• "I have come not to teach but to awaken." 

    -Meher Baba

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“A joyous going forward”

In this recording, Mani Irani, Meher Baba’s sister, tackles the topic of death. She shares with us how death is a joyous occasion for the departed, even if it is painful for those left behind. She helps us understand with anecdotes about Baba’s own dealings with death throughout His lifetime, and His repeated message that death is no different than changing clothes; that death is always a relief for the soul who has moved on. As Mani says, “It’s always … a joyous going forward. It’s never anything else.”

Audio, 11:58
Mandali Hall, Meherazad, India, August 10, 1985
Courtesy of Mandali Hall Talks
Uploaded on 12/2/2022

“Days at Meherazad”

On a visit to Meherazad in 1996, Arnavaz Dadachanji asked Pam Rubenstein to write a song with the lyrics, “Sitting on the porch, holding high the torch of His love.” She did so, along with her husband Danny Rubenstein. Now, over twenty-five years later, Bob Fredericks has added footage of Baba’s Mandali doing just that. Eruch, Mani, Arnavaz, and others are depicted as they were for so many years: sitting on Baba’s porch, pouring out His love for His family.

Video, 5:53
Meherazad India, 1996
Courtesy of Bob Fredericks
upload on 11/4/2022

“His silence was so natural, so expressive, that we didn’t even feel like He kept silent”

In this video, Meheru Irani, a close female disciple of Meher Baba, shares memories from the New Life. She describes the months leading up to October 1949, when the “bombshell” of the New Life hit. She recounts the stringent conditions He gave to the small band of Mandali members who were His travel companions. Meheru shares the trials, physical fatigue, and humor of life on the road with the Avatar.

Video: 54:17
Avatar Meher Baba Center, Los Angeles, California, June 1993
Courtesy of the Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California
Uploaded on 10/14/2022

“A whiff of freedom, what true freedom means”

In this brief, informal chat in Mandali Hall, Eruch and Mani share glimmers of the beauty and toil of the New Life. They begin with the “Song of the New Life,” written by Baba and Dr. Ghani in 1949, talking about its translations and its central role as a collection of Baba’s orders. Then they share some of their own experiences of humor and hardship during the New Life, and glimpses of its inscrutable and immortal meaning.

Audio 19:45
Meherazad, India, August 2, 1990
Courtesy of the Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California
Uploaded on 10/14/2022

“The love that Baba expressed and showered was something very, very unique in one’s life”

In this talk, Adi K. Irani, Meher Baba’s Secretary and close disciple, describes how he was drawn to Meher Baba—through his mother Gulmai’s influence and Upasni Maharaj’s direction. He describes his early days with Baba beginning in 1921. Adi reflects on the love showered on him by Baba as well as the strict instructions given by Baba during the Manzil-e-Meem period.

Audio: 10:17
Meher Baba Bookstore, Hermosa Beach, CA, May 1970
Courtesy of the Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California
Click here to read transcript

Uploaded on 10/7/2022

“His orders were strict”
In this audio, Dr Goher, Meher Baba’s close woman Mandali and doctor, narrates her early life with Baba. She shares the story of her family’s old connection with Baba, an ominous dream her father had, and her father’s decision to move his well-established family from Quetta to Ahmednagar. She also shares her mother’s conviction of Baba as God. Eventually, she talks about going to Bombay to study medicine under Baba’s direction—revealing His lifelong plan for her.
Audio 33:21
Meherazad India, 1987
Courtesy of the Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California
Uploaded on 9/23/2022
“Sometimes He would make Himself so familiar that we forgot in His own presence who He is”
In this nimble talk, Eruch Jessawala recalls tales from his childhood with Meher Baba, who first communicated with slate and chalk then with an alphabet board. Eruch learned to read Baba’s rapidly moving fingers. Years later, on October 7, 1954, Meher Baba called the Mandali to Him to tell them He was discarding the board. Eruch relates, “We would speak to Him and He would just remain gazing at us.” Now came the arduous task of learning the system of hand gestures that Baba would use for the rest of His days on earth.
Audio, 9:16
Meherazad, India, September 22, 1972
Courtesy of the Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California
Uploaded on 9/16/2022
“Experiencing Divine Love is Looking Upon the Face of God”
Kitty Davy was a close disciple of Meher Baba who lived at the Meher Center from 1952 to 1991. In this wonderful talk, she recalls her first meeting with Meher Baba at her home in London in 1931 and intimate times with the Master.
Audio, 38:49
Meher Center, November 27, 1969
From the Meher Spiritual Center, Inc. Archives
Uploaded on 9/2/2022
“What was important was what we did not do with Him”
In this exquisite, raw footage of Mani, she shares anecdotes about her life with Baba. Talking about her childhood, she spills some beans about the friction between her mother and Upasani Maharaj; her mother’s pain in letting her son go and her father’s deep search for God. She then talks about how Baba works on us and helps us lose ourselves. She ends with stories of creating skits for Baba.
Video, 47:42
Meherazad India, May 19, 1971
Courtesy of the Irwin Luck Interview Series
Uploaded on 8/19/2022
Baba works on Mani
In this lively talk about speed typing for Baba, Mani tells a moving story that illustrates how Baba works on us. She says, “While He allows us the opportunity to do His work or to feel we are doing His work, He’s doing the real work on us.”
Audio, 9:22
Meherazad, India, July 25, 1987
Courtesy of the Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California
Click Here to read the transcription of this audio.
Uploaded on 8/19/2022