Conversations about Meher Baba

Nick Principe ”Sharing Baba’s Kindness,” Feb 24, 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!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 with Jeff Wolverton: Entertaining Baba, Feb 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: Entertaining Baba on His BirthdayDear folks of Baba, As a change of pace, I thought it would be entertaining to entertain Baba as we approach His 131st Birthday by our sharing poetry, stories, songs, jokes, quirky ways of remembering Him, a film clip, artwork—anything and everything but the kitchen sink! The subject of entertaining Baba reminds me of an incident from my own life that was pivotal in my work here at the Center in Myrtle Beach. Back in the late 1980s or early 1990s, I was just beginning the long and arduous job of cleaning all the windows of the Original and Lakeview Kitchens. Altogether this involves 47 windows, some of which have as many as 12 panes. And then there are the screens! It is a long, often uninspired journey into the realm of cleaning. Starting at window 47, I had made my way to window number 41, with rags and Windex on the step ladder, when I heard a clear, authoritative voice within say, “Is this work entertaining to Baba?” Without hesitation, I found myself saying, “No!” I thought, Baba has to watch me all day, all of us in fact, and I am approaching this window cleaning with an unenthusiastic check-list mentality: window 41 done, window 40 done, window 39 done… I thought of one of those poor security guards somewhere in a small room in a shopping mall, watching a whole bank of TV monitors aimed out at the extensive parking lots to make sure nothing untoward is happening. What if some shopper were to do a little dance before one of the unseen cameras? Wouldn’t that make the guard's day! In that moment, I realized that there had to be a better way to clean windows! One of the ways I came up with of entertaining Baba was to get some of the kids on the Center to help, supplying them with rags and Windex, and let them go ahead of me. We would work for a while, and then go into the kitchen and have some treats, maybe juice or ice cream on a hot day, and enjoy ourselves. That would surely delight Baba. Or I might ask someone who needed to talk about something difficult they’re going through, and we would work side by side while delving into the issue. Or other ways included thinking of Baba, His life, singing a song, or doing a super window cleaning job for Him. I learned how to be more resourceful and creative and not let the window cleaning become my usual uninspired routine, and make it more fun for Baba. Now if I can only do my danged taxes in the same spirit! Here Baba reveals His side of this experience:“The same theater, the same show, the same actors,twenty-four hours a day, eternally, and I have tonot only stay awake, but smile and clap.” 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

Peter Nordeen - Miracles and the law of Karma / Begin the Beguine - Feb 23, 2025, live on Baba Zoom

Peter gave a Birthday message. He focused first on miracles. Though Beloved Baba never gave great significance to miracles, Peter discusses one major miraculous event that occurs every 700 to 1400 years, the birth of the Avatar. Then Peter explores the meaning of Baba's favorite song, "Begin the Beguine" through the lens of the Avatar taking birth once again, being called to duty by the five perfect masters of the Age.Hosted by Diana Goodheart in NCSue Chapman's Poem:Beloved’s Birthday (written Feb 8, 2021)While the world continues to pray in churches, synagogues, and mosquesPerforming pujas and rituals in temples, yearning for Your presence,Imploring Your return as Ram, as Krishna, as Buddha, Jesus, MohammedYou have already come, so very quietly….Without fanfare of trumpets, or the sight of archangels or chariots in the sky,You came in such an ordinary guise, as a brother, as a son, as friend.You rode your bike around your neighbourhood, attended to your studies, played cricket,Living in a modest town that did not know the jewel in its midst.But the Masters of the Age knew You in an instant, recognised your GloryAcknowledged your descent as Man,And nurtured the agonising birthing of Your DivinityIn ways even your own mother, for so long, could not.Answering the longing in our hearts you came, so very quietlyThat almost the entire world failed to notice!You scattered the seeds of your love in countless barren heartsAnd stepped away like a trusting gardener, knowing their inevitable flourishing.Your disguises were the flimsiest of foils,A beret here, a fez there, a double-breasted suit, brogue shoes.They might have turned their heads and wondered – who is that?They might have known your glory, but most passed by unseeing,And your silence could never cause offence.Amidst the wildest mysteries of our most gorgeous planet earthWith all its myriad creatures and life forms,However did it come to pass, that I, you, we are the fewWho, having caught the fragrance of your love on the windOn this avenue or that, knew, just knewWe must track the source above all else?And as extraordinary, having found the sourceAnd realised it to be Truth, Beauty, Love DivineThe pinnacle of man’s desire, the goal, the glorious final resting place,Discovered it was a gift we could not freely share,And found, with pain, it could be rejected and reviled.How can we adequately express gratitude to the OneWho, inhabiting eternal knowledge, power and bliss,Surrendered unto the entrapment of a mere human formOnly to bear innumerable assaults and privations?What mercy did the world provide, aside of One Supreme Woman,And a small band of willing slaves?There is no acknowledgment we few can express,No Birthday Cake grand enough, no song sweet enoughNo words to convey the depth of our thankfulness.And so we stumble blindly on, surrendering what we can,Regretting what we can’t, and hoping above all hopeThat one day, one day, we will see you as you really are,And ‘Happy Birthday Baba’ will become every dayYou are reborn in me, and I am reborn in You!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

Sahavas for Everyone: ”Intelligence Notebooks” Fereshteh Azad, Feb 20, 2025 live on Baba Zoom

Sahavas for Everyone, with special guest Fereshteh Azad who will share about Avatar Meher Baba, and his relationship with the "Intelligence Notebooks." She will also share about her spiritual journey with Meher Baba. ❤ ❤ ❤Love to all, no exceptions ❤Avatar Meher Baba Ki Jai!Hosted by Laurent Weicheberger 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

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

Every other Monday, 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!Tech host 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: guilt, shame and remorse, Feb 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: Guilt, Shame and RemorseDear folks of Baba, For most Baba lovers, regret about many things they’ve done in their past naturally casts a shadow over their present moment. And often it is with their present consciousness that they judge themselves, which isn’t really fair, because they have grown since then and they probably wouldn’t do such things with what they know now! And in condemning themselves they bring a feeling of unworthiness upon themselves. There is a simple quote by Thomas Leonard which says, “Give up all hope…of a better past!” How does this state of regret persist? It is often because we try to resolve our past wrongs, shortcomings, failings, etc. with our mind. But the mind is too superficial; it doesn’t take one deeper than guilt. Guilt lacks the depth to fathom the root causes of our weaknesses. Guilt’s method is like clipping off the tops of weeds, which doesn’t get at the root, and so the weed sprouts anew. I find if I feel guilty, and it persists for days, I am likely going to do the selfish thing again! And guilt invites shame, which is not really an emotion but a mental attitude. It is a self-judgment about how bad we are or have been. The only thing that wipes away our weaknesses and bypasses guilt and shame is remorse.Remorse is of the heart, and if we are going to change our behavior, it is at the heart level. We feel the sting of remorse for having been weak or selfish, and then we turn to our heart—which is backed by our soul--to give us the strength and courage to change our behavior. Guilt and shame are really two subtle forms of self-preoccupation, but remorse, even sometimes in magnifying its intensity, aims to make a selfless change in ourselves. It can burn up our selfish tendencies. Once when I asked Eruch, one of Baba’s most intimate mandali, how he experienced Baba’s forgiveness, he said, “Most people, when they do something unkind and selfish, make a plea to God to be forgiven. They persist until they feel some relief. This is what is conventionally done. But with Baba, when you do something unkind and selfish, the remorse you feel for having done this is the sign that you’ve already been forgiven.” As long as we feel no remorse and go on justifying our unkind behavior, there is no room for Baba to forgive. Baba has said, “Sincere repentance does not mean perpetuating grief for the wrongs, but in resolving in the future to avoid those deeds which call forth remorse.” As I gathered from Darwin, he recommended taking ample time feeling as deeply as possible any wrong we have done and imagine it flowing energetically to Baba. He would say, “The deeper the feeling, the deeper the healing.” How have you experienced Baba’s forgiveness in your own life? What wrongs have you done in the past that still persist as guilt and shame today? What methods with Baba have been successful in freeing yourself from past selfishness? Has the empathy you feel today in relation to others helped to soften the self-condemnation you may have felt about your past? Baba has said that His method with us is, “Two steps forward, one step back.” When asked why one step back, Baba replied that it annihilates our pride of progress as we go along. What do you do when events that happen during your day or week trigger past regretful experiences? How do you bring Baba into the picture?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

Meher Roshani Foundation - an interview with Roshani Shenazz, Feb 15, 2025 live on Baba Zoom

We will talk about Meher Roshani Foundation and its ever-growing humanitarian Baba-inspired projects! Roshani Shenazz in Mumbai is a force of nature, and her work is blossoming wider and wider. Join us for a fantastic conversation.Interviewed by Angela Lee Chen in Myrtle Beach 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 with Jeff: the Masculine and Feminine within us, Feb 9, 2025, live on Baba Zoom

Dear folks of Baba, I have heard serious concerns from Baba lovers representing a variety of gender identifications about this overly male dominated world and its poignant lack of empathy and compassion, the feminine qualities. Society has become increasingly impersonal nowadays, and I have often thought in this advent, Baba has emphasized God in human form, the personal, which is desperately needed to counteract the domination of the mind and its impersonal achievements. In some of His previous advents He has directed us to the impersonal, formless manifestations of the Divine, such as Allah, Nirvana, Yezdan and Jehovah, an orientation that I assume was appropriate and necessary during those periods of human history. The terms masculine and feminine can easily evoke a gender conflict, but Baba asserts that both of these qualities are in each one of us. If our identification with the gender of our body is too strong, that is, if we identify as strictly male, then the feminine qualities in us get repressed. The same is true for the feminine. Baba says when both the masculine and feminine are fully developed in us, we are approaching Realization. Baba says broadly that the masculine in us "excels in qualities of head and will", and the feminine "in qualities of the heart". Those who balance both qualities in himself or herself will have a more integrated experience of themselves. Speaking very simplistically, the masculine in us is generally considered assertive and goal-oriented, while the feminine is receptive and relationship-oriented. The masculine, in Baba’s words, relies on the mind with its “sound judgment", “steadfast purpose,” and “will”, and the feminine on the heart with its feelings, empathy and intuitions; they are “capable of intense love,” “devotion" and “any sacrifice”. The masculine in us, in my view, tends to seek Baba in oneself, and the feminine seeks to find Baba in each other. Helen Dahm, the woman who painted the murals in His tomb back in the late 1930s, early 40s, complained to Baba about her emotional discomfort in being among so many other women mandali at Upper Meherabad. She tended to be anti-social, but He told her, “The path is through people.” And in His last message on the alphabet board in October 1954, Baba said that His lovers would “realize the Truth by being bound to each other with internal links.” To me this means that during this period in history Baba is encouraging us to find Him in each other, the feminine and personal, and He would refer to us as His Baba family. Paradoxically, it is possible for a woman to be very masculine and a man to be quite feminine. Neither gender has a monopoly on the expression of the masculine and the feminine. Baba has said that an effort has to be made to balance these gender qualities within. While seeking this balance, in the case of a man, Baba says it is important that he “tries to understand a woman, not through the eyes of the male, but through an imaginative reaching out toward what the woman feels herself to be, in her own personal experience.” The same is true for women. Over recent decades, there seem to be two concurrent paths: the traditional stereotypical male and female gender roles alongside growing trends of individual expression. Could it be that the current questioning and expression of gender today is the soul's attempt to balance the masculine and feminine qualities within? Have you been affected adversely by the stereotypical definition of your gender? In what ways? How does the societal culture of your country play into the experience of your gender? Could Baba be making an invaluable distinction between masculine and feminine qualities, rather than the more limiting male and female genders? In that case, is there more room for acceptable overlap—for example, a strong-minded take-charge woman, or a receptive, devotional man? Haven't we already begun loosening the ways we see others? What role does detachment from gender play in balancing out our inner nature? The mind with all its creations: the development of new inventions, societal hierarchies, the whole digital world and labor-saving devices has not brought us closer to each other. It may be that simple personal love and interest in each other, from heart to heart as Baba has expressed, may be what saves us from the alienation and isolation that is so rampant in the world today. What is needed as an antidote to this growing trend, as Baba has said, is a “fusion” of impersonal love (our sense of duty) and personal love (for those who receive our intimate attention), which He says ultimately culminates in “Divine love.”In His love, Jeff

Sahavas for Everyone: Peace, Feb 5, 2025 live on Baba Zoom

Sahavas for Everyone. First and third Wed of the month."Peace of Mind" (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 with Jeff: Anatomy of the heart, Feb 2, 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! Dear folks of Baba, Darwin Shaw, one of Baba’s early Western mandali, used to encourage us to scan our interior heart space to discern our reactions and responses to life. To use an analogy, this is like lifting up the hood of a car to study the internal workings of the engine. What was so invaluable that I gathered from Darwin is we can be pro-active about our inner life. We don’t have to be passive observers. Examining the deeper aspects of the heart can contribute greatly to creating inner harmony within ourselves. This focus on being conscious of our interior is one of the major approaches to Baba, but it is not the only one; there are other equally valid approaches. The heart is one of our most prized possessions, but have you noticed that it has distinct and subtle layers? One layer of the heart is more superficial, it reacts to life from the standpoint of our conditioning, and the other responds lovingly to life from the deeper realm of the heart. Our reactions come from two sources: our beliefs based on such standards as good and bad, right and wrong, spiritual and unspiritual, loving and unloving, and reactions also come directly from our cravings and from our negative emotions such as greed, anger, fear, vengeance, jealously, hatred, etc. Our loving responses, on the other hand, have their origin in the Soul that is beyond the heart, but which uses the heart as its vehicle. Examples of loving responses are generosity, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, empathy, humor, purity, understanding, enthusiasm and courage. Have you been able to discern the qualitative differences between reactions as opposed to loving responses to life? Can you tune into the differences in vibration and the atmosphere that is created around you when responding to life? Have you noticed that emotion, desires and feelings tend to be excitement-based, and love is more tranquil-based even though it often generates enthusiasm? Have you noticed that reactions often bring you up into your head, sometimes accompanied by unpleasant sensations and an influx of thoughts, whereas in loving responses we tend to remain at the heart level? Baba has said, “Feelings and emotions are the creation of mind and energy. Love is the creation of the Soul.” Their origins are completely different! As Darwin would say, feelings, desires and emotions come from our conditioning, our sanskaras, whereas love is “impression-less”; it comes into us from the Soul, which is beyond time and space. Our good and bad reactions come from the heart, whereas our loving responses come through the heart from our Soul itself, which is Baba. What makes it so difficult to discern good from love is that they both first make their appearance in the heart, and for this reason, we tend to think that love comes from the heart. However, the heart is like the moon that only reflects the light of the sun. It is not the source of light. That is why Baba says that love comes always as His gift to us. Victor Hugo, the French novelist, once wrote, “Virtue as in the case of vice [good as in the case of bad], is a calculated action, but love is not calculated. It wells up in the heart and expresses itself spontaneously.” Have you found that good always has some strings attached (a subtle ulterior motive); it is connected with time and usually strives to make an impression, but love expresses itself in the moment and tends to leave the giver and the receiver free from obligation and ideally leaves no residue. You might say, it evaporates as soon as it is expressed. Given all of this, it is important to keep the heart clear of “strangers” as Baba has said so that it can be a pure vehicle for His love. The trajectory of our life, in Baba’s words, goes “from bad to good to God” (Love). “Love has to spring spontaneously from within and is in no way amenable to any inner or outer force.” 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