“Just a little and Baba helps”
Ali Akbar Shapurzaman, known as Aloba, first met Baba at the Prem Ashram spiritual school in 1927. The only student from the school to become a resident Mandali member, Aloba spent his life in service to Baba. In this excerpt of a talk at Mandali Hall, Aloba gives advice on doing Baba work and the process of sharing Baba’s love and name with others.
Audio, 7:55
Mandali Hall, Meherazad, India, August 4, 1987
Courtesy of Mandali Hall Talks
For the full recording, click here
Uploaded 8/15/2023
“I’m thinking and meditating on Baba all the time”
Mehera Irani was Baba’s closest female disciple, of whom He said, “She is my very breath without which I cannot live.” In this excerpt of a conversation with Mehera in 1976, she shares with us a detailed account of how she remembers Baba throughout her day, providing us a shining example of how simple it can be to remember the Beloved when you see Him in everything.
Audio, 12:45
Mehera’s Verandah, Meherazad, India, March 6, 1976
Courtesy of Mandali Hall Talks
For the full recording, click here and search DF-001B
“Can you imagine the force that it will generate?”
In this brief audio recording from Mandali Hall, Baba’s sister Mani reflects on the unique beauty and power of Baba children. As Meher Center prepares for its annual Youth Sahavas, Mani’s words feel particularly poignant as she says, “[The children] at one time would all be teenagers together, they’ll all be grown people together. Can you imagine the force that it will generate?. . . I love to think of that.”
Audio, 3:38
Mandali Hall, Meherazad, India, August 8, 1987
Courtesy of Mandali Hall Talks
Uploaded 7/20/2023
“Obedience to the Master is literal”
In his trademark style, Padri talks of His beloved with a might that only one trained in humility by his Master can command. In this audio, Padri is touring pilgrims around lower Meherabad. He shares stories about the Jhopdi, the table, Baba’s silence, the Manzil-e-Meem days and Baba’s arrival in Meherabad. As always, he reminds us of Baba’s stature as a king and that of His lovers as the Master’s slaves.
Audio accompanied by slideshow, 52:35
Meherabad, India
Courtesy of AMBCSC Archives and Meher Baba Library
Uploaded 7/14/2023
“The magnitude of His bounty”
Mani tells a story about Baba and His silence. One day at Meherazad, Baba sat on Eruch’s bed and asked him to take down a message about the breaking of Baba’s silence that was to be sent out in a circular to all His lovers. Baba simultaneously doodled a picture of two fish and a bird on a pad of paper lying nearby. Then He made a statement about His silence that Mani would never forget.
Audio, 6:08
Mandali Hall, Meherazad, India, July 1, 1994
Courtesy of Mandali Hall Talks
Full talk at MandaliHall.org, https://www.mandalihall.org/mani-940701
Uploaded 7/7/2023
“A blessed hypocrisy”
In this snippet of a chat in Mandali Hall, a pilgrim reads out a poem by Rumi entitled “The Man Who Looked Back on His Way to Hell.” This sparks a conversation about Baba’s statement that God never forgives hypocrisy—with Eruch telling how Baba, in His compassion, became a hypocrite Himself!
Audio, 8:49
Mandali Hall, Meherazad, India, 1980s
Courtesy of Mandali Hall Talks
Full talk at MandaliHall.org, number EF-006A
Uploaded 6/23/23
“We were like sardines packed in a tin”
In December of 1938, Meher Baba and a group of His followers set out on a series of overland tours across India and Sri Lanka, in what came to be known as the Blue Bus Tours. Katie Irani, one of Baba’s Eastern mandali, was invited by Baba to join the tours when she was only 18 years old. With all her usual humor and charisma, Katie shares with us tidbits of what life was like on the Blue Bus.
Audio, 5:57
Mandali Hall, Meherazad, India, November 30, 1999
Courtesy of Mandali Hall Talks
Uploaded 6/15/2023
“I also know your thoughts you will think tomorrow”
In this snippet of a longer recording, Adi K. Irani talks about being honest with Baba. He shares with us an incident from his early days at Manzil-e-Meem in the 1920s, when Baba caught Adi and Dr. Ghani lying to Him. He uses this story to illustrate the futility of lying to God, when He knows our minds and hearts better than we ever could.
Audio, 5:14
United Kingdom, July 9, 1976
Courtesy of Mandali Hall Talks
Full talk at MandaliHall.org, number KG-068B
Uploaded 6/9/2023
“One’s love should be like Mira’s love”
During an afternoon at Meherazad, Baba’s beloved Mehera tells the story of Mirabai, a lover of Krishna. She describes the constant, whole-hearted devotion that eventually brought Mirabai to the arms of her Beloved—and then talks about how to give Baba our own love.
Audio, 17:34
Meherazad, India, 1972
Courtesy of Mandali Hall Talks
Full talk at MandaliHall.org, number PA-002A
Updated 5/19/2023
“I will have a good night’s sleep leaving everything to Baba”
In this recording, Eruch delves into the question of pleasing Baba as a business person, and how to handle the elements of dishonesty that are often unavoidable when striving for success. He stresses that Baba wants us to succeed, that He would be displeased by one who did not put all their efforts into making smart financial decisions, even at the cost of someone else losing. But that also, it is all illusion, and one must keep their conscience clear and their focus on God.
Audio, 12:35
Mandali Hall, Meherazad, India, February 22, 1981
Courtesy of Mandali Hall Talks
Full talk at MandaliHall.org, number KG-157A
Uploaded 5/12/2023