Meher Baba Melbourne
News - Queensland
2015
Pratap and Swaroop Ahir from Pune, India will fly into the Sunshine Coast from Sydney
on Thursday 1st October to participate in the Spring Sahavas programme at Avatar's Abode.
They depart for Christchurch, NZ on Monday 12th October.
Contact David Hobson for further details - 0401 035 083
2015 Avatar’s Abode Spring Sahavas (3rd – 5th October – Labor Day long weekend)
Our special guest for this year’s Spring Sahavas at Avatar’s Abode is Pratap Ahir, who will accompanied on his travels by his son Swaroop.
Pratap was a founding member of the Poona Bhajan mandali, as Baba himself referred to this group of singers and musicians led by Madhusudan.
Many of Pratap’s memories are associated with the numerous occasions this group performed before Baba at Sahavases and at the intimate gatherings with Baba at Guruprasad during the summer months in the late 50s and 1960s.
Besides entertaining us with stories from his times with Baba, Pratap and Swaroop will entertain us – Pratap on harmonium and Swaroop on tabla – with some of the ghazals the Poona Bhajan mandali performed before Baba.
Pratap and Swaroop will also be visiting the Baba families in Melbourne, Sydney and Christchurch.
To learn more about Pratap and his long association with Baba click on the Spring Sahavas link on the Avatar’s Abode website: www.avatarsabode.com.au.
This Sahavas promises to be a very intimate sharing of Baba’s love through the medium of stories and music.
Jai Meher Baba,
David Hobson – on behalf of the Spring Sahavas Committee
E-mail: gdhobson@ine.com.au Ph: 07 5442 1220 Mobile: 0401 035 083
Dear all, a huge Loving thanks to each and every one of you who have been quietly and thoughtfully doing so much to help myself and dear Pete, Ngaere, Mehera, Sharm and Divya and Ashie. We totally miss our beloved Sam from being in the centre of our lives. I know so many of you too are feeling this loss as well but still you kept ..and keep...going out of your way with a hundred lovely kindnesses, chores, extra work and loving efforts.
Sam spent his last hour of so of life listening to his most favourite musician of all, Paul Simon. Sam laughed freely and with abandon in that way only Sam could when he enjoyed a sublime note or harmony of Paul Simon's. How these words have been going round in my head as I marvel at how Baba has been very generous in sheltering me and the family within an outpouring of love and brightening up His Abode to be even more beautiful with all this love under these sunny skies and fresh breezes.
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry
Jai Meher Baba, it's a wonderful gift from Baba to take this next step on the long road to the Beloved with you all.
Gärd xxx
Sam Saunders
Born : 18th September 1949
Died : 22nd February 2015
Avatar’s Abode Anniversary 2015
For the June Anniversary celebration of Baba’s 1958 visit, the Anniversary Committee again will welcome suggestions and proposals from near and far.
The first Planning Meeting of the Avatar’s Abode Anniversary Committee will be held Tuesday 17 February 5.30 p.m. Reception Centre, Avatar’s Abode. Your input is welcome by email or by attendance.
This will be the 57th celebration and will be commemorated from Friday 5 June to Monday 8 June (Australia wide public holiday).
The Anniversary Committee is a subcommittee of the Avatar’s Abode Trust and has a lot of autonomy and many decisions are to be made.
All are very welcome to attend and as always many workers are needed. A lot of the required planning work does not require attendance at meetings. New attendees are especially welcome, as this brings new ideas.
If you cannot attend our first meeting please advise if you would like to receive copies of minutes, or dates of future meetings. Also, please advise if you are willing to work behind the scenes.
Our 5.30 p.m. meetings always have a strict finish time of 7.00 p.m. Minutes of meetings will be available on the desk in the Reception Centre.
Denis Carmody and I have jointly accepted the Trust’s request for us to co-chair the planning committee.
Bernard Bruford and Denis Carmody, 7 February 2015
Email: aa2015anniversary@westnet.com.au
2014
Dr. Allan Cohen
Dear Friends,
Please find below the invitation and program for the Spring Sahavas 4th – 6th October.
Please note that Saturday and Sunday’s lunches are bring-a-plate-to-share.
After lunch, for those wanting an extra treat, our baristas, Kaelin and Ira, will be providing coffee and home-made cakes ( $3.00 and $2.00 respectively) with the proceeds going towards the running costs of the Sahavas.
The Sydney Baba lovers have organized a public event at Sydney University for Allan Cohen and for your interest we’ve attached the flyer relating to this event.
A reminder to of the 60th Anniversary celebration of The Three Incredible Weeks with Bill Le Page this week-end.
Jai Baba,
David Hobson – on behalf of the Spring Sahavas Committee
Spring Sahavas Invitation and Program
Spring Sahavas guest Dr Allan Cohen
Event: Avatar’s Abode Spring Sahavas
When: 4th, 5th and 6th October (Labor Day long week-end)
Guest: Dr. Allan Cohen
Allan learned of Meher Baba in 1964 as a member of an LSD exploration group led by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (now Baba Ram Dass).
When Allan was just finishing his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Harvard Baba asked him, Robert Dreyfuss, Rick Chapman and other young Baba-lovers to let America know that drug use was not an authentic path to spirituality.
He was in direct communication with Baba from 1965 through 1968. Encouraged to spread Baba’s message of love and truth, Allan delivered over 1,000 lectures and media appearances across America, Europe, Asia and Australia. He attended the first Amartithi in India in early February of 1969, the only Westerner in attendance who never met Meher Baba in person.
Now living in Washington DC, Allan has continued his work with Baba groups and individuals.
Allan’s presentations will feature perspectives on the psychological and experiential challenges of Meher Baba’s path and the practical implications of the New Humanity, all with a touch of humour, classic stories, the encouragement of controversial questions and lots of interactive discussion.
Program
Friday 3rd October (Baba’s House)
7.30pm – 9.00pm An Informal Evening with Allan Cohen – Allan will talk in Baba’s House of how he was drawn into the Avatar’s orbit and those wild and wonderful times in the 1960s when he, Robert Dreyfuss and Rick Chapman were spreading Baba’s anti-drug message across the U.S.A.
Saturday 4th October (Baba’s House)
10.00am – Prayers and Arti in Baba’s Room
10.30am – Hymn to God the Man from Francis Brabazon’s The Word at World’s End – The Wine Shop Singers – Part 1
10.45am – 12.15pm Adventures of a Clueless Aspirant: Lessons Learned (early stories of discovery, Baba-work and personal humiliation) (1 hour 30 minutes)
12.30noon – 2.00pm Bring a plate to share lunch in the Anniversary kitchen. Barista coffee will be available for $3 and home-made cakes for $2.
2.15pm – 2.30pm Hymn to God the Man – Part 2 – The Wine Shop Singers
2.30pm – 4.00pm Drugs, Intoxication and Spiritual Implications (Meher Baba’s orientation toward medical and recreational use of psychoactive substances) (1 hour 30 minutes)
4.00pm – 4.30pm Afternoon tea
4.45pm – 5.45pm Meher Baba 101: Core Principles (interpreting Baba’s “theology,” current controversies, future challenges and a one-minute version of “God Speaks + Discourses) (1 hour)
Sunday 5th October (Baba’s House)
10.00am – Prayers and Arti in Baba’s Room
10.30am – 12.00noon Implications of the New Humanity and Descendent Spirituality (practical implications for Baba-lovers and Baba-work) (1 hour 30 minutes)
12.15noon – 1.45pm Bring a plate to share lunch in the Anniversary kitchen. Barista coffee will be available for $3 and home-made cakes for $2.
2.00pm – 3.30pm Meher Baba's Practical Mysticism (applying divine principles to everyday life, reducing the ego while functioning in the world) (1 hour 30 minutes)
3.30pm – 4.00pm Afternoon tea
4.15pm – 5.15pm Handling Psychological Challenges on Meher Baba’s Path (personal and interpersonal conflicts, spiritual experience and spiritual growth) (1 hour)
5.15pm – Australian Arti
Monday 6th October (Baba’s House)
9.30am – The Beginnings of Sufism in Australia – Michael Le Page
– Sufism Re-Oriented in the USA – Allan Cohen
11.00am Morning Tea
The morning tea concludes the formal part of the Spring Sahavas
6.00pm Monday evening Bring-a-plate-to-share meal and social evening at Tony and Charmaine Foley’s home at 12 Dalzell Court, Nambour (Ph: 5441 2428; Charmaine: 0411 880 375; Tony: 0477 282 479). All welcome.
Sahavas Children’s Activities:
Art and craft tables and materials will be set up in The Shed during the Sahavas. A table tennis table and badminton court will also be set up. It is the responsibility of parents to ensure that their children are supervised at all times.
Spring Sahavas Donations:
To help cover the cost of running the Sahavas, we suggest an attendance donation of $20 per adult, per day, or $40 for the weekend. You can make your donation during the Sahavas.
Note: Allan arrives in Brisbane early morning on Tuesday 30th September and will be staying in Judith’s cottage on Avatar’s Abode. Tuesday and Wednesday have been set aside as rest days for him.
We look forward to seeing you at the Sahavas. Jai Meher Baba!
Avatar’s Abode Spring Sahavas – Saturday October 4th – Monday October 6th (Labor Day long weekend)
Our guest speaker will be Dr Allan Cohen.
Allan learned of Meher Baba in 1964 as a member of an LSD exploration group led by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (now Baba Ram Dass).
When Allan was just finishing his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Harvard Baba asked him, Robert Dreyfuss, Rick Chapman and other young Baba-lovers to let America know that drug use was not an authentic path to spirituality.
He was in direct communication with Baba from 1965 through 1968. Encouraged to spread Baba’s message of love and truth, Allan delivered over 1,000 lectures and media appearances across America, Europe, Asia and Australia. He attended the first Amartithi in India in early February of 1969, the only Westerner in attendance who never met Meher Baba in person.
Now living in Washington DC, Allan has continued his work with Baba groups and individuals.
Allan’s presentations will feature perspectives on the psychological and experiential challenges of Meher Baba’s path and the practical implications of the New Humanity, all with a touch of humour, classic stories, the encouragement of controversial questions and lots of interactive discussion.
We are looking forward to welcoming Allan for what will undoubtedly be a thought-provoking Sahavas.
Allan will also be visiting the Baba families in Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand.
Jai Meher Baba,
David Hobson - on behalf of the Spring Sahavas Committee
Dear Baba Family in Australia
I am writing to you on behalf of the recently formed Archives Committee at Avatar’s Abode, in fact I am writing to you on behalf of all Baba lovers. We have a pressing duty to preserve the history of the Avatar’s involvement with Australia. History shows how easily the truth gets lost.
We now have the facilities at the Abode to preserve historical records and objects in a secure temperature and humidity controlled environment. We also are able to make copies of documents and letters to preserve them electronically. This conservation work is being done on a large scale at Meherabad and we have the responsibility to make an effort here for the future. Meher Baba spent a great deal of time and effort on his lovers in Australia. The group of His lovers who had direct contact with him worked hard to establish groups and centres as they realized the great significance of the new Avataric age. We must keep the records so that the past is not forgotten, distorted or for that matter varnished over and idealised.
We realise that many things from the past are being kept as treasured possessions but as people grow old and die it has been so easy for things to be dispersed and lost or damaged. All records of the early trail blazers who had contact with Baba are valuable. If you have Baron von Frankenberg’s begging bowl on your sideboard or Baba’s sadra under your bed we would really like to know! Letters and documents and also audio-visual material can be stored here in archival conditions or can be sent for expert copying and then returned to the owner. If you know anyone who may have such things encourage them not to procrastinate.
Sorry to write at such length but the task is important and urgent. Please contact me (tiangeof@gmail.com) or my co-convenor David Bowling (david.bowling@westnet.com.au) if you have material or know someone who may have something and who would be willing to be contacted.
Geoff Gunther
On behalf of Avatar’s Abode Archive Committee
