A Brief Review of Sufism re-Reoriented

A Brief Review of Sufism re-Reoriented

Sufism re-Reoriented is the moniker Eruch Jessawala gave to Sufism Reoriented in a letter written to followers of Avatar Meher Baba in 1980. This letter is known as the “Bell of Warning” in reference to Meher Baba’s own message called the “Last Warning”, given shortly before he passed away in 1969.

The Last Warning was a restatement of Meher Baba’s often repeated order to his lovers to not accept or interpose another spiritual master, be it yogi, guru or murshid, between the lover and Baba. This had been throughout Baba’s life his single most important order to his lovers. This order was based on Baba’s claim to be the Highest of the High, the head of the spiritual hierarchy, which he referred to as the Avatar- the incarnation of God as Man.

In 1980, Eruch Jessawala received an inner command to “ring” the Bell of Warning in reference to developments in the sufi order that Baba himself had granted a charter to in 1952. This Bell of Warning was an explicit disavowal of the direction Sufism Reoriented had taken- and it was made, according to Eruch Jessawala, by Baba “lifting” Eruch out of himself and into Baba’s presence in which Baba directed Eruch to ring the Bell of Warning. It was an order given by the master and executed by his faithful servant.

Eruch and the other mandali had been hearing accounts from sufis and other Baba lovers for some time prior to the Bell of Warning that had given them great cause for alarm. Ivy Duce had appointed a clinical psychologist named Jim Mackie as her designated successor whose behavior was entirely suspect. He had put Ivy, SR leadership and membership under a spell that had nothing to do with Baba, and was exactly what Baba had repeatedly warned against.

Baba’s injunction to shun spiritual intermediaries has two aspects. The first applies to Baba’s lifetime and the second to the 100 or so years following his death. Eruch explained in the letter announcing the Bell of Warning that Baba had stated that for the 100 years following his death, it would be as if he were nonetheless physically alive, and that his lovers should regard him as being physically among them. And that it was thus important for his lovers to not betray him, the Highest of the High, for anyone, however attractive, during this time.

What Ivy and SR leadership have refused to recognize is that this injunction to shun all (real or false) intermediaries until the 100 plus year period is over is in respect of the fact that Baba is still actively head of the spiritual hierarchy. In another 50 or so years the 5 Perfect Masters will reassume their role as the leaders of the spiritual hierarchy. It is only after that point that it becomes possible for a real murshid/a to assume direction of SR. But we know from Baba through Don Stevens that this will be only “from time to time”. Ivy and SR leadership have completely misunderstood the spiritual dynamics at play.

The problem of Jim Mackie was wholly occasioned by a set of twin factors: Ivy Duce came to the obsessive delusion that Baba had promised her that SR would be led continuously by saints or perfect masters for the 700 years after his death and until his return, and her tragic susceptibility to the occult.

The “evidence” for Ivy Duce’s assertion that Baba promised SR a continuous lineage of saints or perfect masters for 700 years is non existent. She did demand this of Baba, and on one occasion did so repeatedly to the point that Baba retorted, “you want me to cut off my head and hand it to you on a platter”? Ivy walked away from that meeting obstinately believing that Baba had agreed to her demand. We know from the mandali that this was not the case. And we also know that Baba sought to disabuse Ivy of her obsession through Don Stevens, but to no avail. Baba’s gesture for Ivy was two fingers drawn down the cheeks to indicate whining. Her name was “the Whiner”.

Ivy Duce’s dabbling in the occult is legendary, and I won’t dwell on it but simply to say that especially after Baba’s death, it became an obsession. In the 1970’s, virtually her entire sufi order had a “past life reading” by a medium named Irene who channeled an adept named Mru. Ivy Duce was said to have been Madame Blavatsky. But this time the adept was not Tibetan, but Atlantean.

What of the present?

Jim Mackei was succeeded by his protege, Carol Conner, also a clinical psychologist. Under her leadership, SR has built a new 60 million dollar sanctuary, largely underground, the size of the White House and engineered to last 700 years when the Avatar’s return is expected. It is the marble clad concrete bunker command center for SR’s exceptional destiny as a spiritual order fully indemnified by the Avatar.

What could go wrong?

Well, last year at the 60th anniversary of Meher Baba visiting Avatar’s Abode in Australia, founded by Francis Brabazon at the direction of Baba, Carol Conner had remarks read out by a representative that boldly stated that Francis did not succeed in bringing SR to Australia because of a lack of resources, and that SR is now prepared to remedy this.

This sums up everything wrong about SR at the present moment. This, as well as SR’s foundation myth, is a complete and pernicious falsehood. Baba explicitly separated Francis from Ivy’s spiritual direction in 1952- before SR received its charter from Baba, and he never thereafter had anything to do with sufism or SR. He and his former students were always thereafter completely under only Baba’s guidance. 

How could Carol Conner get this history so obnoxiously wrong?

A massive marble clad concrete bunker built to host a bogus claim for 700 years might be the answer.

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