Darvish Khan Writes

Meher Baba’s statement in the “Final Declaration” of 1954 that 3/4’s of the world would be destroyed was later amended to read that he had made this comment “in my language alone”. Thus, we cannot take his remark literally; But in light of recent statistics regarding climate change and degradation of the Earth’s habitat, his remark is certainly suggestive.

In fact, scientific research is already reporting that some %60 of vertebrates have perished since 1970. And climate science  is predicting global havoc on an unprecedented scale if global warming is not restricted to 1.5º C, although most scientists are confident that at least 3º C of warming is already in the pipeline. We are indeed facing global catastrophe.

And these climate science predictions are based on the assumption that greenhouse gasses will somehow be reduced dramatically, when in fact current global greenhouse gasses are presently increasing. So, what will be the outcome of global inability- led by the US, to not just not live up to the Paris Accord, but to spectacularly shoot past it by a factor of not just two, but maybe three or four? 3/4’s of the world could easily be destroyed by a global average temperature increase of 3º C- 6º C.

The world as we know it is going to be radically and traumatically transformed. What is not clear is the timeline because of the ambiguity of positive feedback loops. These can not be accurately predicted, although they are certain to powerfully accelerate traumatic global environmental and social transformation.

It is probably safe to say that within the next 50 years, we will see traumatic changes to the  world environment and population that will make the changes we have witnessed up to now, look like cake.

Meher Baba has said some very interesting things about America and the role it will play in his Manifestation. In his earliest trip to the US in 1931, Baba remarked that America was useful to him because of its energy, and that although that energy was largely misdirected, he would redirect it with great spiritual result. Meher Baba even said that “America will lead the world spiritually”.

At present, we can only guess as to what this might mean. It is extremely likely that what is  implied is that America will lead the world in going Green- except that this is not now the case. What will it take for the US to go Green, and lead the world in going Green? My best guess is that the only way for America to go Green- that is to abdicate fossil fuel and the “Machine Age”, is complete political and economic meltdown. In this light, King Baby Trump is a divine agent of ironic progress. He represents the symbolic end of American economic and political prowess- the imminent end of the American Empire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meher Baba visited Avatar’s Abode from June 3rd to June 6th, 1958. The property had been recently acquired by Francis Brabazon and under his direction was readied for Baba’s visit.

“The Anniversary”, or “Anno” for short, commemorates with talks, song, dance, theatrical programs and film this visit of the Ancient One to the ancient continent of Australia. It is a singular sahavas.

Francis and the large team of workers who helped prepare the Abode for Baba’s visit worked at such breakneck speed to be ready for him that they neglected to prepare entertainment. This resulted in a lasting and concerted effort by Francis to emphasize the importance of entertaining the Beloved.

This anniversary lasted a week instead of the usual four days and was an extraordinary love fest of poetry, song, dance, theatre, art, film and talks. The poetic work of Francis was central to the programming.

Celebrants came from all over the world and from all over Australia.

One of the extraordinary aspects of the Anniversary is the inclusion of children. Australia is very family oriented and makes a remarkable effort to mentor children in the praise of the Beloved. This results in an exceptional pool of talent in the young Australians who are committed to the Abode’s remarkable legacy as represented in Francis’ work.

The roster of musical, theatrical and creative  talent was amazing: Raine Eastman-Gannett, Jim Meyer, Debbie Nordeen and the choir she rehearsed and conducted, the Wine Shop Singers, Bobbi Bernstein, Jim Frisino, Jacob Horsey, Ward Parks, Kris Hynes, Susan “Kazoo” Jamison, Angela Newcomb and her husband OJ and their daughter Amelie, Elischia Swan and Friends, Lady Longdrop (Kendra Keller), Jenny and Ross Keating, Merwan Stevens, Roshu Kaningri, Meherveena, Mehershoba, Meherpriya, Mihir Masterchief, Swaroop, Manjushra, Susan and Darrel Smith, Sage Andreasan, Lorraine Woods, Jeda Palmer, Eve Plant and others (I will pay for forgetting to remember everyone.)

The speakers were amazing: Peter Nordeen, a recently emerged metaphysical and historical speaker in the Baba community, Shridhar Kelkar, Bernard Bruford, Bill LePage, Geoff Gunther, Ray Kerkhove, Charmaine Foley, Cynthia Borg, Noel Adams and the amazing and unexpected appearance of Professor Meherwan Ali who vastly expanded the scope of the program’s agenda with reference to the paleontological context (dinosaurs used to roam the Abode).

The only dissonant note was the film provided by Sufism Reoriented which was prefaced by an address written by murshida Carrol Conner. The film was of a play that depicted the arrival of Francis in San Francisco to meet Rabia Martin, the murshida of Hazrat Inayat Khan’s Sufi lineage. The play was poorly scripted and directed. The only remarkable acting was that which portrayed Ivy Duce. The play was cast into the form of a Broadway musical for reasons unknown. Francis came across as a bumbling fool. But the worst part was the address by Carrol Conner which pathetically suggested that the reason why Sufism Reoriented did not take root in Australia was because of “a lack of sufficient resources”. This is a complete and unforgivable falsification of the facts. The leadership of SR has gone senile in its appreciation of Baba’s work with Francis in Australia. (Baba completely and irrevocably divorced Francis’ work in Australia from any relationship to sufism or Sufism Reoriented).

A special edition of “In Dust I Sing” by Francis was released during the Anno; This remarkable book of English language ghazals has long been unavailable but is now back in print with a very attractive cover painting by John Parry.

The food was excellent. The pandal protected us from the willy-willy (Australian tornado) that arrived with sudden force. By Baba’s grace it stood tall and strong. The work to put on such an event was considerable and those who made it possible are the unsung heroes of this occasion. This includes the various planning committees, the set up and take down, the chauffeuring of guests, the staging of  events, the cooking and clean up, the child care and so on.

Avatar’s Abode will always represent the ideal of honoring and entertaining the Beloved as the expression of family and community effort.

 

 

 

America as the storybook lie is dying a horrible death. It’s like it is being strangulated over a 12 part multi season Netflix series. The America of fabricated dream is gasping horribly for air while losing control of its bowels as well. This is an awful but compelling show.

The rise and fall of the American empire in four hundred years is not much to brag about. It was devoted to the whore Progress, the modern god of corporate and industrial bliss. No god has been so elevated to have been so degraded, so quickly. She is a pathetic deity, a goddess of pocketbook change and twisted smile.

America was going to invent a New World based on genocide, slavery and indentured labor and call it Paradise. This is what we are clinging to: the American Dream as it bleeds into the American Nightmare.

The American story is about the abuse of Nature. It had its roots in England, but quickly surpassed its beginnings by extraordinary effort, which gave birth to the meme of Exceptionalism. America, as it turns out, was destined to do what no other nation could do: inaugurate the fag end of the Kali Yuga.

We have done something amazing! We have abused Nature with such rapacious extraction and infernal fire to generate capital like no one else. We are the armies of Mordor!

The volcanic orange fury of exalted greed has vomited the bipartisan Lord of Power, King Baby Trump, to bless us with his fuming diaper that will choke us to death.

 

 

 

Nosh Anzar, shyster in chief at the archival and publishing enterprise dedicated to Avatar Meher Baba and based in NJ, has just announced he is auctioning off two dozen or so Baba artifacts, including a signed copy of God Speaks and a copy of Stay With God signed by both Baba and Francis Brabazon.

Anzar states in his online announcement that the upcoming auction is a fundraiser to purchase a bigger archival center. It is vitally important that Baba lovers not participate in this unethical attempt to yet again raise money for a project riddled with dishonesty. It would be aiding and abetting a dishonest project in Baba’s name to do so.

A central problem to this attempt to raise money for a bigger and better “House of the Beloved” is that it sets a precedent in the Baba archival world in monetizing priceless Baba artifacts. Another problem is that it violates the trust of the many donors to Beloved Archives that gifts in Baba’s name can be sold off to the highest bidder. A third problem is that Anzar has unethically obtained Baba artifacts and is now possibly liquidating them for cash. A case in point is the suitcase full of artifacts that Anzar wheedled from the feckless Peter Townsend of the erstwhile Baba centre, The Oceanic.

Delia de Leon gave in good faith to Townsend as the benefactor of The Oceanic many priceless Baba treasures including a signed copy of God Speaks and a copy of Stay With God signed by both Baba and Francis Brabazon. Are these the items now up for auction? Where are these items and the suitcase full of Baba treasures that Anzar so gleefully announced he had obtained to aggrandize his archival collection? Have they been returned to their rightful place, the UK London Baba Centre, or are they now up for sale?

This story is a shameless disgrace and a humiliation to the living memory of Avatar Meher Baba.

A problem of a homogenized society is the inability to remember. The cauldron of American patriotic identity demands forgetfulness. We are not our past, but some nationalistic stew that demands we lie about history.

The genocide of the First Americans is relatively undocumented. The slavery of the African  American is glossed. These twin catastrophes are subsumed in the idea of Manifest Destiny- it was all God’s plan.

Christopher Columbus discovered America, land of the free and home of the brave. Any other narrative is un-American. Such is the tremendous need to repress and prevaricate about the facts.

If the problem of Europe was class and monarchy, the problem of America is the strenuous need to bury the history of rape and pillage that was required to create an “egalitarian” society- one in which only genteel male whites could draft and sign the Declaration of Independence.

The myth of America is a classic example of how desperately important it is for nationalism to lie, and lie again, to fabricate a narrative that sells.

America has always excelled at marketing. America is a con. This is the enduring legacy of a patriotism based on amnesia.

America is all about democracy and free markets, right? This is what we relentlessly preach to ourselves and the world. This is a hundred times more false a narrative than the lie of communism, which is transparent. The idea of democratic capitalism is an opiate that demands an ever increasing fix until corporatism becomes the new tyrannical King clawing on our backs.

And thus came King Baby Trump, the inglorious fulfillment of corporatism as our new sovereign. And The People cry and cry, but the stinking turd of royal greed has assumed the throne- and we can’t account for how it happened.

 

The 50th anniversary of  MLK’s sacrificial death is upon us. He is the “greatest American” for the reason of the complete veracity of his critique of American hypocrisy, venality and hate, and his dream of what might be- and will be by the grace of God: the triumph of love.

He is the greatest American for believing in the triumph of a love that embraces truth and justice as the proof of a American polity that works. America is not a polity that works for a few- the fabulous and filthy rich, but for all. And especially for those on whose backs capitalism and the wealth of nations was made possible to begin with: Red genocide and Black slave labor.

The exceptionalism of America must not be a racist joke. This is the essence of King’s prophetic oratory. For America to rightfully aspire and claim the destiny it longs for, it must deserve it; Americans must rise to this task of acknowledging and redeeming its tragic history.

The problem of racism, economic exploitation (corporatism) and militarism is as American as apple pie. It is a problem that appalling few Americans grok. The liberal elites- forget about conservatives, can not grok the enormity of the problem. Our first biracial president could not grok the enormity of the problem. Our first female Democratic Party nominee for the presidency could not grok the enormity of the problem.

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren can not grok the enormity of the problem.

Congress can not grok…

What is wrong with America?

The most simple and cogent answer is that ideological corporatism has America by the balls. America is run by corporations. Politicians are owned by corporations- AND special interests, which are in turn exploitive and racist in nature.

American foreign policy is completely corporatized and racist. Saudi Arabia and Israel are the two most jingoistic nations in the world. Both are fully dedicated to a sick and racist faux religious nationalism. Saudi Arabia claims to be the guardian of Islam’s two most holy places of pilgrimage, Mecca and Medina- but has utterly defiled them with a materialistic fanatic iteration of revisionist Islam. Israel has done exactly the same with its embrace of  Zionist Apartheid. Both countries have  become  fantastic vortices of raging religious nationalism- but are America’s best friends in the Middle East.

Is there any wonder how and why America has such a raging problem with corporatism, racism and violence? America’s foreign policy is the mirror of its own domestic catastrophe. There are more blacks now incarcerated than were held as slaves at the time of the Civil War.  This was exactly what MLK talked about so eloquently 50 years ago: our domestic racism is conditioned and guaranteed by our corporate violence abroad. Halliburton invaded Iraq and murdered brown bodies with “Shock and Awe” even as corporate greed twisted politicians to criminalize and imprison brown bodies here in the land of apple pie.

But the greatest American lives on; Yes, the greatest American lives on!