TRUST CIRCULAR

UNEXPECTED RESTRICTIONS AT LOWER MEHERABAD

 

Dear Baba Family,

Jai Meher Baba!

I am writing to inform you of the significant changes affecting Beloved Baba’s lower Meherabad. It may seem like a sad day to us, but we cannot fathom His Will and the good that always comes from it.

Due to security concerns of the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding Lower Meherabad’s proximity to military installations, VRDE, the Trust is directed to maintain highly restricted and monitored activity for Non-Indians at Lower Meherabad.

The following rules for Non-Indian Baba lovers are effective immediately:

  • No non-Indian citizen may reside at Lower Meherabad. This includes staying at Hostel D and Dharamshala and eating at Hostel D and Savage’s kitchen.
  • No non-Indian can visit Lower Meherabad except on a guided tour twice a week. It also includes the Memorial Tower, the historic sites between the Railway Line and Daund Road and Meher English School, which is next to VRDE compound.
  • Do not shop or use vendors near VRDE or within 1 km of its gates. Driving through this area is acceptable.
  • Do not use the ATM or petrol pumps near the VRDE gate.
  • You may visit Arangaon village beyond the point where coming from Ahmednagar city we  turn right from the highway to go towards Meherabad Hill. You may visit the village to shop, or for other needs, including visiting Meher Health Centre for medical requirements.
  • We are required to maintain a register for non-Indian visitors at the Samadhi, who are staying in private homes or hotels in the area.  Because some of our Baba pilgrims from abroad are not staying in Trust facilities, we do not normally maintain records for them, and that is why the Government now insists we sign them in at the Samadhi itself, with passport and visa details.  Please present your passport at our security post on the Sabha Mandap near the Samadhi on your first visit to the Samadhi, and sign out again when you leave the Ahmednagar area.  Each time you come for pilgrimage, sign in once with your passport, and sign out when departing the area.  We appreciate everyone’s cooperation.
  • Passport sign-in for non-Indian pilgrims staying in Trust accommodation has been shifted from MPC to MPR.

 

We do not know whether these current conditions will change or improve or may be permanent changes that we must adapt to. But we know the Government is very serious about these measures and will monitor our compliance. It is the Trust’s responsibility to follow these directives diligently.

We request that all Baba lovers from abroad understand and cooperate fully with the Government’s security concerns and measures to address them.

As I was searching through Baba’s writings for some inspiring quotes for this letter, I was struck by how often, throughout the years of Baba’s advent, He repeatedly called on His lovers to be resigned to His Will, how often He gave assurances that He will solve all predicaments, and how many times He would ask that we not worry, but have faith in Him, our Master. One lustrous pearl that caught my eye and best mirrors the trial we face today is a poem He composed:

“Life on my sources
First drifted and swam.
Out of me all the forces
That save it or damn!
Out of me, men and women,
And birds and beasts.
Before God, was I.
Beside and above me
Nowhere is there to go.
Love or unlove me,
Unknow me or know.
I am that which unloves me and loves.
I am that which is stricken,
And I am the blow!”

 

Avatar Meher Baba ki Jai !

Framroze Mistry (Falu)
Chairman, Avatar Meher Baba P.P.C.Trust.
11 June, 2023

“Be sure that I know everything. When everything goes wrong, the mind becomes helpless and has to rely on the heart. These are moments when you resign to My Will and rely solely on My help. When you leave all to Me, I dare not neglect you and you get relief from your predicament. I am the Ocean of love and compassion.”

-82 Family Letters, p 176, Sept. 1963

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P.S.: A message with this information was sent on Sunday on the Trust Family Bulletin for Meherabad Residents. Some clarifications have been added to that message. The updated message is now being sent here as the Trust Circular and also on the Trust Family Bulletin.  Please read through the bulleted points again for the amendments. Jai Baba