The Folk Religion of the Meher Baba Followers in America

A folk religion is a set of spiritual beliefs and practices particular to a community and not affiliated with any major religion or religious institution.

Baba lovers deifying each other

The Meher Baba community in America is currently a classical case of a folk religion. Here I wish to itemize its principal beliefs and practices that can only be explained in terms of folk religion, as they are not found anywhere in Baba’s own teaching — and in fact he spoke against many of them.

The motivations of a folk religion are psychological. Practices and beliefs emerge from a community because they satisfy some basic psychological need or because they are carried over from past traditions. Folk religions have no centralized authority, they arise from the community naturally and are based on repetition and imitation.

Some of the psychological needs that motivate folk religions in general, and the Meher Baba folk religion in particular, are the need for blessings, for a sense of belonging, for a sense of protection, and a desire to know the future to prevent harm to oneself.

These needs are met in the Baba community by:

1. A focus on astrology, palmistry, and reference to psychics
2. A focus on dreams and visions
3. Channeling, also known as theurgy
4. Thoughts of death of loved ones in terms of ‘joining Baba’ in an afterlife
5. Belief in Baba as an ascended master that can be contacted to give blessings and protect you
6. Performing Dhunis and other rituals
7. Habitually using phrases picked up from Indians and normalized, such as saying “kindly” before a request
8. Adamantly not teaching their children what Baba taught, and usually not knowing themselves
9. Ranking people according to money
10. Obsessing on dead mandali
11. A belief in Atlantis and forbidden archeology
12. Hating Christianity and Islam
13. A naive insistance on Bible conspiracies
14. Obsessing on their own members

Am I implying there is something wrong with a folk religion. No. It is inevitable that folk religions evolve where there is no strong central authority -- as in the Baba world. 

But it explains the practices and beliefs that don't come from Baba's teachings or suggestions. And so it solves a mystery.

It also answers the question of why the above things don't interest me. I tend to focus on what Baba taught, on his teachings. I get pleasure from that. I can't even imagine following the practices and beliefs of a group that is inventing beliefs and rituals as it goes along and expecting people to follow out of ordinary herd instinct, or out of anxieties or desires they are expected to have. I don't share those anxieties or desires.

There are two alternatives to fitting into a folk religion. One is joining an organized religion and the other is to become a mystic. I have always approved of religion for what it tries to do, but could never personally belong to one. Just like I don't think I could fit into any large corporation. I'm kind of doomed to follow the personal path of a mystic. One could say it picked me more than I picked it. I fell into it by default because my interest in truth was greater than my interest in local approval. But most people will never feel that interested in truth. This leaves religion and folk religion as the only choices for most. And then there are people who aren't drawn to either and simply pursue ordinary things of the world.