"By the end, we were all singing along, releasing our minds and allowing Meher Baba to enter our souls."
Meher Mount asked for stories or memories of Baba’s Tree, and Terri Levine sent the following remembrance:
By Terri Levine
I have many memories of dear Baba's Tree at Meher Mount. However, the one I really remember was a celebration at Meher Mount with us all going to the tree.
We were all standing around under Baba’s Tree, almost in a circle. We prayed and said our “Jai Babas,” and before I knew it, Fred Stankus started to sing “Mind, Mind, Stupid Mind" [formally, “Manonash Calypso”].
I was new to Meher Baba then and had never heard Fred sing this song. I laughed, and then I felt all the words in my heart. Even though it wasn't a typical spiritual song, it ran through the branches and, I think, all the way to the ocean.
His voice was so clear and loud that it made such an impression on me that to this day I can still picture it in my mind's eye. By the end, we were all singing along, releasing our minds and allowing Meher Baba to enter our souls.
Fred Stankus sings the “Manonash Calypso” — often referred to as “Mind, Mind, Stupid Mind” — under Baba’s Tree at Meher Mount in 2017 on the occasion of the anniversary celebration of Avatar Meher Baba’s 1956 visit. Filmed by Alan Talbot. The song is by Henry S. Mindlin (c) Sufism Reoriented.
Editor’s Notes
Jai Baba is an expression used by followers of Meher Baba to say `Praise Baba.’ It is used as a greeting, as a salutation, as an outward expression of appreciation of Meher Baba’s life and qualities, or simply as `hello’ or ‘goodbye’ between followers of Meher Baba.
Manonash is a Vedanta word used by Meher Baba to signify the annihilation of the mind. He said, “when the mind with its desires, cravings and longings, is completely consumed by the fire of Divine Love, then the infinite, indestructible, indivisible, eternal Self is manifested. This is manonash, the annihilation of the false, limited, miserable, ignorant, destructible ‘I’, to be replaced by the real ‘I’, the eternal possessor of Infinite Knowledge, Love, Power, Peace, Bliss and Glory, in its unchangeable existence.
“Manonash results in this glorious state in which plurality goes and Unity comes, ignorance goes and Knowledge comes, binding goes and Freedom comes.” (trustmeher.org)