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T h i s W e e k e n d
at the Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California
M e h e r a b o d e
Bhauji's Awakenings
and next week
Also at Meher Mount (Ojai)
Saturday, August 3:
Anniversary Celebration
with lunch & talk by Joan Dimpfl Harland
& music by the Yet More Chamber Players
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11:00 am - 11:30 am: coffee / tea / fellowship
11:30 am - 1:00 pm: Bhau Kalchuri's Awakenings
 Bhau Kalchuri, who today is the one remaining member of Meher Baba's Mandali ["circle" of close disciples] still with us in this world, has authored a wide range of works, both prose and poetry. Sometimes the poetry seems like prose, and often the prose reads like poetry! Among these various literary works, his Awakenings (originally written as a series of message circulated globally via internet to Baba devotees) were published in book form only fairly recently.
In reviewing Awakenings, a writer at Sheriar Books summarizes the circumstances giving rise to this work for Bhauji:
In 2001, Bhau underwent a triple coronary bypass operation. After an initial upbeat recovery, his spirits plummeted into the deepest abyss. But one night, Meher Baba came to him in an experience Bhau later termed an "Awakening." Once again, Bhau's spirits joyously soared. Although these Awakenings generally occurred at night, they were neither dreams nor hallucinations and were far more vivid than either. They occurred during a limited time span of approximately one year, and in beautiful, flowing language, recapitulated and expanded upon aspects of the spiritual path, Meher Baba's message and His Manifestation, the rigorous life lived by His Mandali and further insights into Meher Baba's New Life.
 At Meherabode, we have already devoted a couple of our periodic "readings meetings" to this work of Bhau's, but we feel this material merits further study and enjoyment. Bhau is much on the minds of many Baba-lovers in recent weeks, since at present his health has been passing through a newly trying phase, though he remains remarkably resiliant.
For this Sunday program of readings, our Service Director, Mary Kay Shubat Hage, who will be hosting the group reading, suggests:
We will be reading excerpts from Awakenings by Bhau Kalchuri, numbers 20 through 40. Bring your copy and let's have fun learning about Bhau's messages from Beloved Baba.
Copies of the work will be on hand, if you don't own a copy.
Awakenings (comprised of 85 "Awakenings" in all, spanning some 429 pages) can be obtained through our bookstore, Meher Baba Books, both physically amid our Center in Los Angeles and also by means of internet mail-ordering from the bookstore website.
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An excerpt from #38 Who Is That Silent Man Who Does Not Talk? On Thursday, 12th July 2001, I woke up at about 3:00 a.m. and went to the bathroom. I was thinking, "Baba did not give me any message today." When I returned to my bed, I closed my eyes, and I felt his silent voice. Beloved Baba appeared in physical form for half a minute, and then He disappeared. I was very happy to see him. All of a sudden, I felt as if Beloved Baba were speaking to me.  "Did you sleep?" "Yes, Baba," I replied. "How many hours did you sleep?" "I went to bed by 10:30 p.m. I think I must have fallen asleep after an hour or so. Just now I woke up." "Did you really wake up? You think that you woke up, but you are still sleeping. If you really woke up, then you would see Me as I really am. I want you to wake up forever. But you like to sleep. Why? "Because you are still under the influence of 'country liquor,' that is, Illusion. How will you get rid of it? "You are addicted. It is impossible to wake up from this illusory sleep until you realize that this is all Illusion, and it has no existence. You will then know that you exist eternally. Creation has taken place for this purpose, so that every drop of the Ocean will realize that it is not a drop, but the Ocean, and the Ocean all the time. . . ."
(Awakenings, pp. 153-154)
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11:00 am - 11:30 am: coffee / tea / fellowship
11:30 am - 1:00 pm: Meher Baba's Humor!
 Meher Baba was renowned for His sense of humor. Among His favorite humorists was P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975). All are welcome to join us in exploring this aspect of Baba, in a program that will include a half-hour audio version of Charley's Aunt (a British farce by Branton Thomas that Baba saw in London). Summer attire encouraged!
Co-host: Marc Brutus (with Meher Baba) |
And at Meher Mount (Ojai)
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Meher Mount Anniversary Celebration
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Meher Baba at Meher Mount
August 2, 1956 |
Join us for a day-trip to the hills in Ojai, to share in a potluck lunch, enjoy a talk recollecting the experience of Meher Baba's physical presence beginning with Baba's 1956 visit to California (by one who was a very young girl), and savor a musical program, all in celebration of the 57th anniversary of Avatar Meher Baba's historic visit to this lovely, rustic spiritual Center.  | |
Diane (3B), Meher Baba & little Joannie in Muir Woods (1956) |
1:15 pm: "My Life with Meher Baba"
a talk by Joan Dimpfl Harland
3:00 pm: Music by the Still Yet More
Chamber Players
4:00 pm: Arti under Baba's Tree
4:45 pm: Tea and Closing
Joan Dimpfl Harland
was born into a family of Sufi Baba-lovers (as youngest daughter of the late Baba-scholar Lud Dimpfl and as kid sister of Baba-artist-to-be Diane Cobb), and in the summer of 1956, young Joan and her family met the Master in San Francisco, just a day or so after Baba's historic visit to Meher Mount (the Ojai-hills Center established a few years earlier on wild land lovingly prepared by Agnes Baron).
 | | 1958 (Myrtle Beach) |
Joan's talk will include her reflections on experiences in Meher Baba's sublime company and in a lifetime of devotion to the Beloved.
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1962 (Pune) |
For more information, location, and to RSVP, see:
Meher Mount / 9902 Sulphur Mountain Road
Ojai, California 93023 / (805) 640-0000 |
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More Southern California Meetings
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Mondays at 7 PM in South Bay (San Pedro)
Call Glenn and Payam Russ: (310) 519-7776
Thursdays at 7 PM in Orange County (Aliso Viejo) - Meetings in Farsi
Call Reza and Susan Ebrahimzadeh: (949) 831-1047
Santa Barbara: Monthly Meetings
Call Donnalyn Karpeles: (805) 682-1877
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Visit Meher Baba Books, our Bookstore online! www.meherbababooks.com
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For the Mission Statement of Avatar Meher Baba Center of So. California, and to make a donation, please click here:
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I have come to remind all people that they should live on Earth as the children of one Father until my grace awakens them to the realization that they are all one without a second, and that all divisions and conflict and hatred are but a shadow-play of their own ignorance.
Avatar Meher Baba
1962 East West Gathering, Excerpt from"My Children" |
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