Conversations about Meher Baba

Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton: Telling others about Baba, Apr 13, 2025 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: Telling Others About BabaDear folks of Baba, This topic has again come up and it bears delving into a second time. Some of my most awkward moments in this life have been when I’ve been asked by someone suddenly, “Who is that person on the locket you’re wearing?” Sometimes my words come out spontaneously and surprise me by how apt they are in meeting the situation. But at other times, I am lost at what to say, especially when it is someone I know. One of the easiest moments of sharing about Baba is on an airplane with someone next to me I will most likely never see again! We probably all have struggled to explain who Baba is to those who haven’t heard of Him, and we have also had to face being around family, neighbors or people at work who we fear might strongly disapprove of our life with Baba. These situations are often challenging in their own way. How do you deal with these? Do you say directly who Baba says He is, or do you skirt around the issue by referring to Baba as a spiritual master from India or deflect the question by talking about His teachings instead? Do you have a usual way of introducing Baba or do you often have to use your intuition each time in assessing the situation? Baba has said, “Your job is to bring My name to the ear of a person, and My job is to bring it from ear to heart.” You may feel relieved that He has discouraged “proselytizing” which often puts people off. I’ve heard a wide range of approaches to sharing Baba, and they are all valid. I’ve never heard a fellow Baba lover say, “Mind your own business!” when that is exactly what one might fantasize sometimes. Explaining Baba to others can definitely be a challenge, and in some cases, there can be a natural fear of being rejected or even scorned. There is also a resistance to sharing with others something so sacred in this profane world. Do you feel pressure from Baba to tell others about Him? It can be difficult and even alienating when family or colleagues or people in our neighborhood express their outright disapproval of our following Baba. How can we explain that we had no choice; it was our destiny. In some cases, the Baba-lover may become an outcast, the black sheep of the family, and are never really accepted. This can definitely be very hurtful and even lonely sometimes, especially when there are no Baba-lovers or spiritually aware people where one lives. Some have chosen to go completely within in their life with Baba to avoid being hurt or disapproved of. Others have joined meditation and religious groups, spiritual centers and yoga classes to find like-minded people who are more likely to understand them. Joining zoom meetings has been a godsend for those who find themselves cut off from family and friends. Have you had to deal with alienating circumstances and what have you done? I think most of us try to say things about Baba that we feel will resonate with others, and when their attention drifts, we tend to re-adjust, like making a wrong turn and our GPS has to recalibrate. Sometimes even that doesn’t work. When the Bombay group had a booth at a large city-wide fair, they contacted Baba at Meherazad for help in answering the question, “Who is Meher Baba?” He replied through Eruch, “He is the One who provokes that question in you: the Being of all beings.” I have found if I offer this response, I often have to wait until later in the conversation because this answer is so unusual and seemingly esoteric. It is only natural to want to share what is most precious to our heart, and yet it might be better to wait until we feel there is a real receptivity in others.. Francis Brabazon , one of the intimate mandali, once recommended to first become friends with others before telling them about Baba. I think it will be informative and helpful to hear what others have done in these examples. Some of their methods might be directly applicable to our own situation.In His love with the help of friends, Jeff To 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

Nick Principe ”Sharing Baba’s Kindness,” April 7, 2025, live on Baba Zoom

Nick will tell stories he heard from the Mandali, in the context of trying to live a life of the spirit. Questions and comments welcome!
 
Hosted by Diana Goodheart in NC
 
This 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 w Jeff Wolverton: Supreme Value of ”Master’s Prayer,” Apr 6, 2025 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 Supreme Value of the Master’s PrayerDear folks of Baba, I was not brought up in any religion, and so the experience of reciting prayers was something foreign to me and has required a great adjustment on my part over the years. Given my nature, I had to find a way to mean every word of the prayer, to somehow find a place within me where each word resonated and was comprehended in some way. This was not easy for me. Most of the words were beyond me entirely. I had the seemingly impossible task of making them have meaning in me (I couldn’t bear reciting the prayer from rote) and so the prayers became a huge struggle and uphill climb and initially not something I looked forward to. I would feel this reaction, even though afterwards I would always feel uplifted and expansive with love in my heart! Baba composed the Master’s Prayer just after the New Life, on August 14th, 1953, and He participated in the prayer numerous times. In His later years, He would have Eruch read out the prayer faster and faster because Baba’s failing health prevented Him from standing for any length of time. On one occasion at Baba’s insistence, Eruch found himself reading the prayer at breakneck speed, and the image of a train madly racing past all the stations without stopping suddenly flashed through his mind and he burst out laughing. Baba was not happy with this and said pointedly, “You don’t know what I have endure to participate in these prayers for all of humanity! They are for all posterity. Whenever anyone recites these prayers, they will be helped spiritually because of My personal participation. It has nothing to do with how quickly you read the prayer or how much feeling you read it with or anything of that sort. All that matters is My having participated in the prayers. Any time anyone repeats these prayers, I am there with them, and they will be helped spiritually.” Baba said that even if we say the prayers “mechanically”, we are benefitted. On another occasion, Baba revealed to Don Stevens (who was involved in the editing of God Speaks and Listen Humanity): "You must understand that whenever Baba gives out words for his lovers to use and read, he attaches a spiritual energy to them--something like an atomic spiritual bomb. ... Then, when one reads those words, even if he does not understand even one word of what he reads, a part of spiritual energy will be absorbed by that person. And this energy will be very important for that person in his spiritual progress." At various times, Eruch shared with us in Mandali Hall the immense value of reciting the Master’s Prayer. Paraphrasing what he said, Eruch likened it to climbing a mountain. In progressing up the mountain there are switchbacks (paths) that are cut into the steep slope to make the climb gradual as it would be impossible to go straight up. What if a person were to go back and forth, thinking they were going higher but unwittingly were stuck at the same elevation and not going higher? A rut would be created. This is the inherent tendency of the mind. It gets stuck in a rut thinking all the time that it is going higher! Why? Because the mind wants to bring the Infinite down. It wants a finite truth. It wants all of life to be under the finite dome of the intellect. But the Master’s Prayer is a complete contradiction of that. Everything in the Master’s Prayer is infinite, superlative: “unlimited, unfathomable, beyond imagination and conception, eternal.” This is a blow to the mind! With the recitation of each divine attribute, its finite dome keeps getting shattered to pieces, and we are lifted consciously or unconsciously above the finite. Each Baba lover has his or her own way of reciting the Master’s Prayer, and I remember Adi, one of the intimate mandali, once saying to me that he directed the prayer personally to Baba. All the attributes of God in the prayer he attributed to Baba! That was my inclination also, which he confirmed. What is your experience of the prayer? Do you experience an initial resistance, and how do you feel after reciting the prayer? Do you feel that it changes the tenor of your day? Is it a struggle to get started beforehand? Do you prefer doing the prayer alone rather than in a group? In His love, Jeff To 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

Sahavas for Everyone: Desperation, April 2, 2025 live on Baba Zoom

Sahavas for Everyone. First and third Wed of the month."Desperation" (from Twelve Ways of Realizing Me) by Meher Baba. ❤ Love to all no exceptions! ❤ Jai Baba!Hosted by Laurent Weichberger in SCThis 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 w Jeff Wolverton: Illusion of the Personality Self, Mar 30, 2025 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: The Illusion of the Personality SelfDear folks of Baba,After a Baba meeting in the home of Darwin and Jeanne Shaw back in 1970, a small group of us were standing around having the usual apple juice and oatmeal cookies that Jeanne would serve us. I was near Darwin, and he looked over at me and said casually in his usual low-key manner, “Jeff, you are not the personality self.” Inside, I went completely blank, stunned, and then I thought: “I am not Jeff? How is it that I am not Jeff?” I had no place in my consciousness to put that! Up until then I had thought that the whole purpose of this life was to get to know myself, to delve deeper and deeper and go on improving and developing myself until I reached the goal! And here, in his casual, unassuming way, Darwin was basically telling me I’ve been barking up the wrong tree altogether! I was in my mid-twenties at the time.I felt the truth of his words at a deep level within, and I thought to myself: I’ll just file that away for now and see if I evolve into the truth of his words. From time to time, Darwin would say, “The personality self is just a storefront for the soul. We put so much importance on the window displays, dressing them up and changing them with the seasons, when we could go within and enjoy the priceless merchandise!”Before Darwin’s casual remark to me, it had never occurred to me that I was not my personality self. Imagine someone saying to you that you are not you! The challenge facing me over the next decades was how to create some inner space between my awareness (consciousness) and my personality self in order to realize the truth of his words. Darwin was of great help in encouraging us to think of ourselves not as a base of operations as almost all people do, but rather as a vehicle or conduit. Things are coming through us rather than fromus. This is a monumentally different paradigm for viewing ourselves. It is not the flute that is important to us as listeners, but the music from the musician that comes through the flute. This is actually the basis for the provisional ego that Baba encourages us to cultivate. When we are viewing our personality self from a standpoint within, we begin to enter into the timeless, spacious realm of our being that most of us enjoyed in very early childhood before the personality was fully developed. And when we view our self as our personality only, we naturally think of others as being merely their personalities, and as a result we fail to connect with their soul, their essence, which is behind and deeper than their personality; our attention is distracted by their window displays. We are relating to others, so to speak, storefront to storefront, not soul to soul. In a private conversation one day, Eruch said to Dan Ladinsky, who would stay for periods of time at Meherazad, “There has been no Eruch for years. Through His grace, I have become the perfect witness.” In my view, Eruch was no longer seeing through the lens of his personality self but through pure awareness itself. He had surrendered his personality self to Baba. In our efforts at surrendering and giving our life to Baba, we are actually moving toward the experience of letting go of the desires connected with the personality self, tuning into a “state of flow” and allowing Baba to take over. Are you sometimes able to view your personality self from outside, to witness life flowing through you rather than from you? What situations in your life do you feel yourself as a vehicle, a witness to life unfolding before you? Do you feel an immense inner freedom and relief of not always being the doer, that Baba is somehow orchestrating things for you? Or do you find that in relating to others, you are most impressed by their personalities and miss some of their deeper qualities and Baba within them? Have you observed that in identifying with the personality self, you experience yourself trapped in a subjective bubble and find it difficult to empathize with others? “I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God sending love letters to the world.” Mother TeresaIn His love, Jeff To 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 Jeff Wolverton: Baba’s Presence in our day, Mar 23, 2025 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: Baba’s Presence in Our DayDear folks of Baba, One of you suggested this topic and posed this question to ask ourselves: “There are many special places in this world to which folks can travel and experience the gift of Baba’s presence. But what about the places where we live, these places Baba has put us? Where you are, where you live, is there a special time or place you sometimes feel the gift of Baba’s presence? Even though the mind may be rattling away in the background, are there times when Baba brings your heart to center stage? Does His presence at times happen unexpectedly? Do you feel Baba’s presence alone, in group situations, or both? Sometimes Baba’s presence brings a deep feeling of calm and clarity, sometimes longing, joy, tears, sometimes all together. Can you describe Baba’s presence?” Expanding on this topic, how does Baba show up in your life? What special times and places in your day do you feel Him with you? In opening up to Baba, He enters personally into our lives--wherever we are, at home or work or on vacation—through us, His divine presence seeps into these places, and we and others respond naturally to the atmosphere that is created. When I go to the homes of Baba lovers (as well as others who are focused on the divine), I feel the warmth and expansiveness of His living presence that they have cultivated through their continual loving focus on Him. I have no doubt that these places actually become a repository of His divine impressions that are tangible and can be felt. We are discussing places here, but are there times of the day that are imbued for you with Baba’s loving presence? Time itself can become inhabited for us by Baba. He has recommended the practice of “dressing our soul with Baba”: the first thing in the morning, at twelve noon, around five o’clock and just before going to bed. Baba has said that with this practice, we will eventually feel His presence throughout the day. There are also the times we devote to the prayers, and spare moments during the day when we “steal away” to Baba. Maybe in the car on the way to work is a time set aside by us to remember Him. Do you find that there are special times that can be reminders of the many ways we infuse our remembrance of Him into our lives so that every day is an adventure with Him? Aren’t those moments wonderful when Baba just shows up spontaneously without any effort on our part? How do you experience Baba’s presence? What are some of the places in the course of your day that invariably remind you of Him? What special times bring His presence for you? Feel free to describe some of the unique moments and places which you share with Baba. “It is important for each of us who love Baba to be with Baba. Baba is with us, every second, but it becomes complete when we are with Him.” Mani, Baba’s sister 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

Sahavas for Everyone: Humility, March 19, 2025 live on Baba Zoom

Sahavas for Everyone. First and third Wed of the month."Humility" (from Twelve Ways of Realizing Me) by Meher Baba. ❤ Love to all no exceptions! ❤ Jai Baba!Hosted by Laurent Weichberger in SCThis 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

Nick Principe ”Sharing Baba’s Kindness,” Mar 17, 2025, live on Baba Zoom

Nick will tell stories he heard from the Mandali, in the context of trying to live a life of the spirit. Special Baba's Birthday edition! Questions and comments welcome!Hosted by Diana Goodheart in NCThis 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: Forgiving Others, Mar 16, 2025 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 Forgiving OthersDear folks of Baba, In the past, we have had several sessions on Baba’s forgiveness of us and the challenge of accepting His forgiveness, but we haven’t delved into the struggle involved in our forgiveness of others. Baba has said that there is one thing He cannot give us: harmony among ourselves. We have to give that to Him. And without forgiveness, how can there be harmony? Of course, we all turn to Baba for help in this process because this is one of the foremost ways of pleasing Him: “Without love none can cultivate the noble habit of forgetting and forgiving.” I think it will be invaluable to hear how others have dealt with this monumental effort. Forgiveness is essential for achieving inner harmony, a prerequisite for entering into the divine love within that Baba embodies. Baba has given many insights to help in this process such as regarding others as Baba in disguise, that others are all forms of Him. That is, to go to the extent of seeing the other person not as a separate being from Him but as Baba Himself. Would we want to withhold our forgiveness from Him? There is the Golden Rule of Jesus, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” How do we feel when someone continues to condemn us for things we have done? One invaluable insight that Baba has given is: “You forgive a wrong done to you in the same measure in which you love the wrongdoer.” Baba has highlighted the essential need of cultivating love for someone who has wronged us as a requirement for forgiveness. However, when someone has hurt us deeply, we often lose any love we have for them, and so forgiving them is the last thing we feel inclined to do. It can require tremendous work to forgive them. Fortunately, carrying a lack of forgiveness for someone is always a burden to the heart, and that burden carries within it intrinsically the seeds of forgiveness. A loving forgiveness is the only thing that will free us from psychological entanglement. How long are we going to hold on to our lack of forgiveness?One thing which Baba has said that has helped me are His words, “All differences between one another are merely superficial and cannot affect the love we feel for each other deep down.” I find that the assertion of this truth within keeps love ever in the background and helps to dissolve the unacceptable thought that the love shared with someone is gone; the love is still there but it needs to be felt again. We still love each other even though, because of the hurt or insult we’ve endured, it seems it’s been lost! It is important to point out that our forgiveness doesn’t have to be done externally with the person. Sometimes someone may be especially abusive and keeping a distance is required. Or the person may no longer be living, as in the case of a parent who has passed on. Fortunately, forgiveness can be done within and doesn’t require the physical presence of the other person. Sometimes, it is simply enough to just be in readiness to forgive if the other person is not at the point of being willing to work on the issue. One of the Christian mystics, Thomas a Kempis, wrote, “If you knew all, you would forgive all.” If we are able to empathize with the circumstances that someone has had to experience in their lives, we would have the understanding that would help in forgiving them. Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.”What methods have worked for you? Can you give an example to illustrate this without revealing names? Is there an ongoing situation that still burdens you? What if the person continues their inappropriate behavior and are not likely to ever change? What do you do in that situation? Do you have an example in which speaking with the other person has helped? Or even confronting the person about their disturbing behavior has worked? Does it help in forgiving someone to remember when you yourself have been guilty of the same behavior in the past?In His love, Jeff To 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

”Community Building” a talk by Angela Lee Chen, Mar 15, 2025, live on Baba Zoom

As part of the Baba Zoom celebration for its fifth anniversary, Angela Lee Chen spoke about Community: what benefits it brings, and how to strengthen it.(For the entire celebration of Baba Zoom's birthday, see https://youtu.be/1cfuwimpNw4)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