Avatar Meher Baba
I first heard about Meher Baba in 1988 and
then came to know Meher Baba more deeply from a series of Baba lovers who came
into my life—in a sort of Avataric parade--and to whom I became close or at
least came to know well.
Meher Baba first became real to me when
Mike Black gave a guest talk in 1988 to a class I was a member of at Duke University. First Mike shared Meher Baba’s "Universal Message:"
http://www.ambppct.org/messages.php#u_message
and then he shared Meher Baba's Message "How to Love God."
http://www.ambppct.org/messages.php#how
When I heard the "Universal Message," & "How to Love God," I was awed and moved by the theological majesty of the 1st and the ethical simplicity and beauty of the 2nd. But there was more. Looking at the "Four Journeys" chart (p. 139, "God Speaks") that Mike handed out, I was amazed at the accuracy, detail, and mastery of both the Sufi and Vedantic traditions evidenced in Meher Baba’s chart.
Then Mike showed the film "O Parvardigar" (Meher Baba's "Universal Prayer," set to music by Peter Townshend with significant footage of Meher Baba). This totally overwhelmed me! While watching that film, Meher Baba inspired and struck me in his authenticity, sincerity, and depth of love. I immediately dashed off to tell a friend that I had found something and someone very real.
Here you can hear the soundtrack of that movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZkIdo55oUw
In November 1992, I first met my Sufi Murshid Sherif Baba. On February 25, 1994, in Chapel Hill, N.C. Carl Ernst took Sherif Baba to a Meher Baba birth-centenary film festival. Sherif Baba came back to give his regularly-scheduled sohbet (like sahavas) and devoted most of his talk to the themes Meher Baba's honesty, spirituality, & love as an example for all. So that was my second introduction to Meher Baba.
Years later, Sherif Baba saw Baba lover Wesley Joyner wearing a pin of the 1926 Ahmednagar photo & said, "That photo shows Rifa'i [our Sufi lineage] characteristics." So Sherif Baba asked Wesley for a copy of the photo which he enshrined at our Sufi Center (a Turkish Tea House in Chapel Hill) among the other photos of various spiritual masters with whom we are associated.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/selmaalfaqih/388618866/
http://www.ambppct.org/messages.php#u_message
and then he shared Meher Baba's Message "How to Love God."
http://www.ambppct.org/messages.php#how
When I heard the "Universal Message," & "How to Love God," I was awed and moved by the theological majesty of the 1st and the ethical simplicity and beauty of the 2nd. But there was more. Looking at the "Four Journeys" chart (p. 139, "God Speaks") that Mike handed out, I was amazed at the accuracy, detail, and mastery of both the Sufi and Vedantic traditions evidenced in Meher Baba’s chart.
Then Mike showed the film "O Parvardigar" (Meher Baba's "Universal Prayer," set to music by Peter Townshend with significant footage of Meher Baba). This totally overwhelmed me! While watching that film, Meher Baba inspired and struck me in his authenticity, sincerity, and depth of love. I immediately dashed off to tell a friend that I had found something and someone very real.
Here you can hear the soundtrack of that movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZkIdo55oUw
In November 1992, I first met my Sufi Murshid Sherif Baba. On February 25, 1994, in Chapel Hill, N.C. Carl Ernst took Sherif Baba to a Meher Baba birth-centenary film festival. Sherif Baba came back to give his regularly-scheduled sohbet (like sahavas) and devoted most of his talk to the themes Meher Baba's honesty, spirituality, & love as an example for all. So that was my second introduction to Meher Baba.
Years later, Sherif Baba saw Baba lover Wesley Joyner wearing a pin of the 1926 Ahmednagar photo & said, "That photo shows Rifa'i [our Sufi lineage] characteristics." So Sherif Baba asked Wesley for a copy of the photo which he enshrined at our Sufi Center (a Turkish Tea House in Chapel Hill) among the other photos of various spiritual masters with whom we are associated.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/selmaalfaqih/388618866/
When I
lived in Ohio for a year, I found myself placing little Meher Baba photocards
on the bedroom dresser so that when I would get up, I would see these blessed pictures of the Beloved Meher Baba.
It took about 12 years for me to recognize that I am a Meher Baba lover, a fact which dawned on me in 2001 after attending Meher Baba meetings in Fayetteville, Arkansas and hearing Meher Baba stories, reading the Discourses and experiencing his films. Meher Baba became more & more real to me leading up to that awakening through meeting Carl & Judy Ernst, Paula Saffire, Wesley Joyner, Joe Bender, Carolyn Ball, & Phyllis Ott, and learning of Meher Baba--receiving His transmission through--from each of them in their own unique way.
In 2000 I started continuously reading a copy of Allan Cohen's "Mastery of Consciousness" that a Professor at Duke bequeathed to me. Cohen’s book is an anthology of many Meher Baba quotes and passages. As I would read Meher Baba’s words, I would experience a power of clarity of thought and expression that struck me and moved me.
http://www.worldcat.org/title/mastery-of-consciousness-an-introduction-and-guide-to-practical-mysticism-and-methods-of-spiritual-development/oclc/3444664&referer=brief_results
At the time I was writing my dissertation on Sufism. So I began a daily ritual in which I would read Meher Baba’s powerful words in Cohen’s book & then go into my study to write the words of my dissertation. (My dissertation treated al-Khidr, who Meher Baba said made St. Francis a perfect master [Lord Meher, p. 5011]). In my dissertation and the published book it became 13 years later, I discuss Meher Baba’s teaching on Khwaja Khidr as the being who gave a “touch of grace” that advanced Saint Francis to receive the stigmata and become a seventh-plane saint. My book’s short section on Meher Baba appears on pp. 246-247. The book, now published, is titled Where Two Seas Meet: The Qur’anic Story of al-Khidr and Moses in Sufi Commentaries as a Model of Spiritual Guidance. (Lexington, KY: Fons Vitae, 2013)
It took about 12 years for me to recognize that I am a Meher Baba lover, a fact which dawned on me in 2001 after attending Meher Baba meetings in Fayetteville, Arkansas and hearing Meher Baba stories, reading the Discourses and experiencing his films. Meher Baba became more & more real to me leading up to that awakening through meeting Carl & Judy Ernst, Paula Saffire, Wesley Joyner, Joe Bender, Carolyn Ball, & Phyllis Ott, and learning of Meher Baba--receiving His transmission through--from each of them in their own unique way.
In 2000 I started continuously reading a copy of Allan Cohen's "Mastery of Consciousness" that a Professor at Duke bequeathed to me. Cohen’s book is an anthology of many Meher Baba quotes and passages. As I would read Meher Baba’s words, I would experience a power of clarity of thought and expression that struck me and moved me.
http://www.worldcat.org/title/mastery-of-consciousness-an-introduction-and-guide-to-practical-mysticism-and-methods-of-spiritual-development/oclc/3444664&referer=brief_results
At the time I was writing my dissertation on Sufism. So I began a daily ritual in which I would read Meher Baba’s powerful words in Cohen’s book & then go into my study to write the words of my dissertation. (My dissertation treated al-Khidr, who Meher Baba said made St. Francis a perfect master [Lord Meher, p. 5011]). In my dissertation and the published book it became 13 years later, I discuss Meher Baba’s teaching on Khwaja Khidr as the being who gave a “touch of grace” that advanced Saint Francis to receive the stigmata and become a seventh-plane saint. My book’s short section on Meher Baba appears on pp. 246-247. The book, now published, is titled Where Two Seas Meet: The Qur’anic Story of al-Khidr and Moses in Sufi Commentaries as a Model of Spiritual Guidance. (Lexington, KY: Fons Vitae, 2013)
http://www.amazon.com/Where-Two-Seas-Meet-Commentaries/dp/1891785907/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371502058&sr=8-1&keywords=halman+two+seas
While attending Meher Baba meetings in Fayetteville, Arkansas back in 2001, I met Phyllis Ott who one day asked me what my Meher Baba story was. That short question opened a huge insight. At that moment I finally realized I had a Meher Baba story. Right around this time, while watching Meher Baba movies I started experiencing the amazing realization that I was watching on film the same One who had been the figures I had read of & taught about in college religion classes: Zoroaster, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad. A few months later, thanks to Phyllis Ott's hospitality I visited the Meher Spiritual Center at Myrtle Beach during December 2001 and January 2002. Around this time I brought Sherif Baba and his translator Cem to Myrtle Beach, where Phyllis Ott hosted me and my children. It was actually my second visit, but this was the real visit with Meher Baba. In the Lagoon Cabin I cried. Sitting in front of Baba’s chair, I just broke down and wept. Maybe it’s more accurate to say I broke open and wept. In that event I feel I had my interview with Baba at the Lagoon Cabin.
While attending Meher Baba meetings in Fayetteville, Arkansas back in 2001, I met Phyllis Ott who one day asked me what my Meher Baba story was. That short question opened a huge insight. At that moment I finally realized I had a Meher Baba story. Right around this time, while watching Meher Baba movies I started experiencing the amazing realization that I was watching on film the same One who had been the figures I had read of & taught about in college religion classes: Zoroaster, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad. A few months later, thanks to Phyllis Ott's hospitality I visited the Meher Spiritual Center at Myrtle Beach during December 2001 and January 2002. Around this time I brought Sherif Baba and his translator Cem to Myrtle Beach, where Phyllis Ott hosted me and my children. It was actually my second visit, but this was the real visit with Meher Baba. In the Lagoon Cabin I cried. Sitting in front of Baba’s chair, I just broke down and wept. Maybe it’s more accurate to say I broke open and wept. In that event I feel I had my interview with Baba at the Lagoon Cabin.
When I
went to Indonesia on a Fulbright Grant (2004-2005) I made sure to take some
Meher Baba books with me. I immersed myself especially in Charles Haynes, Meher Baba: The Awakener. During that
year I wrote a book chapter on the subject of the first Sufi teachers in
America and devoted about five pages of that chapter to Meher Baba as a pioneer
of Sufism in America. (The chapter was published as: “Sufism in the West: Islam
in an Interspiritual Age,” in Voices of
Islam, ed. Vincent J. Cornell, Omid Safi, and Virginia Grey
Henry-Blakemore. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2007, vol. 5, Voices of Change, pp. 169-198.)
I have been blessed to have experienced three Meher Baba "honeymoons." During my 1st 4-month "honeymoon" I cried everyday over the overwhelming beauty of being in contact with the Avatar. The 2nd honeymoon I experienced around 2009 when my wife was starting to have vivid Meher Baba experiences! In the wake of that energy I took the bull by the horns & immersed myself in The Discourses & God Speaks. The third honeymoon started after I read Laurent Weichberger's 5-page down-to-earth overview of the "Ten Principle States of God," on pp. 353-358 in his amazing book Celebrating Divine Presence: Journeys into God, (London, 2008) and then started corresponding with him.
http://www.amazon.com/Celebrating-Divine-Presence-Journeys-into/dp/0952509792/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372035477&sr=8-1&keywords=weichberger+celebrating+divine+presence
Laurent really helped unveil some of the mystery & obscurity I used to feel around God Speaks, & around its charts and diagrams.
I have been blessed to have experienced three Meher Baba "honeymoons." During my 1st 4-month "honeymoon" I cried everyday over the overwhelming beauty of being in contact with the Avatar. The 2nd honeymoon I experienced around 2009 when my wife was starting to have vivid Meher Baba experiences! In the wake of that energy I took the bull by the horns & immersed myself in The Discourses & God Speaks. The third honeymoon started after I read Laurent Weichberger's 5-page down-to-earth overview of the "Ten Principle States of God," on pp. 353-358 in his amazing book Celebrating Divine Presence: Journeys into God, (London, 2008) and then started corresponding with him.
http://www.amazon.com/Celebrating-Divine-Presence-Journeys-into/dp/0952509792/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372035477&sr=8-1&keywords=weichberger+celebrating+divine+presence
Laurent really helped unveil some of the mystery & obscurity I used to feel around God Speaks, & around its charts and diagrams.
Laurent Weichberger has graciously
published some of my essays on Meher Baba in his on-line Meher Baba journal Ompoint Circular. Three essays have been
published and a fourth is forthcoming. The first is on Meher Baba as Saheb-e Zaman.
http://www.ompoint.com/OmPoint_Circular_8.pdf
(pp. 13-20)
The second, “States of Prayer,” is an
attempt to inquire into the relationship between the Parvardigar Prayer and the
“Ten Principal States of God” Chart (Chart VIII) in God Speaks (at p. 158)
http://www.ompoint.com/OmPoint_Circular_9.pdf
(pp. 20-24)
This issue also includes a poem and a book review I wrote on
Meher Baba-related subjects.
In Ompoint Circular 10,
I contributed a short reflection on Meher Baba as the Avatar Zarathustra,
entitled, “On Fire: Meher Baba at the Udwada Atesh Bahram Temple.”
http://www.ompoint.com/OmPoint_Circular_10.pdf
(pp. 21-22)
In the next issue my
essay on remembering Meher Baba by taking his name has been publised, entitled,
“May I Meditate? The Case of the Constant Companion.”
http://www.ompoint.com/OmPoint_Circular_11.pdf (pp. 33-36)
This was inspired by my readings of Adi K. Irani’s book Just to Love Him: Talks and Essays About
Meher Baba and Bal Natu’s Samadhi:
Star of Infinity. I was inspired by Adi and Bal’s descriptions of and
encouragement for living every moment possible in the awareness of and contact
with Meher Baba.
In the Fall of 2012 I finally began
introducing the person and topic of Meher Baba into my university courses on
“World Religions” and “Mysticism.” The films and texts of Meher Baba that I
shared made a deep impact on a number of the students. I deeply appreciate how
lucidly those classes went. My favorite moment was hearing a student in a break-out
discussion group say, “I always wondered what God would be like if he came as a
human—and now I know!”
My aim is to deepen my relationship with Avatar Meher Baba by
remembering Him more extensively, especially by frequenting the places where he
has visited and lived and by associating with His lovers as friends of the
Friend. I seek to deepen my contact with—as Eruch said—the “Constant
Companion.” (Eruch Jessawala, quoted in Bal Natu, Glimpses of the God-Man Meher Baba. Vol. IV (January 1-March 6,
1954), p. 27.)
Although I have visited
many holy shrines in Turkey, Israel, and Indonesia, at no other place have I
experienced the transforming depth and power that I have experienced at the
Meher Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach. I want to come home.
In His
Love,
Talat
