“The spark inside my heart starts to glow and burst into flame”
Mark Trichka and Lisa Brande have been entertaining Baba lovers for decades with their uplifting bluegrass music. In this lively video, the couple tells how they each came to Baba despite not being drawn to religion when young. They also share some remarkable experiences. In Meherazad, Mani dubbed Mark the “Mandolin Walla” after he played for Mehera. At one point, Baba came to Lisa in a dream and said, “I am not this body.” They have spent the last 40 years living in Florida and Vermont and traveling around sharing their inspiring, foot-tapping music.
Video, 1:02:15
Dilruba Reading Room, Meher Center
November 15, 2025
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded June 5, 2026
The Art of Praise – Session 1: A Presentation by Ward Parks
Baba scholar Ward Parks guides us through the first of a six-part series on The Art of Praise as a Path to God. He focuses on how poetry can and has become a path to the Divine. He examines how Francis Brabazon, resident mandali & poet to Meher Baba, used his sonnets and ghazals to give praise to His Beloved. Meher Baba, in turn, hailed Brabazon’s epic devotional Stay with God as second in importance only to God Speaks.
Ward explores the concept of praise and complaint as a spiritual dialogue, wherein the lover suffers the pangs of separation from the Beloved. Ward then reviews different styles of poetry, including examples from Shakespeare, and then wraps up the presentation with a scholarly and spiritual explanation of Brabazon’s Australian Arti.
Video, 1:35:15
Meeting Place, Meher Spiritual Center
October 17, 2025
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded 5/15/2026
“I thought Baba was a spiritual genius, and He is!”
Musician and raconteur Jamie Newell has a Baba story rich with coincidences and early skepticism. It starts with a harrowing childhood injury that led to his becoming a musician. His first sight of Baba was years later on a “Don’t Worry Be Happy” poster in the bathroom of a fellow musician. Jamie loved the saying, which he thought sounded like it came from a yogi, but he wondered why it was paired “with this smiling Italian pizza maker.” Thus began a search for the poster, that eventually led him to the Discourses, and his first recognition of Baba. Upon seeing Baba’s picture in the third volume, Jamie says “It was like an electrical shock. I said, ‘Wait a minute. This is the pizza guy!’” And that is just the beginning of Jamie’s Baba story.
Video, 1:00:49
Dilruba Reading Room, Meher Spiritual Center
February 28, 2026
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded 5/15/2026
His Brilliant Light; A Presentation by Jon & Deborah Meyer
In this presentation, Jon & Deb Meyer share excerpts from their upcoming books, “His Brilliant Light; stories of Meher Baba & His close ones” and “Quest of the Birds: The Inner & Outer Journey,” respectively. Deb’s book combines her artwork with Jon’s poetry, focusing on the birds that appeared throughout Baba’s life. She shares several of her lovely drawings while providing stories of the birds lucky enough to be in His presence. Jon then shares a selection of excerpts from his work, focusing on different close lovers of Meher Baba. As Jon says in his presentation, “the most important thing is just to love Him,” and that love is exemplified in the works of Jon & Deb.
Video, 36:43
Meeting Place, Meher Spiritual Center
April 17, 2026
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded 5/8/2026
“It was grace, it was total pure grace”
Mary Sutton captivates the audience with her enchanting story about how Baba taught her “to dance with Him.” From a childhood passion for silence to a post-college illness during which she felt she lost everything and through to her successful career in theater, Mary recounts how Baba was with her throughout. Having studied with legendary greats like Stella Adler (Marlon Brando’s acting coach), she also acted with Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), and ended her career bringing theater education to communities around the country. She’s now settled Myrtle Beach, sharing her talent and energies.
Video, 1:01:21
Dilruba Reading Room, Meher Center
February 14, 2026
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded 5/1/2026
“Baba was with me all the way from the beginning”
In this animated and uplifting talk, Alisa shares the story of how she found Baba in her life. Her dissatisfaction with the Roman Catholic Church which she was born into led her to explore other spiritual paths in college, opening her mind to Eastern philosophies. This journey eventually led her to Meherabad, where she fell in love fully with Baba and His mandali, and felt finally that she “had come home.”
Video, 54:13
Dilruba Reading Room, Meher Spiritual Center
January 24, 2026
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded April 17, 2026
“Oh my God… He’s really God, who else could do that?”
With her frank New York humor, Deb Smith shares how Baba laid several seeds over the years before He “connected me to Him consciously in this lifetime.” Her journey is filled with earnest searches and entertaining twists. Once she found Baba, then she faced another challenge. “I really thought, how could I ever be worthy of Meher Baba?” She also shares some wonderful stories about her time living in India and helping with Arnavaz Dadachanji’s book Gift of God.
Video, 58:39
Dilruba Reading Room, Meher Spiritual Center
January 17, 2026
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded 4/10/2026
“You can’t say no to Baba”
In this special talk given on Meher Baba’s recent birthday, Irwin Luck shares stories of his experiences meeting Meher Baba. In 1960, Irwin flew all the way to India for the chance to meet Meher Baba for only one hour. In the end, Baba allowed him to stay for two weeks, accompanying Baba everywhere He went. Irwin invites the audience to ask questions, and responds with stories filled with humor and love for His Beloved.
Video, 1:04:50
Meeting Place, Meher Spiritual Center
February 25, 2026
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded 4/3/2026
“Intuition is the way I connect with Baba”
In this charming talk, Hugh Flick shares how he came to “his spiritual awakening.” Even though he was at Harvard around the same time as Rick Chapman, Allan Cohen and other early Baba lovers, he didn’t cross paths with them. Hugh heard about Baba from his brother Bart. And it was some years later when he started going to Darwin Shaw’s meetings regularly that he began what he calls “his awakened life” with Baba. “Darwin’s meetings were incredibly powerful spiritual experiences,” he says. There Hugh learned the importance of “dressing your soul with Baba” and keeping him as “my constant companion.”
Video, 1:02:20
Dilruba Reading Room, Meher Center
January 10, 2026
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded 4/3/2026
“Each little thing orchestrated by Baba was a step closer to Him”
Damien Triouleyre grew up around family and community who loved God. He first read about Meher Baba in a jail cell after being given a copy of Listen Humanity by one of the prison guards. From that moment on, Baba drew Damien in, introducing him to some of His dear lovers, and eventually bringing him to Meherabad in the late 1980’s. With charisma and love, Damien shares stories of the mandali and his own inner relationship with the Avatar of the Age.
Video, 1:09:30
Dilruba Reading Room, Meher Center
January 3, 2026
Meher Center Archives
Uploaded 3/20/2026