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One of the best books written regarding the history of San Luis Obispo County in California. It is the true story of a small, loose-knit community of bohemians, artists, writers, hermits, hoboes and spiritual seekers who lived wild, unfettered and rent-free in driftwood shacks and tents in the Pismo Beach Dunes (now the Oceano/Pismo Dunes) in the 1920s and 1930s.
Some of the Dunites even published a short-lived nationally distributed magazine, created in the Dunes, with contributions by photographers Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and other artists and philosophers who interacted with the Dunites and went on to greater fame. One of the most illustrious and flamboyant Dunites was astrologer, writer and socialite Gavin Arthur, grandson of United States President Chester Arthur. Also documented in this history are interactions between the Dunites, Avatar Meher Babaand avant-garde musician John Cage, and others.
This book contains photographs and illustrations of and by the Dunites. Another great feature of this book is the charming maps drawn by Hammond, showing the exact locations of most of the Dunites’ living quarters in the Dunes, the Dunite cabins having long since disappeared.
The editor of Meher Baba Journal (1938-1943), and the co-founder of the Meher Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach, was Norina Matchabelli. Born Norina Gilli in Florence, Italy, she was a famous actress of the European silent screen who’s stage name was Maria Carmi.
After a marriage with Karl Vollmöller (see image right), writer of The Miracle (an extremely famous pantamime spectacle play) and The Blue Angel (the film that made a star of Marlene Dietrich), she married a Georgian prince, Prince Georges Matchabelli. Together they formed Matchabelli Perfume.
In the 1940’s Norina Matchabelli gave a series of public talks in Carnegie Hall and Steinway Hall in New York that were filled to capacity. In these talks she would go into a trance-like state and deliver what she called “thought-transmission” from Meher Baba. When speaking, the personal “I” switched to “I, Meher Baba.” When someone voiced concern over this to Baba he cabled:
Norina serves Me through spiritual thought-transmission,
Nadine serves Me through surrender,
and Elizabeth through sacrifice.1
She later co-founded the Meher Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach with Elizabeth Patterson and died at Youpon Dunes in Myrtle Beach in 1957. Norina is buried by Baba’s tomb in India.
First trip to the West
In August of 1931, Meher Baba made his first of nine trips to the West. Baba often changed plans rapidly, and just before this trip, he inexplicably instructed the disciple making the arrangements to change the reservations from a ship that had already been booked, to the SS Rajputana. At that time, Mahatma Gandhi was considering attending a round table discussion in London regarding the independence of India (the decision hinging on the easing of conflicts between Hindus and Muslims), and at the last minute decided in favor of going and also happened to book passage on the Rajputana. Meher Baba had recently been the guest of the mayor of Karachi, Jamshed Mehta, who cabled Gandhi that Baba was on-board, recommending to contact him.
Gandhi sent word through his secretary, and the two met on September 8th in Baba’s cabin. Baba’s secretary recorded their conversation, and the transcript was later endorsed by both sides. Meher Baba related the narrative of his spiritual awakening, whereupon Gandhi remarked, “The divine truths that you have enunciated and your experiences are a regular feast which I would like to enjoy for hours.” They talked about matters of spiritual discipline like silence and fasting (Meher Baba having kept silence for six years at that point). Baba also allowed Gandhi to read some pages from a book he had written “explaining all the secrets of the (spiritual) Path”. Gandhi was the only person Baba ever showed this book to. Its whereabouts are not now known, except perhaps to whomever it was vouchsafed.(5)
The conversation then turned to Gandhi’s political work, which Baba advised him on at length.(6) The following exchange was recorded:
“India has suffered a great deal. Will she have to continue suffering?” asked Gandhi of Meher Baba.
Meher Baba replied, “The situation as I see it is that if the British refuse to give you what is wanted, full Dominion Status to India, you will have to return empty-handed and be forced to start civil disobedience in India again. Despite your insistence on a non-violent revolution, if the atmosphere does turn violent, it will be difficult to check the situation. You have in recent months evidenced incidents of violence all over India. If such violence continues the spiritual cause of India will suffer tremendously. As long as civil disobedience in India is non-violently carried out, matters will work out successfully, otherwise India will have to continue suffering. But India will gain by this suffering, not lose, because suffering will prepare India to be courageous. Remember all good results after suffering.
“India has always been a land of spirituality and if spiritual greatness is to be maintained, the energy of suffering must remain. In order for it to remain spiritually great, India must be prepared to suffer, but non-violently.”
These consultations continued for three consecutive nights. On the last night Gandhi expressed the desire to join Meher Baba, that he longed for God-Realization, and that “…if God ordained he should retire from politics, God would create such circumstance as to relieve him of all obligations and responsibilities for which he was committed.”(7)
During their talks, Gandhi mentioned that he had earlier met Upasni Maharaj, and had gotten a shocking reception–that master had told him, “So, you are a great man–what is that to me?” lifting the sackcloth he wore and showing Gandhi his private parts!(8) Gandhi, naturally, was taken aback and expressed to Baba that he could not accept Upasni Maharaj’s spiritual authority, even though he could feel Baba’s. Baba assured him that Upasni, as the master who helped Baba function again in the gross world after his Realization, was spiritually Perfect.
Mahatma Gandhi was not the only well-known religious figure who was aware of Baba and privately expressed respect for him. Mother Theresa was once interviewed by an Indian follower of Meher Baba. Having noticed that one of Baba’s messages was printed on the back of the interviewer’s card, she asked, “You are a lover of Meher Baba?” In Bengali, which Mother Theresa spoke fluently, the interviewer answered, “Yes, Avatar Meher Baba is the Living Christ.” After making sure she wasn’t being tape-recorded, Mother Theresa responded, “Meher Baba is a Christlike person.” The interviewer, feeling prompted inwardly, said “Mother, Baba is God.” Mother Theresa was silent for a few moments, and responded, “I am a Roman Catholic nun, governed by Vatican dictates, but I know this: Meher Baba started working on lepers, then we four became involved with lepers: myself, Baba Amte, Gandhiji (Mahatma Gandhi) and Albert Schweitzer. Following that work, the Government of India is now pursuing leprosy eradication, and the World Health Organization has a programme to wipe out the disease by the end of the century!” She then asked the interviewer not to divulge her comments while she was alive.(9)
Invitation to America
The Rajputana landed at Marseilles, France on Sept. 11, 1931. There was a large crowd of reporters waiting for Gandhi, but Meher Baba, slipping unnoticed through the crowd, was met by two disciples who had prepared a retreat for him in Devonshire, England. Gandhi is said to have remarked to reporters, “Tarry my brothers, behind me is somebody traveling incognito. I am not equivalent to the dirt of his nails. If he desires he can make the sun rise in the West and set in the East.”(10) But Baba and his men had already left.
One of the attendees at the Devonshire retreat was Thomas Watson, then in his late 70s. Dr. Watson had been Alexander Graham Bell’s assistant, the first person to hear a voice over the telephone (Mr. Bell in the next room, saying, “Mr. Watson — come here — I want to see you.”) He had heard of the retreat from a protégé named Milo Shattuck who had spent some time there.(11) Framroze Dadachanji, one of Baba’s men who had traveled with Baba from India, relates:
While entering the retreat, Baba stopped for a moment and placed his hand on Dr. Watson’s head in blessing and patted him on the back. So deep was the impact that Dr. Watson’s heart began to heave and he sobbed like a little child. I led Dr. Watson to the library and allowed him time to compose himself. After fifteen minutes he calmed down and asked me with tears in his eyes, “How long have you been with him?”
“For seven years,” I replied.
Hearing this answer Dr. Watson put his hand on my back and said, “My son, do you know how lucky you are to be able to stay for seven years in the company of such a personality?”
“Yes, I consider myself fortunate for this. It is all his grace.”
After a moment’s silence, Dr. Watson continued, “In my life of 78 years, I have experienced for the first time what God’s love can be. Only one touch of Baba’s hand has made me conscious of it.”
Dr. Watson went on to describe his long spiritual search, having collected thousands of spiritual books, but that the knowledge gained from them “remained on the fringe of the mind”. But, he said, “My search has ended today. This experience cannot be explained to anybody. It is to be experienced by the self–that I have realized now.”
Later on, however, Baba did explain to Dr. Watson and his wife a number of spiritual points with the help of diagrams. Thanking Baba, Dr. Watson said, “Baba, America is the country for you. If you permit, I invite you on behalf of the American people taking upon myself the responsibility of making all arrangements for you and your disciples.”(12) Dr. Watson followed through on his offer and Baba traveled to America the following month, to stay at a large stone house made available for him in Harmon-on-Hudson, New York. Many of Baba’s long-time disciples first met him at these two early retreats in Devonshire and New York. Malcolm Schloss describes the personal interviews, which were periodically permitted with Baba during the month-long stay in New York:
For one, two or three minutes at a time we would be silent with him. In those periods of silence we touched a depth in our inner being which we had never reached before. Tears of quiet ecstasy flowed from our eyes. Our hearts dilated until it seems as if they would burst the bonds of the body. What would have happened if the one, two or three minutes had been prolonged, only Baba knows–but they never were prolonged.(13)
Second Visit to the West
On March 24, 1932, Meher Baba again visited the West, sailing for England from Bombay on the Italian ship Conte Rosso. He did not want publicity or to give interviews, but the crew and passengers sensed something about him. In the extensive biography, Lord Meher, Bhau Kalchuri writes:
In spite of all the observance of strict privacy, Baba’s personality was so powerful that he immediately impressed those who happened to glance at him or casually pass by him. …Among them was a Christian missionary who asked for, and was given, literature about Baba. A young man proceeding to Oxford for study was always particular to pay his respects to Baba whenever they passed. The ship’s Italian stewards, sailors and officers especially seemed to sense Baba’s presence, and they were all very humble and deferential toward him. They vied with one another to render assistance and tried to approach Baba on one pretense or another whenever an opportunity arose.” Baba met with only one person, Professor Ernest Wood, a Theosophist working at the Theosophical Society in Madras, to whom he gave an explanation as to what he meant by spirituality.(14)
On May 13, Baba left England for New York City aboard the S.S. Bremen. Near the end of the journey, Baba dictated a message and had it printed on the ship’s press. On the 19th, newspaper reporters “swarmed into Baba’s cabin” requesting interviews, but were handed the message Baba had earlier prepared. It began:
I have not come to establish any cult, society or organization, nor even to establish a new religion. The religion I will give teaches the knowledge of the One behind the many.(15)
Baba was particularly interested in the film industry. Accordingly, he spent one week in Hollywood, California beginning on May 29th, meeting with a number of people connected with that industry and visiting the Paramount and Goldwyn Mayer film studios. He met a number of film stars including Boris Karloff, Cary Grant, Tallulah Bankhead, Gary Cooper and Maurice Chevalier, and gave private interviews to some. Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford arranged for a private reception at their mansion, “Pickfair”. Ms. Pickford had Baba sit on a sofa and she sat on the carpet at his feet. Her husband and the rest joined her, and Baba explained:
The whole universe and its structure, I have created. The universe is my cinema. But just as an audience becomes absorbed in witnessing a drama on the screen, and the film engages their emotions and sways their feelings by its influence, causing them to forget that it is not real–in the same way, the spectators of the world are charmed by this worldly film show, forgetting themselves and taking it to be real!
So I have come to tell them that this worldly cinema in which they are absorbed is not real. I have come to turn their focus toward Reality. Only God is real, and everything else is a mere motion picture!
In a private meeting before dinner with Ms. Pickford and a few others, Baba commented on the film industry itself:
I do not need to tell you who are engaged in the production and distribution of motion pictures what a power you hold in your hands, nor do I doubt that you are fully alive to the responsibilities which the wielding of that power involves. He who stimulates the imagination of the masses can move them in any direction he chooses, and there is no more powerful an instrument for stimulating their imagination than motion pictures. People go to the theatre to be entertained. If the play is strong, they come away transformed. They surrender their hearts and minds to the author, producer, director and stars, and follow the example which they see portrayed before their eyes more than they themselves realize.(16)
Meher Baba would associate with people of high or low social standing, depending on their sincere interest in spirituality and also depending on the nature of the inner spiritual work he was trying to accomplish. Some of my favorite stories about Baba depict him following the reception plans laid out by officials and dignitaries, only to suddenly diverge from the mapped-out route, leading the bewildered officials down backs streets until arriving at the home of some poor or sick person who secretly longed to meet him.
This reception at “Pickfair” had a similar surprise in store. After dinner, Baba noticed a young woman standing at the far end of the room with her back to him and requested that she come forward, and she was called. She turned toward Baba but remained where she was. She was called again, and she came forward but stopped at a distance. Norina Matchebelli, one of Baba’s disciples traveling with him, told her, “Come and shake hands with Baba, child.” She demurred, and another disciple, Elizabeth Patterson, said, “Why are you afraid, dear? Come nearer and meet Baba.”
Continuing with the account as told in Lord Meher:
She asked, “How can I touch him?”
“Why not?” Norina replied. “All can meet Baba!”
This brought tears to her eyes, and she pitiably asked, “But I am a sinner! How can I touch a holy being like him?”
Baba then went to her, and passed his hand over her head and shoulders. She started weeping, and Baba gestured to her, “I am the purest of the pure. I can purify the worst sinner. You have understood your mistakes and acknowledged them faithfully in the presence of others, and so you are forgiven. This penance from the depths of your heart is adequate, and you are now cleansed. Now, don’t fear in the least and don’t repeat your past mistakes. I give you my blessings!” The girl burst into tears, and Baba lovingly embraced her. The tears which Baba had drawn from her heart wiped out all her sins.
Those who witnessed this were deeply moved; their hearts overflowed and their eyes also teared. Before departing, Baba again embraced all the guests and putting his hand on the girl’s head, consoled her, “You have received forgiveness for everything! Forget the past and don’t worry at all.” The girl pressed her eyes to Baba’s hand and kissed it. As Baba left, all eyes followed him. In their films, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks had depicted scenes of deep human love, but witnessing this sight of pure divine love from Meher Baba was a rare experience indeed. Their hearts were full. (17)
The Hollywood Bowl
As mentioned earlier, Meher Baba had begun keeping strict silence on July 10, 1925. For a few years he communicated by writing, then switched to using an alphabet board, and in later years began using his own unique hand gestures. During this period of the 1930’s, Baba was still using the board.
Meher Baba had many times said that when he finally broke his silence, it would be to utter the “Word of words”, and that it would unleash a tide of spirituality which would help each person to advance toward the Goal (God-Realization) in their own way. There were also quite a few occasions when Baba would predict, or even promise, to break his silence at such and such a time and place, and then wouldn’t do so, at least outwardly to anyone’s knowledge. This scenario unfolded again in California, when some of Baba’s Western followers urged Baba to break his silence on the radio in the Hollywood Bowl.(18) Baba agreed and set the date for July 14th 1932.
At that time there were a number of Westerners attached to Baba, some of them intimate disciples, who–as best I can describe it–had the Western “malaise” of taking things very literally, and of wrongly valuing certain things as highly spiritual and undervaluing other things which really were more the essence of spirituality. Just as Gandhi could not abide the ego-bruising, seemingly uncouth reception he got at the hands of Upasni Maharaj, so these spiritual seekers and metaphysicians apparently could not get past the way Meher Baba worked. There was great excitement about this literal breaking of Baba’s external silence with publicity and fanfare, to be broadcast on the radio, from the Hollywood Bowl. My personal opinion is that this was the way Baba brought up to the surface all these tendencies of superficiality in spiritual matters toward which the West is so inclined. The women even had special “Hollywood Bowl” dresses made!
Behind the scenes, however, Baba’s secretary, Adi K. Irani, expressed his concerns to Baba:
“Look, Baba, you’re not going to break your silence at the Hollywood Bowl. Why go through all this fuss with the radio and newspapers? Why make these people go to all this trouble? People will be mad, very angry with you, if you do not speak. And I know you won’t!”
“Upset, Baba scolded Adi, ‘No, no, you don’t know! Keep quiet! This time, I am going to do it!’ Adi didn’t say anything else, though he disbelieved that Baba would so such a thing, and actually feared that they might be beaten or killed by the angry people once they discovered what Baba was planning otherwise.”(19)
In fact, Baba left for China by way of Japan on June 4, saying he would return to break his silence on July 14th, but subsequently sent a disciple back to cable that he had changed his mind. Baba also made arrangements to break his silence in London in February of the following year, and did not so do (i.e., outwardly and audibly) on that date, either. Probably as a result, a number of Western disciples, including prominent astrologer Dane Rudyar and long-time disciple Meredith Starr (who had first invited Baba to the West, setting up the Devonshire Retreat), eventually left Baba, convinced he was a fraud.
However, Baba stated a number of times that when he promises something, it will come about in his own way and in his own time.(20)
Hollywood and the “Dunites,” 1934
Meher Baba returned to Hollywood in 1934, avoiding publicity and instead working with a number of screenwriters and filmmakers on proposed film projects. During the earlier 1932 visit he had met a spiritual seeker named Sam Cohen, a Theosophist and resident of a loosely knit freethinkers community named “Moy Mell” nestled among the dunes on the beach at Oceano, California. The benefactor of this group of intellectuals, spiritual seekers, artists and social misfits was Chester Alan Arthur III, grandson of the 21st President, who went by the name of Gavin. For a time Gavin published a magazine called the Dune Forum, which included articles by such notables as Stuart Edward White (author of the spiritualist classic, The Unobstructed Universe), and photographic contributions by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston (whose dune photographs are well-known). Gavin would frequently entertain the intellectual and artistic elite of America at his cabin in the dunes. Although accounts differ somewhat, it appears that Baba sent disciple Meredith Starr and his wife to Moy Mell in 1932, and that they stayed on for a period of time (this was approximately a year and a half before Meredith’s defection). When Baba returned to Hollywood in 1934, he agreed to visit the “Dunite” community. On the evening of Christmas day (accounts different as to the exact days), Baba arrived with eighteen of his followers, including Norina Matchabelli, wife of Georges Matchabelli, known for the popular perfume brand. Norina had previously arranged for a special cabin to be built for Baba, but he chose instead to stay in Gavin’s cabin. Gavin was not in Moy Mell at the time, and it was decided that he wouldn’t mind.
There was also a Theosophical center called the Temple of the People in nearby Halcyon, founded in 1904 with the intent of preparing for the arrival of the next incarnation of the Avatar, but there is no record of Baba visiting it.(21)
Baba and his group stayed overnight and spent the following day visiting with Sam Cohen and other Dunites, many of whom were eccentric characters and spiritual seekers who gave little importance to social convention. Hugo Seelig was a seeker of truth from an early age, who, after his father’s suicide, roamed the coast of California meeting other seekers and visiting places where they could be found. At Stanford University, he met a resident of Halcyon who told him about Oceano and the little dune colony there. When WWI broke out and America entered the war, Hugo went to live in the dunes and became part of the community, pursuing his writing.
George Blaise was an ascetic who despite being in his 60s, was in splendid physical health with long white hair and beard. He was strictly celibate and a vegetarian who lived on grains and fruits, especially fruits which had fallen to the ground (he believed that vegetables like carrots and lettuce suffered because they remain alive after being pulled up or cut off). He seemed impervious to the elements, living naked in the dunes and only putting on a loincloth if he had to enter the nearby town. George was a reformed alcoholic and a lay preacher who attracted attention from outsiders, eventually developing a small following.(22)
Both of these men, along with Sam Cohen, were the “Dunites” who spent the most time with Meher Baba during this visit.
In a letter dated July 1st, 1966 written to another of Baba’s followers, Filis Frederick, Sam Cohen wrote:
Baba arrived with his group the day before Christmas… The next day Baba spent in granting interviews to different people who had heard of his coming. In the late afternoon we all trekked to the beach to escort Baba back to town, from where he would resume his drive back to Hollywood. As we walked along the beach single file, Baba’s car had broken down, and we all kept looking at Baba in the hope that he might perform a miracle, but Baba decided to let the law of mechanics take its course. So the car was pushed forward and Baba and I walked on ahead.
This was when a most unusual experience took place: Baba looked at me, and then pointed to the Pacific Ocean. I said, “Oh yes, it is very big.” Baba shook his head, as if to say “No.” Again he waved his hand, and I said, “Oh, yes, it is very beautiful.” Once again, “No.” Finally, a loud speaking voice said, “I AM AS BIG AS THE OCEAN.” And you know Baba does not speak.(23)
The ’50’s, ’60’s, and Beyond
Meher Baba visited the West, and America, several times after 1934. With the help of Norina Matchebelli and other close disciples, he established a permanent retreat called the Meher Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach, SC, which he visited on three occasions, in 1952, 1956 and 1958. However, he didn’t come into public view again until the time of the cultural renaissance in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
In 1964, a booth dedicated to Meher Baba was set up in the American Interiors Pavilion, not far from the Coca-Cola Pavilion. The pamphlet that was prepared to be handed out, as approved by Baba, included his “Universal Message,” “The Seven Realities,” and eight points on “How To Love God,” along with a brief biography. A portion of the Universal Message reads:
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