Conversations about Meher Baba

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.

Charles Haynes Silence Day Message, July 9, 2025, live on Baba Zoom

a Silence Day message by Charles HaynesHosted 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

Silence Day quotes sharing meeting, July 6, 2024, live on Baba Zoom

Come prepared to share your Silence Day Quote (sent via email to those listed in the Baba Zoom Community Directory)Or bring your own favorite Baba quote!Hosted by Betty Lowman in CA, on behalf of Baba Zoom.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: Baba’s Silence, July 2, 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. Today we discuss Meher Baba's Silence.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

Nick Principe ”Sharing Baba’s Kindness,” July 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 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

Arsenio Rodriguez shares Mandali stories, June 30, 2025, live on Baba Zoom

Arsenio Rodriguez will share memories of the mandali. 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 W: E&G ”The Hurdle of the Mind” June 29, 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 Hurdle of the MindDear folks of Baba, Before we can enter permanently into the timeless and expansive realm of the heart, the home of Baba’s Divine Love, we have to cross the hurdle of the mind. Darwin Shaw, through his own inner experience, was very knowledgeable about the many subtle ways that the mind, in collusion with the ego, seeks to sabotage our efforts to love unconditionally. Why would the ego ever want us to be loving when, each time we express love, it loses a little more of the control over us that it has enjoyed since the beginning of time! In this chapter, Darwin discusses some of the many beliefs and attitudes that we buy into that block our access into the realm of Divine Love. In the next chapter, Darwin goes into some of the ways to dispel these false beliefs and attitudes, which as he says, come primarily from our subconscious. The most colossal delusion, of course, is the belief that this creation as well as our ego are real. How could we think otherwise unless we receive some glimpse of something beyond both of them. Even if we know intuitively that all life is an illusion, our many lifetimes of conditioning have entrenched us profoundly in the daily experience that our ego and creation are real. Focusing on Baba, the Reality, thankfully dissolves very gradually our attachment to this world and our belief that it is real. The ego persists in controlling us by creating all manner of sanskaric clouds that veil insight into the deeper heart where Divine Love resides. In the form of what Darwin calls “the wanting machine” the ego concocts innumerable desires for the things of this world, both large and small, which continually distract our attention. Hours go by, and we suddenly realize that we haven’t even thought of Baba! As Baba has said, we are in fact already complete, but the ego keeps manufacturing “wants” that are the very antithesis of completeness! Fortunately, as the wanting machine slows down through Baba’s grace, we experience some measure of our intrinsic wholeness. In a very unassuming way, the mandali possessed a natural completeness, free of incessant wanting. Also in this chapter, Darwin discusses many of the things we accept as facts that are not really true. We accept as an undeniable fact that we are limited and separate from the rest of life. We think that our inner growth will happen automatically without our effort. We believe we have to purify ourselves before Baba will love us; that is, we put such limitations on Baba’s acceptance of us, imposing our own conditions on His unconditional love. In buying into the illusion about time and space, we think of Baba as being of the past and somewhere else other than in this moment. Sooner or later, as we will see in the next chapter, we gradually lose some of our perpetual interest in the outer cinema of this world and become more absorbed in our inner drama with its breath-taking vistas of the foothills of the Soul in the distance. I once asked Darwin, “What is the biggest mistake the Baba lovers are making?” He replied in his unassuming, compassionate way, “They think of themselves as small, and they remain small. Think BIG! Think outside of even the conventional spiritual box.” Baba Himself urged us--“be big-hearted”.What do you think Baba meant by being big-hearted? The Sufi mystic Rumi has said,“By the time the Intellect has selected the ideal camelfor the long and arduous pilgrimage to Mecca, Love has already climbed Mount Sinai!”In His love, JeffPS. We are continuing on page 10.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

Merwan Dubash tells Baba stories, part 4, June 23, 2025 live on Baba Zoom

Every other Monday, Merwan will come and tell his Baba stories! He has a lot to share and tells the stories well, so be sure to listen to the whole series! There will be time for questions after every session.Hosted by Prakash Dheram in NJThis 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 W: “E&G: Baba’s Work Projects - Us!” June 22, 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! Baba’s Work Projects—Us!Dear folks of Baba, It takes a long time for us to realize that we can’t do this on our own. We need inside help. I remember Dr. Kenmore, one of Baba’s mandali, saying that no matter how you manipulate and re-arrange “imperfection”, you cannot get “Perfection.” In Harry’s words, “Perfection has to reach in from the Other Side and pull you out of imperfection!” Baba Himself gave the metaphor of a jar with all of us inside; we cannot get out unless someone on the outside removes the lid. All the advances in psychology, medicine and spiritual practices, although often helpful in our inner journey toward Perfection, cannot provide the final step of lifting us out of imperfection, this world of illusion and our false self. We have a profound and incurable nostalgia for this dear old world of ours and our close ones. To sign up as volunteers on Baba’s list of billions of “Work Projects” speeds up the strenuous, seemingly interminable process immeasurably. And it is love, expressed moment to moment, day by day, year in and year out, that helps Baba to help us out of this rut we got ourselves into eons ago. Love is the great Dissolver of the veils that keep us from drowning in Baba’s Ocean of Divine Love and Light. In this next chapter, Darwin Shaw explores some of the fundamental ways that our ego manages to keep us lulled by this enticing dream of illusion. Many of the things we have to give up, which consist primarily of inner attitudes and misconceptions, are what most people would consider “a normal life.” We are not inclined to give up our normal life until we see that it is preventing us from experiencing a deeper and more fulfilling life that we long for. And this means we have to go against the current of much of our present life. It is really Baba who precipitates this whole re-orientation, and He usually sees to it that it goes smoothly at first before we become His work projects in real earnest. Our perpetual reward for this internal work on ourselves is Baba’s continuous companionship. In this book, Darwin mostly relies upon our intuitive understanding of what he writes, but having been around him for years, I found that I needed real life examples and clarification which he graciously provided. The examples you share from your own experience are so helpful for all of us in understanding many of the nuances of the inner life with Baba. Whether you know it or not, sharing your struggles and breakthroughs will really help clarify the subtleties of the spiritual life for others. What are some of the ways that Baba guides you and works with you inwardly?Here is a quote from a poem that Mani, Baba’s sister, used to share: “I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown. And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.” So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night…”In His love, JeffPS. I think we left off on page 8To 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

Hamirpur Tales: Charles Haynes June 17, 2025 live on Baba Zoom

Celebrating Meher Baba's Declaration as the Highest of the High in Hamirpur.Guest speakers who met Pukar either in Hamirpur, at the Maine Mela, 8-10 August 1975, in Athens Maine, or who connected with Pukar on 2.5 month journey in the USATonight, our guest is Charles HaynesHosted by A R Powell 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