The Meher Center: An Organization in Search of a Purpose

The Mission Statement for the Avatar Meher Baba Trust in India reads:

to preserve his universal teachings, maintain his Tomb (Samadhi) as a place of pilgrimage, provide charitable, medical, and educational services, and advance his message of love, oneness, and compassion.

The Mission Statement for the Meher Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach, U.S.A. reads:

to maintain a non-sectarian retreat for rest, meditation, and spiritual renewal.

Here I want to discuss the differences between these two missions, and how the very different inception of these two nonprofit organizations account for it.

The original stated purpose of the Meher Center, by the two women who proposed the idea to Baba, was:

his messages could be conveyed to other centers throughout the world. And if he were more publicly known, enthusiastic workers would have a chance to actively spread his messages among the general public.

In addition it would create work for the women who would come.

For ourselves, it is not necessary; but it will be necessary for the other Western women who will be coming.

This was 1938, the same year Bill Wilson and Bob Smith formed Alcoholics Anonymous as a nonprofit entity in New York City. The purpose of AA as an established organization headquartered in New York was to serve as a central administrative structure for the fellowship. This was the same thinking used by the women who proposed to Baba establishing a Center for him. Such a "Universal Center," as they called it, would serve as a kind of central clearing house for sub-chapters around the world. 

They must have imagined women sitting at typewriters responding to queries and mailing out literature.

That conception made sense in 1938, but no longer does. What a room full of women was required to accomplish in those days can now be done with a simple website. For instance, all of Baba's books and messages can be downloaded freely from the Avatar Meher Baba Trust website administered from India. In addition, all of his books are available to order on Amazon. Finding out the essentials of Baba's life can be looked up in a moment on Wikipedia, and home movies of him can be viewed on YouTube, as well as many other free platforms.

The Meher Center in South Carolina was established in 1944. Baba visited it in 1952, '56, and '58. The claim that it was his "home in the West" comes from correspondence by one of its founders, Elizabeth Patterson, and does not originate in anything Baba said. Baba's home was his own house in Meherazad, India.

Meher Baba's house in India from 1944-1969

So, now let's look at the current Mission Statement of the Meher Center.

to maintain a non-sectarian retreat for rest, meditation, and spiritual renewal.

The idea people need a retreat for "spiritual renewal" is New Age. You will never find any similar concept in any of Baba's own teachings. This reflects the conditioning, culture, and lifestyles of the women who established the Center.

Now download the original Charter for the Center, with amendments, dated 1959 here.

I wish to point out some interesting things. Apparently by Baba's order, the word "conservation" was removed from the set of purposes. See the second page headed Amendments to Chartered Purposes of Meher Spiritual Center, Inc, item (a).  

Today, conservation is claimed to be one of the main purposes of the Center. They are currently planning to build a multi-million dollar 'archive' to hold and conserve things such as the Center's gondola.

The Italian gondola in storage on the Meher Center

This was a gondola purchased by Elizabeth from a World's Fair and Meher Baba never road in it. It was simply for atmosphere.

But of even greater interest is the second added amendment in the same document, which was definitely added by Meher Baba's personal request. It is a provision for how the Center's assets are to be distributed when the Center is eventually dissolved, or as the provision words it, "in the event of the dissolution of the corporation." This, it states, should include scientific, educational, religious or charitable organizations, trusts or community chests.

Now compare this final provision requested by Baba in 1959 to his own words when the idea for a Universal Center was originally broached by the Center's founders in 1938.

For ordinary people involved in organizations, definite plans are necessary to maintain the organizations according to the funds available. For this, plans are to be made in advance, all arranged ahead, to establish the organization and conduct it; otherwise, the whole scheme would fail. But in the case of the Avatar, quite the contrary is true. His methods are strange, peculiar and quite the opposite of the world's. First of all, Avatars do not plan anything, and if at all they do, it is all an outward show, a bluff — all without any sound basis or firm foundation (such as provision of funds, et cetera). All is in the air with the risk of apparent failure at any moment. Yet, they do take the risk and indulge in the game, but their schemes hang in the air! And even if their schemes are going well and are on a sound basis, they may destroy them any moment. Such plans and schemes are created for some definite purpose as a means to a certain end. No sooner the end is achieved, the Avatars and Sadgurus will not continue running them, however flourishing they might be. Once their purpose is served, they are dropped. 

Today, the Meher Center can no longer figure out what its purpose is. It has become a place of cheap nightly rent for "spiritual tourists." It provides cabins much like a hostel does, and as Baba followers age (the average age is 76), the Center reaches out more and more to a New Age customer base that has no genuine interest in Baba or his message.

In fact, it is fast becoming what Baba said such Centers become when they are successful:

"... they form themselves into organizations or societies. For that reason, I create institutions and then dissolve them."

In 20 years the followers of Baba will mostly be gone. You can watch my video on this demographic trend here. There will certainly be some younger ones, but they will not be enough to support a 500 acre retreat with cheap rent. Something will need to be done.

This is a decision only those future aspirants can decide. One idea originally proposed by my daughter Megan, and worked up by us together, is that the Center be transformed into a botanical garden and raise and sell tea to support itself instead of renting cabins. Then, each year a Beads on One String Festival is held, with guests housed off center and visiting each day. Each annual festival would be dedicated to another Avataric religion, with special guests and unique culturally appropriate decoration, dress, and entertainment. This would celebrate our unity in diversity and keep the focus centered on God, in all His many garbs.

Or the land of the Center could be sold, and the money distributed to charities as Baba had specified in the Amendment he ordered by included in its charter. Obviously a small portion could be preserved as a memorial, including the couple of acres that now surround Dilruba and Meher Abode. And the Saroja reading room could be moved near them. This way it could remain as a place of pilgrimage.

Saroja Reading Room

In 1932 Baba said: 

No Spiritual Master brings religion to the world in the form it eventually assumes. His very presence is a blessing and radiates spirituality. He imparts it to others by personal contact. The so-called religions are an effort to commemorate that association with a great Spiritual Master, and to preserve his atmosphere and influence. It is like an archeological department trying to preserve things which only resuscitate the past. The living spirit being absent, religions or organizations gradually lose their glamour. The result is a mental revolt against the established order. Something more substantial and practical is required which expresses the life of the spirit. (Lord Meher, 1986 print edition, p. 1616)