What is Baba Culture?

Years ago, at one of his seminars, Ward Parks brought up the term “Baba culture.” I had never heard that term before, and was instinctively intrigued by it. While I could not define it in my mind, I knew viscerally what he meant! Giving it further thought, surprisingly, I was reminded of rare times in my life when I had stepped out of the Baba world. I had felt a strange barrenness, a missing link not to Him, because He is always with us, but to some common threads that help us feel closer to Him. Could that feeling of familiar constructs of being around His presence be fine threads of Baba culture? If so, what does this culture involve? And why does it strike a chord?

Culture is defined as “a set of meanings, behavioral norms, and values used by members of a particular society, as they construct their unique view of the world.” To this definition, Ward Parks adds, “Culture is the assimilation of values into community life. And Baba culture is derived from Meher Baba Himself, especially exemplified in His life and message.”

Art as Culture

From Ward’s readings, the book he believes deals best with this subject is Stay with God, by Francis Brabazon. While Part five of this book deals primarily with art, Ward feels that if you dig deeper, it really is a discourse on culture, civilization and how it all plays out, flowing directly from God. Francis writes, “Art is a statement in praise His craft in us fashioning us in likeness of Himself”[1]

“Francis is using the term ‘art.’ By art he means the entire manifestation of the divine. The supreme work of art is the Avatar himself, the manifestation of God within illusion,” adds Ward.

Avataric Advents and the Avatar’s personality

In every advent, the Avatar’s message has a specific shape. He delivers His teachings based on the need of the age and what the world can hear within the circumstances of the specific time period. “Every advent gives birth to its own central culture or a vision, that is the foundation for civilizations that arise after that advent,” says Ward.

Every advent also displays an array of personality traits that the Avatar brings with Him as a man. Baba historian Peter Nordeen says, “God is eternally impersonal. For an average person it is hard to love the impersonal. Thus, the eternally impersonal God takes form as the perfectly personal God-Man to expedite His spiritual work. It is most charming that He comes as perfectly personal and it is the perfect solution because His charm is the perfect distraction from our false selves.” [2]

Does the personality of the Avatar sculpt elements of culture too? For example, Ram was the personification of dharma. The Ramayana is full of the heroic exploits of Hanuman, ideals of brotherhood through Lakshmana, the model relationship between Ram and Sita, victory of good over evil and many examples of honor and duty. These are virtues that Hindu culture embraces and promotes. Ram, the quintessential hero of the epic adventure, is seen as the ideal man (maryada puroshotama) in Indian culture.

While Ram upheld his duty and idealism by giving up his claim to the throne, as he believed that he could not be king by breaking his father’s word, his next advent is a different story.

Krishna’s life is full of God’s Leela, mischief and, some may say, trickery. The Bhagavad Gita is the Hindu manual of life, delivered to the ideal disciple in the middle of a battlefield! Some Hindu historians believe that Krishna lived in the transitional age between Dvapara Yuga and Kaliyuga. While he upheld dharma, he might have been challenging the paradigm in His playful way, simultaneously also preparing the world for the complicated Kaliyuga.

Although the Avatar Himself is beyond culture, out of Him come some common values. Every time He comes, there is a group that comes with Him called the circle. These values are observed through His life and also through His disciples.

The mandali and the Baba family

The closest followers of the Avatar appear to be central in living and transmitting the culture that He created. Peter Nordeen says, “When we say ‘Baba Culture’ it means the way of life that is a result of making efforts to live according to what Meher Baba has explained and exemplified. We have observed the best examples of this in His mandali and other close ones who proved that this life was possible. For them, there was no other way to live.”

Many of us remember and recount the beating of our hearts as we stepped off the bus, driving through the green gates of Meherazad. The mandali waited on the verandah with open arms, to welcome each pilgrim as dutiful soldiers of the Beloved and loving elders of a family, all at once. It did not matter where you were from or if it was your first time, each pilgrim was met with the same familial warmth and love and an infinite curiosity about how they came to know of Meher Baba. All the mandali shared the wonder of His manifestation in the hearts of His lovers.

Meher Baba considered all His lovers in the East and the West to be His family. In the introduction to 82 family letters that were written by Baba’s sister Mani to the “Baba family” across the world, Elizabeth Patterson, writes, “By 1956 the Meher Baba groups had grown and spread throughout the U.S.A. and Europe… Baba then called all those who loved Him, His family…These unique and loving letters by Mani continued over a span of thirteen years until 1969, and reached His family in the United States, England, Europe, Australia, and later encircling other parts of the world. Mani would send these letters to us (Elizabeth Patterson, Norina Matchabelli and Kitty Davy) at Meher Spiritual Center, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Immediately photocopies were made and dispatched to all the Meher Baba group-heads in the various cities of the U.S.A. The group heads knew all the individuals who attended their group meetings or who in their area were otherwise drawn to Meher Baba. With remarkable speed, the group-heads and their helpers distributed the Family Letters. Thus, the individual felt always in personal contact with Meher Baba.”[3]

Ward Parks has deeper reflections on the implications of Baba’s family and its interactions. “What happens in His life and immediately following is very important culturally. His immediate family becomes the paradigm for the world. One might say that eventually Baba will be assimilated into the world, but it is His family that absorbs the world.

“That’s why the culture we create within the family is the microcosm and it is the macrocosm that transforms according to what happens in the microcosm and not the other way around. The mandali always upheld Him with such sacredness in mind.”

Storytelling and transmission

Any lover of Meher Baba is no stranger to the wonders of storytelling. A good story engages the audience’s heart, entertains, educates, fosters connections and transmits values and deeper lessons. Creative writers would agree that stories serve as the pillars to hold larger ideas and are effective carriers for those ideas to sink into human consciousness – better than any dry, instructive text.

It is no surprise that pilgrims at Mandali Hall were not indulged in intellectual dialogue but in simple stories that brought forth Meher Baba’s life of love and truth directly into each heart. They were the living signposts who wove in and contributed stories into the fabric of the larger Baba culture.

Baba lover and writer Alexandra Marks says, “From the very beginning, Baba used stories to help illuminate the spiritual concepts He wanted to convey. And the mandali then blessed generations of Baba lovers with their stories about what it was like to live with the God-Man. They also shared the stories Baba told to them. And even now, when meeting a new person connected with Baba, the first question often asked is: ‘How did you come to Baba, what’s your story?’”

In the introduction to That’s How It Was, a book of stories written by Eruch, who proved to be a master storyteller of our time, Steve Klein sums up the importance of stories. He writes, “These incidents from Eruch’s life with Baba are not told to simply pass the time, but to help people get a better understanding of how to live with God and for God,” [4]

Seeking His pleasure

Apart from a constant companionship that each of the mandali developed with their Master, they all had one thing in common – their constant desire to seek His pleasure. Seeking His pleasure instantly puts Him at the center of any given situation. While sharing stories about pleasing Baba, Eruch said, “When Baba told us to do something, we didn’t stop to figure out what we were going to get out of it, we simply did it. We weren’t there to get anything, but simply to try to please Baba. That was the key for us. We tried to see to Baba’s pleasure. This meant not only doing whatever he told us, but more importantly, trying to anticipate his needs.” [5]

“At the heart of it, seeking His pleasure is the essence of our Baba culture,” concludes Ward Parks.

[1] Stay with God, by Francis Brabazon, p.123
[2] Peter Nordeen, Talk on the Circles of the Avatar.
[3] 82 Family Letters, by Mani S. Irani, p. 7
[4] That’s How it was, by Eruch Jessawala, Introduction by Steve Klein, p.ix
[5] Is that so? Compiled by Bill LePage, p. 1 to 4.