SHARE:  
MEHER SPIRITUAL CENTER
Meher Baba's Home in the West
October Newsletter 2021
ECPPA photo collection
"The greatest greatness and the greatest humility go hand in hand naturally and without effort."

Meher Baba 
From "Meher Baba’s Call," 1954
Dear Meher Center Family and Friends,

Greetings from Meher Center. As you can imagine, the Center is flourishing in the beautiful Fall weather. Pilgrims are visibly enjoying as they walk the trails or make their way to Baba’s compound which is open every day. There seems to be a special feeling of Baba’s presence in the atmosphere as He welcomes His lovers back for their long-awaited retreat. 
 
In her book, Kitty writes, “Each one of us is close to or far from Baba not in measurement of time or distance but according to the treasure we carry in our hearts, the ever-growing consciousness of Baba’s Love. Love that alone prevails.”*
 
In Baba’s love and service,
 

Buz Connor
For Meher Center board and staff
*Love Alone Prevails, by Kitty Davy, p.413
Meher Baba at Meher Center
This beautiful silent footage captures moments of Meher Baba's last visit to the Center—Baba being carried in His lift-chair, hugging happy children, serving lemonade, and as always pouring out His love.

Video, 5:28
Meher Spiritual Center, 1958
Used with permission from Liz Sacalis
Finding Beauty and Truth
By Preeti Hay
To tell the story of Australian poet and Mandali member Francis Brabazon’s first meeting with Baba without telling the story of the man and his search would be an erroneous and incomplete account. 
 
About his first meeting with Baba at Meher Center in 1952, Francis wrote, “This meeting was a culmination of ten years of spiritual study and search for that ideal Guide in whom I could unreservedly place my confidence; that man who, I felt, had mastered every difficulty and obstacle which still confronted me.”* 
 
Being a shy country boy from Australia, Francis’ pursuit of God started as a pursuit of beauty in art. The driving force since his early years had been the unique exploration of the nature of beauty and its relationship to truth. He studied and practiced various artistic mediums including music, drawing, painting and poetry. The natural progression in these artistic explorations led him to connect art with spirituality which involved studying Eastern traditions. Finally, he immersed himself in writing poetry which according to him offered the greatest possibilities for discovery.
 
Through Sufism in Australia, he first heard about Meher Baba in the 1940’s. His response was bereft of urgent doubt. He said about the Discourses, that it “seemed to be the work of no ordinary man, no matter how keen his intellect, how broad his commitment to humanity.”**
 
His life took him to the vibrant art circles of New York and to interactions with the Sufis in America, among whom he met a woman named Sparkie Lukas. Sparkie was to Brabazon what Beatrice was to Dante—a spark through love—which created an unveiling and an inner awakening. This love would remain unrequited, but it had a greater purpose. Through this inner experience he knew that he had crossed a threshold in his quest for beauty. What he did not know was that Truth was going to personify itself right in front of him, very soon.
 
On May 7,1952, with a group that included Sparkie, Francis headed to Myrtle Beach to see Meher Baba. At eight o’clock the next morning, he came face to face with his Beloved. Immediately, Baba said, “I’ve seen you before, but you don’t remember it. Do you?”*** Francis knew that Baba was referring to past lives. 
 
Baba met his expectation of what he thought a Sadguru would look like. “To Francis’ well trained artistic eyes, he saw in Baba the living perfection of art. Whether it was His eyes, or the very movement of his hands and body, Baba was the embodiment of truth, beauty, and knowledge,” says Ross Keating, biographer and friend of Francis. Ross points out that the first poem he wrote, inspired by that meeting, was “Dawn through Sunrise,” in which he sees Sparkie as the dawn and Baba as the sun which gives the dawn its light, which is to say that in Baba he saw divine love as the source for all love.
 
During the meeting, the real moment came when Baba asked him what he was prepared to do for Him. “Will you do anything I ask you?” Baba asked. A man of firm conviction, character and strength, Francis said, “yes.” Baba ordered Francis to return almost immediately to Australia. The test of Francis’ conviction had come instantly in this order. After having found His living Master and the woman he loved, he was asked to leave, having been in Myrtle Beach only four days. This would be his first and last time at the Center.
 
When he left Myrtle Beach, he started recording his feelings in verse and found that his writing flowed more lyrically. Later, he described that meeting with Baba to have inspired “true creativity." This creativity was a gift from the Master that never dried up. What followed was history in the making. 
 
If one studies his art closely, there is a vivid transformation in his works after meeting Baba. He has found the Godman who he calls the ‘World Axis,' the one eternal and unwavering source of creativity. As his skills were sharpened and distilled, art for him became a practice of devotion, “an act of talking about love; of describing the beloved.”**** 
 
It is nothing short of a grand statement when Meher Baba called Francis a modern Hafiz. About his masterpiece Stay with God, Baba said, “This book is only second to God Speaks.”***** Baba was so touched by the book that He said that in time to come, people will weep while reading it. Of his other works too, Baba was definitely a fan. Intriguingly, He made Francis re-read some poems to Him over and over. Can you imagine why? Because He wanted to memorize them in order to quote them in seven hundred years!
 
* Journey with God, by Francis Brabazon, p.3
** Francis Brabazon, by Ross Keating, p.64
*** Francis Brabazon, by Ross Keating, p.86
**** The Water Carrier, by Robert Rouse, p.40
***** The Water Carrier, by Robert Rouse, p.50
Caring for Meher Center: The Roads
Have you ever looked at the Center roads and thought how well-kept they are? Actually, constant effort goes into ensuring that pilgrims who visit His home have a smooth trip as they drive throughout the Center. You may see Center workers driving slowly with a trailer full of crushed shells (“coquina”) that they meticulously shovel into the holes created by rain and tires. Or other workers in the bright orange Center tractor grading the roads—making sure that the middle is slightly higher than the sides so that rainwater doesn’t pool in them. Have you occasionally met with what appears to be a speed bump on Center? Yes, we do ask that you drive slowly, but those bumps are actually ways to divert rainwater off into the forest so it doesn’t create ruts by flowing along the road. And you may or may not have noticed that the top of your vehicle is never scratched by the trees bending gracefully overhead. That’s not just magic; it’s also Center workers standing on ladders secured to the back of pickup trucks, trimming away. 

When you reach your parking destination, the work doesn’t end there: for example, Center staff just finished moving massive amounts of soil to ensure that the slant of the Orchard Parking Lot drains rainwater off into the forest (and doesn’t pool it into a minor lake directly under guests’ feet). Whether roads, parking lots, pathways, or any other spaces on the Center, there are many hands, minds, and hearts behind the scenes working, helping to create a comfortable and beautiful visit to Baba’s home.
Mercy within Change
By Jamie Keehan
A lot can happen while waiting for Baba’s lovers to return to the Center. When the Center first closed for guests, Dean Mendoza was working on Maintenance. At first, his job continued approximately as usual: each building still had to be carefully tended, and work even ramped up as the crew started focusing on projects they couldn’t do when the Center was open. 
 
Then there was another change: a back problem that had been plaguing Dean for years became intolerable, and in the midst of Covid he had to go on a three-month disability leave. When it became clear that maintenance work might always be painful for him, Dean felt at a loss. Then, out of the blue, the Gateway called, noting that he had administrative experience and asking if he’d like to switch to a full-time position with them. “Totally a Baba thing,” Dean nods. 
 
So, like many of us, as the Center started opening back up again, Dean was in a whole new situation. The first assignment he got at the Gateway highlighted that difference. From quiet days painting and woodworking, Dean was asked to call the guests who had been picked in the reservation drawing and tell them that they would get to stay on Center soon after it opened. “I have a little social anxiety,” Dean said with a chuckle, so it was a bit daunting.
 
But Dean got on the phone, and after years on the Center Staff, he says, “I got to see another side of the Center, to see how grateful people are to be there. Some of the people I got on the phone with, and when I told them they had essentially ‘won the lottery,’ some were screaming for joy, some were laughing, some were crying, you know? And so it really re-established what I felt when I first came to the Center—this sense of beauty and awe and just gratefulness. Because you know, you can really feel it—an atmosphere of love.”
 
And as people started to arrive, that feeling only grew. He describes “just seeing, witnessing the magic that happens at the Gateway … people come in and I’m the first one they see, and they’re just so happy to be there, and I’m so happy they’re there.”

Dean says it was a privilege to work with the maintenance crew, for whose work he has deep admiration. He also loves his current job. Are there similarities between the two roles? At first, Dean laughs: “They’re basically the exact opposite.” But then, more seriously, he reflects on the deepest of commonalities. “The tender touch that Maintenance puts into the work so that people feel like it’s home, that goes on at the Gateway but it’s more in the interaction rather than the physical part. You can feel it and see it in the buildings, and then when you’re interacting with guests and you’re inviting them on the Center and you’re getting them ready and you’re prepping them and you’re coordinating dates—and then when they arrive—you’re putting that tender love and care into the interaction. So … one is direct, and one is indirect.”
 
“I wouldn’t have imagined my journey at the Center taking me where I am now,” Dean finishes. “Baba was just ... He was really merciful.”