~ NOW PLAYING AT A HEART NEAR YOU ~
Seek Not to Possess Anything, But to Surrender Everything.
Avatar Meher Baba
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Weekly Reflections No. 45
from Meher Baba Books
(Los Angeles, California)
Oct, 30, 2015
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Hello Dear Companions and Friends:
Greetings from Meherabode, Los Angeles, California, once again. Hope all is well in Beloved Baba's love and compassion.
This 45th issue is a continued conversation on Baba's New Life.
There are still items of intrest to reflect on remanent mysteries of New Life period. An amazing period during Meher Baba's life.
The New Life began on October 16, 1949 and ended on February 12, 1952.
During this two-and-a-half-year period, Meher Baba purposely set aside His Divinity to play the role of a seeker or lover of God, a role which He played to perfection. This sojourn of self-imposed helplessness and hopelessness, in which He was accompanied by twenty of His disciples, took place during long, and sometimes very cold journeys throughout India.
There are books on Baba's New Life and how He lived it, which helps the reader to fathom Meher Baba's New Life and its deeper meaning. We carry them at Meher Baba Books in LA. Visit us at
I am happy to share that a round 2 of "THIS NEW LIFE" performance of the play is set for Nov 8th here in Los Angles Baba Center (Meherabode, in which I am playing the role of a woman mandali. Very exciting. It includes narration, enactments, slides and music. It is a half length version of production in Meherana but the core materials are there. I will report to you in future Reflection's issue.
We hope you enjoy these small occasions for reflecting on the divinity of
Beloved Baba's words and life. You may email us at:
[email protected]
with any questions and/or requests.
Keep Happy in His Love. Have a great weekend.
Mahoo S. Ghorbani ...
for Meher Baba Books
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-- THE NEW LIFE --
This New Life is endless, and even after my physical death it will be kept alive by those who live the life of complete renunciation of falsehood, lies, hatred, anger, greed and lust;
and who, to accomplish all this, do no lustful actions, do no harm to anyone, do no backbiting, do not seek material possessions or power, who accept no homage, neither covet honor nor shun disgrace, and fear no one and nothing;
by those who rely wholly and solely on God, and who love God purely for the sake of loving;
who believe in the lovers of God and in the reality of Manifestation, and yet do not expect any spiritual or material reward;
who do not let go the hand of Truth,
and who, without being upset by calamities, bravely and wholeheartedly face all hardships with one hundred percent cheerfulness, and give no importance to caste, creed and religious ceremonies.
This New Life will live by itself eternally, even if there is no one to live it.
-- Meher Baba
THE GOD-MAN, p. 187, C. B. Purdom
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- New Life companions on the caravan used by Meher Baba during his journeys -
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BLUEPRINT FOR 'THE NEW LIFE'
When on October 16, 1949, we turned our back on our old life with Meher Baba to follow Him into a new life, we had no idea what this new life meant except that we had to follow and obey Him, letting go of our old ways and accepting a state of helplessness and hopelessness that would lead us towards spiritual freedom which is absolute and unlimited.
We wandered from place to place begging for food, but it was only later that we understood the true meaning of this really symbolic act which was to beg for and constantly yearn within the heart for the love and compassion of the Lord and that He should remain our constant companion.
It was as early as 1931 during Baba's first visit to the West, according to a disciple who was present, that He used the term 'new life.' This is the story.
O
n an open day when people could come to meet Him and receive His darshan, a young woman entered the room, looked at Him and then fell on her knees and started to cry inconsolably. Baba placed her head on His lap and comforted her for some time while all activity in the room came to a standstill.
Baba then cupped her head in His hands and looking into her eyes, said, "You are so beautiful, healthy and strong, yet so very miserable." Again she burst out crying and amidst sobs responded, "Yes, I am beautiful and healthy and also very wealthy, yet I am miserable to a degree that there is no way out for me except to commit suicide."
Baba looked at her very solemnly and said, "Then why don't you commit suicide?" and saying that He pressed her head to His feet and again said, "Commit suicide!" A few moments later, Baba raised her head and told her, "Now you are no longer yourself, begin to live the new life. Think of Me, remember Me and love Me." He then directed her to sit in a corner and after some time had passed, He called her to Him again, embraced her and asked her to leave.
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L-R: Mani Irani, Meher Baba, Mehera Irani - MS Collection
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Addressing the people in the room, Baba said, "You all saw the lady who wanted to commit suicide. I want each of you to commit suicide the way she did. People who generally resort to suicide adopt the suicide of the coward, but the way she committed suicide is the suicide of the brave. I want each of you to follow her way, then begin to live the new life."
Meher Baba said that the New Life was eternal and even if there were no one to live it, it would continue. It is therefore appropriate to relate the following story.
Some years ago a young American woman came to Ahmednagar and spent many happy days with us during which time we narrated incidents of our life with Beloved Baba, and at the end of three weeks we gave her a send-off on a Sunday.
On the next day I received a telephone call from her marked by a sense of urgency in her voice. She wanted to meet me for just five minutes more before she left and said it was a pressing matter. I told her that Monday was always a busy day for me at the Trust Office which left me no spare time for interviews and I also reminded her that I had already shared all my time with her during the past three weeks. But she was so insistent that I finally agreed to see her.
She arrived at the office in the afternoon and I received her on the verandah, but on seeking the reason for her request to see me, she remained speechless and unable to express herself. Finally, when I told her it was unfair that she should waste my time in the midst of a busy schedule, she found her voice and said, "I have nothing to say. All I want is to hear one more Baba story as a parting gift."
I was completely surprised by this request but I could not deny her and complied with the only story that popped into my mind - the one about the young woman in Europe who wanted to commit suicide. She was very happy to hear that story and after a second farewell, she left us.
A week later during a gathering at Meherazad, one Baba lover came over to me and asked softly in my ear, "Have you told any lady to commit suicide?"
Taken aback at the question, my first thought was of the recent American visitor and fearing the worst, I wanted to know what had happened. My questioner then explained: "Your story about the woman who wanted to commit suicide touched the American lady deeply. At the age of sixteen and after going through many years of misery, she had vowed that if on her twenty-first birthday she did not see a ray of hope in her life, she would commit suicide wherever she was. The day she called you was her twenty-first birthday and your story went straight to her heart. She immediately saw Meher Baba as the real hope in her life and she returned home with the determination to start a new life. She asked me to convey her love and gratitude to you."
I heaved a sigh of relief and thanked Beloved Baba for His Compassion. It then dawned on me how the New Life continues to live and will continue to live even if there is no one to live it. Meher Baba's New Life was a blueprint for our life for we can find examples in it to help us in every incident; to be cheerful under all circumstances, to try and curb our anger, and never to worry about the future but to depend solely on the Lord's will.
It is true that during the New Life phase Baba did want us to curb our anger, but at times we expressed our feelings freely. One day when a certain individual came to Baba with the request that he be blessed so that he might control his temper, Baba told him, "Do you want Me to bless you so that you become like a stone without any feelings? Man is made of anger, compassion, charity and a lot more. I want you to express your feelings and not suppress your anger, so what you should ask for is the strength to make you aware of your anger. After that ask the Lord's pardon and forget the incident. You should be aware that you have lost your temper and at the same time make amends."
The New Life alone or Meher Baba's entire life are models for humanity to emulate.
-- Eruch Jessawala
THE ANCIENT ONE
, pp. 38-40
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Photo: From Gay Dunn's post on ' Meherana Toddy Shop' FB page
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-- B
ABA PREPARED HIMSELF TO GO BEGGING --
Baba was to go begging for the first time to Dr. Nath's house on November 24th [1949]. As soon as he came to the companions that morning at seven o'clock, he ordered them to go and wash their feet. On their return, he touched their feet with his hands and then touched his forehead. He directed Dr. Ghani to read out this prayer, which he had previously dictated:
Today, the 24th of November, is a very significant day
for me in the New Life.
I ask the most merciful God to forgive me
and my companions for any shortcomings
and any conscious and unconscious mistakes
done singly or wholly or toward each other,
or personally or impersonally,
relating to the conditions or otherwise,
as also for any lusty, angry, greedy
or Old Life thoughts or desires.
I ask God to give full strength to me
and to my companions to stick to the oaths
and conditions one hundred percent,
because He, the All-knowing, knows
that from January 1st, 1950,
there has to be no compromise whatsoever for me and
my companions in relation to our oaths and conditions.
I forgive you, my companions, and ask you all to forgive me,
and I ask God to forgive us all,
not merely by way of ceremony
but as a whole-hearted pardon.
While the prayer was being read, Baba became very serene and composed. His face was aglow with love, mercy and forgiveness. He was at that moment like "the Judge on the judgment seat, enveloping the whole world in his embrace." In the eternal living present, being the judge, culprit and crime all in one, he was forgiving himself.
After asking Ghani to translate the prayer into Hindi for those who did not know English, Baba made Ghani read it over and over again a number of times. All through, he listened to the prayer in rapt attention. Then, making a gesture of forgiveness, the ceremony came to an end, and Baba prepared himself to go begging.
Bhau Kalchuri
LORD MEHER
, 1st ed,
Vol. 9 & 10, p. 3501
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-- MEHER BABA's NEW LIFE --
On October 10, 1949, Meher Baba issued a very important circular: "Baba ends his
Old life of cherished hopes and multifarious activities, and with a few companions
begins his New Life of complete renunciation and absolute helplessness from
October 16, 1949 ...." This New Life of Baba and his companions was governed by
severe conditions and oaths, wherein, amongst other things, one chief condition
was that money was not to be touched. Apparently the main activity associated
with this life was that of wandering from place to place and begging for food by
Baba and his companions. While begging, Baba wore a green turban, walked
barefooted, wore a white kafni (robe) with an ochre? coloured satchel and carried
a
brass pot in the right hand.
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- Meher Baba accepting "bhiksha" from Keki Nalavala during the New Life -
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Keki Nalavala gives bhiksha (alms) to Meher Baba at Majri Mafi, Dehra Dun in 1949.
On November 24, 1949, before going out for begging in Benares, Baba asked his companions to come before him after washing their feet. He then touched the feet of his companions with his forehead. Baba then had the following prayer read out: "I ask the most merciful God to forgive me and my companions for any shortcomings and any conscious and unconscious mistakes done singly or wholly or towards each other, or personally or impersonally, relating to the conditions or otherwise, as also for any lusty, angry, greedy or 'Old Life' thoughts or desires...
"I forgive you, my companions and ask you all to forgive me. I ask God to forgive us
all not merely by way of ceremony but as a wholehearted pardon."
Earlier in August Baba had held an important meeting at Meherabad where he had
discussed the questions of movable and immovable properties, and provision for
dependent families and those who might not be able to remain with him in the
future. "I have no cash," he said, "except an amount which is kept aside for a
certain work. Everything I possess including ashram buildings, fields and houses,
etc., both here (Ahmednagar, Arangaon and Pimpalgaon) and elsewhere and all
furniture, cars, power?plants, cattle, chattels and in fact everything that belongs
to
me, is to be disposed of. Nothing is to remain as my property and in my name
except the Meherabad Hill premises on which the tomb for my bodily remains has
already been built and all should always remember that when I leave my body it
has
always to be buried there."
-- The Beloved
BelovedArchives.com
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" This New Life - Coming soon to L.A. "
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| -- The Entire Cast with Happy Faces -- |
"This New Life", a four-part, five-hour dramatic rendering of Meher Baba's remarkable New Life phase (1949-1952), was recently performed at Meherana, in Mariposa, California. Written by Ralph Brown, Greg Dunn, and Michalene Seiler, directed by Ralph, with a musical score by Ward Parks and slides by Joseph Choi, the play's cast included Baba-lovers from throughout California and beyond. It was an amazingly ambitious undertaking considering the logistical difficulties of assembling rehearsals, but by all accounts came off beautifully through the dedicated efforts of many (and with no small measure of grace from The One!).
The play was presented at Meherana's annual New Life Sahavas (so-named because it is held each year in October, near the time Baba launched the New Life in 1949). Through narrative, skits, statements from Baba, and music, the play attempts to capture both the spirit and chronological story line of the New Life. It begins with Baba's early 1949 announcements of a coming great change in His work, and progresses through the New Life training period; gypsy-style wanderings across India; langoti and begging phases in northern India; Baba's contact with many souls at the 1950 Kumbha Mela festival; and the culminating phase of Manonash, or "annihilation of the mind" carried out by Baba with the help of a few remaining close ones. As source material, the writing team relied heavily on the 800-page account
Meher Baba's New Life
authored by Bhau Kalchuri (with huge contributions by Jeff Wolverton and Susan Herr), and consulted as well
Tales from the New Life
(accounts by Eruch, Mehera, Mani, and Meheru),
Mehera-Mehera
(David Fenster),
Meher Baba in the Great Seclusion
(Ramjoo Abdulla and C.D. Deshmukh),
The New Life Circulars, and other materials.
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- Ralph Brown is speaking to Audience -
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- Dr. Ward Parks (Photo by Philip Ludwig) -
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The idea for the play began in a breakfast conversation between Ralph and Ward following the 2014 New Life Sahavas. Michalene and I quickly signed on. In early conversations, discussion had the production as a six-session, nine-hour extravaganza - a sort of Ken Burns-style documentary - but Ralph and Michalene were especially keen to include skits, even if the actors had to read from scripts during the performance due to the volume of material and anticipated paucity of rehearsal time.
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The musician's pit provided emotional background and musical highlights for the production. Ward Parks, composer of the score, is seated at the piano at left. In the back are Gay Dunn on cello and Scott Makeig on violin; Anne Haug (from Montana) is in the center of the group; and in the foreground, Elaine Munson sings while Greg Dunn sings and plays guitar. Ward, Ann, and Elaine doubled as readers for Baba's statements, and Greg served as narrator for the performance.
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Ward wrote much of the music for the play - and really quite magnificent music it is -- during a two-week window between his other activities while in Australia earlier in the year, sending musical scores and sound files via email to the authoring team and Gay Dunn, who helped out with auxiliary musical arrangements. Upon Ward's arrival in Mariposa in September, a week ahead of his scheduled 9-day seminar, Greg worked with Ward to integrate the pieces Ward had written into the script, and to determine where additional songs or fill segments were needed (which Ward composed in hours 25 through 40 of his normal work day). Greg and Gay also worked intensively with Ward to learn the music and adapt it for cello, guitar, and violin (to be played by Scott Makeig). Following Ward's seminar this work resumed, when the three were joined by Elaine Munson and Anne Haug (of Montana), who contributed vocals.
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In the scene above, Mark Choi, in the role of Baba's longtime companion and friend, Dr. Abdul Ghani, explains to fellow companions how he views the New Life they have embarked upon. Ben Leet, as Dr. William Donkin, listens, as do other companions played (left to right) by Doug Ross, Ron Greenstein, and Aaron Choi.
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Cast rehearsals began the last weekend of August, led by director Ralph Brown. Many of the actors travelled several hours to join the weekend-long rehearsals, of which only two could be arranged due to the difficult logistics. Smaller groups of the actors met on their own, in between and after those rehearsals to practice their parts; and at some point the plan escalated from a radio-style reading of scripts into full-blown theatre with learned lines and costumes (albeit still with only the most minimal props). As a safety valve, Ralph decided to place a person inconspicuously in front of stage, with a script, to prompt the actors if they got stuck. Peni Choi took on this role, and was a great comfort and support to the actors even though she was only asked twice for lines!
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| -- Peni Choi with a script to prompt the actors -- |
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Cast members sing along on the Finale of the musical score
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The one and only full rehearsal of the five-hour play was held the day before it was to be delivered, and only hours before the official start of the Sahavas. Most cast members had never even heard the music at that point; and most of the musicians had never seen any of the skits! Joseph Choi, who had accepted the task of preparing slides to accompany the narrative parts of the performance, discovered and worked out a variety of technical glitches during the "dress rehearsal" - and also went home that night and worked till four in the morning greatly increasing the volume of his slide show!
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| - Doug Ross in the play - |
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I
n this scene Payam Russ, playing Dr. Goher, speaks of the New Life as Meheru (Sue Jamison), Mani (Alisa Genovese), and Mehera (Michalene Seiler) listen prayerfully.
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Doug Ross, besides taking multiple roles in the play, set up special lighting equipment for it; Chris Pearson took the challenging job of managing the sound, a complex task involving ten mikes, a sound effects line, and the need to balance only marginally miked stage actors with much more fully miked musicians.
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Here Mani (Alisa Genovese) and Mehera (Michalene Seiler) recall with delight particular incidents in their lives and times with Meher Baba.
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Many, many others also provided indispensable help with the production. Melinda Abeles, in addition to taking two small roles in the play, painted backdrops for the set. Michael Comerford, James Corbett, Greg Ennis, Paul Williams, and others built out the stage for the performance; and all of this was in addition to the normal multifaceted arrangements for a Sahavas including supervision of pandal setup, food arrangements, sanitation facilities, reservations, and suchlike.
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Here a large number of cast members have assembled to read aloud -- along with audience members -- Baba's canonical "This New Life is endless" statement. From left, Therese Williams, Payam Russ, Sue Jamison, Michalene Seiler, Alisa Genovese, Ben Leet, Jack Caraco, Ron Greenstein, Aaron Choi, Omid Zadeh, Mark Choi, Michael Choi, and Doug Ross.
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A reprise performance of the play is set for November 8th
at Meherabode. This will be a scaled-down version, half the length of the original, and with similar harrowing limitations on preparation time. (I like to refer to this unusual mode of theater as "Xtreme Drama"!) We hope you can attend. Only Baba knows the outcome.
-- end.
-- Greg Dunn, Mariposa, CA
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Click on the Link.
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| Meher Baba - Artist: Cherie Plumlee |
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MSI Collection ; Arangaon darshan on 28 August, 1938, India -
( L-R ) Gustadji, Baba and Bala Tambat
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As the horse and the donkey and the camel trudge along,
We are ringing out and singing out our vagrant gypsy song;
As the horse and the donkey and the camel trudge along,
Though our path is laid in weakness, our surrender makes us strong.
As the bulls pull the caravan and driver plies the thong,
We are singing as our anthem this our vagrant gypsy song;
As the bulls pull the caravan and driver plies the thong,
Though our path is laid in weakness, our surrender makes us strong.
A world of trash we've discarded on the way,
The flotsam of renunciation from a former day;
For the bold and freedom hearted God laid the gypsy way --
To do or to die, yes! -- this is what we say.
In the cold of the morning when the mallet strikes the gong,
We are rising and remising all but this, our gypsy song;
In the cold frosty morning when the mallet strikes the gong,
The Now of this our moment is the faith that makes us strong.
As the old men Doctor and Gustadji limp along,
Our sickness and weaknesses inform our gypsy song;
As the old companions Doctor and Gustadji limp along,
The Now of this our moment is the faith that makes us strong.
A world of trash we've discarded on the way,
The flotsam of renunciation from a former day;
For the bold and freedomhearted God laid the gypsy way --
To do or to die, yes! -- this is what we say.
In this world remaining homeless is our only right and wrong,
And this is the foundation whence we sing our gypsy song;
Apart from abandonment we know no right nor wrong:
We are weak, but in our weaknesses we find that we are strong;
We are weak, but in our weaknesses strength has made us strong:
In our weakness is our Strength -- and this is our New Life song!
-- Ward Parks
Editor's Note:
Ward did this poem for the new life play, recently.
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Louis van Gasteren's 1967 film of Meher Baba featuring previously
unreleased footage of Baba. It includes digitally remastered footage
of the original 1967 exquisite film of Meher Baba, a second section
Eruch, documenting the van Gasterens' return visit to Meherazad in
1997,
and a third section Beyond
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Time to say good bye. Keep Meher Baba with you at all times, and be Happy.
He Alone Exists.
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Meher Baba Books (Los Angeles)
www.meherbababooks.com
Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California
1214 S. Van Ness Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90019
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