“It was clear I was His, and I was meant to be there”
Beverly Smith grew up in the Church, and although she loved Jesus, she began to question some aspects of Christianity in her teenage years. Around this time, she heard about Meher Baba through a close friend. She immediately felt drawn to Him, although viewed him as a Master and not the God-man. Interwoven with her lifelong path of music, she shares how Baba slowly pulled her in closer and closer to Him, on a path that led her to Myrtle Beach, overland to India, and eventually firmly into His arms.
Video, 57:43
Dilruba Reading Room, Meher Spiritual Center
June 13, 2026
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded October 9, 2026
“You’ve come because His love has drawn you”
In this love-filled talk, Michael Siegell shares his story of how he came to Baba. Growing up in a Jewish family in New York, he was inexplicably drawn to Eastern cultures from a very young age. He eventually heard the name “Meher Baba” when he was 18 while attending college, and through a series of experiences where Baba drew him in closer and closer, he found himself in India by 1972, on pilgrimage to Ahmednagar. Michael’s love for Baba is present in every word and smile he shares as he recounts his life with the Avatar.
Video, 1:11:34
Dilruba Reading Room, Meher Spiritual Center
June 6, 2026
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded October 2, 2026
“To embrace Baba is to embrace a cloud”
Michael LePage was fortunate enough to grow up in Meher House in Sydney, Australia. He lived there with his parents Bill and Joan, sisters Jenny and Ruth, and, for several years, his “uncle” Francis Brabazon. They hosted Meher Baba there on his 1956 visit to Australia. In this talk, Michael begins by discussing a man named Baron von Frankenburg who was a follower of the Sufi leader Inayat Khan. The baron eventually came into Meher Baba’s orbit and ultimately funded the construction of Meher House. Michael then goes onto share wonderful stories of Francis, as well as his own childhood experiences of meeting Meher Baba.
Video, 1:12:49
Dilruba Reading Room, Meher Spiritual Center
May 30, 2026
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded September 18, 2026
“He put a drop of love in my heart”
Stuart Baker was raised in a secular Jewish family where “there was a lot of guilt and a lot of great cooking.” His mother also had a bleak assessment of life as “hard and unfair,” which Stuart refused to accept. That launched him on an extraordinary inner journey as a teenager during which he accompanied by his “best friend, God.” That empowered him and eventually, after a period of disillusionment, led him to Meher Baba. Stuart soon traveled to the Center, then to India, and eventually moved to Myrtle Beach in his early 20s. And that’s just the beginning of his uplifting story.
Video, 1:02:51
Dilruba Reading Room, Meher Spiritual Center
May 23, 2026
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded September 11, 2026
“His Grace is Unbounded”
In this highly emotional and touching video, Jeff Williams and Cynthia Thomas share their individual stories and how Baba eventually brought them lovingly together. Jeff’s early life was riddled with violence, some of which was extreme. (Just a note, some parts of his story are difficult to hear.) Jeff felt abandoned by all, especially God, even though he also knew God was within. When he was in his early 20’s, he heard about Meher Baba and his life began to change. Cynthia’s story is quite different. An only child, she was raised in an immigrant family in Boston and went to Catholic schools. But she never felt comfortable in her heart with religion. In her early 20s, she met a man, converted to Judaism, married and had three children. She also became a highly successful designer. But she was always seeking. Through a series of perfect Baba coincidences, Jeff and Cynthia eventually met, fell in love, married and they now live happily in Myrtle Beach.
Video, 1:01:59
Dilruba Reading Room, Meher Spiritual Center
May 16, 2026
Meher Center Archives
“What does it mean to actually live His wish?”
Alex Davis, actor, playwright, and long-distance hiker, shares how he came to Baba and his subsequent, and sometimes challenging, intellectual journey. He grew up with Baba parents, but they chose to let him find his own path. After a spiritual crisis in college, he started exploring spirituality intellectually and began reading Baba books. He became focused on the enigma of God and the breaking of Meher Baba’s silence. He’s now less focused on “the mysteries of life” as he continues to explore his relationship with Baba. He also visits the Center often, attends the Young Adult Sahavases, and he enjoys belonging to the world-wide Baba community.
Video, 59:33
Dilruba Reading Room, Meher Spiritual Center
May 9, 2026
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded August 21, 2026
“Baba’s Nazar is on the Press”
In part two of Sheila Krynski’s talk, she focuses on the evolution of Sheriar Press from its founding in 1971 to its closing this past January. She’s accompanied by Jim Wrobel, the electronic prepress technician who joined the press in 1975 and continued there until its end. Sheila shares that Mani and Kitty approved and encouraged her to grow the business and also to start the Sheriar Foundation. From her beginnings as a painter, to learning about printing machines, owning an award-winning printing agency, and designing, publishing and printing Baba books, Sheila has been extraordinarily happy with this ever-evolving life that Baba lined up for her. She concludes the talk with, “I can’t imagine not doing it because it means so much to me.”
Video, 1:01:50
Dilruba Reading Room, Meher Spiritual Center
April 18, 2026
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded August 14, 2026
“One day, there will be a Baba printer”
For part one of a two-part personal narrative, Sheila Krynski shared many stories of her young adult life, from traveling and painting, searching for God, and going to her first Baba meetings with Fred and Ella Winterfeldt in New York. While she was teaching, she became fascinated with the ditto machine and taught herself how to work printing machines and presses. In June 1967, with Baba’s blessing, she became a printer for Meher Baba publications, posters and pamphlets. She moved down to Myrtle Beach on a whim, where she met Andy Lesnik, and they started Sheriar Press, Sheriar Bookstore and Sheriar Foundation.
Video, 1:02:04
Dilruba Reading Room, Meher Spiritual Center
April 18, 2026
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded August 7, 2026
“Being around the mandali was supreme, so much beyond what I was experiencing with meditation”
Rich Blum’s Baba story is rich with quietly dramatic events. They include a brief stint in an iron lung as a foreign exchange student and, much later, building a successful software business only to lose it all. He first heard Meher Baba’s name when he was a 17-year-old high schooler while watching the David Susskind Show in his living room in Pittsburgh. He describes his early introduction after that as a series of “one chance in a million” experiences. They include being in a high school in the late 1960’s where four other students had not only heard about Baba, but had also been to Myrtle Beach. Then in college, the student in the dorm room next to his had also heard about Baba, but his grandmother had actually met Him in 1952. And that’s just for starters.
Video, 59:30
Dilruba Reading Room, Meher Spiritual Center
April 11, 2026
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded July 17, 2026
“It was like a restlessness was growing in me”
Daniel Stone was raised in a highly intellectual Jewish family in a “pretty atheistic environment.” So it may not be surprising that when he first heard about Meher Baba around 1970, his reaction was rather cautious and unsure. He found an authority in the Discourses, but he was also put off by the fact that he couldn’t figure out what to do to become a “Baba lover.” His path still took him to Myrtle Beach where Kitty Davy, out of the blue, suggested he go to Rishikesh. Daniel did just that and visited various ashrams, including that of Neem Karoli Baba where he had a profound “heart awakening experience.” Still, he didn’t feel that Neem Karoli was his “guru.” Daniel eventually made his way to Ahmednagar and there, on the road to Meherazad, he had an another deep, profound awakening. This time it was imprinted with Meher Baba saying to him, “I am your master.”
Video, 1:01:47
Dilruba Reading Room, Meher Spiritual Center
March 28, 2026
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded July 3, 2026