Meher Baba
Bhau Kalchuri, Lord Meher: The Biography of the Avatar of the Age Meher Baba, Online Edition, pg. 4510, accessed September 14, 2024. (c)Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust, Ahmednagar, India. Used with permission.
Photograph: Faredoon (Padri) Driver, Meherabad, India, 1936. Meher Nazar Publications. Used with permission.
Your Friday photo…
Nearly 300 stickers carrying Meher Baba’s well-known message, “don’t worry, be happy,” were given to visitors at Meher Mount's booth during Ojai Day 2024.
When offered the free "don't worry, be happy" sticker, a common response was, "Yes. I really need that right now." And then the person smiled.
At the booth are Sam Ervin, Juan Mendez, and Ron Holsey talking to one of the many people who stopped by to chat.
See below to see why there’s always a happy ending — and to get your own free sticker.
“I really need that right now..”
A Happy Ending
Mani S. Irani, Meher Baba’s sister and close disciple, reinforced the “don’t worry, be happy” message when she shared this story:
“When Baba said a thing it was with the authority of supreme knowledge, knowing everything. So when He says be happy, don't worry, He knows there is no reason to worry.
“…Baba would always like a happy ending. That is because His story, the story of His creation, has a happy ending. We are simply going through chapters.
“But somebody who has read the book and who knows the end, can very authoritatively say, ‘Don't worry, don't worry’ while you are in the midst of a chapter which is terrible.
“So whenever we go through something that seems so difficult, so disagreeable, don't worry, remember it is only a chapter... the next chapter might be different.
“When the end of the story comes, the story is finished. So, we might as well enjoy the story while we are in it too.”
Source: Bill Le Page, ed., The Divine Humanity of Meher Baba, Volume II, pp. 183-184. (Woombye, Australia: Meher Baba Foundation). ©Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Trust, Ahmednagar India.
Your Friday photo is in honor of the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi…
The feast is on October 4th every year to commemorate the life of Saint Francis (1181- 1226).
This story and photo from Agnes Montano is particularly apropos because Saint Francis is the patron saint of animals and the environment.
One day Avatar Meher Baba dictated the following about saints, especially in regard to Saint Francis.
“Why were the saints, the saints? Because they were cheerful when it was difficult to be cheerful and patient when it was difficult to be patient.
And because they pushed on when they wanted to stand still, kept silent when they wanted to talk, and were agreeable when they wanted to be disagreeable. That was all. It was quite simple and always will be.”
Not all Meher Baba’s guests at Meher Mount come in human form.
When my husband Juan Mendez and I were caretaking at Meher Mount, a yearling buck visited on a daily basis. He would spend most of the day leisurely resting in a spot by the statue of St. Francis.
Francis — as we started calling the deer — was not frightened by our presence.
One day Francis ventured onto the veranda. He nuzzled against one of the glass doors in the reception area. Then he seemed to look straight at Meher Baba’s photos hanging on the wall.
He pressed his nose hard against the door, as if wanting to come inside.
The gentle nature of this deer was an endearing reminder of the connections we – animals, plants and trees – share with the Divine and how God expresses Himself in all living beings.
~Agnes Montano, Temporary Caretaker & Board Member
Sources
Bhau Kalchuri, Lord Meher: The Biography of the Avatar of the Age Meher Baba, Online Edition, page 2098, accessed September 11, 2024. (c)Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust.
Carolyn M. Ball, Meher Baba in Assisi . (Myrtle Beach, SC: Arti Books). (c)2019 by Carolyn M. Ball.
Agnes Montano, “Francis (the Deer) Visits St. Francis (the Statue),” Meher Mount Story Blog, accessed September 11, 2024.
Your Friday photo celebrates National Positive Thinking Day…
Avatar Meher Baba making His general gesture for happiness in this photo taken by Faredoon (Padri) Driver
It's as if Meher Baba is saying, “It’s good, isn’t it?” or “You’re happy, aren’t you?”
“Say to yourself, ‘I am meant to be happy, to make others happy,’ and gradually you do become happy yourself and make others happy, too. ”
There’s a story shared in Lord Meher in which a nurse named Mrs. Schreiber told Meher Baba, “I am so tired of life and very unhappy. I don’t see how I can improve.”
Meher Baba responded:
“Everyone is unconsciously tired of this life, because everyone seeks happiness, but knows not how to get it.
But life is so beautiful! It is meant to be happy.
I will help you. Then things will appear changed. You will see it.
It is always the outlook that counts, and not the object.
Today, you feel tired, upset, seeing nothing beautiful in things around you in life.
If tomorrow, you do not feel bored but cheerful in the same things that appeared so black to you yesterday — it is all due to changed mentality and outlook.
The easy way is not to make so much of things. Take them lightly.
Say to yourself, 'I am meant to be happy, to make others happy,' and gradually you do become happy yourself and make others happy, too.
Don't suggest to your mind, 'I am tired, haggard, depressed,' et cetera. That will make it worse.
Always say, 'All is well and beautiful. I will be happy.’”
Sources
Quote: Bhau Kalchuri, Lord Meher: The Biography of the Avatar of the Age Meher Baba, Online Edition, pg. 1631, accessed August 29, 2024. (c)Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust.
Photograph: Faredoon (Padri) Driver, Bangalore, India, late 1939/early 1940. Meher Nazar Publications. Used with permission.
National Positive Thinking Day
Positive Thinking Day is celebrated on September 13th every year to highlight the rewards of positive thinking. Too much negativity can have an adverse impact on our emotional well-being. So, on Positive Thinking Day and other days too, it’s an opportunity to remind ourselves of Meher Baba’s words, “don’t’ worry, be happy.”
Your Friday photo celebrates the 68th anniversary of Meher Baba’s visit to Meher Mount on August 2, 1956…
“I want Agni to know that I love Meher Mount very, very much.”
Agnes Baron, Meher Mount co-founder, describes one of her interactions with Avatar Meher Baba at Meher Mount in 1956:
So on one of the occasions when Meher Baba called me over, He was looking very solemn and very impressive as only Baba can look.
And He stood. And one of the mandali [close disciple who interpreted His gestures] was there.
And Baba said, “I want Agni to know that I love Meher Mount very, very much.” And then, of course, that typical gesture of “very, very much. I am very happy.”
And He really beamed, I mean, He just glowed.
He just gestured, “very, very happy.’’ And He looked it.
And then He said, “And I want her to know that Meher Mount has a very spiritual atmosphere.”
And of course, I made my usual wisecrack, I knew it wasn’t. He stared at me and repeated, “A very spiritual atmosphere.”
“Agnes Baron Remembers Meher Baba’s 1956 Visit,” Meher Mount Story Blog, October 11, 2021.
Photograph of Meher Baba at Meher Mount with co-founder Agnes Baron by Darwin Shaw, August 2, 1956. (c)Meher Nazar Publications, Ahmednagar, India. Used with permission.
Your Friday photo is honor of Meher Baba’s 1956 visit to Meher Mount…
This photo of Meher Baba at Meher Mount is used with kind permission by Sufism Reoriented. And Charmian Duce Knowles shared some of her memories from that day with Meher Baba.
“This land is very old, I have been here before.”
"When we visited Ojai in 1956," remembered Chairman Duce Knowles,** "the population was small, the roads were unpaved, and the valley's peace untouched by development.
"As we drove up the mountain to Meher Mount, fog shrouded the mountaintop and concealed the valley below. Still, the center itself looked marvelous.
"Agnes [Baron, co-founder and lifetime caretaker] led us to a guesthouse and swimming pool, through rose and herb gardens, fruit trees, and numerous California oaks, some quite ancient.
"Baba told us the land was very old and that he had been there before. He seemed happy to be back."
*Bhau Kalchuri, Lord Meher: The Biography of the Avatar of the Age Meher Baba, Online Edition, pg. 4065, accessed June 30, 2024. (c)Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust.
**Charmian Knowles, Spread My Love (Walnut Creek, CA: Sufism Reoriented) , pg. 138. (c)2004 by Sufism Reoriented.
Your Friday photo is honor of Meher Baba’s 1956 visit to Meher Mount…
“I want Agnes to have a special memento of this day.”
When Meher Baba was at Meher Mount, He spent much of the day in the Baba Room with His followers.
On one occasion, remembered co-founder and caretaker Agnes Baron, “He was sitting in that chair and He called, ‘Charmian! Charmian!’” [silently through gestures]
Charmian Duce (later, Knowles) was filming Meher Baba’s 1956 trip in the US, and she was in the room.
Meher Baba said to Charmian, “You have a camera with you?”
She replied, “Yes.”
“I want Agnes to have a special memento of this day. You take a picture,” He said.
“So, I came and knelt down by His side,” Agnes explained. “And Charmian took two good colored pictures which I cherish very much now.
“He was doing these fantastic, these really wonderful…these personal little gestures, that, you know, that He always does to make one person particularly happy,” said Agnes.
“Agnes Baron Remembers Meher Baba’s 1956 Visit,” Meher Mount Story Blog, October 11, 2021.
Your Friday photo is in honor of Silence Day, July 10th.
Silence Day is when followers of Avatar Meher Baba keep silence for 24 hours.
“Those who have been in his presence know that Baba communicates through his silence. What proceeds from him is beyond words, does not need words, could not be contained in them. The inaudible sound is from heart to heart; silence that penetrates mind and heart.”
Avatar Meher Baba began His silence on July 10, 1925. He said that His silence was not undertaken as a spiritual exercise, but solely in connection with His universal work.
After Meher Baba started His silence, He communicated by writing on a slate board. After that, He pointed to letters on an alphabet board to spell out words. Later, He used a series of hand gestures that were interpreted by His close disciples.
He kept silence for 44 years until He dropped His body on January 31, 1969.
Avatar Meher Baba, Bangalore, India, sometime between October 1939 to April 1940. Photographed by Bhaiya Panday. MSI Collection. Used with permission.
C.B. Purdom, The God-Man: The Life, Journey and Work of Meher Baba with an Interpretation of his Silence and Spiritual Teaching, Second Edition, second printing with corrections (2010), Avatar Meher Baba Trust eBook, June 2011, pg. 410. ©1964 C.B. Purdom, ©Meher Spiritual Center, Inc.
On the morning of May 24, 1952, near the town of Prague, OK, Avatar Meher Baba suffered a severe automobile accident.
“…the personal disaster, for some years foretold by me, took place in the form of an automobile accident while crossing the American continent… It was necessary that it should happen in America,” Meher Baba said.
He explained that this accident would “result in benefit to the whole world."
Read More"In the 24 years I have lived at Meher Mount, I’ve come to think there is a battle going on here between the light and the dark,” lifetime caretaker Agnes Baron told Adi K. Irani, Meher Baba’s close disciple, in 1970.
“Agni, It’s not a battle between the light and the dark ,” Adi responded. “It’s a balancing.”
Read More
