[Tavern-Talk] Trust Talk - Trust Objects and Purposes: Part Two

[Tavern-Talk]

The Master Plan

 From the beginning we started work on the Master Plan of Development 
for Meherabad, and there have been many revisions since the 1970's. For 
many years now we have settled into demarcating Meherabad according to 
the objects Beloved Baba has given in the Trust Deed. We decided that 
all the land behind the Hostels, where the small Hospital and Staff 
Quarters are located, known as Outer Meherabad, should be used for the 
educational and medical public charitable activities of the Trust.

The present educational activities in this area are the High School and 
sports field. In the future, we plan to build an Arts College, a public 
library, and additional sports facilities. A provision will be made for 
the education of the children of people who come here to live and serve. 
Also, in this area, we plan to build public utility buildings for the 
villagers of Arangaon.

The present medical activities in this area at Outer Meherabad are the 
Hospital, and the Isolation Ward. In the future, we plan to build a very 
large in-patient hospital which will give all kinds of treatment: 
Allopathic, Homeopathic, Ayurvedic, everything.

Lower Meherabad is the place where Beloved Baba spent much time doing 
important work. The Jhopdi is still there, the Old Mess Quarters (now 
Dharamshala building); big table house; dhuni; original well; neem tree; 
Gilori Shah's tomb are all there. Between the road and the railway 
tracks are the sites where the Hazrat Babajan School, Sai Darbar, 
Makan-e-khas, and the post office used to be. This sacred historical 
area will be preserved for Baba Lovers now and in the future. One thing 
you should all remember is that the tree Beloved Baba sat under and the 
well He drank from when He first came to Meherabad in 1923 still exist 
today!

Because Baba gave Spiritual Training as a Trust object, we will provide 
facilities for this. We already have built a small Spiritual Training 
Academy meeting place at Lower Meherabad. In the future, when there will 
be hundreds of Baba Lovers living at Meherabad and undergoing spiritual 
training, we will build a large Meeting Hall and other facilities for them.

What is Spiritual Training? It is to train yourself to get rid of your 
false self; this is inner training. All the objects of the Trust are the 
outer vehicle for this inner training. While illusory construction goes 
on at Meherabad, there should be real destruction of the false self 
within each one.

As I have explained, there were only a few acres of land around Baba's 
Samadhi at Upper Meherabad owned by the Trust. When I became a Trustee, 
I knew what was going to happen here because Baba had told us that 
Meherabad would become the greatest place of pilgrimage in the future. 
So, I started to purchase the land around the Samadhi. In the future all 
Meherabad Hill will be a huge gathering ground for hundreds of 
thousands, if not millions, of pilgrims. The present stage for Amartithi 
will be shifted to the area behind the Samadhi to accommodate larger 
crowds. We also plan on having several other stages located at several 
places throughout the Hill area.

You know Beloved Baba has stated in the Trust Deed that a superstructure 
will be built over His Samadhi. He even gave specific instructions that 
it should be at least 50 feet on all sides. In fact, in 1965 Baba 
Himself in Mandali Hall called for a matchbox, took out some matches, 
and made a design with them. At one point, He made the matches into a 
triangle. None of us mandali could follow what He meant by it. But in 
the future, someone will come and design the Superstructure according to 
His wish.

One of the main objects of the Trust Deed is Pilgrim Accommodations. We 
have created a whole new, peaceful area for this to the West of the 
Samadhi. In this area you will find the Meher Pilgrim Retreat. Soon we 
will construct a large Dharamshala in this area. As time goes by, the 
Trust can build more Retreats and Dharamshalas in this area for the 
pilgrims who wish to stay at Meherabad. Besides accommodating daily 
pilgrims, we have to see to the accommodation of the pilgrims who will 
come for Amartithi. Long ago I started purchasing land in that area with 
this in mind. Still, we do not have sufficient acreage for the hundreds 
of thousands who will need to be accommodated at Amartithi. This is a 
challenge for future generations to fulfill.

Baba said that a township will grow at Meherabad. One day He took us to 
Upper Meherabad and said, "This whole area - you have no idea what will 
happen here".  There has already been building of condos and homes in 
Meherabad and Arangaon. This is one way people will come and remain here.

A few years ago the idea came to me that the Trust also has to plan for 
an area where Meher Baba's life and work will be on display for the 
thousands upon thousands who will come here. They should learn about his 
life in an interesting way. So, a series of exhibition halls will be 
constructed that will show this using the technology of the time. This 
area will be called "Meher Baba in Motion". The area will also have a 
museum and library.

So far, I have only discussed the Master Plan for Meherabad. There is 
also a Meherazad Master Plan, but it is only in its initial stages.

At present, the Master Plan demarcates Meherazad into two zones, Inner 
Meherazad and Outer Meherazad. The inner or historical Meherazad is made 
up of the properties that Baba Himself lived in and used, Baba's House, 
Seclusion Hill, Mandali Hall, the approach road, etc.
 
Outer Meherazad will provide centers where future generations can gather 
to watch films and videos, listen to tapes, and read Baba literature. 
Outer Meherazad will also provide research facilities for persons 
studying Meher Baba's life and message. The Meher Free Dispensary and 
other medical and educational facilities, giving aid to the poor, sick, 
and needy, already has been constructed in an area near the west border 
of the Meherazad Estate. Efforts are being made to purchase more land in 
order to have the space necessary to fulfill this plan.

Of course, the Meher Nazar Trust Office Compound is also included in the 
Master Plan. The Compound has always been the location of the central 
office used by Baba and the Mandali, and it remains the office of the 
Trust to this day. This historic property will be maintained and 
additional property adjacent to the Compound will be purchased as it 
becomes available for administrative offices and staff quarters.

Beloved Baba's dear ones, how fortunate you are to be in such close 
contact with Him in these early days of His Manifestation! By coming 
here on pilgrimage you can still have the flavor of what it was like in 
Baba's time, only a few decades ago. And for those of you who can come 
here to serve, there is a great opportunity to take part in fulfilling 
His wishes as He set them forth in His Trust Deed.  

The next article, which will appear shortly on Trust-Talk, will address 
the first object Baba gave in the 1959 Trust Deed:

"Digging of a well or wells and or obtaining independent water supply 
from available public sources to replace at the earliest date present 
limited free water supply on a friendly basis from neighbor Meherji's 
well in Lower Meherabad."

Baba chose water as the first object because Meherabad was a 
drought-stricken area, and development could not proceed without water. 
In fact, water supply remains a problem to this day.

In this series you will see how the objects of the Trust, which started 
from simple beginnings, have developed into what we see today. No one 
knows the future limit of this development.