Conversations about Meher Baba

Sept 19, 2021 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, special focus BABA STORIES, Live on Zoom

Dear fortunate folks of Baba,For this Sunday’s late night chat, it was suggested by Dyan that we bring a story to share: It can be one from Baba’s life that is especially moving for you. It can be an exchange that occurred with one of the mandali or with a Baba person in your life, or a touching or pivotal moment or incident that was life-changing for you, like an experience in the Tomb. The sharing needn’t be long, five to seven minutes is enough or a little longer if necessary, and if you feel more comfortable reading aloud that is perfectly fine. All these lovely sharings are so helpful in seeing how movingly and in so many ways Baba touches the lives of so many of us. In the following Tuesday’s late night chat, we will have Pratap Ahir to share with us when he and a number of young college students gathered around Ghani when the doctor left the New Life and moved to Pune. Ghani, Baba’s childhood chum, would regale them with stories about Baba until late in the night. And later they all met Baba, which began their lives of spending so much intimate time in Baba’s company. In His love, JeffWe 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! Join the email list for Jeff's Chats: request to join. 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

Sept 14, 2021 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, special focus HUMILIATION, Live on Zoom

Dear Baba folks A couple of late night chats ago, Meher Prasad suggested we explore the topic of fear of humiliation, and others were enthusiastically on board. This subject is very pertinent in our lives with Baba. I read some years ago that the greatest fear in this country is public speaking, that 90 percent of people here have stage fright. And what is behind it? The fear of humiliating ourselves in front of everyone! There is the terrible risk of showing how incompetent we are, how deficient we are in mastering how we speak, the risk of how far below we might appear from how would like to be seen. During the Depression in this country, men jumped from office buildings rather than face the humiliation of being bankrupt. I thought also to add another aspect of humiliation—the part it plays in diminishing our ego. If I were in charge of the universe--in charge of creation, preservation and destruction--I would definitely cut back on the destruction. It hurts. I would try to lessen the humiliation because it destroys our fragile self-esteem. There’s got to be another way to destroy the ego? But unfortunately it is one of Baba’s most valuable methods of effacing the ego. There are many very telling examples of Baba’s humiliation of the mandali and how ultimately it was a blessing for them. Join the humiliating conversation, in His love, Jeff 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! Join the email list for Jeff's Chats: request to join. 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

Sept 12, 2021 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, special guest Merwan Mehta, Live on Zoom

Special guest Merwan Mehta!Dear fortunate Baba folks, This Sunday’s late night chat will be an interview with Merwan Mehta,who is a member of a large extended family much loved by Meher Baba, the Satha family. The Sathas go back to the early 1920s with Baba, and generation after generation have been His close followers, including Eruch’s mother, Gaimai, and Merwan’s grandmother, Alu. Their ancestral home, known as Akbar Press, was located near the bus station in Ahmednagar. In the original family there were five brothers, and Baba regarded Himself as the sixth brother, and He would drop by their bungalow over the years at any time, day or night, and sometimes even go into the kitchen and help Himself to whatever food was available to satisfy His hunger. Merwan met Baba on a number of occasions. He was born in 1959 and was given his name by Baba. He lives now in North Carolina and is a professor at East Carolina University.In His love, Jeff 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! Join the email list for Jeff's Chats: request to join. 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

Sept 7, 2021 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, special guest Nick Principe, Live on Zoom

Dear folks of Baba, Tonight, we will have with us Nick Principe who has many vivid and insightful stories of times he spent with the mandali, especially in the early 1970s. He was very close with Baba’s own family, so he has things to share about being with Baba’s brothers, Jal and Behram, His twin nephews, Rustom and Sohrab, His niece Gulnar and other family members. Nick has a wealth of jokes, including ones that Jal would entertain Baba with. Nick lives in Myrtle Beach, but spends several months of the year in Assisi made famous by St. Francis. Although the mandali were all uniquely different with colorful personalities, hearing what it was like to be with them gives us a glimpse of something invaluable they all shared—Baba's personal love for each one and a living example of lives dedicated to trying to please Baba in every little thing. You will love Nick’s stories.In His sweet love, Jeff 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! Join the email list for Jeff's Chats: request to join. 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

Sept 5, 2021 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, special focus on ETERNAL PRESENT, Live on Zoom

Dear fortunate folks of Baba,For this Sunday’s late night chat, I thought the topic of "Living in the Present" might be interesting to explore.By the present is meant the timeless present, not the passing present which is part of the past, present and future trio.Baba has said, “Live more and more in the Present, which is ever-beautiful an stretches away beyondthe limits of the past and the future.”For most of us, when we were in early childhood, one day could last a month. Why? Because thepresent wasn’t wedged in between the walls of things like anxiety about the future or regrets about past.We were in an expansive present full of wonder, exploration, and mystery with very few worries.What do you find that pulls you out of the present?What keeps you in the present?What does it mean to accept WHAT IS?How does your life in Baba keep you in the present?Have you had any experience of the timeless present or what Baba calls the eternal Now?Have you experienced a sense of time stopping? And a sense of immense spaciousness?Is there a doorway from the passing present into the timeless present?In His love, Jeff 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! Join the email list for Jeff's Chats: request to join. 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

Aug 31, 2021 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, special focus on INTUITION, Live on Zoom

Dear fortunate folks of Baba,Baba has said, “The voice that is heard deep within the soul is my voice, the voice of inspiration, of intuition, of guidance. Through those who are receptive to that voice, I speak.” Intuition is referred to as a direct communication with the Divine (in our case, Baba). He has said, “Intuition is always one hundred percent correct.” It is accessing it that is our great challenge. On an overcast day, we say the sun is not out, yet it is there, visible when the clouds lift. Likewise, our intuition is always there. It’s those pesky clouds that veil our access to it.Some questions that might be interesting:How do intuitions come to you? What are some of the forms they take?How does an intuitive prompting feel different from a thought?What challenges do you experience in trying to access your intuition?Have you considered that sometimes when you respond to a situation with love and understanding that it might have actually been prompted by intuition?Do you have any examples of when you didn’t follow an intuition and it led to unexpected and perhaps unfortunate consequences?Have you ever experienced a flow of intuitional promptings? Is it possible to tune into it? How does that differ from a flash of intuition?In His love, Jeff 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! Join the email list for Jeff's Chats: request to join. 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

Aug 29, 2021 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, special focus on WORK, Live on Zoom

WORKDo whatever needs to be done, but do it as a spiritual being, as one who knows he is divine by nature and united with the whole of life in essence. Do it as if you are doing it for Me or for God. Do it with equal consideration for the interest of all concerned, for God is equally in each. Do it with the utmost concentration, yet with utter detachment from the results of action.Leave the fruits of action to Me or to God. Do it as if it were the most important thing in the universe, yet let it be destroyed, or ignored, or ridiculed, without concern; or let it be praised, without elation. Leave the response to Me or to God. Do it, in short, as if you were not doing it at all, but as if I or God were doing it through you. Meher Baba This is a beautiful quote that I’ve always liked, where Baba states unequivocally that we are really one with all life, affirming our intrinsic spiritual nature. At the same time, He describes the invaluable attitude for us to cultivate in living for Him, echoing what He has said about the provisional ego. What does this quote mean to you? Have you had in the course of your life with Baba glimpses of oneness, sometimes feeling the underlying unity of all life? Have you had experiences of Baba living life through you, of occasionally feeling eclipsed by Him when doing something, especially for others? What challenges have you faced in living your life with Baba in this spirit? What areas of your life do you find it difficult to bring Baba into, like doing your income taxes or taking out the garbage?In His love,Jeff 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! Join the email list for Jeff's Chats: request to join. 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

Aug 24, 2021 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, special guest Irwin Luck (#3) , Live on Zoom

Irwin Luck returns for Part 3! He will focus on the remarkable events of 1962 East-West GatheringWe 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! Join the email list for Jeff's Chats: latenightchats@googlegroups.com. 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

Aug 22, 2021 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, focus on Destination in Our Midst , Live on Zoom

Below is a transcript of a talk by Eruch sent to me by Marta through Wayne Myers. It was given in Mandali Hall in 1978. Eruch spoke on this theme a number of occasions over the years, and I would always find it very heartening and a relief. The destination, Baba, is right here with us. No need to search any further. We’re at the terminus. No more journeying. What we need to do, Eruch would say, is open up more and more to His presence with us in this moment. Just hold on to His damaan moment to moment. This theme would be wonderful to explore, or any other subject that you are interested in."And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” T.S. Elliot“Why is it so difficult to find God? Because you’re looking something you've never lost.” Meher Baba The insightful talk by Eruch is well worth reading:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zeHP5zbMZByA2bhosqHDZYEz4GYsQCkoTlHYd_kGBX0/edit?usp=sharingWe 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! Join the email list for Jeff's Chats: jeffchats@googlegroups.com.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

Aug 17, 2021 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, focus on wholeheartedness & kindness, Live on Zoom

Special focus today on wholeheartedness and kindness.Wholeheartedness:Baba has encouraged us to be wholehearted in what we do. What do you think Baba means by wholeheartedness? Is it different from what the world calls wholeheartedness? What does it mean to do what we do wholly for Baba? How does that look like in your life for Baba? What do you find gets in the way of wholeheartedness for you? What attitudes or beliefs? What kind of efforts do you make to turn half-heartedness into whole-heartedness? Why does Baba ask us to be wholehearted? Does that extend to everything in life, great or small? The object of our wholeheartedness may be taken away,` but can our spirit of wholeheartedness still remain?“We were not sent into this world to do anything into which we cannot put our whole heart.” John Ruskin“What more can one give than wholehearted love?” Meher BabaKindness:Kindness is one of the divinely human qualities residing at our core. What touching acts of kindness have you witnessed in your life? It’s definition is friendliness, generosity and considerate. Where does it spring from within you? Is it a quality of empathy? Is there a type of situation or behavior in yourself or others where you find it difficult to express kindness? Do you extend kindness to yourself? Do you feel that acts of kindness are rare in your world today? Do you find that people sometimes take kindness as a sign of weakness?“Be kind, for everyone is fighting a great battle.” Philo, a Greek philosopher. The Dalai Lama has said, “Kindness is my religion.”Emerson said, “You can not do kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.”“A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve.” Joubert“You should behave toward [others] with kindness and humility.” Meher BabaJoin the email list for Jeff's Chats: jeffchats@googlegroups.com. 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