9902 Sulphur Mountain Road
Ojai, CA 93023-9375
Phone: 805-640-0000
Email: info@mehermount.org
Wednesday-Sunday: Noon to 5:00 p.m.
Monday & Tuesday: Closed
Buzz & Ginger Glasky
Sam Ervin, Preident
Ron Holsey, Vice President
Ursula Reinhart, Treasurer
Jim Whitson, Director
Richard Mannis, Director
Margaret Magnus, Secretary
Anecdotes, activities and stories about Meher Mount - past, present and future.
Filtering by Tag: Avatar Meher Baba
“Feeing so blessed as Baba’s guest” are lyrics from “Oh Meher Mount,” an ode to Meher Mount written and performed by Mark Trichka and Lisa Brande. The drone photography by Ben Hoffman captures the beauty and openness of Meher Mount to complement the music and create this special video.
Read MoreMerwan Dubash shares stories about his childhood and teen years of being with Avatar Meher Baba.
Through Merwan's stories that describe simple acts of reading the newspaper aloud to Meher Baba or playing card games with Him, we get a glimpse of the intimate daily contact with God in human form.
Take a moment now to watch these videos that make you feel as if you are in Meher Baba’s presence.
Read MoreThe following story is about drilling a well and how it represents faith versus conviction. Eruch Jessawala, one of Meher Baba’s closest disciples, frequently told this story to pilgrims visiting Meher Baba’s home in Meherazad, India.
Read MoreWhen Meher Mount received the gift of a sadra worn by Avatar Meher Baba, Sam L. Ervin, board president, was moved to write this poem.
A sadra (also sadhra) is a thin muslin shirt traditionally worn by Zoroastrians. Meher Baba adapted the sadra into an ankle-length garment which He regularly wore.
Read MoreMeher Baba has been a touchstone for me since 1974 – an authoritative guide on my soul’s map during my almost constant travels. For the past almost 50 years, as my travels increased and my spiritual aspirations deepened, Meher Baba continued to be a constant marker for my life’s GPS.
At each important turn, He has played a part, created direct routes, sometimes detours – all usually without my knowing it had been done until I had reached my “destination.”
My destination this year in 2023 has been an unexpected return to Meher Mount as a temporary caretaker.
Read More“When Beloved Baba walked this earth as the beautiful God-Man, He left His imprint in everything and everyone He touched. The dishes that He ate from and the cups that He drank from, the clothes that He wore, the games that He played with… these tangible links to Him come to us today suffused with His fragrance.
“Baba’s sadra, His alphabet boards, His precious hair – each is a unique and irreplaceable link to His human form.”
Read MoreThere are three kinds of certainties — Yakin — regarding the existence of God. They are:
(a) Intellectual certainty = ilmul Yakin
(b) Sighted certainty = ainol Yakin
(c) Realized certainty = haque Yakin
"Let your love flow on ceaselessly,
like a stream down the mountain on its way to the Ocean.
Obstructions there will be, of pleasures, of pains.
Read MoreThe fact that one cannot live without water means water is life. In the Sanskrit language this is literally so. Another word for water is ‘life’. Jivanum.
Read MoreMeher Baba spelled out, “Within you is dirty water too, and I have also to take it out, to make room for the fresh water of my love. Thus, in different ways, I am taking out the dirty water from everyone. I am training you, so that you may one day dive deep into my Ocean and obtain the treasure.”
Read MoreWith gestures… you know when Baba would look into your eyes and do the gestures. Though I was a very little child, I used to understand Baba because his eyes used to speak to our hearts.
He tells me, “Do you know how much trouble I have to take to make this water?”
I said, “No Baba, I don’t know.”
And then he tells me…”
Read More“The spiritual meaning of water lies in its reflection of the human spirit and the interconnection of all creation.
“We are all aware of the necessity of water. From keeping us alive to quenching our thirst, to washing the dirt from our bodies and our food, not to mention its role in producing that food, our survival depends on water.
“But what does such a valuable life force mean spiritually? Is there any spiritual essence or spiritual meaning of water?”
Read More“Hell, fire and damnation” is how co-founder and lifetime caretaker Agnes Baron (1907-1994) described her life keeping Meher Mount for Avatar Meher Baba.
Agnes, a fearless and fiery woman, dedicated 48 years of her life to making sure that Meher Mount would be here for Meher Baba, today and in the future.
Sam L. Ervin, board president and long-time friend of Agnes Baron, shares some specific incidents in Agnes’ life where she fought to keep Meher Mount. Sam spoke at the 2022 Anniversary Sahavas commemorating Meher Baba’s visit on August 2, 1956.
Take a moment now to watch this video that portrays Agnes Baron’s fierce determination, her unvarnished view of events, and her dedication.
Sam L. Ervin at Meher Mount, 2022 Anniversary Sahavas
By Margaret Magnus
One of Sam’s first visits to Meher Mount was on May 19, 1968, to pull weeds on a special day of silence called for by Meher Baba. He continued to visit to pull more weeds, re-roof Baba’s House, cleanup after two fires, chop wood, carry water, clean the pool, and serve Meher Mount. His teen years of hard physical labor on a cattle ranch in Porterville have come in handy.
Then, inspired and encouraged by Agnes to go into social services, he got a Master’s in Social Work in administration and planning in 1975. Sam went on to be the founder and CEO of the non-profit SCAN Health Plan.
There he pioneered an innovative senior program, which required securing six acts of Congress. A key achievement was keeping more than 20,000 frail seniors living safely at home instead of nursing homes. By the time he retired in 2002, the company had grown from 1 employee to 640 employees and served 55,000 seniors in four counties.
After his retirement, Sam returned to Meher Mount to once again pull weeds. By then there was a non-profit board, and he has served as president for the past 20 years, relying on his planning, managing, and CEO skills working in non-profit organizations.
Sam’s focus is continuing Agnes’ promise to hold Meher Mount for Meher Baba, even if it’s through “hell, fire and damnation.”
When Meher Mount asked for memories and stories of Baba’s Tree, Leslie Callarman shared the following:
I gratefully sat under Baba’s Tree one day, thankful for the blessing of being able to physically be in a place where I knew Baba had been.
I imagined that the area would be eternally supercharged with the Divinity that He channeled through His physical form.
Read MoreI was visiting with my two young boys. Baba’s Tree was really inviting, and they both started to climb the limbs on the tree. Then I noticed all the flowers at the base of the tree and thought maybe my boys shouldn’t disturb anything.
I started to tell them to climb down from the tree, but before I would even say the words, Meher Baba’s face appeared to me (kind of see-through and sparkly like) about a foot from mine.
Read MoreWe were all standing around under Baba’s Tree, almost in a circle. We prayed and said our “Jai Babas,” and before I knew it, Fred Stankus started to sing “Mind, Mind, Stupid Mind" [formally, “Manonash Calypso”].
I was new to Meher Baba then and had never heard Fred sing this song. I laughed, and then I felt all the words in my heart. Even though it wasn't a typical spiritual song, it ran through the branches and, I think, all the way to the ocean.
Read MoreBif Soper, a long-time resident volunteer in Meherabad, India, the home of Meher Baba's Tomb Shrine, shared the following perspective on thanking Meher Baba based on personal conversations with Meherwan Jessawala (1930-2016). Meherwan and his entire family were deeply devoted to Meher Baba starting in the mid-1920s.
After reading Bif's story, Wayne Myers, one of Meher Mount's communications editors, sent this passage from Lord Meher online (pg. 4184) regarding an exchange between Meher Baba and Hoshang Bharucha in 1957.
Sam Ervin, a long-time volunteer for Meher Mount, sent the following based on an interchange involving Mani S. Irani (1918-1996), Meher Baba’s sister. When she was 13-years-old, Mani went to live with the women disciples in Meher Baba’s ashram.
Read MoreIt was a foggy day when Avatar Meher Baba arrived at Meher Mount on August 2, 1956. “It wasn’t clear. You couldn’t see out across the vistas,” remembered Leatrice Shaw Johnston who was at Meher Mount that day.
“The steep hill of Meher Mount was shrouded in mist as our bus climbed tortuously upward, and when we stepped out we saw, instead of the celebrated view of the Ojai Valley, only a rolling sea of fog, recalled Filis Frederick.
Later, with everyone gathered around Him in the ‘Baba Room’ of the guesthouse, Meher Baba gestured toward the outdoors and said…
Read MoreOne afternoon, Jean Adriel approached Agnes Baron, who was renting a cottage at the New Life Center at the time, and said, “We are going out for a drive this afternoon, looking for a place, would you like to come?”
In 1944, Jean Adriel and Alexander Markey had established the 500-acre New Life Center in La Crescenta, CA, which was dedicated to Avatar Meher Baba.
Then sometime in 1946, Jean received word from Meher Baba that He wished for them to relocate to a place farther from the Los Angeles area, somewhere one or two hours outside a big city.
Read MoreAfter Avatar Meher Baba’s visit to Meher Mount on August 2, 1956, He was scheduled to to continue His around-the-world trip and go to San Francisco next with a group of His followers.
The following is the interchange during His visit – as told by Agnes – between her and Meher Baba about her intention to drive to San Francisco the following day.
“Baba,” I said, “I am going to drive up in the station wagon. A lot of people have given me books to take.”
“No!” Baba said, “You have to come with Me in the plane.”
Read More