Current events raise the question (once again), how competent is the Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust?
The Trust is canvassing public opinion in an entirely symbolic manner by planning four focus group events in England, Australia, South Carolina and California. This is part of an effort to create and finance a long range development plan for the Trust in India which anticipates in time millions of pilgrims to Avatar Meher Baba’s Samadhi.
The Trust is obviously after big money to finance its big plans, and has in fact thrown the No. Ca. Baba group, Meher Baba Center of Northern California, under the bus in an effort to ingratiate itself with Sufism Reoriented of Walnut Creek, Ca. This group has recently completed a 60 million dollar sanctuary largely funded by the world wide syndicated Cheesecake Factory.
Is the Trust really interested in Baba lovers’ input into how the Trust should proceed with its long range development plans? Why is it hosting only four venues for a few hours in each case to canvass opinion? The Meher Center venue will have two presentations, but Merwan Dubash is insisting that MBCNC be combined with SR in a single Bay Area event.
SR is not even a Baba group, but a closed order with allegiance to a so called murshida from a controversial occult lineage– which Meher Baba and his disciples expressly forbade. But they have money.
This Trust sponsored focus group speed tour could have been far more intelligently planned online. Hundreds of Baba groups could have been engaged thoughtfully in a well designed presentation that shared group responses to Trust plans. But the Trust doesn’t want a detailed and thoughtful response from Baba lovers across the world.
The Trust wants money, and they know very well from whom they can get it.
The most laughable stupidity in all this is that the Trust thought MBCNC would just roll over and die.
The salient point referred to by Bill in this piece is, what about the rest of the world! 4 physical meetings – two of them in the one country! Because of that thing called the internet, people all over the world can contribute yet are denied access. The issues with this are not limited to SR and California. The whole affair should be cancelled, and reimagined as a exclusively online forum with a deadline for submissions. And SR should be excluded from participating, to keep it honest (good luck with that, but the point should be made) There is a… Read more »