How Meher Baba & Agnes Baron Influenced My Life
On Sunday, September 24, 2017, Sam L. Ervin, chairman of the Board at Meher Mount, will share stories on the influence of Avatar Meher Baba and Agnes Baron, lifetime caretaker of Meher Mount, in his life.
The program is at the Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California, 1214 S. Van Ness Avenue, Los Angeles. The program is from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and is open to all.
Surrendering to the Avatar
In October 1968, Sam Ervin was living in Santa Barbara, CA, and sharing a house with several followers of Avatar Meher Baba. He was expecting a job offer that would require him to move to San Francisco. When that offer did not materialize, Sam looked up at the photo of Meher Baba over the fireplace and said, “Okay, Baba, I give up. I’m hooked.”
AVATAR MEHER BABA in a photo that was similiar to the one over the fireplace where Sam Ervin lived in 1968 when he looked up and said, "Okay, Baba, I give up. I'm hooked."
Nine months earlier, Sam had first heard of Meher Baba, and within two weeks found himself visiting Meher Mount in Ojai, CA, for the first time. From there, he developed a life-long relationship with Agnes Baron, the caretaker at Meher Mount. Sam considers her a mentor.
AGNES BARON and Sam Ervin dancing at Sam's wedding to Margaret Magnus in 1979.
For those nine months, Sam wrestled with accepting Meher Baba as his Master. This moment of acceptance was a pivotal point in Sam’s life. It marked the end of his searching and the beginning of his adventure of how to live in relation to Meher Baba.
It marked the end of his doubts about Meher Baba as the God-man and the beginning of how to perceive Him more and more as the Beloved of Beloveds and as the Supreme Truth.
Events Inspired by Meher Baba & Agnes Baron
Sam will share how Meher Baba and Agnes Baron guided his life and the many choices he made.
- Moving to Santa Barbara in 1967 to help build a boat and sail around the world and instead finding Meher Baba and embarking on a much greater adventure.
- Agnes and Baba getting Sam involved in social work, leading to drug counseling and living and working with mentally and emotionally disturbed children.
- Getting a graduate degree (MSW) in Social Work.
- Working in aging services, founding SCAN health Plan and being CEO for 24 years.
- The blessing of a wonderful wife and daughter.
- Doing physical labor at Meher Mount over the many years and eventually becoming a board member and president since 2003.
Throughout, there have been frequent reminders of the constancy of Baba’s nazar (glance) and His compassion.