Meher Spiritual Center

Meher Abode Open
2025-04-12 09:00 - 11:00, 2025-04-11 15:00 - 17:00, 2025-04-08 11:00 - 13:00, 2025-04-06 11:00 - 13:00, 2025-04-05 09:00 - 11:00, 2025-04-04 15:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York)

Poems of St. John of the Cross as Scripts for Manonash, Meeting Place
2025-04-11 19:15 - 21:00
Part of Charles Haynes and Christopher Wilson’s Artist in Residence Program
Poems of St. John of the Cross as Scripts for Manonash
“Complete emptiness means absolute Fullness.” -Meher Baba
St. John of the Cross was a Spanish Carmelite friar (1542-1591), a companion and confessor of St. Teresa of Avila, and one of the greatest poets in the Spanish language. John fell in love with the Eternal Christ – our beloved Meher Baba – and his writings were intended to help others increase their love for Him. He maps the soul’s journey through a “Dark Night” – the annihilation of the false self – to the place of union where the lover is transformed in the Beloved. Christopher explores how John’s poems can be scripts that serve to illuminate what Baba means by Manonash, the annihilation of the mind.

Chai, Original Kitchen
2025-04-11 15:30 - 16:30, 2025-04-05 15:30 - 16:30, 2025-04-04 15:30 - 16:30

Music Concert: Kevin Connor, Library Reading Room
2025-04-10 19:15 - 20:15
Meher Baba loved music, and musicians from across India and around the world came to perform for Him. Now, at the Meher Center, musicians perform for Baba two nights per week in the intimate setting of the Meher Center Reading Room. At these gatherings, both out-of-town guests and nearby community members come together to listen to (and sometimes sing along with!) devotional music performed for the Beloved.

Stories of the Beloved in the Barn, Barn
2025-04-10 15:00 - 17:00
Part of Charles Haynes and Christopher Wilson’s Artist in Residence Program
Stories of the Beloved in the Barn
“What is Sahavas? It is companionship with God.” -Meher Baba
During Baba’s stays at His home in the West, the Barn played a special role as a gathering place for Sahavas and Darshan. Today, the Barn remains alive with His Presence, a sacred space where all who seek Him can experience the fragrance of His love. Charles and Christopher share stories of Baba in the
Barn, past and present.

Meher Baba in Spain, Meeting Place
2025-04-09 19:15 - 21:00
Part of Charles Haynes and Christopher Wilson’s Artist in Residence Program
Meher Baba in Spain
“I am so happy here.” -Meher Baba
Meher Baba singled out St. Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) as one of His favorite Western saints and as a model of how to love Him. In October 1933, He took a group of His Eastern and Western disciples to visit places associated with her life in Avila, saying “I am so happy here.” The group then went to Madrid,
where Baba spent two hours at the Prado Museum and was pleased by the paintings of the lives of Jesus and the saints by El Greco and other Spanish artists. Christopher will discuss the sites that Baba visited; the life, work, and writings of St. Teresa; and the paintings that He admired.

Meher Baba Q&A, Original Kitchen
2025-04-09 17:00 - 18:00, 2025-04-05 17:00 - 18:00, 2025-04-03 15:00 - 16:00, 2025-04-02 17:00 - 18:00
Meher Baba Q & A is an informal opportunity to ask questions about Meher Baba, His life, work, philosophy and more. It is hosted by a volunteer Baba follower who meets and greets new and returning retreat guests in the intimate setting of the Original Kitchen. The OK was chosen because Meher Baba Himself walked through this building countless times during all three visits to the Center
The Center endeavors to offer opportunities for personal and familial connections between guests in the hopes of encouraging natural links between them, as well as additional avenues to learn more about Meher Baba.
The inspiration for this special time of Q & A was kindled by the enduring examples of Elizabeth Patterson, Kitty Davy and Jane Haynes. With great personal warmth and accessibility, these remarkable disciples of Meher Baba invariably welcomed newcomers and old timers in the spirit of joyful homecoming to “Meher Baba’s Home in the West where all who come may experience His love.”

Music Concert: Jamie Newell, Library Reading Room
2025-04-08 19:15 - 20:15

Stories of Awakening, Library Reading Room
2025-04-08 11:00 - 12:30
Part of Charles Haynes and Christopher Wilson’s Artist in Residence Program
Stories of Awakening
Join Charles as he shares and invites others to share favorite stories of the Beloved. How do stories of Baba, past and present, speak to our hearts and awaken Him there?

Stories as Revelations of Divine Love, Meeting Place
2025-04-07 19:15 - 21:00
Part of Charles Haynes and Christopher Wilson’s Artist in Residence Program
Stories as Revelations of Divine Love
“Every moment I respond to the whole of creation. My response, being divine, is wholly from love.” -Meher Baba
Every story of Beloved Baba is a revelation of divine love. Through stories He told, stories He lived, and stories He continues to create, Baba speaks directly to our hearts, stirring us awake from the dream of ignorance. Charles explores the role of stories in the life and work of Meher Baba, the Awakener.

Artists in Residence: Charles Haynes & Christopher Wilson
2025-04-07 - 2025-04-12
Charles Haynes met Meher Baba at Meher Center on May 21, 1958. In November 1962, Charles participated in the East-West Gathering held at Guruprasad. He served on the Meher Center Board for more than twenty years.
Christopher Wilson recognized Baba during his first visit to the Center on May 21, 1987. He teaches art history at The George Washington University.
Married for thirty-six years, Charles and Christopher reside in Alexandria, Virginia, with dog companions Charlie and Elwood.

Celebrating the Divine, Library Reading Room
2025-04-06 19:15 - 20:15
This sharing of poetry, music and readings is an informal way of sharing God’s love and presence in our lives. While words cannot begin to describe the complex charms of being with the divine Beloved, they do have power to weave this experience magically into poetry, songs and prose.
The gathering welcomes guests to bring their own brief offerings or those of master crafters to share with the group. Rumi, Hafiz, St Theresa of Avila and Kabir always end up making it to the circles, we wonder why! Have nothing to share? You are still welcome to just listen and be inspired by the works of these greats.

Tea at Dilruba
2025-04-06 12:00 - 13:30
Dilruba served as the residence of Elizabeth Patterson and Kitty Davy from 1961 until 1991

Meher Abode Compound Open
2025-04-06 11:00 - 17:00, 2025-04-05 09:00 - 17:00

Prayers & Arti, Barn
2025-04-06 09:30 - 11:00
Arti is a ceremony of worship involving devotional songs of praise to the Lord. In the Meher Baba community, Arti was often performed before Meher Baba during His lifetime, and is still performed twice a day at His tomb in India.
There are three prayers written by Meher Baba that are said at the beginning of Arti: the Master’s Prayer, the Prayer of Repentance, and the Beloved God Prayer. After the prayers are said, two of five special songs are sung that were written for this purpose and were approved by Baba for use as Artis. Afterward, there is a time for anyone who wants to express their love in their own way, often through music, poetry, or storytelling.
Meher Baba made it clear, again and again, that He had come to “abolish … rites and rituals,” and that ceremonies done simply by rote had no meaning on the spiritual path. Paradoxically, however, He participated in Arti. Even toward the end of Baba’s life, when He was suffering severely from back and hip pain from His 1956 car accident, He still insisted on standing for the prayers. Baba said, “My participation in these prayers has great significance, and by it, the prayers are being invested with added power, which people will feel when reciting them and be benefited.”
Many people feel that by coming together as a group for these special prayers and songs, they can feel Baba’s presence palpably, and His acceptance of their love and offering.

Videos of Meher Baba & Music, Meeting Place
2025-04-05 19:15 - 20:45
Videos of Meher Baba:
1963 Guruprasad
1959 Poona
1931 Meher Baba on Ocean Liner Newsreel
Music: Maraiya Latulippe

Video of Mandali or People Who Met Meher Baba, Meeting Place
2025-04-04 19:15 - 20:45
Video: Katie Irani (stories of her times with Meher Baba on the blue bus tours in the late 1930s)

Music Concert: Jeff Wolverton & Nan Wicker, Library Reading Room
2025-04-03 19:15 - 20:15

Music Concert: Daniel Stone, Library Reading Room
2025-04-01 19:15 - 20:15
