MEHER MOUNT

9902 Sulphur Mountain Road
Ojai, CA 93023-9375

Phone: 805-640-0000
Email: info@mehermount.org

HOURS

Wednesday-Sunday: Noon to 5:00 p.m.
Monday & Tuesday: Closed

MANAGER/CARETAKERS

Buzz & Ginger Glasky

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Sam Ervin, Preident
Ron Holsey, Vice President
Ursula Reinhart, Treasurer
Jim Whitson, Director
Richard Mannis, Director

OFFICERS

Margaret Magnus, Secretary

9902 Sulphur Mountain Rd
Ojai, CA, 93023
United States

(805) 640-0000

Story Blog

Anecdotes, activities and stories about Meher Mount - past, present and future.

Baba's Tree Survival Plan

Margaret Magnus

When setting up the first meeting with ISA® Certified Arborist Michael Inaba to make a preliminary assessment of a "special large oak" at Meher Mount, he asked, “Does that special tree have a name?” Margaret Magnus smiled to herself and said, “Yes, Baba’s Tree.” Then she asked why he had asked.

Inaba said he had had dinner soon after the fire with some people who live on Sulphur Mountain. They were recounting the fire damage in the area and mentioned the tree. He later referred to Baba’s Tree as a landmark tree.

On January 5, 2018, Meher Mount met with Inaba to evaluate Baba's Tree and to start drawing up a survival and regeneration plan. 

Read More

Baba's Tree in Seclusion

Eric Turk

During His Advent, Meher Baba very often would go into a self-imposed, confined seclusion for extended periods of time to do His inner work. 

Meher Baba disclosed that he did His “Universal Work” at these times — work not for His own sake as He, suffering for all as God in human form, had nothing to gain — but for the spiritual advancement of all of creation.

Now, the Coast Live Oak at Meher Mount that Meher Baba sat under alone in 1956 and known as Baba’s Tree is in seclusion.

Read More

Drone Photos Capture Fire Damage at Meher Mount

Margaret Magnus

In the efforts to fully record the damage from the December 2017 Thomas Fire, Meher Mount worked with drone photographer Russell Latimer of Eye of Mine Action Cameras.

At the time, it seemed like a slight extravagance. Then again, the fire had stripped the landscape, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to capture not only the damage, but also the stark beauty of the landscape.

See the 34-minute unedited video.

Read More

Fire Burns Baba's Tree - Twice

Sam L. Ervin

Fire has been a visitor to Baba’s Tree and to Meher Mount more than once. The Thomas Fire shattered the tree’s crown and much of the trunk on December 4, 2017.

On October 14, 1985, fire ravaged and destroyed nearly all Meher Mount. A month after the New Life Fire, Baba’s Tree looked dead. It was black, leafless, and terribly scarred. The main trunk was hollowed out and black inside. Limbs over 30 feet in the air had burned. The great limb above Meher Baba’s seat had burned nearly through by the trunk with its furthermost branches fallen to the earth.

Read More

Mapping the Thomas Fire Damage at Meher Mount

Margaret Magnus

On Tuesday, December 5, 2017, when it was clear that Meher Mount was in the Thomas Fire zone, architect and volunteer Byron Pinckert sent an email suggesting that it was “time now to start thinking about how you want to document this set of events for the future.”

Byron took a giant step toward documentation on Thursday, December 21, 2017, when he went to Meher Mount armed with oversized maps from Google Earth of the property and a camera. He walked the property noting burned areas, damage and other items of importance.

Read More

"Have no anxiety as to the future!"

Margaret Magnus

In closing a tumultuous year of natural disasters and man-made tragedies, a couplet from from the 14th-century Persian mystic poet Hafiz (or Hafez) seems particularly apropos. Hafiz was Avatar Meher Baba's favorite poet, and Meher Baba often quoted Hafiz to His followers. This couplet was part of a letter sent by Meher Baba in which He said, "Have no anxiety as to the future!"

Read More

Coins on the Mountain

Sam L. Ervin

Fire strips away much of nature’s camouflage and reveals the unexpected.

On December 12, 2017, just eight days after the Thomas Fire swept through parts of Meher Mount, Buzz and Ginger Glasky, Cassandra Bramucci, Margaret Magnus and I walked the property marveling at the fire’s path and the fire’s targets.

Surprisingly, Cassandra noticed a small pile of 21 coins, unearthed by the fire, under one of the pine trees at Avatar’s Point. We had no idea how they got there.

Read More

"There Is Nothing that Love Cannot Achieve..."

Meher Mount

The following is excerpted from a talk that Avatar Meher Baba gave on September 18, 1947, in Surat, India: 

Of all the forces that can best overcome all difficulties is the love that knows how to give without necessarily bargaining for a return.

There is nothing that love cannot achieve and there is nothing that love cannot sacrifice.

Read More

Totally Random or Divinely Orchestrated? An Update on the Thomas Fire

Margaret Magnus

On Monday night December 4, 2017, sometime after 10:00 p.m. when Manager/Caretakers Buzz and Ginger Glasky evacuated, the Thomas Fire struck Meher Mount.

On December 6 and 8, Buzz and Ginger visited Meher Mount reporting minimal or no damage to structures and vehicles. The water system is out of commission due to the fire damage to pipes, electrical and equipment. Baba’s Tree at Avatar’s Point suffered major damage from wind and fire.

On December 12, Buzz and Ginger, Sam Ervin, Margaret Magnus and Cassandra Bramucci made a follow-up visit. Margaret and Sam share their observations.

Read More

Meher Mount Survives Largest Wildfire in California History

Sam L. Ervin

The largest wildfire in California history, the Thomas Fire, started near (Saint) Thomas Aquinas College, about eight miles from Meher Mount and northwest of the city of Santa Paula, on Monday, December 4, 2017 at 6:26 p.m.

It is clear the fire visited nearly every part of the upper section of Meher Mount. Manager/Caretakers Buzz and Ginger Glasky were amazed at how the fire line seemed to stop at critical points.

In short, the fire brushed pass the buildings and equipment, even touching a trellis at the Visitor Center. Both the Visitor Center/Caretaker Quarters and the Topa Topa Patio are intact, although smoke damage is not yet known. Baba’s Tree suffered some damage, but its base remained standing. Some additional assessment and repair of the water system is needed.

Read More

Stone Signs & Markers Guide the Way

Margaret Magnus

It was one of those glorious winter days with clear skies and crisp weather when a group gathered at Meher Mount to install 14 new stone signs and markers. The Stone Sign & Marker project had been carefully planned. The signs were thoughtfully designed. The sizes of stones specifically chosen after several on-site visits. And now the final step was actually installing the signs in the ground.

Read More

Agnes Baron's 1982 Trip to India

Margaret Magnus

Thirty-five years ago, in September 1982, Meher Mount co-founder and lifetime caretaker Agnes Baron took her first and only trip to India to meet with Meher Baba’s mandali (close disciples) regarding the future of Meher Mount.

She wanted the mandali’s advice on what to do with Meher Mount. At the time of her trip, Meher Mount was in her name, and she was wrestling with what to do with the property in the future. She had told Meher Baba in 1952 that she would keep Meher Mount for Him through “hell, fire and damnation.”

Read More

Karma Yoga Is a Central Practice in Agnes Baron's Life

Sam L. Ervin

Agnes Baron (1907-1994) was a co-founder and lifetime caretaker of Meher Mount. Her natural desire to serve led her to care for Meher Mount for 48 years, often with great difficulty, or as she put it, “through hellfire and damnation.” She also found ways to serve others in the community.

By Sam L. Ervin

Karma Yoga Is a Central Practice in Agnes Baron’s Life

Through the study of Vedanta [1], Agnes found a conceptual construct that supported a driving force that had always been present in her life: Karma Yoga. Agnes often said that service to others had always come naturally to her.

Karma Yoga is one of the major “ways” or yogas for the life of the spirit. [2] It is the discipline of selfless action, working and serving without attachment, egoism or expectation of gain or reward. [3]

Throughout her 48 years at Meher Mount, Agnes continued to find ways to practice Karma Yoga.  

AGNES BARON and an unidentified woman working in the garden at Meher Mount. (Photo: Meher Mount Archives, late 1940s)

AGNES BARON and an unidentified woman working in the garden at Meher Mount. (Photo: Meher Mount Archives, late 1940s)

Agnes would often advise the young Meher Baba lovers who showed up at Meher Mount to, “forget yourself in service to others.” She would paraphrase a quote from Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, “To work thou hast the right, but not to the fruits thereof.” [4]

“Don’t say you are helping others,” she would say. “You don’t know whether you are helping someone or not, you just serve as best you can.

“When you are serving others without attachment or thought of reward, you are serving God in them.” Agnes echoed Avatar Meher Baba’s words, “Real happiness lies in making others happy.”

Agnes Baron’s Work in the Community

Agnes devoted her life to helping others.  After having helped many refugees escape terrible fates in Europe before World War II, she assisted many immigrants over the years to adjust to life in America.  She helped them find jobs and make connections.  Agnes stayed in touch with many of these people from various countries, and they admired her and appreciated her always being there for them.

AGNES BARON writing instructions to volunteer Sam L. Ervin during a “work party” at Meher Mount on Silence Day.  (Photo: Margaret Magnus, late 1970s/early 1980s).

AGNES BARON writing instructions to volunteer Sam L. Ervin during a ‘work party’ at Meher Mount on Silence Day. (Photo: Margaret Magnus, late 1970s/early 1980s).

She helped start the first Head Start program for pre-school children in Ventura County.  She studied Montessori education and taught in Montessori schools.  She also worked as a substitute teacher in public schools to support herself and pay Meher Mount expenses.  Agnes inspired quite a few young adults to study Maria Montessori’s books, and some went on to become Montessori teachers.  In the 1950s, Agnes helped start a school at Meher Mount that operated for a few years.

Inspired by Meher Baba’s admonitions in the 1960s regarding the dangers of drugs and His call to help young people get off drugs, Agnes provided a temporary residence for a dozen people in a drug rehabilitation program at Meher Mount in the late 1960s.

She also “bullied” the Ventura County Board of Supervisors into funding the DART (Drug Abuse Reorientation Training program) for teenagers arrested for drug offenses in 1970. [5]

AGNES BARON also loved animals.  For a brief period of time, she boarded horses at Meher Mount as a way to support herself and Meher Mount.  (Photo: Lola Long, 1970s)

AGNES BARON also loved animals. For a brief period of time, she boarded horses at Meher Mount as a way to support herself and Meher Mount. (Photo: Lola Long, 1970s)

Separately, Agnes worked to assist many programs for alcoholics, ex-convicts, juvenile delinquents and others.  

Agnes was a regular phone volunteer on the Suicide Prevention Hotline.  In the evenings, she would sit by her phone, and if a call was routed to her, she would talk to the person contemplating suicide.  She would both counsel them and determine if she thought intervention by police or mental health professionals was appropriate.

Agnes worked and advocated on behalf of various social and environmental causes.  She encouraged the young people who came to Meher Mount in the late 1960s and 1970s to work for the causes that were important to them.

As part of her regular routine – even with all the responsibilities she faced caring for Meher Mount – Agnes would search the newspapers to identify people in need.  Then she would contact them, even driving down the mountain to find them, and offer whatever assistance was possible.  She would advocate fearlessly and passionately for people she felt could not represent their own needs. 

Agnes Baron did not just talk about selfless service or Karma Yoga.  She practiced it as her way of serving Meher Baba.

Agnes’ immersion in Vedanta and the study of the great Perfect Master Ramakrishna appears to have helped prepare her for her complete dedication to Avatar Meher Baba when the opportunity came.

Thus, when Meher Baba asked her to take care of Meher Mount for Him, she responded that she would keep it for Him through hell, fire and damnation. Accordingly, Meher Baba nicknamed Agnes His "watchdog."


Footnotes

[1] Vedanta is one of the great schools of Hindu thought and tradition. Vedanta is based on the Vedas, the sacred scripture of India. It affirms the oneness of existence, the divinity of the soul, and the harmony of all religions. Vedanta is one of the world's most ancient spiritual philosophies and one of its broadest.
[2] There are four paths of Yoga: Karma Yoga –The Yoga of Action; Bhakti Yoga – The Path of Devotion or Divine Love; Raja Yoga – The Science of Physical and Mental Health; and Jnana Yoga – The Yoga of Knowledge and Wisdom. (International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres
[3] International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres, accessed October 17, 2021.
[4] The Bhagavad Gita, often referred to as simply the Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture in Sanskrit that is part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. (Wikipedia) The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Ramayana. (Wikipedia)
[5] Sam Ervin & Margaret Magnus, “I Bullied Them into Funding the DART Program,” October 4, 2016, Meher Mount’s website, accessed September 11, 2017.




Vedanta Leads Agnes Baron to Meher Baba

Sam L. Ervin

Agnes Baron, co-founder and lifetime caretaker of Meher Mount, spent a year living the life of a Vedanta nun before her time at Meher Mount. Vedanta played an important role in Agnes’ life, particularly in helping to prepare her for recognizing and accepting Avatar Meher Baba.

Read More

Jean Adriel Writes Avatar - A Biography of Meher Baba

Margaret Magnus

“To the living Christ whose beauty the very heavens cannot contain, but whose presence may be found in every humble, living heart," wrote Jean Adriel in her Dedication for the biography, Avatar: The Life Story of the Perfect Master Meher Baba, 1947

"Besides telling the life story of Baba, the author relates her personal experiences with him, along with those of many other of his close followers. This account of Baba’s life describes many events from ‘behind the scenes’ - it captures the gamut of emotions involved as people struggled variously to comprehend Baba’s unusual ways, to carry out his demanding instructions, to test him, and to love him.” - Back Cover, Avatar 

Read More