Meher Baba
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| Meher Baba 20th century |
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 Meher Baba in Nasik, India 1937
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| Name: | Merwan Sheriar Irani |
| Birth: | February 25, 1894 (Pune, India) |
| Death: | January 31, 1969 (Meherazad, India) |
| School/tradition: | Sufi, Vedanta, Mystic |
| Main interests: | Religion, Metaphysics, Aesthetics, Ethics |
| Influences: | Hazrat Babajan, Upasni Maharaj |
| Signature: |
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| A series of articles on Meher Baba
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Meher Baba, born Merwan Sheriar Irani (February 25, 1894 – January 31, 1969), was an Indian guru of Persian descent. Educated at the St. Vincent's High School in Pune, India, as well as Deccan College, he led a normal school life, showing no particular inclination toward spiritual matters. At the age of 19, a short contact with an old Muslim holy woman Hazrat Babajan marked the beginning of his spiritual awakening. Baba was hailed as "Parvardigar" (God as the Almighty Sustainer) by the Indian fakir Sai Baba of Shirdi in 1915. [1] He received help from three more spiritual masters, including Upasni Maharaj, who he said revealed to him his spiritual identity as "The Ancient One" in 1921.
Baba lived and traveled in company with a circle of close disciples ("mandali"), both men and women, from whom he demanded absolute obedience. He and the mandali voluntarily assumed a life of extreme simplicity. From 1925 to the end of his life, Baba remained silent, communicating with an alphabet board or by gesture. Baba spent long periods in seclusion, often fasting, but he would intersperse these periods with wide-ranging travels, public gatherings, and works of charity, including working with lepers, the poor, and the mad. He gave many discourses, which have been collected by his followers.
In 1931 he made the first of many visits to the West. During these travels, a number of western mandali joined him. In the 1940s, along with selected mandali, he traveled incognito about India, in what he called "The New Life." On February 10, 1954, Baba declared that he was the Avatar (an incarnation of God). [2]
After two automobile accidents, one in the U.S.A. in 1952 and one in India in 1956, his capacity to walk became seriously limited. In 1962 many western followers were invited to meet his Indian mandali in a series of meetings called The East-West Gathering. In 1966, Baba addressed the spreading problem of drug misuse in the West, discrediting its alleged spiritual benefits. After a year of being completely confined to a wheelchair, Meher Baba died on January 31, 1969. Meher Baba's samadhi (tomb-shrine) in Meherabad (outside Ahmednagar, India) has become a place of pilgrimage.
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[edit] Early life
Meher Baba was born in Pune, India. His given name was Merwan Sheriar Irani. He was the second son of his father Sheriar Mundegar Irani, a Persian Zoroastrian who had been a wandering Sufi dervish before settling in Pune, and Sheriar's young wife, Shireen, who called him her "most beautiful child." His schoolmates nicknamed the charismatic and sometimes mischievous youngster "Electricity." As a boy he formed The Cosmopolitan Club amongst his best friends, a club dedicated to remaining informed in world affairs and giving money to charity — money often raised by the boys betting at the horse races. Merwan had a sonorous singing voice and was an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and poet. Fluent in half a dozen languages, he was especially fond of Hafez's Persian poetry, but also of Shakespeare and Shelley. He was known for his lightning wit and universal knowledge, embracing both commerce and the arts. He claimed that all major established religions are essentially different beads on the same string, quoting freely from those traditions.
In his youth, Merwan had no mystical inclinations or experiences, but was more interested in sports, especially cricket. At the age of 19, however, while bicycling home from Deccan College in Pune, he met a very old Muslim woman, a spiritual master named Hazrat Babajan, who kissed him on the forehead. Shortly after this, he also had direct contact with four other spiritual figures in India, who he later said were among the five "Perfect Masters" of the age, Tajuddin Baba of Nagpur, Narayan Maharaj of Kedgaon, Sai Baba of Shirdi, and Upasni Maharaj of Sakori. [3]
Meher Baba explained that Hazrat Babajan was a "Perfect Master," whose kiss unveiled him spiritually to his state of God-consciousness or God-realization. Subsequently, he reportedly went without food or drink for nine months, frequently beating his head against a stone to maintain contact with the physical world. Later he contacted the sadgurus Sai Baba of Shirdi and Upasni Maharaj of Sakori, who he said helped him to integrate this experience with normal consciousness, thus enabling him to function in the world without diminishing his experience of God-realization.
After living for seven years in Sakori with Upasni Maharaj, Merwan started to attract a following of his own. His early followers gave him the name "Meher Baba," or Compassionate Father.
In 1922, Meher Baba and his followers established "Manzil-e-Meem" (House of the Master) in Bombay. Baba demanded strict discipline and obedience from his disciples and spent this period in meditation and fasting. After a year, Baba and his disciples moved to an area a few miles outside Ahmednagar, which he called "Meherabad" (Meher flourishing). This ashram would become the center for his work. In 1924, Meher Baba created a resident school at Meherabad, which he called the "Prem Ashram" ("prem" means "love"). The school was free and open to all castes. The school drew multi-denominational students from around India and Iran. [4]
[edit] Silence
From July 10, 1925 until his death in 1969, Meher Baba was silent. He communicated first by using an alphabet board, and later by hand gestures which were interpreted and spoken out by one of his mandali (devoted disciples), usually by his disciple Eruch Jessawala.
Meher Baba said that his silence was not undertaken as a spiritual exercise, nor as a vow of silence, but undertaken and maintained solely in connection with his universal work.
| “ | I am never silent. I speak eternally. The voice that is heard deep within the soul is My voice...the voice of inspiration, of intuition, of guidance. To those who are receptive to this voice, I speak. [5]
Man’s inability to live God’s words makes the Avatar’s teaching a mockery. Instead of practicing the compassion he taught, man has waged wars in his name. Instead of living the humility, purity, and truth of his words, man has given way to hatred, greed, and violence. Because man has been deaf to the principles and precepts laid down by God in the past, in this present Avataric form, I observe silence. [6] |
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[edit] First contacts with the West
In the 1930s, Meher Baba began a period of extensive world travel, circling the globe many times. He made frequent trips to Europe and America. It was during this period that he established contact with his first close group of Western disciples.
On his first trip to England in 1931 he traveled on the SS Rajputana, the same ship that carried Mahatma Gandhi. Meher Baba and Gandhi had many private conversations onboard including Baba's permitting Gandhi to read portions of his "book" which Gandhi offered to help get published. In the West, Meher Baba met with interested individuals who had heard of his spiritual status and his work in India. Many of these were celebrities and artists, such as Hollywood stars Gary Cooper, Tallulah Bankhead, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and the film producer Gabriel Pascal. He enjoyed watching Chaplin movies, comparing Creation to movie-making. Although few celebrities maintained their contact with Baba (Pascal being an exception), these western expeditions did yield a number of close followers who stuck with Baba for the duration of their lives.
In the late '30s, Meher Baba invited a group of western women to join him in India, where he arranged a series of trips that became known as the Blue Bus Tours. When they returned home, many newspapers treated their journey as an occasion for scandal.
[edit] The Discourses
During the course of early gatherings of his mandali (disciples) and followers, Meher Baba gave discourses on various spiritual subjects. Between 1938 and 1943, at the request of Princess Norina Matchabelli (co-founder of Prince Matchabelli Perfume and a close follower of Meher Baba), Meher Baba dictated a series of discourses on his alphabet board for her New York publication Meher Baba Journal.
These discourses, transcribed or worked up from points given by Baba by close disciples, address many aspects of the spiritual life, and provide practical and simple direction for the aspirant. During those years, at least one of these discourses appeared in each issue of the monthly Meher Baba Journal. C.D. Deshmukh, a close disciple of Meher Baba, compiled and edited the dictation, and Baba personally approved each discourse by signing the table of contents for that issue of the journal.
Between 1939 and 1954 in India, a five-volume compilation titled Discourses of Meher Baba received several printings. In 1967, two years before passing away, Meher Baba personally supervised the editing and publication of a new three-volume version of the Discourses, known as the sixth edition, which is available online.
The widely available seventh edition of the Discourses (ISBN 1-880619-09-1), first published by Sheriar Press in 1987 (after Baba's death), contains numerous editorial changes not specifically authorized by Meher Baba, although the meaning of the discourses is little changed.
[edit] 1940s
[edit] Work with 'masts'
In the 1940s, Meher Baba did extensive work with a category of people he termed masts (short for the Sufi term "Mast-Allah" meaning "intoxicated with God," and pronounced "mŭst"). These individuals are essentially disabled by their enchanting experience of the higher spiritual planes. Although outwardly masts may appear irrational or even insane, Meher Baba said that their spiritual status was actually quite elevated, and that by meeting with them, he helped them to move forward spiritually while enlisting their aid in his spiritual work.
Meher Baba visited literally thousands of masts throughout Southern Asia, and occasionally set up ashrams where they were cared for. One of the best known of these masts, known as Mohammed Mast, lived at Meher Baba's encampment at Meherabad until his death in 2003.
[edit] The New Life
In 1949 Meher Baba began an enigmatic period which he called The New Life. Following a series of questions on their readiness to obey even the most difficult of his requests, Meher Baba selected twenty companions to join him in a life of complete "hopelessness, helplessness and aimlessness." During this time, Meher Baba acted not as the Master, but as a companion.
He made provisions for those dependent on him, then he and his companions otherwise gave up all property and financial responsibilities. They then traveled about India incognito, without money, begging for their food, carrying out Baba's instructions and living in strict accordance with a set of "conditions of the New Life." These included absolute acceptance of the circumstances of their lives, and consistent good cheer in the face of any difficulty. Those companions who failed to comply were sent away.
About the New Life Meher Baba wrote:
| “ | This New Life is endless, and even after my physical death it will be kept alive by those who live the life of complete renunciation of falsehood, lies, hatred, anger, greed and lust; and who, to accomplish all this, do no lustful actions, do no harm to anyone, do no backbiting, do not seek material possessions or power, who accept no homage, neither covet honor nor shun disgrace, and fear no one and nothing; by those who rely wholly and solely on God, and who love God purely for the sake of loving; who believe in the lovers of God and in the reality of Manifestation, and yet do not expect any spiritual or material reward; who do not let go the hand of Truth, and who, without being upset by calamities, bravely and wholeheartedly face all hardships with one hundred percent cheerfulness, and give no importance to caste, creed and religious ceremonies. This New Life will live by itself eternally, even if there is no one to live it. [7] | ” |
Meher Baba ended the New Life after a period of intense seclusion, and once again began a round of public appearances and extensive travel throughout India and the West.
[edit] 1950s
[edit] Automobile accident in the U.S.A.
In the '50s Meher Baba established two centers outside of India: Meher Spiritual Center, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and Avatar's Abode, near Brisbane, Australia. He inaugurated the Meher Spiritual Center in the United States in April, 1952. On May 24, 1952, in route from the Meher Spiritual Center to California, Meher Baba's car was struck head-on near Prague, Oklahoma. He and his companions were thrown from the vehicle and suffered many injuries. Meher Baba's leg was severely broken and he had facial injuries. The injured were treated and returned to Myrtle Beach to recuperate, including work done at Duke Hospital in Durham, North Carolina. [8]
[edit] Highest of the High Declaration
In September, 1953 Meher Baba gave his "Highest of the High" declaration at Dehradun, India. [9]
On February 10, 1954 in Meherastana U.P., India, Meher Baba publicly declared his Avatarhood for the first time by spelling out on his alphabet board during a gathering, "Avatar Meher Baba Ki Jai." [10]
In September of that year, Meher Baba gave a "men-only" sahavas at Meherabad which later became known as the "Three Incredible Weeks." During this time Baba issued a number of messages and discourses, the most significant being "Meher Baba's Call," wherein Baba proclaims his Avatarhood irrespective of the "doubts and convictions" of others. [11]
In October of 1954, Meher Baba discarded his alphabet board and began using a unique set of hand gestures to communicate.
In 1956 he visited Myrtle Beach and other places in the US as well as the newly opened Avatar's Abode in Australia.
[edit] Automobile accident in India
On December 2, 1956, outside Satara, India, the car in which Meher Baba was traveling went out of control and a second serious automobile accident occurred. Meher Baba suffered a fractured pelvis and other severe injuries. Dr. Nilu, a close mandali, was killed.
This accident seriously incapacitated Meher Baba. Despite his physician's predictions to the contrary, after great effort Baba managed to walk again, but from that point was in constant pain and was severely limited in his ability to move. In fact, during his trip to the West in 1958 he often needed to be carried from venue to venue.
Like his silence, Baba indicated that his automobile accidents and the suffering that attended them were purposeful and brought about by his will.
[edit] 1960s
[edit] Seclusion and East-West Gathering
Meher Baba returned to India and began more periods of fasting, meditation, and seclusion. This seclusion work was draining and exhausting. Meher Baba said he was doing work on behalf of the spiritual welfare of all humanity.
In 1962, Meher Baba gave one of his last public functions, a series of meetings he called The East-West Gathering. At these meetings, in which his western followers were invited to meet his Indian disciples, Baba gave darshan to many thousands of people, despite the physical strain this caused on his broken body.
[edit] Position on drug use
In 1966, at the height of the Psychedelic era, Meher Baba allowed individual visits by three young western academics who asked about the spiritual aspects of drugs. They printed Meher Baba's response in a pamphlet entitled God in a Pill? Meher Baba stated that drug use was spiritually damaging and that if enlightenment were possible through drugs then "God is not worthy of being God." At Meher Baba's request, the three returned to the West and spread this message, which increased Meher Baba's notoriety among the young. It was during this period that the popular poster of a smiling Baba, captioned "Don't Worry, Be Happy" became widely distributed, even appearing in day-glo versions (a similar poster is shown briefly in the Woodstock concert documentary).
[edit] Final Seclusion and Amartithi
From the East-West Gathering onward, Meher Baba's health deteriorated steadily. Despite the physical toll it took on his body, Meher Baba continued to undertake long periods in seclusion, fasting and meditating. His physical condition grew steadily worse.
In 1968, Meher Baba completed a particularly taxing period of seclusion and emerged saying that his work "was completed 100% to my satisfaction." By this point he was confined to a wheelchair. Within a few months his condition worsened and he was bed-ridden. His body was wracked by intense muscular spasms that had no clear origin. Despite the care of several doctors, the spasms grew progressively worse. During these last days, Baba emphatically told his close disciple and night-watchman, Bhau Kalchuri "Remember this! I am not this body!"
On January 31, 1969, Meher Baba took his final breaths, conveying by his final gesture, "Do not forget that I am God." This day became known as Amartithi ("deathless day"). Meher Baba's body was laid in his samadhi, amongst ice and sawdust, and covered with roses. His body was kept available to the public for one week before its final burial.
[edit] Last Darshan
Before his passing, Meher Baba had made extensive preparations for a public darshan program to be held in Pune, India. His mandali decided to proceed with the arrangements despite the physical absence of the host, saying that "God had invited them, and they were free to keep their appointment". Several thousands attended this "Last Darshan", including many hundred young people from the US, England, and Australia, who had been affected by Meher Baba's anti-drug message, and by his other teachings.
[edit] Poetry
As a teenager, Meher Baba wrote shers and ghazals under the takhallus (pen name) Huma. His ghazals were originally published in the popular Gujarati newspaper The Sanj Vartman (The Evening News) of Bombay. He wrote in Gujarati, Urdu, Hindi and Persian. The poetic themes were invariably spiritual, emphasizing virtues over vices and the forces of good over evil. His poems spoke of the mystical Sufi tavern or wine shop, describing divine madness and God-intoxication, and spiritual longing. [12]
Meher Baba continued to write ghazals under the name Huma during his years of spiritual training between January, 1914 when he is said to have been kissed on the forehead by sadguru Hazrat Babajan and February, 1922, when his consciousness stabilized while in the care of sadguru Upasni Maharaj. [13]
The name "Huma" refers to the Persian bird of paradise, a mythological bird similar to the Egyptian phoenix, which consumes itself in fire every few hundred years, only to rise anew from the ashes. [14]
[edit] Metaphysics
- For more details on this topic, see God Speaks.
Meher Baba upheld the concept of divine unity, the view that diverse creation, or duality, is an illusion and that the goal of life is conscious realization of the absolute Oneness of God inherent in all animate and inanimate beings and things.
Meher Baba compares God's original state to an infinite, shoreless ocean which has only unconscious divinity — unaware of itself even though there is nothing but itself. From this state, God had the "whim" to know Himself and asked "Who am I?". In response to this question, creation came into existence. What was previously a still, shoreless Ocean stirred, forming innumerable "drops" of itself, termed “drop souls.”
Each soul, being formed by God's whim to know Himself, contains within itself the same desire for self-knowledge. In pursuit of the answer to that question (to gain conscious divinity) each soul evolves consciousness through experience of each form in seven kingdoms of evolution, i.e. stone, vegetable, worm, fish, bird, animal, and human. The impressions (or sanskaras) gathered through experience of these forms in turn seek expression through the drop soul. This need for expression of accumulated impressions eventually cannot be accommodated by the form the drop soul identifies with, necessitating that the soul abandon that form and associate with the next most complex form through which the impressions can be expressed.
In this way, the drop soul experiences (by associating with) and discards (by dissociating from) forms in all the evolutionary kingdoms. According to Meher Baba the final form of the soul's evolution of consciousness is the human form, through which medium full consciousness is attained. Only human consciousness, which is full consciousness, is capable of achieving awareness of its own divinity.
However, although consciousness is full upon the attainment of the first human form, the soul's ages long accumulation of impressions gathered through evolution prevent it from identifying itself as God, its true being. Instead, human consciousness is preoccupied with expressing its impressions by seeking sensual experiences. Ultimately, however, through the soul's travail through numerous human incarnations encompassing the whole range of human experience (e.g. man/woman, rich/poor, powerful/weak, etc.), the impressions accumulated through its evolution, as well as those gathered in its human lives, begin to thin and the soul's awareness of a reality beyond its own immediate desires is stirred. This is the beginning of the end of the soul's separate existence. The soul then begins to traverse an inner spiritual path, or involution, through which it gradually eliminates all impressions which cause the appearance of separateness from God.
Once the sanskaras are gone, the goal of knowing itself as conscious divinity is attained. The drop soul once again becomes merged in the Ocean, that is, it realizes its true Divine indivisible and eternal nature. It has now answered the question of “Who am I?” with “I am God.”
[edit] Sanskaras
According to Meher Baba, as the drop soul progresses through successive lifetimes, it creates and exhausts sanskaras. Gross sanskaras become more refined over many lives and become subtle sanskaras, and these over lives are refined and become mental sanskaras. Mental sanskaras can be completely eliminated. Meher Baba said that a Perfect Master can eliminate any and all sanskaras of any kind.
Sanskaras are described as binding or unbinding, natural or non-natural. Actions such as murder create non-natural binding sanskaras. Even good actions can create binding sanskaras. [15] Sanskaras are individualized and so there is no way of determining the effect of a particular action. An action may be good in one instance and bad in another, based on the person's intent. [16] The law of karma (cause and effect) balances good and bad actions and their subsequent sanskaras.
Inevitably, the individual seeks a life of love for God, which is beyond the duality of good and bad. This inward journey towards God gradually awakens consciousness, until the grace of a Perfect Master wipes all sanskaras out. Meher Baba stated, "The final wiping out of sanskaras can be effected only by the grace of a Perfect Master." [17]
[edit] The Avatar
Meher Baba claimed to be the Avatar, a Sanskrit word meaning "descent of God." The Avatar, according to Meher Baba, is a special Perfect Master who was the original Perfect Master, or the "Ancient One," who never ceases to incarnate in spite of his original attainment of God-realization. Baba says that this particular soul personifies the state of God which in Hinduism is called Vishnu and in Sufism is called Parvardigar, i.e. the sustainer or preserver state of God. In Baba's system he syncretizes the concept of Avatar with terms from numerous diverse traditions, e.g. The Rasool, The Messiah, The Christ, The Maitreya, The Savior, The Redeemer, etc. According to Meher Baba the Avatar appears on Earth every 700-1400 years, and is 'brought down' into human form by the five Perfect Masters of that age to aid in the process of moving creation in its never ending journey toward Godhood. He said that in other ages this role was fulfilled by Rama, Krishna, Zoroaster, Gautama Buddha, Jesus, and lastly by Muhammad. Meher Baba describes the Avatar as a "...gauge against which man can measure what he is and what he may become. He trues the standard of human values by interpreting them in terms of divinely human life" [18].
[edit] Followers of Meher Baba
Meher Baba traveled around the world several times, attracting followers on all continents. Although he sometimes participated in large public gatherings, Meher Baba discouraged his followers from proselytizing or evangelizing on his behalf. Rather he stated, "Let your life itself be my message of love and truth to others" [19].
There are no special requirements, rites or rituals associated with becoming a follower or devotee of Meher Baba; nor are there any specific duties, rites or rituals required of his followers (commonly called "Baba lovers"). However, many of Baba's followers observe a few common practices on a very informal basis. These include keeping pictures of him, remembering him, and refraining from psychedelic drugs (including marijuana). Baba lovers sometimes differentiate between those who accept Baba's claim to Avatarhood, called Baba lovers, and Baba likers, those who are attracted to Baba in some way, but do not have any faith in his claims of divine status.
Gatherings of Baba followers, when they occur, are typically informal and highly social in nature. Special effort will be made to gather together on Amartithi, the anniversary of Meher Baba's death, and on his birthday.
Many of Meher Baba's followers observe "Silence Day" on July 10 of each year by keeping verbal silence for 24 hours in accordance with the requests Baba often made during his life that his followers keep silence or fast on this day.
Three prayers written by Meher Baba, "O Parvardigar", the "Prayer of Repentance" and the "Beloved God Prayer," are recited morning and evening at his samadhi, and are often recited at gatherings of his followers. At Meherabad, his followers maintain Meher Baba's practice of lighting a dhuni fire in a fire-ring on the 12th of each month. After dhuni prayers, participants throw sandalwood twigs dipped in ghee into the flame as physical representations of fears and desires they wish to relinquish.
Devotional music also frequently plays a substantial role in gatherings of Baba lovers. This feature is common to his followers in both the West and in India, although in India music seems to play a substantially greater role.
How many Baba lovers there are is difficult to gauge since there is no official creed that is required and no central authority, thus there are no membership rolls. One's relationship with Baba is considered a person's private affair. However, pilgrimage sites in India and America do report an increase in new visitors, so it is plausible that the overall number of followers is increasing slightly.
Meher Baba achieved additional attention in the West through the work of Pete Townshend of The Who. Parts of the rock-opera Tommy (1969) were inspired by Townshend's study of Meher Baba, to whom the album was dedicated. The Who's 1971 song Baba O' Riley was named in part after Meher Baba.
[edit] References
- ^ Kalchuri, Bhau: "Meher Prabhu: Lord Meher, The Biography of the Avatar of the Age, Meher Baba", Manifestation, Inc. 1986. pp. 81 & 219-220
- ^ Kalchuri, Bhau: "Meher Prabhu: Lord Meher, The Biography of the Avatar of the Age, Meher Baba", Manifestation, Inc. 1986. p. 4283
- ^ Kalchuri, Bhau: "Meher Prabhu: Lord Meher, The Biography of the Avatar of the Age, Meher Baba", Manifestation, Inc. 1986. p. 944
- ^ Abdulla, Ramjoo: "Ramjoo's Diaries, 1922-1929: A Personal Account of Meher Baba's Early Work", Sufism Reoriented, 1979
- ^ Davy, Kitty: "Love Alone Prevails: A story of life with Meher Baba", Sheriar Press, 1981. pp. 166-167
- ^ Meher Baba: "Meher Baba's Universal Message", World's Fair Pamphlet, 1964}}
- ^ Purdom, Charles B.: "The God-Man: The Life, Journeys & Work of Meher Baba with an Interpretation of His Silence & Spiritual Teaching", George Allen & Unwin, London, 1962. p. 187
- ^ Kalchuri, Bhau: "Meher Prabhu: Lord Meher, The Biography of the Avatar of the Age, Meher Baba", Manifestation, Inc., 1986. p.3834-3840
- ^ Meher Baba: "Highest of the High", Pamphlet, September 1954
- ^ Kalchuri, Bhau: "Meher Prabhu: Lord Meher, The Biography of the Avatar of the Age, Meher Baba", Manifestation, Inc., 1986. p. 4283
- ^ Meher Baba: "Meher Baba's Call", Pamphlet, September 12, 1954
- ^ Kalchuri, Bhau: "Meher Prabhu: Lord Meher, The Biography of the Avatar of the Age, Meher Baba", Manifestation, Inc. 1986. p. 180
- ^ Ibid
- ^ Anzar, Naosherwan (editor/translator): "The Master Sings, Meher Baba's Ghazals", Zeno Publishing Services, 1981
- ^ Meher Baba: "Discourses", Sufism Reoriented, 6th ed., 1967. Vol I, p. 101
- ^ Meher Baba: "Life at Its Best", Sufism Reoriented, 1957. pp. 48-49
- ^ Meher Baba: "Discourses", Sufism Reoriented, 6th ed., 1967. Vol I, p. 70
- ^ Meher Baba: "Discourses", Sufism Reoriented, 6th ed., 1967. Vol III, p. 15
- ^ Luck, Irwin: "The Silent Master Meher Baba", 1967. p. 17
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Books by Meher Baba
- God Speaks, The Theme of Creation and Its Purpose, by Meher Baba, Dodd Mead, 1955, 1971. Sufism Reoriented, 1997. (ISBN 0-915828-02-2)
- Discourses, by Meher Baba, Sheriar Press, 1995. 452 pp. (ISBN 1-880619-09-1)
- Beams On the Spiritual Panorama, by Meher Baba, Perennial; Harper & Row, 1958. 88 pp.
- The Everything and the Nothing, by Meher Baba, Meher House, Sydney, Australia, 1963. Reissued by Sheriar Press, 1996. 115 pp. (ISBN 0-913078-67-0)
- Life at Its Best, by Meher Baba, Harper & Row, NY, 1957. E P Dutton, 1976. 74 pp. (Fifty-seven short messages given by Meher Baba to the public in the course of his visit to America in the summer of 1956.)
- The Path of Love, by Meher Baba, Samuel Weiser Inc., NY, 1976, Reissued by Sheriar Press, 2000. 129 pp. (ISBN 1-880619-23-7)
[edit] Books fully about Meher Baba
- The God-Man: The Life, Journeys & Work of Meher Baba with an Interpretation of His Silence & Spiritual Teaching, Purdom, Charles B., George Allen & Unwin, London, 1962. 458 pp.
- Meher Prabhu: Lord Meher, The Biography of the Avatar of the Age, Meher Baba, Bhau Kalchuri, Manifestation, Inc. 1986. (20 Volume biography taken from numerous journals and interviews.)
- Meher Baba, an Iranian Liberal, by Kevin R.D. Shepherd. Anthropographia Publications, 1988. The first critical in-depth study of Meher Baba to appear since his death. Interpretations are here supplied that conflict with the religious version. The author's approach is not sectarian, and throws new light upon events relating to the Irani mystic who became celebrated as an avatar. The Irani background of Meher Baba is emphasized and given extra context; the subject was not a typical Indian guru. A biographical overview is included, along with a summary of the magnum opus that combines Vedantic and Sufi terminology. The well-known reports of Paul Brunton and Rom Landau are investigated. A richly annotated bibliography is supplied. ISBN 0-9508680-5-1
- That's How It Was, Stories of Life with Meher Baba, Eruch Jesssawala, Sheriar Foundation, 1995 ISBN 1-880619-14-8
- The Wayfarers: Meher Baba with the God-Intoxicated, Donkin, William, Ph.D. Sheriar Foundation, 2001. (ISBN 1-880619-24-5)
- Mehera-Meher: A Divine Romance, David Fenster, 2003 (Mehera Irani's firsthand narrative, gathered from over 200 hours of tape recordings made by the author, 3 Volume biography, 1700 pp.) http://www.meherameher.com
- Tales from the New Life with Meher Baba, Narrated by Eruch Jessawala, Mehera Irani, Mani Irani and Meheru, Published by Meher Baba Information, 1976 (Out of Print)
[edit] Books about Meher Baba and other subjects
- Investigating the Sai Baba Movement: A Clarification of Misrepresented Saints and Opportunism by Kevin R.D. Shepherd. Citizen Initiative (2005) ISBN 0-9525089-3-1
- A Search in Secret India, by Paul Brunton, E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., (1935), Cosmo Publications; New Ed (2004) ISBN 81-7755-759-9
- Mystics, Masters, Saints, and Sages: Stories of Enlightenment, by Robert Ullman and Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman, Conari Press, CA. (2001) ISBN 1-57324-507-0
- A Mirage Will Never Quench Your Thirst: A Source of Wisdom About Drugs by Laurent Weichberger, Sheriar Foundation, SC (July 2003) ISBN 1-880619-27-X
[edit] External links
[edit] Biography and teachings
- The Trust Online Library has many books by and about Meher Baba available to download as pdf files
- Lord Meher (Biography, searchable online)
- Discourses by Meher Baba (Searchable online)
- Awakener Magazine Archive (Searchable online)
- Life Eternal (Anthology)
- MeheraMeher.com
- Glossary of Meher Baba's terminology
[edit] Web portals
- Avatar Meher Baba Trust
- AvatarMeherBaba.org
- MeherBaba.com
- JaiBaba.com
- Technobaba.com
- MeherBaba.com.ar (Spanish language)
- Meher Baba Association, London, England
- MeherBabaTheAvatar.org, Delhi, India
- Meher Baba Information, Berkeley, CA (USA)
- "Meherwan Centre, Edinburgh" (Note: this site contains lots of excellent information, but also contains satire of "Baba-lovers" (as they call themselves) by one of their own...entertaining, educational, and often very funny. Meher Baba appreciated humor, and encouraged his followers not to take themselves too seriously.)
[edit] Videos online
[edit] Photos online
[edit] Centers and places of pilgrimage
- Meherabad and Meherazad, Ahmednagar, India
- Meher Spiritual Center, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (USA)
- Avatar's Abode, Brisbane, Australia
- Jaiavatarmeherbaba, Yaquitganj Farrukhabad UP INDIA
- Meher Mount, Ojai, California (USA)
- Avatar Meher Baba Heartland Center, Prague, Oklahoma (USA)
- Avatar Meher Baba Dehradun Centre, Meher Dham, 105 Rajpur Road, Dehradun (UA), India. Tel. No. : +91 135 5536655
- New York Baba Group
- Tampa Bay, Florida Baba Group
- Avatar Meher Baba Bangalore Home, Bangalore, India
- Meher Baba Bhopal Centre, Bhopal, India
- List of Meher Baba Centres Worldwide #1 (highlights mostly Western centers)
- List of Meher Baba Centres Worldwide #2 (highlights mostly Indian centers)
