Wednesday 21st July 2010

THE VIRTUAL PILGRIMAGE - 2010

How the Virtual Pilgrimage came about.

I was not able to go with them when Don Stevens Beads on One String Pilgrimage went to India in January to visit the sacred places where Baba used to go and pray. At each place they recited the name of God or of the Avatar of that site for five minutes together out loud e.g., ‘Allah’ in the Ajmer Mosque, ‘Krishna’ in the Kailash temple etc. They then communed with Baba silently for a few minutes and pondered on the purpose of their journey which was to make a living conduit for Baba’s Infinite Power to bring together all religions as Beads on One String, which is of course Himself.

I had planned to join in with the pilgrims by reciting the name of the Avatar of each sacred place as they made their visits, then just before Christmas I had a very strong intuition about how the pilgrims could be helped and also how companions all over the world might be drawn in - as a result I sent an e-mail to every companion that I knew in the U.S, India, France, Australia, Serbia and England inviting them to join in with me wherever they were on those days. Together we would raise a huge tidal wave of power and love to carry the pilgrims in their work. I also asked them, whether they were going on the Pilgrimage or not, to forward the e-mail in turn to all the companions whom they knew worldwide and ask them in their turn to forward it to all the companions they knew. In that way a very large number of companions would be reached all over the world, perhaps hundreds of thousands.

I thought we might never know if this scheme had worked or not, but I was wrong. When he returned Don asked me how the virtual pilgrimage had gone and with some hesitation I related how I had experienced very great waves of power, unity and togetherness throughout the fortnight of the pilgrimage that had knocked me for six and prevented me from doing much else. Don then read out an account that he had written that used precisely the same words: power, unity and togetherness. He said it had hit him so strongly that it prevented him from speaking. Several other people worldwide have experienced the same powerful waves as the repetition of the names circled the turning world; it was most marked on the Ajmer, Manonash, Kailash and Meherabad days. The Dilwara day at the Jain temple was different, more a sense of peace. I am wondering if Baba went there so frequently because of the non-violent aspect of the Jain religion and its emphasis on the unity and equal worth of all men and creatures, an aspect that would lend itself to the coming together of religions. I hope this virtual pilgrimage may accompany many future pilgrimages.

Nora Moor

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Itinerary for Virtual Pilgrimage 2010

Dear Friends

Here is the itinerary for the pilgrimage.

As you may know the support we can give in the form of repeating the name of God or the Avatar for the site being visited for 5 minutes will correspond with the pilgrims in India. It is difficult to try and match the timing from our places all over the world. For myself I am planning to spend time before starting my working day and doing my five minutes minimum before breakfast. On Saturday 14th I may do it in several sessions.

For each place there is the day and date, the site being visited, and the divine name being repeated.

I am looking forward to it so much, having been on the tour twice myself.

With best love to you in Beloved Baba

Lol Benbow

01689 841592

Saturday 15th May 2010

Beads on One String Pilgrimage - August 2010

The ‘Beads on One String’ pilgrimage is becoming an established journey through India, following the trail that Don Stevens and other pilgrims have taken since it started in 2004. The pilgrimage includes visits to spiritual sites in India that are sacred to the traditions of Hinduism, the Jains, Buddhism and Islam.

The intention of the pilgrimage is to experience the common thread of the Oneness of God which permeates the diverse paths to the Divine. This pilgrimage is also intended to involve people of all faiths who have a sincere wish to join, in companionship, and who long for the resolution of the terrible religious conflict that is so prevalent today.

The next pilgrimage is planned for 4th - 20th August 2010.

For further details email:

> Download a more detailed desciption here

Saturday 3rd April 2010

1962 East-West Gathering 50th Anniversary Commemoration Programme at Meherabad

Avatar Meher Baba PPC Trust's Library Committee is happy to make a preliminary announcement about the 50th Anniversary Commemoration of 1962 East-West Gathering in November 2012 at Meherabad between first and fourth November 2012.  Baba lovers all over the world are kindly requested to let us know of their inclination to participate in this programme at their earliest possible convenience.  This will help us to make the necessary arrangements.

 Also, we would like to specially request those lovers who participated in 1962 East-West Gathering to kindly share their experiences of 1962 during 2012 programme by personally attending the 50th Anniversary.  Those lovers who for some reason are not able to personally attend are kindly requested to send a brief written account of their experiences for publication in the 50th Anniversary Commemoration Volume, which the library committee is planning to bring forth.  Since this is going to be a big programme, its preparations have started right in earnest and cooperation from all of you is solicited.

 The details of the programme will be posted in subsequent announcements. The venue will be Meherabad, and the dates will be between first and fourth November 2012.  The programme will include sharing of experiences by those who attended 1962 East-West Gathering, special film on East-West Gathering, play and skit, musical presentation, and exhibition.

 Please contact hill.library@ambppct.org or Urmilla and Gokaran Shrivastava, Librarians, Meherabad Hill Library of AMBPPC Trust, Post Meherabad, Ahmednagar, (MS) India 414 006, phone 0241-2548473.

Sunday, 21st June 2009

Katie Irani's Interment in Meherabad

Today, the 21st of June, the summer solstice, we went to Meherabad around 9:30 am for Katie's interment. Somehow Katie was very present and we felt her conducting the show as she would have liked. And there were crowds of people whom we had not expected to come to honour this day. We were happy that Katie's sister and niece, Shera and Dinaz, were among them.

After visiting the East Room where we arranged the flowers, we went to Beloved Baba's Samadhi and were surprised to see the crowd and feel how much Katie's love for Baba had reached out to so many.

In Beloved Baba's Samadhi we sang the Bujawe Naar Arti and said the Parvardigar Prayer, and took Baba's darshan as we would do in Mehera's time. Then we went out to garland Mehera and bow to her love for Beloved Baba, and in turn, greet Naja, Rano, Soonamasi (Khorshed's mother) and Kitty, in the order that Baba had prescribed, showering them with flowers. And then we came to the east side of the Samadhi to garland Mani...and somehow passed Goher...but we started the program as we felt it was Katie's day to hold the stage. Meanwhile Ted was playing "The Ocean of Love", a song all of us love and enjoyed hearing him sing.

The crypt was ready to receive Katie's urn which we had, on Friday evening, placed in Mandali Hall near Baba's Chair. Falu later conveyed it to the Blue Bus which I felt was very appropriate as she was one of the inmates of the Blue Bus during its tours. I remember when my sister and I would come for our holidays from school to Baba, so many times traveling with them in the Bus. All the young ones like us in those days would be sitting in the aisle, balancing ourselves on moveable folding stools (as the seats which were double on one side and single on the other were occupied by the older women), and there was a strip of iron that would swing across the aisle and connect to the opposite seat against which we could rest our backs. No matter how long the journey or hot and tired and uncomfortable it was, we enjoyed it. I would certainly have liked to sit near at a window seat to be able to see out, but the ones who were not good travelers and got car-sick had to be near the windows and so whenever we looked out we would see one or two of them with their heads out getting sick. Katie would be OK on the straight roads, but once the roads began to wind their way uphill she would start feeling sickish, but like a trooper, controlled herself and tried to forget what was happening inside by singing away as much as she could. One of the songs I well remember was "John Brown's body lies a-moldering in his grave but his soul goes marching on". And that is exactly what we felt when Katie dropped her body to be reunited with her Beloved, that her soul goes marching on. It was a time we really felt she deserved, to be freed from all the pain and suffering she was going through at the end of her life.

It had become a practice every morning in Meherazad to put on the CD player some of the Baba songs that have been sent to us. In Katie's last week or so, we often played her latest CD of Baba's songs and felt that she was definitely listening and imbibing them and remembering the early times with Baba. For us, we couldn't tell whether she was with us or in her world with Baba because she often saw Him, and Mehera, Mani, Goher, Arnavaz, and even Eruch, and we felt these experiences are what upheld her, for the Parkinson's disease that she had was progressing rapidly and everyone had to help her to sit up, eat, wash, etc. It was something that Katie never thought would happen to her in her lifetime, for she was such an independent person. That is why I felt that for her to be reunited with Baba was the freedom she deserved.

So during the program after Sarah Schall had said a few words, and I said a few words, Katie's ashes were interred in the crypt prepared by Ted with the interior decorated by Sarah. Then everybody offered flowers and garlands. It was at this time I remembered that we had not offered flowers to Goher so I turned around desperately to see someone asking me to help her offer flowers to Katie. I felt Katie telling me to offer them to Goher. So I told the lady it would make Katie very happy and so we offered them to Goher and felt happy about it.

What was so great was that we'd had, after a long period of drought in early June, two to three good rains which had cooled down the atmosphere and we did not feel the uncomfortable heat that we had expected. Back here in Meherazad I still have the feeling of how Katie was so present and had conducted the whole program. It is a joyous feeling to feel that she has gone to her well-earned rest.

Ever in Baba's Love,

Meheru - Meherazad

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Wednesday, 3 June 2009

Katie Irani returns to Baba's arms

Avatar Meher Baba's dearest Katie Irani flew into her Beloved's arms on 29/05/09 at 04:10. She passed away from heart failure in Meherazad; she was 89 years old. The cremation took place at Meherabad. Katie's ashes were interred by the east side of His Samadhi on Meherabad Hill.

Born to a family of close Baba followers in Quetta, India; Katie and her older sister Goher fell in love with Meher Baba as small children. From the time she joined Him on the Blue Bus tours in 1937, Baba gave Katie plenty of scope for her talents. She made Him laugh in funny skits and with amusing stories, entertained Him with her rich and beautiful singing, cooked for His women's ashram. Even after Baba sent her to stay in Bombay to live with Arnavaz and Nariman Dadachanji at the start of the New Life, she lived under His direct orders always, and did so until the end of her life. Katie worked at the Japanese Embassy in Bombay for 28 years and during this time she often visited Baba and the women mandali in Meherazad and at Guruprasad, Pune, where she would regale Baba with the most recent comical events from her life in which the starring role always fell to her. In 1978, when Goher opened the new building for Meher Free Dispensary, she called Katie to stay at Meherazad permanently to assist her in the clinic. And eventually Katie helped in Baba's kitchen. A job which she diligently performed despite her failing health till the very end.

Katie's vivacious and outgoing personality, wonderful sense of humour (showcased in her hilarious ashram stories), sharing her delicious recipes both personally and through her book, COOKING WITH KATIE, and heart-stirring singing of Baba's Name and songs have delighted generations of pilgrims at Meherazad ever since. We, her Meherazad family, salute our dear Katie's total dedication to her Beloved Avatar, and her untiring service to Him and His close ones.

AVATAR MEHER BABA KI JAI !!!

Meherazad Family

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