"Baba, I've always thought of this as Your tree." - Agnes Baron
By Sam L. Ervin & Margaret Magnus
In 1956, when Avatar Meher Baba visited Meher Mount, caretaker Agnes Baron took Him on a tour of the property.
AVATAR MEHER BABA (in blue) with His followers at Meher Mount on August 2, 1956. They are in the meadow near Baba’s Tree. Co-founder and lifetime caretaker Agnes Baron is in the orange skirt and dark sweater. (Photo: Darwin Shaw, (c)Meher Nazar Publications)
As they crested the hill overlooking a corner of the property, now known as Avatar’s Point, a large oak came into view. Agnes turned to Meher Baba and said, “Baba, I’ve always thought of this as Your Tree.”
There was a large Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia) forming a natural canopy over the area.
BABA’S TREE on the right at Avatar’s Point on Meher Mount. The wooden hay wagon burned in the 1985 New Life Fire. (Photo: Sam Ervin, 1970s)
When they reached the tree – now known as Baba’s Tree — Agnes said, “Here’s your tree, Baba. I’ve let the limbs come down so they would enclose it. I think it’s a very loving little temple.” [1]
Meher Baba walked over to a spot in the center of the canopy and sat down. “And just as the others came panting up to the doorway and rushing forward, He gestured very sternly, ‘No, no!’” Agnes remembered.
He waved the group back with His hand, and the group stood back in a circle. Meher Baba sat there very, very silently, very solemnly for about five minutes. “You just felt worlds moving, worlds moving…” Agnes recalled. [2]
Meher Baba sat about eight feet from the main trunk under a large limb that ran parallel to the ground. The spot where He sat is now marked with a heart stone, often adorned with flowers.
FLOWERS and a naturally shaped heart stone honor the spot where Avatar Meher Baba sat at Meher Mount under Baba’s Tree on August 2, 1956. (Photo: Wayne Myers, 2010)
His eyes shone, and He said He was happy. Then he rose swiftly and led the group back down the dusty trail. [3]
“I don’t think anyone else came in,” Agnes said. “I don’t know why He made a big issue of no one following Him in. He just looked around. You could tell by His expression that He loved it.” [4]
A Perfect Temple
Agnes said she thought He commented about the cables that had been installed to hold up the large limbs. “And I was very concerned because the weight was so heavy that I decided to let the limbs come down to the ground and, rest, which they have.
“And over the years, you see,” said Agnes, “it makes a complete little enclosure. A perfect temple.” [5]
Agnes Baron describes Meher Baba’s visit and time under Baba’s Tree. The segment about Baba’s Tree starts at 02:50 minutes. Film taken in 1970 by Irwin and Edwin Luck.
Baba’s Tree was severely burned by fire twice – in 1985 and in 2017. Each time the tree survived to remain a touchpoint for visitors – a sacred spot to spend time in quiet contemplation to find inspiration, solace, and joy.
A Remembrance of Meher Baba
“The tree not only helps us to remember Baba’s stay here… But also, the tree has a memory of Baba’s stay here, as it’s a living being. And it can help us if we just sit with the tree and think about Baba,” said visitor Joan Dimpfl Harland. [6]
Since the 2017 fire, Baba’s Tree has become the centerpiece of what is emerging as Baba’s Tree Grove where seedlings were planted around the canopy and saplings have come up naturally. We can only imagine what this grove might look like in the future.
The spot where Meher Baba sat – and the whole property – is eternally imbued with His presence.
Footnotes
[1] Agnes Baron, “Agnes Baron Remembers Meher Baba’s 1956 Visit,” YouTube video, 14:56, by Irwin and Edwin Luck filmed at Meher Mount in 1970. Minute: 02:55 , accessed online on October 12, 2021,
[2] Baron, ibid., minute 03:28, accessed online October 12, 2021.
[3] Bhau Kalchuri, Lord Meher: The Biography of Avatar of the Age Meher Baba, Online Edition, pg. 4067, accessed online on October 12, 2021. © Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust.
[4] Baron, op.cit., minute 03:54, accessed online on October 12, 2021.
[5] Baron, ibid., minute 04:34, accessed online on October 12, 2021.
[6] Joan Dimpfl Harland, “Home at last,” YouTube video, 1:18:19, filmed at Meher Mount on August 7, 2021. Minute 0:56, accessed online on October 14, 2021.
Related Stories
Jeanne Shaw, who was also at Meher Mount on August 2, 1956, when Meher Baba visited, shared her story of Baba’s Tree.
In the decades after Meher Baba visited Meher Mount, there have been many stories of how Baba’s Tree has inspired, provided comfort, and been a source of solace for individual visitors — whether they knew of Avatar Meher Baba or not.
The area around Baba’s Tree has become Baba’s Tree Grove. The following story describes the evolution of that grove and the naming of specific trees