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THE MEHER BABA GROUP

The Meher Baba Group

A Sociological Study

by Filis Frederick

Ed. Note: In 1956 I took a Sociological course at N. Y .U., in which we were asked to write a paper on any group in which we had been involved, as we were studying the interaction of people in social groups. I chose, of course, the Meher Baba "Monday Night Group," from which, historically, arose the connections which formed subsequent Baba groups all over the United States in the 40's and on into the 80's. Our first experiments with the democratic format have now blossomed into many groups, some full-fledged non-profit corporations, which maintain annual elections, centers, bookstores, Sahavases, etc . . . all devoted to Avatar Meher Baba. The first of these, which Adele Wolkin, Bruce Hoffman and myself founded in 1969, was Baba House, in New York City.

Looking back at our early struggles, amusing as they seem now, I see a pattern for a New Age definitely emerging with Baba's insistence on democratic procedure. As my favorite Baba quote states, "Humility is at least as important as utility." In this world of less-then-perfect egos, the not-yet-perfect democratic structure is still the best answer — not only for religious groups, but many other types of groups — political, intellectual, scientific, philanthropic — to the constant problem of how to get work done without the stranglehold of the one versus the many. On the religious side there is always the struggle between the inner-directed and outer-directed devotees, the Protestant versus the Catholic, the mystic who listens to the inner voice, and the pragmatist who serves an outer hierarchy. Both have their place and both have their dangers. The danger of the inner voice is that it can become egomaniacal and self-deluded; the danger of the outer order is that it can become a crusading, crushing power structure. It is the old, eternal struggle between the love of power and the power of love.

"The life of Christ is not an exhibition of over-ruling power.Its glory is for those who can discern it and not for the world.Its power lies in its absence of force.It has decisiveness of a supreme ideal,and that is why the history of the world divides at this point."

Alfred North Whitehead, Religion in the Making

Although Whitehead is using the word "Christ" in its orthodox sense, i.e., referring to the man Jesus, it is more true to say that history always divides into two streams every time the Avatar or Christ appears among mankind . . . those who go forward with him and those who stay behind. In esoteric philosophy, Christ is the office, not the man. All the great religions of the world are the reliquary crystallizations around the persona and teachings of such a Divine Person, who is the Christ, or head of the true spiritual hierarchy of his time. This hierarchy, of course, has nothing to do with formal orthodox or religious offices but is that actual body of illumined or God-realized souls always present in mankind. In the evolutionary mass of souls struggling toward higher consciousness, the proportion of advanced souls is infinitesimal, but ever-present.

What the world calls a 'faith' or religion is a slow accretion of many things; first and foremost, memories of the living Avatar, of his life and teachings; relics and sacred places and days; the slow evolution of a dogma: i.e., intellectual and philosophical interpretation of the original teachings and events, prayers and rituals, an event priesthood and church. Few or none of these things exist during the life of the actual Avatar. His life follows a certain pattern as foreshadowed in the primitive myths of Divine Hero or Saviour; which, though it differs for each Age or Cycle and ethnic group in which he appears, is basically the same. It is the example of the life supremely lived for the sake of

space. There is always a relatively little-known childhood and youth; the moment of God-Realization (always given by another Master), the gathering of the first few disciples; the esoteric (inner) and exoteric (outer) teachings to the disciples and the masses of the time; the ‘acts’ or movements of the life itself which may end in persecution or death at the hands of others, especially in a group or culture in which the tradition of God-men or God-realization is not strongly established, as in the Semitic groups who rejected their Avatars, Jesus and Mahomet. The Hindu culture, older by thousands of years, and rich in the tradition of God-realization since prehistoric times, has not been so violently opposed to its Avatars, such as Ram, Krishna, and Buddha, though evil, naturally, always resists this tremendous influx of the Divine Good. No Avatar is free from opposition to his Divine Mission, in fact, he encourages it. After all, he is the actor in his own drama, and to strike his great blow at the evil or retrogressive consciousness of his time, he must objectively collect the forces of evil into one opposing mass or group. Subjectively, of course, he is dealing with this unregenerated mass all the time. Actually, it is for the sake of history and for the limited minds of men that he performs and creates his historical acts; he could do the same Divine work without any overt drama at all.

All the historic Avatars — Ram, Buddha, Krishna, Mahomet, Jesus, Zoroaster, have had their own immediate circle of disciples. Around the disciples and strung out in an ever widening human chain are the devotees and followers — those who have met and known him, or known the disciples. It is only by this fragile chain of human links that the Avatar’s life and teachings eventually become known and viable down the centuries. It is unbelievable, really, that the terrific spiritual force and influence of the great world religions which finally arise, depend in the beginning on these first few and haphazard links. But it is by this final historic effect that one can judge the true status and power of the Avatar from a mere saint or other Master of the time, who may have had much more influence during the contemporary culture. But within that contemporary culture, it is a rare person who can predict or calculate this final effect; least of all, what historic form the ‘religion' built on his life will eventually take.

No society can be considered guilty for rejecting an Avatar; man is always and everywhere guilty of neglecting God. Neglecting the God-man or the descent of God in the human form is only an accentuation of the eternal condition of the world — Avidya — spiritual ignorance. Christ said "Forgive them for they know not what they do". The one who knows, and then turns away (in Sufi terminology, a mardood or apostate) brings on himself a much more serious spiritual 'karma'; as in the story of Judas* or of Devadatta in the life of the Buddha.

We live today, for those who can discern it, at just such a dividing-point in human history — that is, we are at the end of one Cycle or Yuga and at the beginning of another. At this junction The Avatar always appears. Each cycle is roughly from 500 to 700 years** long. He comes to give God-realization to the few who are ready; illumination to many others, and a general spiritual push to the whole of humanity, which will bring it forward on the path of evolution. Man's evolution is an advance in consciousness, not in control of nature and environment, nor in the creation of the various cultures and civilizations, religions or artifacts. These are by-products of his continual advance in internal awareness and integration. The work of the Avatar is to further this inner advancement; thus, he is essentially concerned with the individual, works on individuals, and works through individuals, on history. It is through the transformation of his immediate circle disciples that others gradually become transformed, and eventually, the life of millions is touched, most of whom, are however, born long after the Avatar has died.

Shri Meher Baba, as he is known to his disciples and followers, is considered by them to be the Avatar of this age, Christ, or Messiah. He is considered the 'Kalki Avatar' of the Hindus; the 'Imam' of the Muslims, the 'Second Coming' of the Christians, perhaps — for the Jews, their long-awaited Messiah; and the 'Maitreya' of the Buddhists. He is still living, although he is 62 years of age and his life is drawing to a close.

*In 1952, Baba explained the role of Judas and that he also attained Realization. See Awakener, Vol 14 No. 2 p. 9.

**700-1400 is correct.

Though our age is no different from any other in its need for the divine help, it has one unique feature — the camera and the printing press. This Avataric age will be unique in the possession of scriptures and sayings not recalled purely from memory but from actual dictations; of sacred images not derived solely from the artistic imagination, but from the photographer's lens. Barring unique destruction, future generations will know exactly how he looked and what he said on many occasions. It will also know, to a lesser degree, just how the 'movement' started, the first few roots of what, inevitably, will become another great world religion. Although Meher Baba has stated, 'I have come not to teach but to awaken,' and 'I am not come to establish any cult, society organization; nor even to establish a new religion. The religion that I shall give teaches the Knowledge of the One behind the many. The book that I shall make people read is the book of the heart that holds the key to the mystery of life. I shall bring about a happy blending of the head and the heart. I shall revitalize all religions and cults, and bring them together like beads on one string,' — it is inevitable that the pressure of history will condense his life and teachings into some new form of orthodoxy.

At the present time, there is no society, church or organization devoted to Meher Baba. He himself does not wish it and all such efforts have failed. Only one organization, a legal corporation called the Universal Spiritual League in America, Inc., with a branch in England, has been formed with his approval. It is purely a legal device, at present, to make his world travel possible, as the government of the U.S. demands sponsorship of all foreign visitors to these shores, Avatar or not. The League was notable in bringing him with twelve disciples to this country in 1952. He also owns no property at the present time.

There do exist however an unknown number of nuclei or groups of disciples and devotees throughout the world, particularly in the large centers of population such as Zurich, Paris, London, Athens, Los Angeles, New York, St. Petersburg and San Francisco, most of them cities which the Master has visited at different times.

As I have been a member of the 'New York Baba Group' or the 'Monday Night Group’ as it is sometimes called, for 14 years, I have chosen it for the subject of this paper. I have just sketched in the backdrop against which it might be seen historically some day. I make no apology for my beliefs regarding Meher Baba nor is this paper devoted to life or teachings primarily, — a growing literature exists, including many published discourses of the Master.

The evolution of our little group, such as it is, is typical of many devoted to Meher Baba. When he first came to the West, in 1931,1932,1933 and 1936, for the express purpose of contacting his 'Circle' disciples especially*, those who had met him and been profoundly moved by this spiritual contact, voluntarily decided to get together regularly and meditate on the Master and study his life and teachings. The first meetings were held fairly regularly at the home of the Buddhist scholar and philanthropist, Phelps Stokes, in his old home at 88 Grove Street, New York City, where the Master had been his guest for two weeks. In fact, the chair in which he had sat, in the little room at the top of the house, and where so many first had their glimpse of him, is still roped off and preserved as a shrine of sorts.

Some of those who came to these early meetings were John Bass, Agnes Bourne, Countess Nadine Tolstoy, Mrs. E. C. Patterson, Darwin Shaw, and Princess Norina Matchabelli. Meetings went on for several years, but soon the Master called many of this early group to his ashram in India. Another factor in the ending of these meetings was the defection of Mr. Stokes, the host. He had decided that Meher Baba was not the Avatar after all; rumour has it, because Baba took physical food. Apparently he felt a Master should live on prana alone!

In 1940**, after five years with Meher Baba in India, three women, Countess Nadine Tolstoy, Princess Matchabelli and Mrs. Patterson, were sent back to the U.S. with Baba’s definite instructions to carry on his work — i.e., to contact new people for him.

In this, these women succeeded admirably. They were an exceptional team. Mrs. Patterson, a member of New York society and a business woman in her own right, was the unobtrusive and quiet support of the other two in their public work. Princess Norina Matchabelli, wife of the Russian émigré, was Italian by birth. She was a woman of extraordinary physical beauty and had been selected in her youth by Max Reinhardt to create the part of the Madonna in "The Miracle". She was also a personality of exceptional warmth, magnetic charm and spiritual intuition. She also possessed a great capacity for inspired lectures, naturally, on the subject of the Master and his spiritual significance. It was always she who gave the discourses at Carnegie Hall or Steinway Hall to capacity audiences of 350 or 400, usually on a Sunday evening, during the winter season. On Thursday evenings, at their home on East 67th Street, she gave more intimate talks to smaller audiences that filled the large duplex studio. All the talks were absolutely free, including the literature; by the Master's order, no donation or admission was charged. Only the Discourses, when available, were allowed to be sold. Countess Nadine Tolstoy, widow of the son of Leo Tolstoy, was the third member of the team, whose main function was to get to know those who came and showed a deeper interest in the Master. If interested, one could have a personal interview with her or sometimes with the Princess. It was in some of these more intimate talks that some of the spiritual 'links' were forged that are still in existence today — and, incidentally, where one might learn and hear a great number of anecdotes or 'Baba stories.'

Two of the old Stokes group were also strong members of this group, John Bass, and Darwin Shaw, who lived in Schenectady but who came down at some expense to himself, to be with the group, often introducing Princess Matchabelli's talks, as he had a pleasant appearance and voice. He was later to develop into quite a speaker himself.

To supplement these public talks, and the private interviews, very informal Sunday afternoon teas were held, where discussion was general but inevitably on spiritual subjects, and to which those were asked who had shown more interest. As is typical of all religious work in a great metropolis like New York, those who came represented a tremendous but typical cross-section of 'spiritual seekers,' — those who are not satisfied with the orthodox religions, nor with the current agnostic, intellectual materialism of our day. Just as varied were their opinions and reactions to Meher Baba, from outright abuse to a firm and living faith that endured and transformed their lives.

This Meher Baba group, which was not yet called 'The Group' in those days, differed, of course, in one vital respect from all the other esoteric religious groups in New York, whom one might facetiously call our 'rivals' and many of whose members did indeed, join us. We had a living Master to offer. Most of these groups either teach "metaphysics" (an odd and special perversion of the term to mean 'mental science'), or various forms of occultism, often with rituals and ceremonies dating back to the occult societies of the past, especially the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons. Some, like the Sufis, Theosophists, Vedantist and Arcane Societies, offer a Westernized version of Eastern thinking; others are devoted to a Master or Adept of the recent past, such as the Ouspensky group, the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda group, the Self-Realization group, devoted to Swami Yogananda.

Inevitably, we became familiar with them all, and often attended their lectures and meetings, to learn what they were offering and perhaps to meet a new "soul." We found that those who had had some contact with Eastern thought, especially in regard to the subject of Masters, Avatars, and God-Realization, were better prepared to understand and grasp Meher Baba as a living Master The poorest prepared, in this respect, were the orthodox Jews and Christians. The idea of any human being reaching God-consciousness (let alone announcing it, to boot) was inconceivable to the first; to the second, the possibility was always there, of course, but the framework of dogma allowed only One to have achieved it. Many were the long and lively philosophical discussions one had on such points with the 'newcomers,' and one's knowledge of the metaphysics of all the major religions came in handy, in refuting an argument.

Another distinctive feature of the group at this time, one not so apparent to the outsider, but interesting from the psychological point of view, was its complete dominance by one person — Princess Matchabelli. Not only was her personality more forceful than the other two women, but she was in virtually absolute control of many 'internal' situations for another, unusual reason. She was able, as she claimed, to get in rapport with the Master in India and receive "thought-orders" or "intuition-orders" direct from him, relevant to day-to-day occurrences, on this side of the globe. She actually, at such times, seemed to lose or "drop" her external personality and sink into some inner state. Her eyes closed and her voice changed to a much deeper vibrant tone. The pronoun 'I' henceforth referred only to "Meher Baba," and the tone of the discourses was on a much higher plane and devoted to spiritual themes. These were usually taken down verbatim by someone else, were often long and exhausting, and when she "came out," she had little or no recollection of what she had said. Her two companions accepted this in whole or in part, and many of the 'intimate few' who came regularly to the smaller meetings often sought and accepted her advice on their personal affairs as that of the Master himself. Others equally devoted to the Master, rejected the whole situation completely, particularly those who had met him previously. These were the war years and the Master did not travel to the West again until 9 years later, in 1952. The Master neither affirmed or denied this intuition order of the Princess, though he always encouraged her public work, except in the 'famous' telegram of the summer of 1944, in which he briefly touched on the different capacities of each of his disciples and stated: 'Norina has my intuition-order.'

Though this identification with the Master and subsequent 'ordering' of the lives and of those around her definitely antagonized many and drove them away, it attracted many more, who found in her a strong spiritual link with the Master in absentia. Records of unusual spiritual experiences, visions and illuminations in connection with her exist. She was undoubtedly at times in an exalted state of consciousness, or as St. Theresa calls it, 'the light of contemplation,' so that she was unconscious of her surroundings; and simple physical contact with her often produced the same exalted state in others. In any case, as a fascinating and most complex personality, a true heroine of the Path, she had a great effect on many hundreds of people and stimulated their spiritual search. Of the hundreds of souls who finally came to meet the Master in his 1952 visit, at least two-thirds, I would say, came through her during the years 1941 to 1945, when her frail body and exhausted nerves broke under the strain. After one year of severe illness, in which the doctors gave her only a few months to live, the Master called her and Mrs. Patterson back to India, where, in his own sudden but loving way, he healed her.

However, in 1946, her good right hand, Countess Nadine Tolstoy, or 'Nadja', had already passed away after a lingering illness. At this time the three women were living in a home, the old Chandler* mansion of charming Dutch design on 19th street. Mrs. Patterson had bought it as a more suitable center for meetings; it had a beautiful top-floor studio, but alas, the illness of these two women prevented much public work from the winter of 1945 on to 1946, when the house was sold. Another friend, Mrs. Mildred Kyle, stayed with them all of 1945. She was then 83 years of age, and had been for over 40 years, the leader of the Theosophical group on the West coast. As students of this group know, they teach of the coming Avatar, but except for the flurry over Krishnamurti in the early part of this century, have never announced who he is. Mrs. Kyle, however, accepted Baba as the Avatar and brought some of her group with her. The rest 'divided away,' as one might say.

To this remarkable woman we owe the formation of our little 'Monday Night Group.' With the other two women too ill to see anyone, this most loveable old soul started a Monday-night reading and discussion group in the ground-floor parlor of the house on 19th St. She read one of Baba's discourses and followed it with a question and answer period and a short meditation — the form we still follow today. She was a clever and able leader of such discussions, though weighing her interpretations heavily with Theosophical meanings. To this meeting, all the old 'regulars' came, plus the 'comers and goers' as usual. Agnes Bourne, John Bass, Darwin Shaw were still there, myself (who had become interested in 1943) and my friend Adele Wolkin, by then living in the house with the women; Dr. Honora Bozka, our 'metaphysician,' Gladys Smith, Frances Barnvard, Mrs. Bahjahjian, and a few others.

*Correct spelling – Chanler

The three ladies lived at 141 East 19th Street. According to the Blue Book of Society - 1930, Mrs. William Astor Chanler lived there. During the same time Robert W. Chanler lived a few doors down at 147/9 and that is where he had his famous studio. Reference: Letters written to them from Baba to 141 East 19th St. - held by Charles Haynes-2009.

-webmaster JK

With the sale of the house and the return to India of Norina Matchabelli and Mrs. Patterson, our little "family" was scattered, our meeting place gone. This created a problem: how was the group to continue? We all agreed that we should. Fortunately, a Mr. Alexander Markey offered his New York office for our use after business hours, on Monday, and it was there we continued to meet. It was also there we began to have our troubles, as we changed over from the exclusively one-person dominated group we had previously been. Mrs. Kyle, however capable had, after all, conducted the meetings in the home of the Princess and with her guidance. Now we were on our own. But before she had left, Princess Matchabelli had designated Dr. Bozka as the one to continue meetings and hold the group together, which she was most pleased to do. Accordingly, she was our new "reader," and she read very well. However, gradually, in her interpretations, and in answer to questions, she brought in much of her 'metaphysical' background, which, to those who are steeped in it, leans very heavily to manifestation, in the vein of Christian Science. That is, you are a very poor religious student if you do not 'manifest' good conditions — a good job, good relations with others, good health, etc. — around yourself. Whereas, in Baba's emphasis, as in the teachings of all Masters, the tremendous value of suffering and of detachment from worldly wants and desires is stressed. Some of us who had studied Meher Baba's teachings would then challenge her interpretations. Her personality was a very rigid one in this regard, possible because she actually earned her living as a ‘metaphysician’; i.e . as a healing practitioner, where her advice was paid for by those in need of it. It is also a tenet of this type of thinking never to admit failure and defeat. The result was she became angry and offended at any challenge of her interpretations. She also was not tactful to many of the 'old ones' there and offended several of them so much they left the group. Several times, she resigned as the reader; an election was spontaneously held, and I was elected as the new reader. At this time, we had moved to a studio in Carnegie Hall, for which we all chipped in a few pence, and our meetings were held to the tinkle and thump of the neighboring dance studios. Our group was still small, not over ten or twelve at most meetings. The large crowds who always came to the large public lectures of the Princess naturally did not attend these small meetings. We had no outstanding' personality,' nor capable speaker. We also had no funds to continue such large gatherings. There was no one with a home suitable or open for the old teas and intimate interviews.

Another troublesome factor for our dear Dr. Bozka was that it was I who received all the interesting mail from India and news of the activities in the ashram, and all the messages for the group from the Princess or Mrs. Patterson; naturally they wrote to me, since I had been living with them for a period of over five years. But unfortunately, perhaps, or not being able to see into the situation at a distance, they did not write so fully to Dr. Bozka. On one occasion, the Princess did write a letter to the Doctor, in her usual rather sharp admonitory style — with the most unfortunate result that Dr. Bozka believed I had written something derogatory about her to the Princess. Although this was completely unfounded, it created what was to prove an irradicable suspicion in her mind. When other people turned against her, due to her own autocratic manner, she inevitably blamed it all on me and my friend Adele Wolkin, who had also lived closely with the three women. Due to her periodic resigning — in which I was left, so to speak, holding the bag, and to these scenes and conflicts aroused in our already-small group, it almost vanished altogether. This was especially true since John Bass, our oldest and strongest member, who was of an autocratic temperament himself, usually sided with her efforts to impose her will on the group as a whole, holding out, as it were, for ‘discipline', whereas, in my opinion and that of others, the group should be a completely free association of those who loved or were interested in the Master, with no one person dominating the rest. As an example of 'discipline' which the Doctor wished to enforce on us all, the practice of meditation with both feet on the ground, back straight, hands at the sides, was advocated by her; because I continued to cross my legs or sit at ease, she again became very incensed. Mr. Bass upheld her point. I argued that everyone should be free to meditate as they wished, most particularly since the

Master had said it did not matter in what position one meditated. We were at that time, meeting in the house of Dr. Bozka herself. We had moved from the dance studio at Carnegie Hall.

Everyone, as was only natural, took sides. It seemed the little point mentioned above, on how to meditate, was to be the missing nail that threw the horse. The Doctor called us again to her home and read us the letter she had written to the Master in India. Adele and I had "maneuvered" a plot against her, so it seemed, and she was leaving the group. The idea of writing to the Master any complaint against one of us set us all aghast. The shock bought John Bass around to our side a bit. The very tenet and pivot of the teaching was that we should all love each other and stick together through any difficulties. I recall that none of us made any reply. Self-defense or recrimination was not part of my understanding of my Master's teachings. I also, at last, began to understand more of dear Bozka's character and thought it best to let it all go without comment.

My only concern at this point was to somehow continue the group and hold it together. We were now very few, but fortunately, we had one new-old member, an English woman, Kim Tolhurst, a very fine singer and poet, who had met Baba years ago in England and who was considered one of his 'Circle' disciples. She had recently returned to America, and she offered us her studio in the Master Hotel, to continue our meetings. We accepted gladly, and so we began again.

Adele and I, however, had decided to write to Baba in India ourselves, not in regard to anything the Doctor had said, but simply in regard to one point, which, I could see was bound to come up again and again. When an important decision was to be taken, who was to decide it? Or how was it to be decided? The matter of meditating with the feet on the ground or off it, or in the air — if one pleased, was obviously unimportant. It was the principle of decision that was in question. In the old days, Princess Matchabelli had laid down the law. She had decided who was to be asked to the group, and who was to be excluded. Her personal intuition was usually excellent, but she, too, had had her biases and pre-judgments. Dr. Bozka, no doubt sincerely carrying on this tradition of a "leader" or authoritarian voice, but without the intuition and the love, and perhaps, the deeper understanding of the Master, had not been able to carry it off. John Bass, devoted as he always was, also did not seem to grasp the feeling of present-day seekers for an independent approach, and he, too, very often, offended newcomers by autocratic statements, exclusions and inclusions. So I wrote out a short and simple letter to Baba, the gist of it being, "If any important question comes up for the group to decide, should we not decide it by a quorum of five or more members, and agree this is to solve any real problem?" Adele and I signed it and sent it off. We did not consult with John Bass, perhaps an error on our part, as he naturally, by this time, felt that he had inherited the mantle of the 'leader'. He was the oldest member, and he had been given the precious file of several thousand names of those interested in Baba by the Princess when she had left for India. An interesting sidelight is, that we were not allowed to use this file to contact people, in her absence in India, but had to work on our own.

The Master as he always does, answered us promptly, and simply. He agreed that we should vote as a quorum on any question that came up. We read the letter to all. Mrs. Tolhurst had been unanimously chosen as our new reader; her voice and English diction were excellent. She was also a most attractive and warmhearted personality; a great lover of Baba and also extremely well-educated, especially in Buddhist thinking. During the next four years, under her aegis, our group slowly began to grow. Luckily for us, too, like all English people, she had a great respect for the individual opinions and rights of others. She had taken our side in the 'famous' dispute with Dr. Bozka and she upheld our view on a vote; we did call our "quorum" several times in the following years, on what I do not remember; not, however, without quite a bit of grumbling from John Bass. He often, as he still does to this day, would make a decision that concerned us all, and

conduct the meetings. Some wished to have the Master's discourse read, then no discussion whatever, but a silent meditation. Others felt the question and answer period was vital, especially for newcomers; free discussion was to be allowed, but not getting out of bounds on irrelevant subjects. Here came the rub. We had decided that any person genuinely interested in the Master or what he had to teach, was welcome; but inevitably, people with all sorts of religious backgrounds, or with diverse motives turned up, and were apt to monopolize the conversation with their own opinions and views. There were those who wanted to talk for a good half-hour on their experiences in the séance-room; or their occult powers; or other sidelights, which aroused, let us say, the pet prejudices of someone in our ‘regular' group, who, in turn, had to put the dear fellow to rights! Then those, who liked only the 'silent meditation' or only to hear of Baba himself, would stalk off and threaten never to appear again. It is odd how many people seem to lack humour at such moments; who cannot sit through or talk through a discussion amicably, with someone whose ideas are radically different from their own. The subconscious fear, it seems, of every religious, or perhaps every new religious group is, that it will be 'colored' by too much outside material; and we had indeed such a debate among ourselves on this point, that even today it is not solved. For example, may one read other material, from other writers, or from other scriptures, to illustrate a text of Baba's? We voted on this, finally, after much debate; the result, was disappointingly to my taste, No. We must keep always and only to his own teachings. In one respect it is psychologically sound, given a limited time; we are not offering a comparative religious study, but the study of a living Master and his word. We are also what is called a devotional group; that is, the atmosphere is definitely one of love worship and devotion toward a spiritual Master, a definite personality, whom the majority of us believe to be an Avatar, or Christ of this age. Having such a startling theme to offer, with so much detailed evidence and proof, is a great challenge to us all, all of us who are in the Group today as it finally survived.

For we did survive many a crisis which, through limited space, I cannot go into; those who tried to start 'rival' Baba groups, but who failed, for the very reason which we might have failed, too; by imposing an authority and rigid exclusiveness on others, without the genuine capacity, or psychological necessity, to do so. In the end, those dissatisfied with the 'other' groups always wound up in ours, because we were free.' No demand was made on anybody. Anybody could come, anybody could go. There were no dues, no fees, no interviews, no joining and no rituals; the nearest thing we have ever developed, which is close to a ritual, is to meditate together, with the lights off, for fifteen minutes, presumably on the Master, or on one's own concept of God. "Religion is what one does with one's solitude," Whitehead has said; not reckoning with the genuine communion developed in a group meditating on the same divine object. Communion — at its highest, the communion of saints — is an essential of all religion, presupposing the very basic common 'Ground' as Huxley calls it, of all separate discrete minds, and which Whitehead himself elaborated.

I have not gone into the occult side of religious group work, but have tried to follow only the few points of social 'interacts' of sociological interest. As I said through many vicissitudes and personality conflicts, inevitable in a tightly knit group as we are, we have evolved a workable formula for our group work. We now meet in the home of a devoted couple, Mr. and Mrs. Winterfeldt, who offered us their home when Mrs. Tolhurst returned to Europe. We now alternate our readers in turn, giving everyone who has a reasonably good voice and intelligent grasp of the Master's teachings, a chance to read, and which has proved psychologically valuable, as I always stressed, in giving each one a sense of participation in the work. When we do have problems to solve, we do meet and try to vote, though Mr. Bass does still assume 'leadership’; however, he has mellowed with the years, and with the opposition of younger people in the group who have the typical feeling of our American culture, that ‘my opinion is as good as yours.’

As for the class and status of those who come to our group, it varies widely as always. As you no doubt have noted, the original three women were definitely of the 'upper-upper’ social group in America, though genuinely democratic in their ways, influenced, naturally, by the universal attitudes of their Master. We have had the 'poorest of the poor' in our group as well as several independently wealthy ones; professional workers, housekeepers and servants, office workers, people on welfare, members of the old European aristocracy and of the new American aristocracy of the 'I've-done-it-myself’ kind. We have grown large enough to support, on our own donations, public work again and every winter manage to hold three or four public meetings in our old stomping ground, Carnegie Hall. We have started a small magazine, and also presented films of the Master in India. Smaller branch groups have started in other corners of America modeled along the same lines. Those who come to our meetings are not urged to give up whatever religion they profess, but to let the living Master help them to reach and grasp its innermost core, which is the genuine life in God and for God, lived in the here and now. We are all absorbed, at present, in the Master's return to the West this coming summer, and busy finding 'new souls' to meet him and have the inestimable privilege of darshan.

Meher Baba has predicted that in the future there will be four main groups — the Christian group, the Vedantist group, the Sufi group, and the Meher Baba group, who will be interested in him and carry on his teachings. The Sufis* have already acknowledged him and of course groups like ours, in which no past religious thought or tradition is dominant, but just the Master himself, or as he said to one of us, "For you, it is just Baba."

There are two main ways a group can maintain its identity in the face of the inevitable changes in individual identities . . . through a continued appointed hierarchy of offices, as is true of both the Sufi and the Catholic traditional groups; or through a democratic, elected leadership as is true of many Protestant groups and of a Jewish synagogue as well. An absolutely free-form or free-association group is hard to maintain, as we ourselves find it and also, as do the American Quakers, who also stress meditations and silence in their group meetings. Vedantism, of course, has given rise to many forms and sects, but in essence, it always holds that God's grace is spontaneous and sporadic and that the illumined and God-realized soul arises independent of any church or shariat, thus the spiritual hierarchy of the time crosses all religious boundaries. The classic Sufi point of view is also the same, and the Qutub or spiritual leader of the time is automatically he who has most advanced consciousness, whoever or wherever he may be. Thus, a religious group that clings to outward structuring (as do the Catholics today) will not accept the leader of the time and will fall behind. In religion, too rigid structuring, may, as in many other human institutions, defeat its own ends.

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As for the class and status of those who come to our group, it varies widely as always. As you no doubt have noted, the original three women were definitely of the 'upper-upper’ social group in America, though genuinely democratic in their ways, influenced, naturally, by the universal attitudes of their Master. We have had the 'poorest of the poor' in our group as well as several independently wealthy ones; professional workers, housekeepers and servants, office workers, people on welfare, members of the old European aristocracy and of the new American aristocracy of the 'I've-done-it-myself’ kind. We have grown large enough to support, on our own donations, public work again and every winter manage to hold three or four public meetings in our old stomping ground, Carnegie Hall. We have started a small magazine, and also presented films of the Master in India. Smaller branch groups have started in other corners of America modeled along the same lines. Those who come to our meetings are not urged to give up whatever religion they profess, but to let the living Master help them to reach and grasp its innermost core, which is the genuine life in God and for God, lived in the here and now. We are all absorbed, at present, in the Master's return to the West this coming summer, and busy finding 'new souls' to meet him and have the inestimable privilege of darshan.

Meher Baba has predicted that in the future there will be four main groups — the Christian group, the Vedantist group, the Sufi group, and the Meher Baba group, who will be interested in him and carry on his teachings. The Sufis* have already acknowledged him and of course groups like ours, in which no past religious thought or tradition is dominant, but just the Master himself, or as he said to one of us, "For you, it is just Baba."

There are two main ways a group can maintain its identity in the face of the inevitable changes in individual identities . . . through a continued appointed hierarchy of offices, as is true of both the Sufi and the Catholic traditional groups; or through a democratic, elected leadership as is true of many Protestant groups and of a Jewish synagogue as well. An absolutely free-form or free-association group is hard to maintain, as we ourselves find it and also, as do the American Quakers, who also stress meditations and silence in their group meetings. Vedantism, of course, has given rise to many forms and sects, but in essence, it always holds that God's grace is spontaneous and sporadic and that the illumined and God-realized soul arises independent of any church or shariat, thus the spiritual hierarchy of the time crosses all religious boundaries. The classic Sufi point of view is also the same, and the Qutub or spiritual leader of the time is automatically he who has most advanced consciousness, whoever or wherever he may be. Thus, a religious group that clings to outward structuring (as do the Catholics today) will not accept the leader of the time and will fall behind. In religion, too rigid structuring, may, as in many other human institutions, defeat its own ends.

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An amusing postscript: In 1956, when Baba returned to Myrtle Beach, Dr. Bozka threw her arms around me and said, "Filis, will you ever forgive me for being such a bitch!!"

GATHER ONLY FOR BABA'S SAKE

Eruch Jessawala

Meher Baba lovers who gather together should keep in mind that they meet in the love and service of their Beloved, and that they gather not for themselves nor for the group but or Meher Baba. They should hold Baba's presence uppermost in their hearts and in their minds, and in so doing, they will very naturally conduct themselves in the right manner knowing that He is present. That is the most important thing for any group.Once Baba's presence is held in the heart everything will be set right, because if His presence is not felt, people will do whatever they want to do. But I am sure no one really would wish to behave in a manner other than if He were present. Therefore it should be always as Baba would want us to behave, because feeling His presence, the desire would be to please Him. One should not try to please one's self, but to please Him. That should be uppermost in the minds of Baba lovers.Now, it doesn't matter how many people have gathered, sometimes the less the better. And why is this? Because then His presence can be actually felt, you may call it sort of unified Baba-feeling. However, this does not mean others would be barred from joining the gathering. Leave it up to Him; your business is to keep His presence while His business is to allow people to come to Him. So no one should stop another from coming or, on the other hand, decide on the numbers that should come. That is strictly Baba's business and we must allow Him to conduct His business. Our business, I repeat, is to keep Him in our hearts most especially when we are gathered in His love and in His name.Of course, when a group gets bigger and bigger, many minds will begin to work together, but the nature of the mind is never to work together; that's the way the heart works for the heart knows no way except to love Him. The mind however, has an important part of play in reasoning things out and in probing, but it must always be harnessed to the heart and sure enough, that will help. Obstruction will give way to promotion and then ways and means will be found to win more hearts to Baba. So that's how it should be, otherwise there will be rifts, dissensions, bickerings, and so forth.Time and again Baba used to tell us that it would make Him very happy if all hearts were to come together in His love. So all differences should be put aside at these gatherings in His name and in His love. Let the bickerings and the fights remain outside, but for the one and a half hours you are trying to feel His presence, drown these differences in the ocean of His love. Surely that can be done for this short time! When the meeting starts, just concentrate on Baba and His love for us all and that will be a very pleasant and happy get-together.Baba would like us to be childlike in His presence, so become childlike. Be very free and feel at home, and now that He is adorning that home you have created for Him, for He is there undoubtedly.It doesn't need a grand edifice for individuals to gather together in Baba's love. Even the shade of a tree will do though the best shade that you can have is His presence. Then all will feel rested there in His presence. That is how He would want us to be.Perhaps some people will have projects to spread Baba's message to reach many hearts. Let them be laid out before all, and whether approved or not after everyone has been given the opportunity to speak out, let the result be taken as His will. When Baba was with us, the mandali, He would not dictate to us in such things. He would conduct matters in a very democratic manner, allowing us to speak out as He would want us to speak freely, and the result would be in His hands. So leave matters to Baba. Speak out your hearts and your minds by all means, but leave the final result to Him.

Further, the one who plays the leading role in the group should not consider himself a leader but a humble slave. The one who humbles himself is the leader, Baba said, the rightful leader.So all that is needed is just to keep His presence at the time you are gathered. You gather not for your own sake, but for Him, to love Him, to pour out your love to Him, to worship Him, to adore Him and to devote all your heart feelings to Him.Music can also be used to entertain Him, but let such programmes be there not to entertain the visitors, because there is no visitor there except Baba whose house it is. And at such gatherings all should be permitted to participate in the entertainment, for the songs, the skits and indeed everything is enacted with a view to entertaining Him.Let there be stories told about Baba, and readings too from printed material. Above all, bring His personality and His being to our minds and hearts and feel deeply His presence. That is all!

Also, remember the three things Baba has said would please Him most, and at least while you are together. Think of things that you would not hesitate to think in His presence, speak words that you would not hesitate to speak in His presence, and act and do deeds that you would not hesitate to act and do in His presence. Then you will have His company there.Baba once said to us that His advent was nothing but to give company to us. Now it rests with you, it is your opportunity to give company to Him. So become His companion, His faithful companion by giving Him your companionship.Finally, there should be liveliness at these gatherings for Baba disliked austerity. If there is a desire for group participation in adoring Him, that's all well and good but if any prefer to adore privately, then one's apartment will also do. But let the atmosphere be joyous and the programmes lively. Sing out His name, talk about Him, tell stories about Him and so forth, and that will be the right general atmosphere. Let Baba be there as president, as chairman, as the All in all for us all. No one will be high and no one will be low in His presence and that is the spirit which will prevail at the time when you are gathered for His love, in His love.

THE ANCIENT ONE, pp. 221-223, ed. Naosherwan AnzarCopyright 1985 Naosherwan Anzar

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