Conversations about Meher Baba

Sahavas for Everyone: Selfless Service, Aug 6, 2025 live on Baba Zoom

Sahavas for Everyone. First and third Wednesday of the month.Avatar Meher Baba is in each one of us. And His Love is the focus of this gathering. Open discussion with each session having a topic or theme. Hosted by Laurent Weichberger in SC. Meher Baba and His "Twelve Ways of Realizing Me," way #8Selfless Service. "If you have the quality of selfless service unaffected by results, similar to that of the sun which serves the world by shining on all creation, on the grass in the field, on the birds in the air, on the beasts in the forest, on all mankind with its sinner and its saint, its rich and its poor, unconscious of their attitude towards it, then you will win Me."Jai Baba!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

How the Master Works: Sharing stories, Aug 6, 2025, live Baba Zoom

How the Master Works - Sharing Our Treasure of Stories and AnecdotesBrothers and Sisters in Baba,Some years back, Craig Ruff came to the SF/Bay Area. During his sharing with those of us who attended a meeting, he related an anecdote in which he related an incident where he asked Eruch Jessawala, “What will be the next phase,” meaning what will follow the phases of 1) having Baba with us in His physical form, followed by 2) the phase of having available, and interacting with, those who were close to Baba during that first phase?”Eruch stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, “You all will share.”There are a variety ways and media through which we have been sharing with one another:--we share our company at special gatherings, celebrations, regular meetings, centers, places of pilgrimage, and lately on the internet on BabaZoom.--together we read, listen, study Baba's discourses, cosmology, historical accounts; we share poetry, music/songs, dramatic presentations, stories, personal anecdotes, our thoughts and experiences of Baba's love, grace, and guiDANCE.Let's experiment with a BabaZoom meeting. The proposed title is “How the Master Works”. The content/activity will consist of participants telling stories and sharing anecdotal experiences that depict Baba's charming and meaningful ways of delivering His love, grace, and guidance, as His means to draw one closer to Him and away from desires and attachments.Reach Ron at meheronald@gmail.comHosted by Ron Greenstein in CAThis 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,” Aug 4, 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 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

A Conversation with Merwan Mehta, Aug 4, 2025, live on Baba Zoom

Merwan Mehta will share stories of meeting Baba and the Mandali. He appreciates a conversational interaction, so please bring questions!Hosted by Betty Lowman in CAThis 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: E&G: The Subconscious Influence, July 27, 2025, live Baba Zoom

Dear folks of Baba, In our last session, a number of us were unclear about what Darwin means by the subconscious and its distorting influence on our lives. He has said, "Often self-interest and secret desires that are lurking in the subconscious have a surreptitious way of veiling our consciousness. We are more conscious of the sanskaras at our surface consciousness, whereas in the subconscious we may be aware of them only as feelings or impelling forces.” He stressed the importance of working at becoming aware of the contents of our subconscious where all the impressions of our past lives (both positive and negative) are stored. These impressions affect our everyday behavior “as if”, as Baba has said, "from behind a screen.” Much of the distorting influence is due to beliefs and attitudes that we have bought into from past lives as well as from naively accepted beliefs from our early childhood in this life. In childhood, we often take on erroneous beliefs long before we have the emotional maturity to evaluate them, and they greatly distort our behavior in later life. "The relationship between conscious and subconscious sanskaras,” Darwin has said, "is that there is some ‘coloring' of our conscious thought because of our subconscious sanskaras.” To use a metaphor, the subconscious is like the extensive layer of cirrus clouds high above the earth, whereas the cumulus clouds that we are most aware of are near the earth’s surface. We often fail to see the upper layer of cirrus clouds that cause a major veiling of the sun’s rays. Our task is to work with Baba to dissolve the virtually unseen layer of cirrus clouds, so to speak, so that more sunlight can flood into our inner being. There is a new type of therapy that delves into the beliefs from early childhood that we embraced naively from our parents and in our upbringing that are patently erroneous and which have never been fully examined. For example, we may have picked up from our parents the false and hurtful belief that if we are not constantly working at something, we will never amount to anything in this life. And then as an adult, we suffer under the unexamined belief that we are never enough; we have to be always doing something to give us a sense of self-worth. Thus, in adulthood, this belief is lodged in our subconscious and is not even seen, and yet it exerts a major influence in our life. There are many beliefs and attitudes that we adopted unconsciously from past lives or from childhood in this life that often live on in our present life and assert themselves from the level of our subconscious. Delving into these subconscious beliefs which are behind our behavior and often exert a negative influence is an important work with Baba, and when uncovered, leads to a growing sense of inner harmony and freedom. We also inherit many false beliefs from our past lives which are stored unbeknownst to us in our subconscious. Thankfully, in loving and working inwardly with Baba, many of the impressions that form these false beliefs are being automatically dissolved. As we all know, Baba helps by making us face many uncomfortable situations in which these beliefs are examined and eventually sublimated and even eradicated. Is there a problematic situation that Baba has helped you to rise above and gain a larger and more compassionate perspective toward yourself and others? "The sure sign of a real hidden conflict is the sense that the whole of one's heart is not in the thought or action that happens to be dominant at the moment. There is a vague feeling of a narrowing down or a radical restriction of life. On such occasions an attempt should be made to analyze one's mental state through deep introspection, for such analysis brings to light the hidden conflicts concerning the matter. When the conflicts are thus brought to light it is possible to resolve them through intelligent and firm choices. The most important requirement for the satisfactory resolution of conflict is motive power or inspiration, which can only come from a burning longing for some comprehensive ideal. Analysis in itself may aid choice, but the choice will remain a barren and ineffective intellectual preference unless it is vitalized by zeal for some ideal appealing to the deepest and most significant strata of human personality."- Meher BabaIn 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 Jeff Wolverton: E&G: the Spirit - what is it?, July 20, 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 Spirit--What is It?Dear folks of Baba, Darwin Shaw in his book, Effort and Grace, refers again and again to the realm of the “spirit” and unfortunately this term is usually very vague in the minds of most people. Baba has explained that when the soul interfaces with Creation, it is known as spirit. The soul is sovereign, pure and independent and it does nothing. It just is. It is outside of creation, but as “spirit” it is intimately connected with our life and with all the activities in this world. As I gathered from Darwin, the spirit is the loving awareness that participates in everything, all the events of our life, and yet it remains untouched. It remains always still even though the body, mind and heart are activated by its presence. It is like the sun that shines on everything and yet nothing dims its light. The spirit does not acquire any impressions in the activities that it participates in; it is the body, mind and even the heart that collect innumerable impressions from what we do. The spirit does not have its origin in the sanskaras; its presence flows from the Soul itself (Baba). Unfortunately, our awareness is usually trapped at the level of the body, mind or heart. When our awareness rises to the frequency of love, it is in the realm of the spirit. From there things just flow with love, and no impressions are created. The light that comes through what we do is directly connected to the degree that we are being loving—that is, expressing our better angels, the divinely human qualities. This love expresses itself primarily through the heart. How do we rise to the level of the spirit? Our problem is not our awareness of the body, mind or heart; it is our identification with them. Our delusion is that we are convinced that we are our body, our mind and our heart, as Baba has told us. We think that they are real, and for this reason we remain at the lower level. Our challenge is to penetrate to the spirit that is present within the body, mind and heart. But how to detach from the identification with the body, mind and heart, which we have been doing for eons of time? Baba tells us that focusing on Him who is love itself, or any of the Avatars or Perfect Masters from the past, in any way, shape or form, is the supreme and most effective way. When we are in the state of love, we automatically rise to the level of the spirit. The more we express the divine qualities of love, such as patience, empathy, forgiveness, humor, purity, beauty, generosity, the closer we are to the realm of the spirit. Very gradually, we have to withdraw the tentacles of awareness from being enmeshed in the body, mind and heart in order to attain a direct experience of the spirit. As Baba has said, we all have fleeting moments of merging with the spirit, and our aim is to make them permanent. Darwin used to reiterate that rather than thinking of ourselves as a base of operations with our ego in charge, we have to strive to become a vehicle or conduit of the loving spirit within us. Gradually, after decades of effort and Baba’s grace in helping us to live in the spirit, all the elements of life begin to merge into a oneness; our experience of being separate from others, from all of life, from our Soul and Baba, begins to dissolve. This is the theme and gift of this book which Darwin explores, offering many methods and practices to bring about this merging, which is our destiny—a returning Home. How do you experience the spirit in your day-to-day life? “To penetrate into the essence of all being and significance, and to release the fragrance of that inner attainment for the guidance and benefit of others, by expressing in the world of forms, truth, love, purity and beauty—this is the sole game which has any intrinsic and absolute worth. All other happenings, incidents and attainments can, in themselves, have no lasting importance.” Meher BabaIn His love, JeffPS: We begin on page 13 in Effort and GraceTo 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: Control through Love, July 16, 2025 live on Baba Zoom

Sahavas for Everyone. First and third Wednesday of the month.Avatar Meher Baba is in each one of us. And His Love is the focus of this gathering. Open discussion with each session having a topic or theme. Hosted by Laurent Weichberger in SC. Meher Baba and His "Twelve Ways of Realizing Me," way #7Control Through Love.Jai Baba!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: E&G: Dissolving the Veils, July 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! Dear folks of Baba, In this next chapter, Darwin introduces the lifelong work we face of dissolving the many veils that distort our vision within and prevent us from seeing Baba who is always present right before us. Prophet Mohammed once said, “Between you and me there are forty-nine veils. Between Me and you there are no veils.” This is our challenge: to work with Baba at dissolving these veils through ceaseless effort until He is seen face-to-face. The rare and fleeting glimpses we may experience of Baba have to one day become abiding and permanent. To do this, we have to give up many desires and delusions along the way. Thankfully, in compensation we enjoy an increasing measure of inner freedom in spite of the inevitable pain. There is a Sufi line that says, “As long as I feel You here inside of me, I cannot say I am suffering.” It may take decades for the truth of these words to dawn in us. Knowing He is here with us is such an unspeakable privilege which fortifies our endurance to continue the seemingly insurmountable challenges of this inner divine journey. Darwin defines these veils as “sanskaric thought-patterns” that stand between us and the ever-present vision of the divine within. On an overcast day, we say the sun isn’t out, but when the clouds lift, we see it was there all along. The fastest way to eliminate these veils is to give to Baba all our emotional complexes and misconceptions that fuel the veil-making machine. Psychological and spiritual work on ourselves is helpful, but tuning in to Baba’s presence and giving Him our shortcomings and weaknesses and even our attachment to good is the fastest way to dissolve our veils. Darwin used to say, “The deeper the feeling, the deeper the healing.” Fortunately, we have a natural and intrinsic longing for a freer life full of substance and love that drives us on, which is really Baba’s very personal, active and magnetic influence from behind the veils. Kitty Davy used to quote Rumi as saying, “I never knew that God too desires us.” She found that Baba was more eager to unite with them, the early Western disciples, than they were with Him. Over time, often taking decades, these internal veils gradually begin to dissolve through our efforts and Baba’s grace. We begin to see within and develop intuition, insight, inspiration and eventually illumination in the course of our journey. The process is like lifting the hood of the car and observing first-hand the mechanics of the engine and making critical repairs as we go along. In this, we might experience the feeling that Baba is moving closer to us, but it is really the other way around, that we are drawing closer to Him—He is already infinitely close to us. Complexes like unworthiness, our innumerable likes and dislikes and worldly addictions have to be let go of in order to move more deeply into Baba’s intimate being. People are naturally lulled into thinking they have finally succeeded in life when, in Darwin’s words, they have “harmonized” with their sanskaras, whereas the real challenge before us is to harmonize with our own inner divinity which is our Beloved Baba! Dear one, where did you ever find the courage to seek such a Beloved when you know He has annihilated so many like you before! - RumiIn 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

Sharing your Silence Day experiences, July 12, 2025 live on Baba Zoom

Anything to share about how Silence Day went for you?Hosted by Betty Lowman in CAThis 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 Gift of His Silence, July 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! Dear folks of Baba, As we approach the 100th Anniversary of Baba’s silence which He began on July 10, 1925, I thought it would be valuable to focus in depth on something so central and integral to His work. Are there quotes, poems, songs or stories about His silence that have a special meaning for you? Is there some way that His silence has a significant place in the quiet of your inner life? Here are two stories about Baba’s silence that made a powerful impact on me. Both come from what I heard Eruch share over the years in Mandali Hall. Fortunately, one of the stories is in print in Eruch’s own words, but the second story is only as I remember him relating it in Mandali Hall some forty or fifty years ago. The first story, I believe, took place at Meherazad. Earlier, apparently, Eruch had criticized one of the servant boys in a loud voice. Later in Mandali Hall, Baba asked the men mandali seemingly out of the blue: "Why do people shout at one another when they are angry?" We said, "They shout because they are angry and they want to express their anger," and Baba responded, "Yes, they can express their anger that way, but even if someone is seated at their side they will shout at that person. Could they not speak softly?" We volunteered different explanations, saying different things which came to mind at the time, but our answers did not satisfy Baba. So, He gave us the answer: "When a person is angry with another person," He said, "that person is far removed from his heart and distance is created between them. That's why the physical reaction is to shout, and the greater the distance, the greater is the shouting. Love disappears and one goes on shouting at the other who in turn barks back at him. Then he barks and so it goes on and on." But Baba did not stop there as He doubtlessly wanted us to see the same thing from a different angle. So, He continued, "Now take the other case of two people in love. When two individuals are in love with each other, how do they speak?" "They speak softly," we answered. "Yes," Baba agreed, "they do speak softly and the greater the love between them, the softer is their tone of speech. And when they are still further in love, no words are needed and they just look at each other, and eventually there is not even the need to look — no need at all." Eruch continued, “Well, that is the reason why Meher Baba observed silence. There was no need for an exchange of words. It was very good to hear that, to be reminded that He was so very close to us; as He has said, "I am closer to you than your very breath." The second story may also have taken place in Mandali Hall. Sometimes Baba would put a question before the men to see what they would say. On this occasion, He asked them, (this is my paraphrase and not Baba’s actual words, but the gist of what He said), “People talk all day. Where do all the words go?” The men gave a variety of answers such as the words just disappear into thin air. The question went around the hall and each ventured a guess, but Baba was not satisfied. Eventually, He said, “All the words collect like clouds and hang over whole cities [like air pollution, my words]. All over the world, this happens. My silence is to absorb all that noise so that each one can hear the voice of their own soul.” I took this to mean that Baba’s silence is definitely not a spiritual exercise for His own sake, but a monumental work of taking the all-pervasive noise of the world upon Himself and transmuting it into silence so that we can turn inward and hear the voice of our own soul. Bearing this out, Eruch quoted Baba referring to His silence," What a binding it is!" But Eruch added, “It was a binding with a purpose — for our sake.” This is as I remember from years ago the scene that Eruch described with Baba and the men that day. In 1941 in Baba’s last meeting with Upasani Maharaj, Upasani, with tears in his eyes, begged Baba to end His silence. To me this meant that Baba must be enduring unspeakable suffering in remaining silent for the sake of His work for the world. Please feel free to share your thoughts and feelings about Baba’s silence. HAPPY SILENCE DAY! When asked when Baba is going to break His silence, Eruch once said, “When your heart cracks open and you begin to speak from your heart, then in you His silence has been broken.” In His love, JeffTo join the email list for Late Night Chats, contact AngelaTo 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.