"This afternoon, you all have a chance to laugh and feel relaxed." - Avatar Meher Baba

Your Friday photo...

“Avatar Meher Baba’s presence is very much imbued in Meher Mount’s landscape providing that sense of relaxation He felt in 1956,” said photographer and board member Agnes Montano.

“On a more tangible level, that peaceful feeling is also evident in Meher Mount’s many contrasts.

“This image of the mighty oak and the wildflower at sunset celebrates the diverse and contrasting beauty found in nature,” she continued.

“It is where both large and sturdy trees and the delicate flowers contribute to the overall landscape and harmony of Meher Mount.”

“This afternoon, you all have a chance to laugh and feel relaxed. Baba also has a chance to relax here for five minutes.

You had no chance at New York; in Myrtle Beach, little chance; in Los Angeles, none.

But here today, we feel relaxed, happy. I come down to your level so that we can laugh and be free together; but do not forget at the same time that I am the Highest of the High.”

— Avatar Meher Baba, Meher Mount 1956

---

Source

Bhau Kalchuri, Lord Meher: The Biography of the Avatar of the Age Meher Baba, Online Edition, pg. 4066, accessed December 26, 2024. (c)Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust.

---

"...one can no more deal with people without love than one can handle bees without care."

Your Friday photo…

Photographer Juan Mendez focused his camera on the flowers at Meher Mount and captured this close-up of a bee.

“The whole trouble lies in that people think that there are conditions excluding the necessity of love in their intercourse with man, but such conditions do not exist. Things may be treated without love; one may chop wood, make bricks, forge iron without love, but one can no more deal with people without love than one can handle bees without care.”

— Leo Tolstoy, Resurrection

---

This quote is from Resurrection, a novel by the Russian writer Count Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), also the author of War and Peace.

Nadia Tolstoy (1884-1946), a close follower of Avatar Meher Baba, was the daughter-in-law of Leo Tolstoy. Nicknamed Nadine by Meher Baba, she was married to Leo’s son Ilya Tolstoy, also an author.

Upon meeting Meher Baba, Ilya asked, “How can one love when there is so much evil in the world?”

“You have to take love into your heart,” Meher Baba responded.

Ilya died a year and half later, and Nadine joined Meher Baba in India to live in the ashram.

---

"Birdsong brings relief to my longing..." - Rumi

Your Friday photo…

Photographer Juan Mendez captured an Anna’s Hummingbird in flight just outside the Visitor Center at Meher Mount.

“Birdsong brings relief
to my longing
I’m just as ecstatic as they are,
but with nothing to say!
Please, universal soul, practice
some song or something through me!”

— Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī

---

This poem is from Birdsong: Fifty-Three Short Poems of Rumi translated by Coleman Barks.

In 13th-century Persia, where Rumi lived, music and poetry were central to religious expression. Birdsong, in particular, held symbolic significance, representing the yearnings of the soul.

Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī, also known as Rumi, was a poet and Islamic scholar. Avatar Meher Baba enjoyed listening to Rumi's poetry and praised him as one of the greatest minds of all mystical and spiritual literature.

---

"I'm more of a sunset admirer..."

Your Friday photo…

Bing Heckman, volunteer and Meher Mount founding board member, spent a week as a temporary caretaker this summer. Here are his musings and Friday photo…

---

“Sunrise. I look out the window, but I’m not getting up yet. I’m more of a sunset admirer. That said, the sunrise exudes serenity and awakening.”

— Bing Heckman, Founding Board Member

---

When I arrived, it struck me that Meher Mount is very well cared for and maintained. I also saw that it’s teeming with life. 

There are many bird species, no doubt attracted by the birdfeeders and birdbaths. All are busy scurrying about landing, feeding, gathering, and dispersing. Some of the hummingbirds chase others off, defending a given feeder.

The lizards, butterflies, bees, and squirrels are also flying or running about. 

One is drawn to take time to listen to the sounds of the birds and a wind chime and to feel the gentle breeze. Maybe just sit and watch a hummingbird leisurely feed at the feeder.  

Breaking away from my routines at home, a quiet, leisurely pace emerges. At first, not sure what to do, but the day unfolds.

Time to think and reflect without distraction.

A new rhythm of the day comes about.

After a few days, one sees that the colorful California Orioles, crows, and other animals have their daily rhythms and routines, too.

Birds begin stirring at sunrise. After being active and a bit ruckus all day, they settle in about a half hour before sunset. There is quiet, but for an occasional chirp. 

Sunrise, I look out the window, but I’m not getting up yet. I’m more of a sunset admirer. That said, the sunrise exudes serenity and awakening.

There is no neglecting practical matters, just allowing a bit more space in between, managing to sit, listen, and see what is around. 

Is this a spiritual place? Everywhere is. This place just helps one see that. 

~Bing Heckman, Founding Board Member & Temporary Caretaker

---

"Each place its own psyche." - David Abrams

Your Friday photo…

Temporary caretaker Juan Mendez photographed this bobcat at Meher Mount practically posing for its closeup.

“I thought about what the presence of the bobcat represents at Meher Mount,” Juan said, “and I feel the following quote from American ecologist and philosopher, David Abram, sums it up.”

“Each place its own mind, its own psyche!

Oak, Madrone, Douglas fir, red-tailed hawk, serpentine in the sandstone, a certain scale to the topography, drenching rains in the winters, fog off-shore in the summers, salmon surging up the streams - all these together make up a particular state of mind, a place-specific intelligence shared by all the humans that dwell therein, but also by the coyotes yapping in those valleys, by the bobcats and the ferns and the spiders, by all beings who live and make their way in that zone.

Each place its own psyche. Each sky its own blue.”

— David Abram, American Ecologist and Philosopher

---

It was early afternoon on a warm summer day when my wife Agnes Montano detected a bobcat crossing swiftly across the field towards the Topa Topa Patio at Meher Mount.

Bobcats are solitary and elusive. In the past we had only been able to get a quick glimpse of them at Meher Mount.

We were delighted when we saw this one take refuge under the shade outside the patio.

The bobcat sat there long enough for me to go and grab my camera and photograph it from the veranda of the Visitor Center.

The bobcat was alert, perhaps looking for its next meal, but simply untroubled.

She raised her lovely face, and I snapped this shot that captures her beauty in all its magnificence.

~Juan Mendez, Temporary Caretaker

---

"It was my honor to capture the natural beauty."

Your Friday photo…

Danny Mobed visited Meher Mount for the first time for the Anniversary Sahavas this August. His wife Goher (Kharas) Mobed was the special guest speaker.

During his visit, he walked around the property and took this photo. Here are some of his impressions.

---

“The colors and depth of view changed with the time of day as the sun rose above our heads. Truly spectacular.

It was my honor to capture the natural beauty.”

— Danny Mobed, First-time Visitor

---

Our trip to Meher Mount was very fulfilling and special, with spiritual beckoning and quiet times, a true place for reflection and soul searching.

This place is graced with spectacular views.

The visual effects captivated my attention in many ways. Thus, this picture.

The dark shade of the island mountains are in the background with a close-up of white flowers adorned by trees on either side to encase the view.

The colors and depth of view changed with the time of day as the sun rose above our heads. Truly spectacular.

It was my honor to capture the natural beauty. Truly, a trip to remember.

~Danny Mobed, Visitor

---

"I grabbed my phone just as the last condor rose..."

Your Friday photo…

A rare California Condor in flight off Avatar’s Point at Meher Mount. Photo by Ray Johnston, Caretaker.

On May 26th, four California Condors were lifting off from the field below Baba’s Tree.

I ran and grabbed my phone and took this photo just as the last condor rose from Avatar’s Point into the fog.

Two of the condors then flew to the white-domed Doppler radar tower at the top of Sulphur Mountain and perched there.

It just so happened that a good friend of mine, who is an occasional volunteer at the Sespe Condor Sanctuary was visiting Meher Mount that day. My buddy drove up near the tower and watched the condors for awhile.

These condors were easily distinguishable from the smaller and more common vultures that frequent the area. Their size and flight behaviors are evident when seen close up.

~Ray Johnston, Caretaker

---

Why Seeing a California Condor Is So Rare

Seeing a California Condor is rare because there are so few of them.

Thousands of years ago, California condors lived in many parts of North America, from California and other Pacific states to Texas, Florida and New York. By the late 1900s, the remaining condors were limited to the mountains in Southern California.

The California Condor is the largest flying land bird in North America. Its wingspan stretches nearly 10 feet from tip to tip.

The condor:

• Weighs up to 26 pounds.

• Can soar and glide on air currents at speeds up to 50 MPH.

• Can soar as high as 15,000 feet.

• Can travel up to 100 miles in a day.

• Is an opportunistic scavenger that feeds on large, dead mammals.

• Lives up to 60 years old in the wild.

• Is sexually mature at 5 to 7 years old and mates for life.

• Produces one egg every other year.

• Parents share incubation and feeding responsibilities.

California Condors are one of the most endangered species in the world. They were placed on the federal endangered species list in 1967.

In 1987, a controversial decision was made to bring all remaining condors (22 individuals) into captivity. At that time, it was uncertain if the California Condor would ever soar again in the wild. Through the efforts of many organizations and individuals, reintroduction of California Condors began in 1992. In 2022, there were 561 condors in the wild and in captivity.

The Sespe Condor Sanctuary in the Los Padres National Forest — about eight miles from Meher Mount — is a primary condor reintroduction site in California.

With the ability to fly more than 150 miles in a single day, and a penchant for curiosity, the California condor is particularly susceptible to human development.

It depends on large swaths of land for foraging and is exposed to high levels of environmental toxins due to its scavenging behavior.

In addition, its characteristics that do not allow for rapid recovery from depleted populations. Condors mate for life, have long life spans (up to 60 years by some estimates), and take up to six years to reach maturity. Moreover, a mated pair may only lay a single egg, every two years. Thus losses incurred at any stage in a condor’s life, adult or juvenile, can have a major effect on the condor population.

---

"When I became a lover I thought I had gained the Pearl..." - Hafiz

Your Friday photo…

“After a day of fierce winds and pouring rains, this sunset appeared like a pearl over the mountains beyond Meher Mount,” noted photographer Kristina Somma. She was reminded of the following passage from Hafiz.

“When I became a lover I thought I had gained the Pearl of the God; foolish I did not know that his Pearl lies on the floor of an ocean which has innumerable waves to be encountered and great depths to be sounded. ”

— Hafiz

This quote from Hafiz introduces the discourse “The Pearl Diver’” from The Everything and The Nothing. These 64 discourses were dictated in silence by Avatar Meher Baba through hand signs.

Meher Baba declared:

“I am the One whom so many seek and so few find.”

Meher Baba uses the imagery of a pearl to explain the quest for God.

“In the beginning the seeker of Truth is like a man who, having heard that a priceless pearl is to be got from the depths of the ocean, goes down to the seashore and first admires the vastness of the ocean and then paddles and splashes about in the shallows and, intoxicated with this new excitement, forgets about the pearl.

“Out of the many who do this, one after a while, remembers his quest and learns to swim and starts to swim out.

“Out of many who do this, one masters swimming and reaches the open sea; the others perish in the waves.

“Out of many who practice diving, one reaches the ocean bed and grasps the pearl.

“Out of many who get hold of the pearl, one swims back up to the surface with it, the others stay stuck on the floor gazing with wonder at the pearl.

“Out of many who swim up to the surface, one returns to the shore. This one is the Perfect Master (Qutub) and He shows His pearl to the others — the divers, the swimmers, the paddlers, and so encourages them in their efforts. But He can if He wises cause another to become the possessor of the pearl without that one having to learn swimming and diving.

“But God-Man or Avatar is the Master of Masters (Qutub-al-Aktab), and can give possession of the Pearl to any number He likes.”

---

Khwaja Shams-ud-Din Muhammed Hafez-e Shirazi (1315-1390) was a Persian lyric poet who was called Hafez or Hafiz (meaning “memorizer”) because he memorized the Quran and the works of other Persian poets.

Hafez primarily wrote in the literary genre of ghazals — Meher Baba’s favorite poetic from. This form is considered by some to be ideal for expressing the ecstasy of Divine inspiration in the mystical form of love poems. Hafiz’s many allusions to wine, drunkeness, and taverns can be understood as allegorical references to the experience of Divine Love.

---

Source

Meher Baba, The Everything and The Nothing, pp. 20-21. (Myrtle Beach, SC: Sheriar Foundation 2003) ©Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust, Ahmednagar, India.

---

What if you see a skunk?

Your Friday photo is in honor of Earth Month and the wildlife at Meher Mount…

Caretaker Ray Johnston’s trail camera caught this nighttime visitor at the pond.

Skunks are normally nocturnal. They spend the day sleeping in burrows and search for food and water in early evening and through the night.

But once in a while, you might see a skunk during the day, particularly if the skunk is a nursing mother looking for food.

This photo of a skunk foraging at Meher Mount during the day was also taken by Ray Johnston.

Skunks are beneficial to farmers, gardeners, and landowners. They are omnivorous and eat a variety of garden pests, including mice, voles, beetles, various larvae, wasps and crickets.

Skunks are also scavengers. They will seek out animal carcasses, which helps keep an ecosystem free of carrion. Scavengers are important to the health of the environment.

If You See a Skunk…

If you see a skunk, remember they have poor eyesight. You can make loud noises, stamp your feet, clap your hands loudly, or just walk away.  

Skunks are generally not aggressive and will only spray if they feel cornered or attacked.

The spray, which comes from two glands near the base of the skunk’s tail, can hit a target 12 feet away. If threatened, skunks stamp their front feet, lift their tail, and growl. Some species of skunk even spring into a handstand before spraying. If the person or animal doesn’t retreat, the skunk aims the spray at the eyes, allowing the skunk to escape. The spray can remain on its target for days.

It may seem ironic, but skunks hate certain odors: citrus, ammonia, mothballs and strong household deodorizing scents.

Striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) – generally seen in the Southern California ecosystem – are solitary, typically docile animals.

They often live in the abandoned dens of other mammals during the day, or take up residence in hollowed logs, brush piles or underneath buildings. They prefer underground dens in colder winter climates. While not truly hibernating, striped skunks experience extended periods of inactivity during winter.

Male striped skunks breed with multiple females and are rejected by the females after mating occurs. Female striped skunks typically give birth once each year, with breeding occurring between February and April.

~Margaret Magnus, Communications Director

---

"His vibrations were like a hummingbird."

Your Friday photo is in honor of Earth Month and the wildlife at Meher Mount…

You might even see some of these residents during your visit. This photo and the following story are from Juan Mendez, temporary caretaker.

“The love just poured out of Him. His vibrations were like a hummingbird. You couldn’t see the vibrations, but you knew the vibrating. You felt that in Baba.”

— Agnes Baron on meeting Avatar Meher Baba

Meher Mount’s hummingbirds are a constant reminder of Meher Baba’s eternal presence within us.

When Meher Mount co-founder Agnes Baron met Avatar Meher Baba in 1952 at Myrtle Beach, she recounted her first moments with Meher Baba:

“The love just poured out of him. His vibrations were like a hummingbird. You couldn't see the vibrations, but you knew the vibrating. You felt that in Baba.”

It is not uncommon for visitors at Meher Mount to see and enjoy the beauty of the multitude of hummingbirds that hover and feed from the feeders and plants around the Visitor Center.

A spectacle that is not commonly seen is when the hummingbirds fly through the water spout at the pond to wet their plumage, especially during the hot summer days.

During one of my stays at Meher Mount as temporary caretaker, I was fortunate to capture this moment when a male Anna’s Hummingbird did its fly-over to cool off.

~Juan Mendez, Temporary Caretaker

---

"It's a sanctuary for all life, large and small."

Your Friday photo is in honor of Earth Month and the ecosystem at Meher Mount…

Watering holes are vital to various ecosystems. At Meher Mount, that watering hole is the pond near the Visitor Center. It attracts and sustains a wide variety of wildlife — both day and night — that call the mountain home.

You might even see some of these residents during your visit. Sam Ervin photographed this deer stopping by the pond for a drink of water.

“The pond is an essential part of Meher Mount’s role as a sanctuary for all life, large and small. A hub for life in a challenging environment. ”

— Ray Johnston, Caretaker

Open water is scarce atop Sulphur Mountain in the dry months. So the pond is a lifeline for the many species that depend on having access to an open water source.

This tiny pond is usually alive with birds, insects, and sometimes larger animals.

Nights at the pond are busy and often loud with a chorus of frogs and the sound of nocturnal wings, hooves, and tiny feet running through the leaves.

All are part of the ecosystem at Meher Mount.

~ Ray Johnston

---

Ecosystem: A community of living organisms (plants, animals and microbes) and nonliving elements interacting with each other and their surroundings (environment) and weather to form a bubble of life.

Natural ecosystems are broadly classified into two types: Terrestrial (land) such as desert, grassland, mountain, rain forest; and aquatic (water) such as ocean, rivers, lakes.

---

"Ribbit."

Your Friday photo…

On a walk along Baba’s Path, temporary caretakers Robert Turnage and Kristina Somma noticed a slight movement on the ground. There at the mouth of a gopher hole was a beautiful little frog, almost perfectly camouflaged by its brown color. What a lovely gift.

“Ribbit.”

— Baja California Treefrog

The Baja California Treefrog is native to the region which includes Meher Mount. The color of a specific frog ranges from tan to brown or green and will most often match the microhabitat it lives in.

Even though Pseudacris hypochondriaca is a treefrog, it doesn’t climb trees and much prefers hanging out near the ground or in low vegetation. Treefrogs are also called chorus frogs.

The call of the Baja California Treefrog is known throughout the world through its wide use as a nighttime background sound in many Hollywood movies, even those which are set in areas well outside the range of this frog.

Here’s the melody from a frog calling at night. It’s the same sound heard at Meher Mount last night.

---

"They formed a natural harmony..."

Your Friday photo…

A bouquet of natural wildflowers was created for the Visitor Center by Denali Jepson and photographed by Ron Holsey, board member.

“They formed a natural harmony...”

— Denali Jepson, Temporary Caretaker

Ron Holsey and I were taking a hike around the grounds. I kept noticing how many fragrant, picturesque plants and flowers we were surrounded by.

All the colors were perfectly autumn and beautifully varied.

On the way back to the Visitor Center, I picked any that made me go, “Wow look at this one.’” I didn’t even have to arrange them. They formed a natural harmony like they did in the fields. 

I appreciate how beautiful it is to be at Meher Mount.

~Denali Jepson

---