Exploring Baba’s mystical messages (1938-41) through Princess Norina Matchabelli (2018-25)
This August 18 will mark the seventh anniversary of my thought to again explore the mystical messages Baba gave inwardly to Norina, then explicitly ordered Elizabeth and other Meher Baba Journal editorial team to publish as submitted, without changing ‘one word,’ saying that while they themselves might not (at the time) make much of them, they would however come to be appreciated ‘in future.’ The messages give by far the fullest and most in depth elucidation of the nature of the coming and ongoing ‘transmutation in consciousness’ released by His ‘breaking His silence’ — expanding on His enigmatic statement,”I have come not to teach but to awaken.” I had first read the Norina articles when I brought copies of the Journals back with me from India in 1971. They excited me then - but I found no one else interested in them. Forty-eight years later (now just 7 years ago), I found I could pull them down from the Trust website and compile them into a pdf volume for my use. Again, they - and their message - excited me, so I began to offer to read them aloud, first at a Meherana Gathering in California - under a tin shed in a pounding rain, as it turned out. That rain might have amounted to a good omen, as this effort did stir some interest, at least enough for me to venture on. At a few PP (pre-pandemic) meetings at our home here, I and a growing number of others experienced, I felt, at least some of the penetrating wisdom and insight that Baba poured into them through Norina.
When the pandemic hit, meetings went online, so I ventured to begin weekly meetings via Zoom (Mondays, 7:00-8:30pm) - not knowing what the experience would be, for me or for others. To my surprise, I found the zoom medium suitable for reading meetings, as the reader can display the text as s/he is reading it for all to consider in their own manner. These weekly meetings have continued for now more than five years, and are going ‘strong’ (in the hearts of at least a few of us regulars ...). About 2022, Fiona Robertson from England asked me to begin another series of meetings monthly on (3rd) Saturday mornings (10-11:30am - waking hours in US, UK/Europe, and India). Those also continue.
These mystical messages or discourses are almost unknown in the world of Baba’s lovers. American Baba lovers’ impressions of Norina come exclusively from the work Norina was asked to do by Baba after returning to the U.S. with Elizabeth in 1941. All that is known of her talks and published writing after that point did bear on similar themes, but from a distinctly different point of view, as she explained in a talk soon after returning to America that ‘the West’ could not accept ‘the mystical language’ that Baba had used in giving Norina the Meher Baba Journal articles. Thus I might say that these messages have remained quite largely ‘hidden in plain view’ to this day - no doubt in accord with Baba’s plan for them.
The weekly zoom reading meetings begin at 7pm with some chitchat (until about 7:11). The calendar has the zoom link. If there is a ‘new’ person present, I make an effort to first introduce the messages to them. Then I read whichever article I’ve been working on most recently, followed by a few minutes for silent contemplation. I do my best in reading to bring out the structure and rhythm of the penetrating but often complex text. Finally, we close with heartfelt ‘Jai Baba!’s till we meet again. This format will most likely continue ... until it evolves. Anyone wanting to ‘sit in’ is welcome. Anne and I would also be happy to invite Baba’s lovers young or old to our home for in-person-only meetings - as we each feel that the time for revelation and growing inner appreciation of Baba’s mystical message does now seem to us to have come — we will look/listen for any clues of interest in this regard.
in Him -
Scott Makeig
