Conversations about Meher Baba

Thursday Late Night Chat: Bif Soper virtual tour Part 1, Dec 14, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

Late night chat centered around our Beloved. A sharing of heartsJai Baba all!Thank you so much to all of you who tuned in for last week's chat with Bif. We have a special treat for you all this week. Bif will tour Toka, Aurangabad, and Valley of the Saints virtually with all of us. This is a trip that Bif has given nearly 100 times to pilgrims who visit Meherabad and want to see some of the sites Baba visited. This tour was originally one that Eruch would take pilgrims on and Bif took it upon himself to remember all the stories Eruch would tell and continue them. Many who have visited Meherabd have taken this trip, but may not know all the stories. I have had the pleasure of joining Bif on a few of these trips and each time he shares the stories it feels like a real-life account of being there with Baba. Many of the stories on this tour are from Baba's New Life.Some of the sites are:The Imampur MosqueToka on the Godavri The Catholic Cemetary in AurangabadDaulatabad FortThe Ellora Caves-Cave 10 in particularValley of the SaintsDarga of Raju Kutar HosseiniMosque of Zar Zari ZarbashSai Baba's CaveThese stories are priceless. Looking forward to going on a virtual journey with you are all this week!In His Love,MargiTo join the email list for Late Night Chats, please contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Late Night Chat with Jeff: E&G - our Real Work, Dec 10, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But once a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for conversation, more readings, songs, quotes - you never know what treasures will be uncovered! The Topic: Our Real WorkDear folks of Baba, We are continuing in the chapter on “Our Real Work” in Effort and Grace on page 101. In this chapter, Darwin introduces Baba's work of opening our hearts to the divinely human qualities within and expressing them in our day-to-day life. How do we access the divinely human qualities—such as patience, generosity, humor, empathy, courage, enthusiasm and honesty—from within the deeper recesses of our heart and live from there? How do we distinguish these qualities from the lower currents of the emotions, desires and impulses that are clamoring to be expressed? This is the inner battle we struggle with: the competing forces of our nature. We have spent lifetimes habituated to giving in to the lower currents and now we are having to make heroic efforts to transmute these into the loving currents of our higher nature. Here is a quote written by Mani, Baba’s sister, in her own handwriting. I am not sure if they are her words, but clearly they are her sentiments:Why were the saints, saints? Because they were cheerful when it was difficult to be cheerful,patient when it was difficult to be patient, and because they pushed when they wanted to stand still, and 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.It is clear from these words that great efforts must be made, but thankfully this ongoing struggle gives our life meaning, and we have the satisfaction of gradually making progress over the years in accessing the divinely human qualities that flow from Baba. Behind the scenes, He provides the inspiration and insight to persevere in this Real Work. One of the illusions we have to rise above is equating good or virtue with love. Although our standards of good/bad or virtue/vice that we inherited from our conditioning (our sanskaras) have been helpful guides along the way, we have to eventually access Baba’s love, which originates from beyond the sanskaras; that is, this love, which starts out pure, must express itself through our sanskaras, and in the process often gets distorted and diminished. Victor Hugo, the French novelist, once wrote, “Virtue, as in the case of vice, is a calculated action. But love is not calculated. It wells up in the heart and expresses itself spontaneously.” Baba has made it clear that “good is not the goal.” Once, in one of my early trips to India, Eruch said to me, “The accumulation of virtue is not the goal.” His words were life-changing. How do we open ourselves to this higher love? What ways have worked for you? Have you seen in your own life the distinction between good and love? Have you noticed that with good and virtue, there are always strings attached? What is required is to become more and more a vehicle for the free and spontaneous flow of love, with no calculation or selfish ulterior motive. In His love, JeffTo join the email list for Late Night Chats, contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Late Night Chat with Margi Connor: guest Bif Soper, Dec 7, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

Late night chat centered around our Beloved. A sharing of hearts.Jai Baba all! I am back after a hiatus! I hope you all enjoyed Josh and all his wonderful antics. I am sure it was quite a treat for all of you.This week we will be joined by the lovely Bif Soper. Bif has lived in Meherabad for over 25 years. He has spent countless hours with the mandali and Mohammed the mast. Fortunately for us, Bif is also an incredible story teller. He will be sharing his coming to Baba story and in the weeks to come will be sharing stories of his time with Baba's close ones.Looking forward to reconnecting with all of you!In His Love, MargiTo join the email list for Late Night Chats, please contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Late Night Chat with Jeff: E&G - the Inner Life, Dec 3, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But once a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for conversation, more readings, songs, quotes - you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Dear Folks of Baba, We are coming to the chapter in Effort and Grace entitled “Our Real Work” which starts on page 100. In this chapter, Darwin introduces Baba's work of opening our hearts to the divinely human qualities within and expressing them in our day-to-day life. Here is how Darwin introduced a buddy and myself to this work: Back in 1970, we were traveling around the country, visiting some of our college buddies. One lived in a small town in upstate New York, which “happened” to be near Schenectady. We had heard that an elderly couple lived there who had first met Baba in the 1930s, and one day we got up the nerve to call them and see if we could meet with them. The couple was Darwin and Jeanne Shaw. Little did we know that this was the beginning of a lifelong relationship in Baba with these two rare souls. This was our destiny though it seemed at the time to be just a chance happening. There is much to the background to this story that could be said, but most importantly, through this couple we were introduced to the inner life with Baba. We had been following Baba for about two and a half years, and we had practically no idea about the "inner life". We thought we would just go on living our lives with Baba and somehow the “inner life”, as vague as it was for us, would somehow just happen automatically. In his very unassuming manner, Darwin brought home to us the concept that we have the potential of creating inner space in our heart, an approach entirely new to us. We can pro-actively empty the strangers from our heart—our desires, emotions and impulses—and give them to Baba. And in doing so, gradually create an inner space for Baba to live in us and enable our awareness to see within. Over time, in emptying our hearts to Baba, we began to observe within the inner currents that dominated our lives; it was like lifting up the hood of a car and seeing how the engine actually operates with all its many interlinking parts. What we began to see on the one side and before us, so to speak, was our sanskaric conditioning, our standards of right and wrong, good and bad, spiritual and unspiritual—all fed by our desires, emotions and impulses—which we had inherited from our upbringing. This side is our reactive nature, and is very confining. On the other side, deep within the heart, we became aware of "our better angels", which Baba encapsulates in the divinely human qualities of “truth, love, beauty and purity.” This deeper side of our interior was very liberating; it “responds" to life rather than reacting to it. The qualities such as patience, empathy, generosity, humor, creativity, courage, honesty, tolerance and enthusiasm all flow from these divinely human qualities which percolate directly from Baba into our deeper hearts. We came to see that these qualities are not emotions or even feelings, but are divine attributes that enter us from beyond our sanskaras. This understanding gave immense insight into the workings of our interior; we began to see after many decades the difference between our sanskaric currents of emotions, impulses and desires and the divine currents flowing directly from Baba. The former currents are driven and excitement-based, while the latter are full of substance and flow from tranquility. Going back to this chapter, Darwin talks about the real work, which he describes by quoting Baba’s own words, "To penetrate into the essence of all being and significance and release the fragrance of that inner attainment for the guidance and benefit of others—by expressing in the world of forms, truth, love, beauty and purity—this is the sole game that has intrinsic and absolute worth.” Our work, Darwin conveyed, is to become more and more receptive, more open within, to these divine qualities flowing into us from Baba. This requires, for example, that we work at sublimating, as Baba says, anger into patience and tolerance, greed into generosity and desire into purity. Over time, these efforts inspired by Baba, which Darwin calls the “real work”, result in a perennial flow that truly blesses our lives and this world with Baba’s inclusive and unconditional love. It is important to say that Darwin's is one of the major approaches to Baba, a conscious inner journey, but he would say that this is not the only way to Baba; there are other approaches that are equally valid. In our Beloved Baba’s love, JeffThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Late Night Chat: Josh Wolterding - writing to Baba, Nov 30, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

Late night chat centered around our Beloved. A sharing of heartsFrom Josh:I thought it might be nice to put into practice a few of the intuitive ideas we had last time for cultivating baba joy in our lives.We are supposedly going from reason to intuition over the next cycle or so; so I am thinking of seeing if there are any fun ways to cultivate that.Here is my current plan. As always I am open to suggestions from the group on the night.some time to write a letter to Baba and see if you feel an intuitive responsea discussion for those who wish to share (keep in mind these are just intuitions and each person has their own personal intuitive perception of baba so kindness and respect go a long way here when discussing each others letters)To join the email list for Late Night Chats, please contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Late Night Chat with Jeff: E&G - Provisional Ego, Nov 26, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But once a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for conversation, more readings, songs, quotes - you never know what treasures will be uncovered! This Sunday, we are continuing with the chapter, “Changing Our Address” on page 95 in Darwin Shaw’s book, Effort and Grace. Here he delves into the subject of what Baba refers to as the “provisional ego”, which Darwin says is the shortest path to merging with Baba. But this requires that thinking of Baba as the doer has to become less of an exercise and more and more our actual experience. Ideally, we are vacating our premises, so to speak, and letting Baba be the new resident while we move into our new quarters as the witness. Your sharing of your own experiences and challenges with this ongoing transition are wholeheartedly welcomed. First, an invaluable quote by Baba on the "provisional ego” (provisional meaning temporary, a substitute arranged for the time being only):Think of me in everything you do. Eat, dance, but forget yourself in the action and think of me instead. This is union through action. The less you think of yourself and the more you think of Baba, the sooner the ego goes and Baba remains. When you — ego — go entirely, I am one with you. So bit by bit, you have to go. Today your nose, tomorrow your ears, then your eyes, your hands, everything.Think of me when you eat, sleep, see and hear. Enjoy everything, but think it is all Baba. Baba enjoys it. Baba is eating. Sleep soundly in Baba, and when you wake up remember it is Baba getting up. Keep this one thought constantly with you. If you do wrong, then think it is Baba doing wrong. If you get a pain, think it is Baba getting a pain. Then it will be all the time Baba ... Try to forget yourself and do all for Baba. Let it be Baba all the time! It might be said that the provisional ego is the last train stop in Creation. As I mentioned, it usually begins as a mental exercise, but ultimately the truth behind the provisional ego needs to be revealed in us through experience. That is, the provisional ego is useful as a concept, but it has to eventually become a reality. One day we will realize that all along it has been Baba living what we have always claimed as our life! It really is Baba who gets up in the morning and lives our day, not us. It was Baba who went back for the extra helping of roast turkey and dressing on Thanksgiving! In watching a movie, for example, we may find ourselves identifying with one of the characters so that when that character is in danger, we feel we are in danger, when they succeed, we succeed, when they fall in love we fall in love. In the end, however, when the credits come up, we know that it was all a projection on our part. We get so identified with the character in the movie that we become that character for the time being. But Baba has said that It has never been us. He is the One who plays all the roles. That is, it is Baba who is living the life we see on the screen before us, and we are projecting our consciousness on to Him, and claiming that we are the one who is living this life! This is our colossal mistake. In lifetime after lifetime, we identify with the character before us and are pulled into the whole illusion of Creation. What we are being asked to do is to remain fully aware of Creation, but not identify with anything in it. Or put in another way, to be aware that everything and everyone is Baba. Such a detachment, Baba says, is not sterile or passive, but is a state of flowing and dynamic responsiveness to life characterized by a loving spontaneity that always leaves our consciousness free! In this way, love is finally liberated from being bound by Creation and can express itself in each moment as it wishes, unrestrained by what our personality wants. Baba has said that we are really infinite, but we identify with the mind, and "instantly we become a person. If we didn’t do this, we would remain the Infinite that we really are." All this is a very tall, tall order from Baba. Bit by bit “we” have to go. I know we all sometimes feel in certain moments that Baba is working through us or eclipsing us in a particular situation. We may feel Him watching us. And now it all has to be reversed, little by little, so that it is us watching Him live what we formerly called “our" life. The mandali have said that people are just playing their roles. They are not really their roles; it is really Baba in disguise. What a huge challenge! This requires an unfathomable effort that is truly ongoing. All my love in our Beloved Baba, JeffThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net.

Late Night Chat: Josh Wolterding - bringing Baba joy into our lives, Nov 24, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

Late night chat centered around our Beloved. HiI am Josh Wolterding, and I am inviting people to come to my round table discussion groups and informal chats about Meher Baba and spirituality in this modern age. This coming late-night session on Thursday I want to share and hear ways of bringing genuine joy through Baba into our practical lives. I've collected a list of things that are practical, pragmatic, and most importantly not spiritually austere or in need of massive effort! Come join this meeting friends as we swap and chat about these tips and tricks for actually embodying the statement "Don't worry be happy".- JoshTo join the email list for Late Night Chats, please contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton: Relating to Others, Nov 20, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But once a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for conversation, more readings, songs, quotes - you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Topic: The Challenge of Relating to OthersDear Folks of Baba A friend of mine would often jokingly say that he would already be merged with Baba if it weren’t for the distraction of others. How we relate to others is a major element of the Path, and as Baba says, “Right adjustment to others involves self-forgetfuliness and love.” In the latter 1930s, Helen Dahm from Switzerland lived with the Eastern and Western women on the hill at Upper Meherabad and was the one who painted the mural inside Baba’s tomb. She was an anti-social type and found it very difficult to live communally with so many other women. One day she complained to Baba, and He explained to her, saying that “the path is through people.” People can definitely be disturbing in our lives by bringing up elements in us that we would otherwise not have to face. This is ultimately helpful, but it takes a long time to see that this is really so. For lifetimes we have been focussed on ourselves primarily, but eventually we have to learn to connect with others who are really ourselves in another form (or Baba in disguise). And through connecting with others, our experience of who we are truly expands beyond our little personality self. The Indian saint, Ramanamaharshi, was once asked what our relationship with others should be. In his thoughtful and quiet manner, he replied, “There are no others.” It is all really our Beloved playing all the roles. Many decades have to pass before this truth is understood! It is love that unlocks the door into finding Baba in others. He once said, “All differences between one another are merely superficial and cannot affect the love we feel for each other deep down.” Our differences, in other words, often obscure and get in the way of the love we actually have for each other in the present. It is not that our love for others grows, but that the veil of imagined differences begins to lift and we see we have loved each other all along. It is this truth that is backed entirely by our soul. Baba is introducing a completely different paradigm from the way most people in the world view others. What have been the greatest challenges to your loving others, and what methods have you found that help you in this endeavor? For some, prayer is of immense help. Thinking well of others as Baba has conveyed goes a long way in overcoming ill-feelings. Becoming more interested in what makes people “tick", a profound curiosity about why they are the way they are and seeing similar traits in ourselves—such preoccupations awaken our empathy and compassion for others. And the foremost method eventually becomes: putting all differences and conflict with others directly at Baba’s feet. Agnes Baron, the caretaker at Meher Mount in California, had an ongoing conflict with one of the Baba group heads, complaining to Him, “Baba, you say we should love everyone. I don’t love everyone. What are you going to do about that?” Knowing that she had a heart of gold, Baba replied, “Agnes, you love everyone. You just don’t like everyone.” There’s hope for all of us!In His love, JeffTo join the email list for Late Night Chats, contact Angela

Late Night Chat: Interview with Emily Chantiri, Nov 12, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But once a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for conversation, more readings, songs, quotes - you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Dear Friends in Baba,This Sunday we are hosting a special guest speaker from Australia. Emily Chantiri is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author, who has published mainly financial literature and books, as part of her career, but then went on a spiritual journey quite unexpectedly, to unravel a prophetic dream, which took her half way across the world. I came across her book, The Voice Of Intuition -Write from the Heart, a few years ago, and was deeply affected by her story of coming to Beloved Baba. Indeed, His ways of bringing new/old souls into his fold are unfathomable to say the least. Hereunder is a short bio.In her new book, The Voice of Intuition, Sydney journalist and best-selling author, Emily Chantiri, helps readers to tap into their intuition. Chantiri weaves a personal, narrative tale on how listening to her intuition helped her through her life. After being awoken by a powerful message in a dream, Emily embanks on a journey that takes her halfway across the world in search of answers. Her journey shows us how we can awaken the internal voice latent in us all. "We've all been in situations where we've had to make important decisions. Often your gut instinct tells you to go one way but your head is pushing you to go another way. It's the same when you have that feeling of knowing that you shouldn't do something, but go against your better judgement, and then regret it. This inbuilt sense of uneasiness is your very own internal alarm and protection. Any uneasiness you feel around a situation or person is your intuition warning you. I believe intuition is the most powerful and under-used tool we have in the human mind. Why? Because intuition acts as your guide and is your internal protection. It takes a lot of courage to listen to your intuition. No one has your best interest at heart more than you do; listen to your intuition. The purpose of this book is to give people hope and to believe in their dreams and listen to their inner voice."So come and join me for what promises to be a most enlightening evening with Emily, and bring your questions. This will be my last session of hosting our late-night chats before handing it back over to Jeff. Thanks to all of you for supporting me through these last few weeks with our guest speakers. It has been memorable for me.In His Love & Service,GoherTo join the email list for Late Night Chats, contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Late Night Chat: Interview with Ursula Reinhart, Nov 5, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But once a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for conversation, more readings, songs, quotes - you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Dear Friends in Baba,Our next guest speaker for Sunday, November 5th, is Ursula Reinhart, from California.Hereunder is a brief bio.In 1964 Ursula left her native Germany with her American husband Mik Hamilton to go "on the road". After traveling by hitchhiking across the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent, South East Asia and the Far East, they returned to India in 1966 where they had the good fortune to have an audience with Avatar Meher Baba on March 7, 1966. This changed their lives forever. At the instruction of Meher Baba, they returned to the US and engaged in "drug work", persuading young people to stop taking drugs. To continue this work, they went back to Asia and returned to the US in1968. Ursula continued this drug work into the 70's, and after a number of exciting jobs, such a being a private detective in San Francisco and a travel agent, specializing in tours to India, she has worked with the prison system, providing medical and mental health to inmates for the last 26 years in California .Ursula and her then husband, Mik Hamilton visited us in Karachi, Pakistan, and stayed at our home for a while, in between their travels in the East. My father, Minoo Kharas, was helping them in many ways, which Ursula will elaborate on. So, join us to hear all her incredible experiences and adventures which brought them to the feet of Beloved Baba.In His Love & Service,GoherTo join the email list for Late Night Chats, contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily