Darvish Khan Writes

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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The global political response to climate crisis- the dominant global threat along with nuclear Armageddon, is denial and a retreat into nationalism and fascism, with the US leading the way. This is a stunning example of ironic and tragic American Exceptionalism.

The organization, Sufism Reoriented– nicknamed Sufism re-Reoriented for the massive lie embodied in its foundation myth, believes it is the very definition of  American spiritual exceptionalism in that its destiny lies in guiding America and the world for the next 700 years. They believe this is a mandate from the the Avatar of the age, Meher Baba, as he was instrumental in approving their charter in 1952. Toward this end, the organization has recently completed a massive, largely underground complex, larger than the White House, of marble clad “petrol domes” in Walnut Creek, Ca., designed to last 700 years, when the Avatar’s reappearance is expected.

Meher Baba’s mandali, or close disciples, completely disavowed this fascist overreach in SR’s interpretation of their mandate. Ivy Duce, murshida of SR, announced after Meher Baba “dropped the body” in 1969, that he had promised her a continuous lineage of saints or masters leading “her” organization for the next 700 years. There is absolutely no proof or corroboration for this assertion on the one hand, and complete agreement on the part of Meher Baba’s close ones that this is a fabrication, on the other hand. The disabusing of this monstrous lie includes Don Stevens, a reoriented sufi himself, and who was in fact the primary liaison between Ivy Duce and Meher Baba. But Ivy Duce perversely insisted to her students and SR leadership that this is what indeed made their order so exceptional, i.e. that the Avatar himself had promised to spiritually indemnify the order until his return.

Surprisingly, this perverse and outrageous claim has managed to gain currency among followers of Meher Baba despite compelling evidence that SR has in fact become a cult. The problem is that SR is very wealthy; It is bankrolled by the world wide syndicated Cheesecake Factory, and it contributes monies to struggling Baba projects, like The Glow magazine, Baba centers and most especially, the Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust in India which administers Meher Baba’s Tomb-Shrine and home. Because the Trust needs massive amounts of money to support its charitable projects, it has not taken a critical position in the past 35 years on this problem.

America is certainly living up to its reputation for supporting fascist mundane and spiritual exceptionalism.

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Baba lovers of northern California are the resistance against the corporate and institutional takeover of  Avatar Meher Baba’s manifestation. We will not abide the slimy acquiescence to powerful subversive interests in commanding the narrative of Meher Baba’s wish.

Meher Baba was not a corporatist nor a supporter of institutional hegemony. He always and unequivocally supported the individual’s relation to God. He never rubber stamped a hierarchical and institutional intermediary between him and his lovers. He was in fact completely against this.

Recent developments in the Meher Baba community give great cause for alarm. Baba lovers must solidly support the integrity of the individual’s relation to the beloved. This is not a commodity to be franchised by exalted institutions, however much money they command.

All Baba groups and organizations should rally behind the integrity of the individual’s relation to beloved Baba. There is nothing else worth living and dying for.

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Hurray, Meher Baba Center of Northern California drew a line in the pharaonic sand! At a meeting last night of the board of directors and interested membership, the board passed a motion to address the Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust, based in India, that it would host its own venue, separate from Sufism Reoriented of Walnut Creek, for a presentation of the Trust’s long range infrastructure plan.

This fracas was occasioned by Merwan Dubash, a trustee of AMBPPCT and Daniel Stone, the leader of this focus group and president of the Meher Center, insisting that there be one venue because “the Baba world is one family”. MBCNC was compelled to remind AMBPPCT that this is not the case, and for excellent reasons.

Evidently, only MBCNC insists that Meher Baba’s “Last Warning” and Eruch’s “Bell of Warning” of 1980 are still in effect. It’s as if the Trust, in honor of the great and late chairman of “Jai Ho” infamy, Bhau Kalchuri, has decided for fund raising purposes that money is more important than the master’s command that no golden calf distract his devotees.

MBCNC acknowledges that there are pyramids to be built and idols to be cherished- but that it will have nothing to do with it. We have a covenant to keep.

MBCNC awaits the Trust’s response.

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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.

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The recent and ongoing fracas concerning rogue members of Meher Baba Center of No. Cal. and certain trustees of Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust giving Sufism Reoriented of Walnut Creek a wink and a nod to usurp the integrity of MBCNC is shocking.

MBCNC has had a long history supporting the “Bell of Warning” rung by Eruch Jessawala in 1980. This bell still rings loudly in the ears of many Baba lovers here in California. We take seriously Baba’s admonition to his lovers, and which also applies to SR, to not adopt a spiritual intermediary. Baba has said that for 100 years after the Avatar “drops his body”, it is as if he is still physically among us. This 100 year period is at this time only half over. For a Baba lover to adopt a spiritual intermediary- real or assumed, during this time period, is to insult one’s commitment and obedience to the Master of Masters. It is like a married man taking up with a harlot.

The problem is not simply forgetting what happened decades ago, but inattention to what is happening now. SR is presently breaking historical agreements mandated by Baba and engaging in “spiritual fascism”.

Baba mandated that SR not encroach upon Meher Center in Myrtle Beach, SC., but this is exactly what has happened. SR has no business establishing a presence in Myrtle Beach.

SR has expressed through remarks by Carol Conner, the murshida of SR, a frontal assault on historical fact regarding Avatar’s Abode in Australia. She has brashly declared that Francis Brabazon did not establish SR in Australia because of a “lack of resources”, and that SR is prepared to remedy this.

The taboo subject that throws tremendous light on this gnarly ugliness is the enabling of the late “Jai Ho” chairman of AMBPPCT, Bhau Kalchuri. Bhau in his last years played the guru in a most spectacular manner dressing in white gowns, spouting Jai Ho, wearing and demanding that others wear the “Three Rings” symbolizing the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, and more besides.

Bhau rehabilitated SR in the decades after Eruch’s Bell of Warning. After Eruch and the other mandali had passed away- all of whom were strongly opposed to the occultism of Jim Mackei, Bhau ingratiated SR for reasons of fundraising. Baba lovers began to forget the “Bell of Warning”, thinking it no longer applied because the “Jai Ho” guru Chairman of the Trust so flamboyantly indicated that it was passé.

Bhau initiated the Baba world into the era of fundraising to support the all important projects that would validate the objectives of the Trust. And no group was more important than SR for the money that it could regularly contribute toward this end.

And this is the same course that the present chairman, Shridhar Kelkar, and Merwan Dubash, have chartered.

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