Group mounting significant effort to try to save Baba's Tree
Perry Van Houten
The following is a reprint of an article about Baba's Tree and the 2017 Thomas Fire from the Ojai Valley News published on February 2, 2018.
Read More9902 Sulphur Mountain Road
Ojai, CA 93023-9375
Phone: 805-640-0000
Email: info@mehermount.org
Wednesday-Sunday: Noon to 5:00 p.m.
Monday & Tuesday: Closed
Buzz & Ginger Glasky
Sam Ervin, Preident
Ron Holsey, Vice President
Ursula Reinhart, Treasurer
Jim Whitson, Director
Richard Mannis, Director
Margaret Magnus, Secretary
Anecdotes, activities and stories about Meher Mount - past, present and future.
The following is a reprint of an article about Baba's Tree and the 2017 Thomas Fire from the Ojai Valley News published on February 2, 2018.
Read MoreWhen 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 MoreDuring 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 MoreA sign of life for Baba’s Tree is foliage – both old and new. For those limbs connected to Baba’s Tree trunk and root system, there are still green leaves, even a month-and-a-half after the fire.
Read MoreIn 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 MoreFire 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 MoreOn 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 MoreIn 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 MoreFire 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 MoreThe 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 MoreOn 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 MoreAs the Thomas Fire raged through Ventura County and burned parts of Meher Mount, well wishers sent their love and prayers.
Read MoreThe 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 MoreIt 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 MoreThirty-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 MoreAgnes 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.
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 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.
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]
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."
[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.
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“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 MoreWhat is it like to be a Manager/Caretaker at Meher Mount? Past and current Manager/Caretakers describe their impressions, their joys, and their inspiration.
Read More“The New Life was the voluntary suspension of the state of Perfect Master to become a common man and a Perfect Seeker…” - The God Man by C.D. Purdom
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