Your Friday photo is in remembrance of Meher Baba’s New Life and the 1985 New Life Fire at Meher Mount…

On October 14, 1985, the Ferndale Fire, whipped by Santa Ana winds, came up the southwest ridge of Sulphur Mountain. By 9 p.m. on that Monday night Meher Mount was ablaze. 

The fire burned everything – buildings, equipment, fences, Baba’s Tree, and a 1950 Ford Woody station wagon. This was the station wagon Agnes Baron drove to take Avatar Meher Baba to and from Meher Mount in 1956.

Meher Mount calls the Ferndale Fire the ‘New Life Fire’ because Meher Baba’s New Life phase started on October 16 (1946).  The fire at Meher Mount was still burning right through the start of the anniversary of the New Life.

Meher Baba’s New Life was a phase of His work. It was a life of helplessness and hopelessness, relying only upon God.

“When the New Life Fire happened at Meher Mount, it literally required Agni to give up everything and start all over,” remembered Bing Heckman.  

She was left shoeless, homeless and with just the clothes on her back.

“What hurts me most,” Agnes told the Ojai Valley News, “is the loss of my documents, library and Meher Baba’s pictures and writings.”

The Baba Room — where Meher Baba spent most of the day with His followers in 1956 — was completely burned by the fire.

The stone fireplace from the Baba Room remains as a touchstone of His visit and His Presence at Meher Mount.

Almost 40 years later, there are plans underway to build the Darshan Courtyard in the footprint of the Baba Room. It will celebrate Meher Baba’s physical presence at Meher Mount.  

The courtyard is planned to create a space to sit, reflect, meditate, enjoy the outdoors, and remember the Divine.

 ~Margaret Magnus, Communications Director

Sources

• Margaret Magnus & Sam L. Ervin, “The New Life Fire — Keeping Meher Mount through Hellfire and Damnation,” Meher Mount Story Blog, accessed September 1, 2024.

• “Meher Baba’s New Life,” Meher Mount Story Blog, accessed September 1, 2024.