Conversations about Meher Baba

May 29, 2022 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, topic: sharing favorite quotes, live on Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But twice a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for spontaneous chat, more readings, songs, quotes, you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Dear folks of Baba, One of you suggested this topic of sharing one of our favorite quotes from Baba or from any other author, quotes that have been meaningful and helpful in our life with Baba. If there is an experience or a story that explains why your quote is important to you and you feel comfortable sharing, we would love to hear that also. Your quote might be from your early days with Baba or perhaps a recently discovered quote that has been pivotal in your life now. The quote could even be an entire poem special to you. I’m sure there will be a wide variety of quotes that will be very interesting, insightful and inspiring for all of us to hear.In His love, JeffTo join the email list for Jeff's 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

May 22, 2022 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, topic: remembering Mehera, live on Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But twice a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for spontaneous chat, more readings, songs, quotes, you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Topic: Baba’s Beloved MeheraDear folks of Baba, As we approach May 20th, the anniversary of the day Mehera re-joined Baba, some of you suggested that we have a special remembrance of her. A number of you met Mehera and have touching stories to share. There are a few who didn’t meet her, but for whom she occupies an intimate place in their lives with Baba. She is the beloved of the Beloved, and in Baba's words, "the purest soul in the universe”. He has said that she is His very breath. Of all the mandali, there was none like her, His eternal counterpart, and along with her incomparable love for Baba, she showed all who came to Meherazad such a tender and intimate love that can never been forgotten. Please join us and hear about this great unassuming soul. There will be a Mehera video, songs and the story of her passing included in the night’s program.In His love, Jeff To join the email list for Jeff's 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

May 15, 2022 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, topic: finding joy, live on Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But twice a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for spontaneous chat, more readings, songs, quotes, you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Topic: Accessing joyDear folks of Baba,We often choose as our topic one of the troubling issues that we face in our lives with Baba. Dyan Ullman, who regularly attends our sessions, piped up, "What about joy? Let’s not forget about the positive!” I agree. So joy it is.Do you feel joy behind all that happens in your life as a constant background?How does joy differ from bliss? Do you find that joy is more down-to-earth?Eruch used to say, “Baba didn’t want you to act happy. He wanted you to be happy.” How does joy fit into this?What things do you do in your life that naturally bring you joy? Do they have to be so-called spiritual?When you experience joy, do you feel Baba near you? That He enjoys your joy?Can joy be brought to others? In what ways can this be done?What emotions, thoughts and feelings rob us of joy?As you get older, have you discovered that you can enjoy others enjoying themselves without having to be a direct participant?It has been said that happiness is usually a temporary state and is based on outer circumstance, and joy is an abiding state not subject to the outer, but is an inner state that arises from one’s connection to a higher source, either from a selfless response to others or to the experience of the divine, of oneness with all of life.Could joy actually be bliss being brought down to the street level? Is bliss able to empathize with the suffering of others? What about joy?In His love, JeffTo join the email list for Jeff's 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

May 8, 2022 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, special guest Vesta Clinton Part 4, live on Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But twice a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for spontaneous chat, more readings, songs, quotes, you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Our guest: Vesta ClintonDear folks of Baba, Vesta Clinton is our guest tonight, her fourth time of sharing her remembrances of life in India, especially of her times of staying overnight at Meherazad with the mandali. In case she is new to you, she was part of the migration of young Baba lovers from the West who came to Ahmednagar beginning in the early 1970s. Being a nurse, she had the rare good fortune to stay overnight at Meherazad, initially looking after Dr. Goher who was suffering from severe back pain. This experience gave her a intimate glimpse of the mandalis’ life at Meherazad during the evenings and overnight. Mehera adored her and took special care of her. As a nurse, she helped Dr. Goher in the Meherazad clinic, and she was very close to Arnavaz and the men mandali.In His love, JeffTo join the email list for Jeff's 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

May 1, 2022 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, topic: Controlling Anger, live on Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But twice a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for spontaneous chat, more readings, songs, quotes, you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Dear folks of Baba,He has said in His Discourses:Anger is the fume of an irritated mind. It is caused by the thwarting of desires. It feeds the limited ego and is used for domination and aggression. It aims at removing the obstacles existing in the fulfillment of desires.Baba has said that lust is connected to the gross body, greed to the subtle body and anger to the mental body. It is within the power of the aspirant to control the expression of lust and greed, but for anger it requires the grace and intervention of the Avatar or a Perfect Master. For this reason, don’t feel discouraged if you find that controlling anger is extremely difficult.Baba has also said that “anger is the opposite of tolerance or patience.” Have you found that as you have become more tolerant and patient, your anger has diminished?Bhau and Eruch, two of the mandali, talked about mock anger: expressing anger without being angry. When Bhau was asked how much of Eruch’s anger was mock anger, he said 100 percent. When asked about his own anger, he said 80 percent.Have you ever witnessed someone expressing anger that seemed not to hurt or shame others (that is, without a barb behind it)? That is what the mandali described as mock anger.To what extent do our own expectations of others’ behavior play in stirring up our anger? When others violate our cherished values, what we think is right, do we invariably react with anger? Could lowering our expectations of others enable us to better control our anger? Are others supposed to live according to our values?Have you noticed that some people's anger seems to evaporate soon after it is expressed, whereas with others, even though anger is not expressed it goes in and creates an attitude of resentment and negative feeling that persists long after the situation which caused it?How do you react to sarcasm from others? What methods have you developed in dealing with anger?To a friend who had trouble controlling his temper toward others, Eruch said that given he has lost his temper, he should apologize afterwards. The anticipated humiliation of having to apologize afterwards has actually helped curb his anger.In His love, JeffTo join the email list for Jeff's 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

Vesta Clinton informal chat April 26, 2022, live on Zoom

A spontaneous post-arti chat with Vesta.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

April 10, 2022 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, special guest Vesta Clinton Part 2, live on Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But twice a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for spontaneous chat, more readings, songs, quotes, you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Dear folks of Baba, By popular demand, Vesta Clinton is back to share more of her intimate times of being with the mandali at Meherazad. This time she will regale us with her exchanges and experiences with Eruch, Baba’s interpreter and closest of the men mandali. Eruch was able to share with all of us pilgrims the deepest understanding of Baba, which was always so vivid and personal. Vesta had a rare camera angle that few had at the time, staying overnight at Meherazad starting in the mid-70s and off and on for many years afterwards. She is full of humor and has many "far out", behind-the-scenes stories, such as flying saucers that used to hover near Meherazad in plain sight of her and the mandali. You won’t find her colorful and amazing stories in any of the books. She will be sharing her memories with us while she is recovering in bed from chemotherapy treatments. Vesta claims that she is affected by “chemo brain”, but to us what she says is very insightful and moving and evocative of the early times just after Baba dropped His body. Come and be touched and expanded in Baba’s love.In His 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

April 3, 2022 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, special guest Vesta Clinton, live on Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But twice a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for spontaneous chat, more readings, songs, quotes, you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Topic: Vesta Clinton and the women mandali Our special guest is Vesta Clinton. She was among the many Baba lovers who migrated to India in pilgrimage beginning in the early 1970s. She had the great good fortune to spend much time with the mandali at Meherazad, especially with the women mandali, and she has many touching, humorous and colorful experiences from those times. From her, we will hear what each of the women mandali was like through the eyes of a young Westerner and how they lived their lives for Baba. Mehera loved and adored Vesta, and she was especially close to Dr. Goher and for years helped her run the medical clinic at Meherazad. She will begin with the story of her coming to Baba. Be ready with questions, which will help jog Vesta’s memory of those intimate times she spent with Baba’s close mandali.In His love, JeffTo join the email list for Jeff's 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

March 27, 2022 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, focus on ”Self-Effacement,” live on Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But twice a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for spontaneous chat, more readings, songs, quotes, you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Meher Baba has said, "The way of My Work is the way of effacement, which is the way of strength, not of weakness and through it you become mature in My love." What does Baba mean by self-effacement? Is it having a negative view of oneself? Does it mean having low self-esteem, feeling ourselves as being small? Do such attitudes lead to self-forgetfulness and effacement?Is it possible to have high self-esteem without egoism? Baba has said we have to efface our lower self. What is the lower self? He defined it as... "That which makes you think you are small, that which makes you feel that you are not satisfied, not happy, that which makes others see you as small. So, the meaning of going against the lower self is to transform this in quite the opposite direction. Be that which makes you look big and makes others see you as big. Remain pleased and contented, happy and satisfied. When you are displeased, unhappy or upset and moody, it is your lower self asserting itself.” Therefore, according to Baba, thinking of ourselves as small is not self-effacement, but it would seem that a high self-esteem is what He is encouraging. What are some of the ways that lead to self-effacement?Baba has said that by expressing a self-giving love rather than venting our ego with all its negative emotions of pride, lust, greed and anger, the negative emotions gradually begin to be effaced by the divinely human qualities within us.For example, Baba has said that lust is gradually replaced by purity; greed is replaced by generosity; anger by tolerance and patience. Baba also gave supreme importance to saying His name as a means to self-effacement: Meherwan Jessawala, Eruch’s brother, has said that taking Baba’s name is like introducing termites into our interior: the inner space is eaten away until it is hollowed out, making more and more room for Baba to live in us! Remember the game of Pac Man?Does self-effacement mean giving up even our spiritual experiences? Rick Chapman, in his meeting with Baba at Meherazad in 1966, was told by Him, "In fact, pay no attention whatsoever to the spiritual path, the planes of consciousness, or to any spiritual experiences—they are all nothing but toys for children, because they are nothing but illusion.” Is Baba implying, therefore, to even renounce our "spiritual potential" in favor of self-effacement? How many spiritual teachers would recommend this?Darwin Shaw used to say with an enigmatic smile on his face, “Sooner or later we discover we are nobody, and that is not an unhappy discovery!”Let’s hopefully lose ourselves in this topic, in His love, Jeff To join the email list for Jeff's 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

March 20, 2022 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, focus on love versus emotion, live on Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But twice a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for spontaneous chat, more readings, songs, quotes, you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Dear folks of Baba, This is a very subtle topic about a distinction that has serious implications in maintaining harmony at the inner level with Baba. With most people, feelings are often conflated with love, but this can be very misleading. Emotions, feelings and desires come from the heart, our conditioning, our sanskaras. We know this. But have you been able to see that love flows in from another dimension, from the innermost dimension INTO the heart, from beyond our sanskaras? Baba has said: “Feelings and emotions are only the creation of mind and energy. Love is the creation of the soul.” The mandali have said that feelings are a great vehicle for love, but they are also a great vehicle for the darker emotions such as jealousy, hatred, vindictiveness, and greed. Have you seen this in your own life? Have you ever noticed that what you thought was loving turned out to be predominantly done with an ulterior selfish motive? When Arnavaz, one of the women mandali, said to Baba that she wasn’t feeling Him, Baba replied “I never asked you to feel me. I asked you to love me.” Have you ever witnessed yourself doing something loving in spite of being in a bad mood? How is it that your mood was not able to prevent you from being loving? Baba refers to the divinely human qualities in us—of generosity, empathy, forgiveness, humor, honesty, courage, creativity—all our best qualities. Have you noticed that emotions and desires are excitement-based, and that love with its divine qualities is tranquil-based: they are quiet, even when they give rise to enthusiasm and action? Baba has said, " Amidst intense activity, if there is absolute calmness of mind, that is the highest love." Have you ever encountered someone who is very very good, expressing positive emotions, and yet you somehow felt very little love from them? When you wake up and check in with how you’re doing, do you consult your feelings, your emotions and thoughts, or do you consult the love you share with Baba? We receive light from the moon, but the moon is not the source of its light. Its light comes from the sun.Similarly, we receive love from the feelings, but feelings are not the source of Baba’s love. The hidden stream of love that is ever-flowing into us begins in purity, but as it flows downstream through us, it often picks up impurities, pollutants, mixed motives. Is it possible to receive love further upstream before the mind and emotions enter into it? I hope this is a provocative and interesting topic, in His love, JeffTo join the email list for Jeff's 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