Amartithi

Today is the 40th anniversary of the death of Meher Baba. The photograph above shows where he is buried and is referred to as his Samadhi. However, Baba lovers don't think of this anniversary as a death but as the dropping of his physical body. Baba emphasised that there was really only one birth and one death, the birth of the soul into ignorance of its true nature and the death of ignorance once the soul realises its true nature. He described physical death as being akin to sleeping. When a person goes to sleep, he or she wakes up in the same body but when a person dies, he or she wakes up in a new body.

At the moment thousands of people from India and from around the world are gathered at Meherabad for a three day celebration of this anniversary. There is live coverage of the event of the Internet while video and audio highlights can be viewed here. The term Amartithi is used for this celebration and Wikipedia describes the origin of the term as follows:

Amartithi is the day which commemorates Meher Baba's death on January 31, 1969. The word "Amartithi" appears to have been coined by Meher Baba and means "deathless day" (Literally, amar, deathless; tithi, day). Also translated as "eternal date" or "date with the Eternal." 10,000-12,000 overnight and 25,000-30,000 daytime visitors from all over the world gather at Meherabad for the three-day program. Amartithi is celebrated by Meher Baba's followers all over the world, including in the United States, Europe, and Australia, and, besides "Silence Day" (July 10, commemorating the commencement of Meher Baba's lifelong silence), it is considered the most significant holiday among followers of Meher Baba. At Meherabad the climax of the event takes place on Amartithi day itself when the assembled crowd keeps silence for fifteen minutes in honor of the physical passing of Meher Baba at 12:15 p.m. on January 31, 1969. Meher Baba's flag is flown over Meherabad during Amartithi.

When I first visited Meherabad over ten years ago, it was difficult to even reach the centre via email but now there is even a live video feed to the Internet on the big occasions such as this. Times have certainly changed. Out of necessity, I remember leaving behind in Singapore in 1999 the few volumes of Bhau Kalchuri's Lord Meher that I had purchased. Now the entire collection is freely available online along with all of Baba's books and those of a great many of his followers.