"Sometimes that is the only solace for loss."

Your Friday photo...

Visitor Stephanie Ervin shared a memory and the perspectives gained from a photo she took at Meher Mount many years ago…

“I took this photo of a tree trunk on a misty day at Meher Mount in April 2013. A few months later I came back to find it was gone.”

“Loving something, appreciating it, enjoying it while it is present means that when it is no longer close to us, we have the comfort of knowing we did what we could with the time we had together. Sometimes that is the only solace for loss.”

— Stephanie Ervin, Visitor

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“There are times when the lessons I’ve learned at Meher Mount feel like a microcosm of the larger world. So much lives, thrives, is pared back, and then lost.

It is taken away by people, by time, by natural events, but all ultimately by God. 

This bare trunk was an ode to the tree that existed before.  

This particular photo captures a feeling that nothing is permanent. But for me, that is a reason to love it all the more: because it is impermanent. 

We never know how long we’ll have anything, how long we’ll be next to someone, how many days we will have in any one space.

Loving something, appreciating it, enjoying it while it is present means that when it is no longer close to us, we have the comfort of knowing we did what we could with the time we had together. Sometimes that is the only solace for loss.”

~Stephanie Ervin, Visitor

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"This afternoon, you all have a chance to laugh and feel relaxed." - Avatar Meher Baba

Your Friday photo...

“Avatar Meher Baba’s presence is very much imbued in Meher Mount’s landscape providing that sense of relaxation He felt in 1956,” said photographer and board member Agnes Montano.

“On a more tangible level, that peaceful feeling is also evident in Meher Mount’s many contrasts.

“This image of the mighty oak and the wildflower at sunset celebrates the diverse and contrasting beauty found in nature,” she continued.

“It is where both large and sturdy trees and the delicate flowers contribute to the overall landscape and harmony of Meher Mount.”

“This afternoon, you all have a chance to laugh and feel relaxed. Baba also has a chance to relax here for five minutes.

You had no chance at New York; in Myrtle Beach, little chance; in Los Angeles, none.

But here today, we feel relaxed, happy. I come down to your level so that we can laugh and be free together; but do not forget at the same time that I am the Highest of the High.”

— Avatar Meher Baba, Meher Mount 1956

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Source

Bhau Kalchuri, Lord Meher: The Biography of the Avatar of the Age Meher Baba, Online Edition, pg. 4066, accessed December 26, 2024. (c)Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust.

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"Meher Baba could be strict with his own people, but the animals could have what they wanted."

Your Friday photo is in honor of National Visit the Zoo Day…

“Wherever we landed, Baba invariably took us to the zoo,” said Mani S. Irani, Meher Baba’s sister. [1]

 “We used to think it was for sightseeing, but it wasn’t only that.” Baba was doing his work with animals and, as usual, he did it deftly and quickly. “Baba once or twice walked so fast that we hardly had time to see the animals.” [2]

Meher Baba and His disciples also collected various animals that stayed and traveled with them. His followers referred to them as the Meherabad zoo, wherever they were staying. (Meherabad is where His Tomb Shrine is located and where He and His disciples lived in the early years.)

The following 1951 photo is of Meher Baba with Begum*, one of the pets in the Meherabad zoo.

“Baba could be strict with his own people [about the bazaar list], but the animals could have what they wanted.”

— Mani S. Irani, Meher Baba's Sister & Close Disciple

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Animals came and went in the Meherabad zoo. Various descriptions include: a gazelle, a peacock, a lamb, a white rabbit, some geese, five dogs, three monkeys, and an assortment of pet birds. The zoo was augmented with mixed-breed puppies, Bingo and Jingo. [3]

Another time, besides the goat, monkey, cats, dogs, birds, the Meherabad zoo included two pigs, Nutty and Gutty; a rabbit, Snowy; a lamb, Mary; and a gazelle. [4]

“Baba was so concerned with animals,” Mani continued, “the last thing he did before going down the [Meherabad] hill in the evening was to visit the animals, to go to each one’s cage, to each animal and pet, before sleeping.” [5]

Meher Baba showered much love and attention on the pets in the Meherabad zoo.

“Baba could be strict with his own people [about the bazaar list],” Mani observed, “but the animals could have what they wanted. One could order what was needed for the pets. Later, we found people were ordering things not just for the animals but for themselves.

“For instance, we were permitted to order nuts for the monkeys, but Kitty [Davy] kept ordering more, as people kept eating them up. So much was being ordered for animals. This one was ordering that for the lamb; this one things for the dogs. Our mouths watered with what the animals were being fed!

 “One day [at Bangalore], there were raisins on the bazaar list. Baba said, ‘What’s this? Raisins for which animal?’

“It turned out that Nadine [Tolstoy] thought that since everyone was ordering different things for the animals in their charge, why not something for hers? She ordered raisins – ostensibly for the cat!” [6]

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Footnotes

[1] David Fenster, Mehera-Meher: A Divine Romance, Volume II, pg. pg. 71. (Ahmednagar, India: Meher Nazar Publications), E-Book Edition: April 2016. (c) 2003 by David Fenster.
[2] Ibid., pg. 71.
[3] Ibid., pp. 53, pg. 486.
[4] Daivd Fenster, Mehera-Meher: A Divine Romance, Volume I, pg. 494. (Ahmednagar, India: Meher Nazar Publications), E-Book Edition: April 2016. (c) 2003 by David Fenster.
[5] Ibid., pg. 494.
[6] Ibid., pg. 493.

Photo

Avatar Meher Baba and Begum, the pet horse., by Faredoon (Padri) Driver, February 15, 1951, in Mahabaleshwar, India. (c) Meher Nazar Publications, Ahmednagar, India.

Story

"Begum, The Little Lady," by Mehera J. Irani, from Baba Loved Us Too, pp. 95-100.

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"I belong to no religion..." - Avatar Meher Baba

Your 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. ”

— Avatar Meher Baba [2]

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Sources

[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.

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"I am the Sun which is hidden by the shadow of yourself." - Avatar Meher Baba

Your Friday photo...

“Last weekend I went out to Avatar’s Point to watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean. As I turned around, I saw my shadow in the trees and took this photo,” explained visitor Margaret Magnus.

This message from Avatar Meher Baba, on the occasion of His 72nd birthday on February 25, 1966, seemed appropriate. Thank you Wayne Myers for the suggestion.

“I am the Sun which is hidden by the shadow of yourself. Cease thinking that you are your shadow, and you will find that the Sun which I am is your own Reality.

All that frightens and confuses you and grips you with despair is your own shadow. When the Sun of Love manifests in Its Glory, and all faces are turned towards that Radiance, all shadows will have disappeared — even the memory of them will have vanished.

I am the joy in your heart and the despair of your mind — for Love can attain that which the intellect cannot fathom.”

— Avatar Meher Baba

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Source

The Awakener: A Journal Devoted Meher Baba, Vol IX, Number 2, 1966, pg. 44.

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"Nobody tries to save a tree this badly burned..."

Your Friday photo...

This week (December 4th) is the seven-year anniversary of the 2017 Thomas Fire that struck Meher Mount — and in particular Baba’s Tree. At the time, it was the largest wildfire in California history.

This photo of Baba’s Tree was taken former caretaker Buzz Glasky just days after the Thomas Fire swept through Meher Mount.

“Nobody tries to save a tree this badly burned...”

— Michael Inaba, ISA® Certified Arborist, 2018

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On the night of December 4, 2017, high winds toppled the giant canopy of Baba’s Tree and fire burned the trunk and limbs.

Baba’s Tree was shattered. The trunk was a hollowed-out shell. There were only a couple of inches of actual live wood. There was a hole in the tree’s trunk that was three or four feet wide. You could walk right into the middle of the trunk — or what had been the trunk.

We saw people come to the tree and weep. We knew we had to do everything humanly possible to help the tree recover. That's when we reached out to ISA® Certified Arborist Michael Inaba just a few weeks after the fire.

He came up with plan — watering, mulch, covering the limbs to protect them from sunburn, putting the tree in isolation (as you would a very ill patient), and spraying non-pesticide clay, and steel props to hold up the burned limbs.

“But…,” Inaba said, “Nobody tries to save a tree this badly burned.”

And then he asked, “If we don’t save the tree, what will the community think?”

All along, all we could do was our best — and leave the results to Meher Baba.

~ Margaret Magnus, Communications Director

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The Documentary on Baba’s Tree — COMING LATE SPRING

The story of Baba’s Tree begs to be told on film. It’s the journey of a seemingly ordinary oak tree blessed by the presence of the Avatar of the Age, Meher Baba.

For decades, Baba’s Tree fulfills its role of inspiring others — drawing seekers from around the world in search of inspiration, silence, joy and solace.

Then one night Baba’s Tree is felled by fire and high winds. Its very existence is threatened. Through the tree’s own resilience and love, it is transformed by fire to emerge even more powerful in radiating Meher Baba’s love.

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"Will you please tell me, then - what is gratitude?"

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?”

— Bal Natu, An Internal Conversation with Meher Baba

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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."

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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?"

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Sources

• 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.

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"No one requires an introduction to me..." - Avatar Meher Baba

Your Friday photo is in honor the construction of the Darshan Courtyard at Meher Mount…

Thank you to Jon Meyer and Scott Lesniewski of the In His Love group for the quote from Avatar Meher Baba. It seemed fitting for caretaker Ray Johnston’s photo of the “daily inspectors” at the Darshan Courtyard worksite.

“No one requires an introduction to me, for no one is a stranger to me. However, I am a stranger to most, and those coming and remaining in my presence do not do so without introduction.

As a matter of fact, they have come with many introductions - for many times in previous lives have they been introduced to me and have gone away and forgotten me and met me again.

All these introductions are their introduction to me this time.”

— Avatar Meher Baba

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Darshan is a Vedanta concept meaning “to receive the grace of seeing the Divine.”

Those who met Avatar Meher Baba had His darshan — seeing Him, paying homage to Him, and receiving His blessings. Even after dropping His physical form, followers of Meher Baba still take His darshan.

The Darshan Courtyard is in the space of the Baba Room where Meher Baba gave darshan to His followers in 1956. That building burned to the ground in the 1985 New Life Fire.

All of Meher Mount’s guests — now and in the future — have the opportunity to take Meher Baba’s darshan in this space. They need no formal introduction to the Avatar.

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Source

• Meher Baba, The Everything and the Nothing, Avatar Meher Baba Trust eBook, June 2011, pg. 38. (c)1989 Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust, Ahmednagar, India. (c) Meher House Publications, Beacon Hill, Australia.

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"True sportsmanship is concentrated ability, enlivened with appreciation of the performance of others." - Avatar Meher Baba

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.”

— Avatar Meher Baba

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“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

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Sources

• 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.

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"I really need that right now..."

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.

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“I really need that right now..”

— A Visitor Reaching for a "Don't Worry, Be Happy" Sticker

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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.

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