Norina Matchabelli

It was today, in 1957, that Norina Matchabelli was reunited with Baba at the age of 77. She first met Baba in New York in 1931 and that meeting was to change her life. This is her description of what happened:

I doubt whether that experience [of meeting Meher Baba] can be expressed in words. I had heard about him, but I remained skeptical. I had followed teacher after teacher, and yet none of them could ever reassure me [about the Path]. 

Eventually, I consented to go with a friend to Harmon. I entered the room in which Baba was sitting surrounded by followers and disciples. That very moment, an experience began, full of wonder and beauty. Suddenly I had to run across the room and I found myself weeping on the floor at his feet. Weeping, weeping! Oh, how I was weeping! But I also began to laugh, and the streams running down my cheeks and the outbursts of laughter became one. I was resting my head on Baba's hand, and my whole body was shaking with terrific sobs of liberation.

Eventually, I quieted down. Baba then took my face between his hands and looked at me for a long time into one of my eyes, and then into the other, and then back into the first eye. Then he spoke to me via the alphabet board. His first words were: "I am man and woman and child. I am sexless." He then paused for a while, brought his face nearer to mine and spelled out, "Have no fear." 

An incredible joy surged through me. I went into the next room and lay down on a sofa, weeping still with joy. Suddenly the door opened and Baba came in. I knew now that my whole life had no meaning if it were not dedicated to the Perfect Master, and so I said to him, "Baba, please take me with you."

Of course, Baba emphasised that he was "sexless" because a skeptical Norina had said to her friend Jean Adriel only the day before:

"How can you worship at the feet of any man, even if he does call himself a Master? Women like ourselves — who have had such deep inner experiences — don't need any man to show us the way to God. 

Well, that was her head talking of course and her heart had other ideas. She remained devoted to Baba for the rest of her life. 

On June 15th, 1957, Norina Matchabelli passed away at the age of seventy-seven, in Youpon Dunes, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, after prolonged heart trouble. Her love, service and renunciation were boundless. She was wholly Baba’s and merged in Him. Baba sent this telegram to Elizabeth Patterson and Kitty Davy on June 17th: “Be happy my very dear Norina has come to live with me forever.” Her body was cremated and, as was Baba’s wish, the ashes were sent to India and interred on Meherabad Hill. Her tombstone reads: “Princess Norina who is and will ever remain Baba’s.” Here is a link to more information about her.

Bhau Kalchuri

I notice that my last post, almost two years ago, was about Bhau Kalchuri. At that time he was still alive but sadly he passed away on October 23rd of that year. However, I'm still reading Lord Meher and in fact have started re-reading it and am currently reading about his first visit to America in 1932. I've also started to tweet daily on what was happening in Baba's life on the day of the tweet in earlier years. For example, today Baba left New York by train and headed to Chicago. I've been taking a screenshot of a paragraph from Lord Meher and attaching that as a photograph to the tweet so that a lot more information can be conveyed compared to words alone. Here is the screenshot from today's tweet:

 

Now that I'm on the countdown to retirement, I may be able to resume this blog with more regularity. I'll keep the content of this blog more spiritually orientated whereas my Pedagogical Posturing blog can be more mundane and technologically/mathematically orientated. In both cases, I need to update some of my links and add others, including those to Instagram and Flickr.

Baba's Gardener

I'm now up to page 5566 of Lord Meher, Bhau Kalchuri's epic account of the life of Meher Baba. At this point in the biography it's early 1959. Recently Bhau's health has been very fragile but latest reports say he's feeling better. The first time I met Bhau, I was with Sylvia, my wife at the time. It must have been 1997 or 1998. We were approaching the Trust Office in Ahmednagar after alighting from a public bus that we'd taken from Poona. This little guy who had been tending to some of the plants in the garden spotted us and greeted us with a most welcoming smile and showed us into the office where we made arrangements to stay in the Pilgrim's Quarters at Meherabad. He seemed so genuinely happy to see us and asked all about where we'd come from. We assumed he was the gardener and it was only later that we realised he was Baba's nightwatchman and one of his mandali.

Even back then his health was not good. Before leaving India, we visited him briefly in a hospital, in Ahmednagar I guess, where he had been admitted for observation. My last contact with Bhau was in Singapore in 1999 when he visited for a few hours on a stop-over on his way back to India from America. Sylvia and I were having marital problems at the time and he gave each of us an Indian name whose meaning he felt might create harmony between us. I can't remember what those names were now but they related to nature (rain, soil, growth, fertility or such like). It's a pity that I didn't write down more about the events at the time but this was in the days before blogs. However, it wasn't our destiny to stay together and by the end of that year it was over between Sylvia and myself. 

Reading Lord Meher, it's funny to read of the torments to which Baba subjected Bhau. Of course, Bhau did not find them amusing but he endured them and it was all part of Baba's relentless demolition of his ego. In the end, Bhau has left humanity an extraordinary and priceless account of the Avatar's life on Earth. Once I finish I think I'll start reading it all over again because there's so much exquisite detail that it makes you feel like you are really there as the drama of Baba's advent unfolds. In the end, my first impression of Bhau was right. He is a gardener, Baba's gardener, and with Lord Meher he has planted a garden that will continue to grow as the centuries unfold.

Prime Day 23459

Prime day 23459 passed yesterday without me (and the rest of the world) even noticing. Nothing special about the number except that it's prime and has all its digits in sequence except for the last. I've often thought that everybody should have their own prime number but the problem would be how to assign it. I just now thought that one way would be to use the time and date of birth. For instance, as far as I can determine I was born at 6:57am on the 3rd April 1949. Combining these digits gives 657341949. Unfortunately, this number is not prime. However, 655341949 is.

According to a survey conducted in 2008, there are about 4 babies born every second. That's 240 every minute and so you would have to measure time in units finer than seconds if everyone were to have a unique prime number associated with themselves using this method. I've determined that 65552341949 (corresponding to 6:55:52am on the 3rd April 1949) is prime but that's only going down to the second level. Of course, in my day the birth rate was much lower because there were only 2.5 billion people in the world, about a third of the current total, but there's still not enough to go around. Hundredths of seconds is the only way to do it.

There are other ways to represent dates of course. I've used DD-MM-YYYY but MM-DD-YYYY and YYYY-MM-DD are also possible. It seems to me that it's best to put the year first and then work down from there. That way, it can be seen at a glance what year a person was born. On this basis, I could lay claim to 1949040306570101 corresponding to 6:57:01:01am on the 3rd April 1949. That's good enough for me and so I'm laying claim to it.  

ADDENDUM: added January 11th 2019

After re-reading this post from June 26th 2013, I'd propose these modifications while retaining the YYYYMMDDHHMM sequence (with a twenty four clock used for time). If the time of birth is not known then midday 12:00 should be used. The remaining four digits are to chosen so that the resulting number is prime, beginning with 0001 if it is not taken and proceeding up to 9999. There is a little under 300 primes in this range of 9999 numbers. Currently, the birth rate is about 4.3 per second or 258 per minute (source) and declining so the four digits are sufficient. In this scheme the first possible number for me would be 1949040306570059 which by the way is a palindromic prime (9500756030409491 is also prime). There are 282 suitable candidates. Below is the full list:

1949040306570059
1949040306570061
1949040306570067
1949040306570083
1949040306570101
1949040306570163
1949040306570167
1949040306570179
1949040306570229
1949040306570251
1949040306570277
1949040306570289
1949040306570361
1949040306570367
1949040306570377
1949040306570491
1949040306570493
1949040306570517
1949040306570527
1949040306570589
1949040306570619
1949040306570653
1949040306570769
1949040306570779
1949040306570817
1949040306570839
1949040306570893
1949040306570923
1949040306570937
1949040306570941
1949040306570961
1949040306571079
1949040306571109
1949040306571133
1949040306571291
1949040306571301
1949040306571331
1949040306571363
1949040306571409
1949040306571439
1949040306571447
1949040306571481
1949040306571487
1949040306571541
1949040306571571
1949040306571669
1949040306571691
1949040306571693
1949040306571697
1949040306571789
1949040306571817
1949040306571823
1949040306571843
1949040306571847
1949040306571873
1949040306571907
1949040306571997
1949040306572053
1949040306572063
1949040306572083
1949040306572129
1949040306572131
1949040306572141
1949040306572147
1949040306572173
1949040306572179
1949040306572287
1949040306572441
1949040306572479
1949040306572501
1949040306572503
1949040306572509
1949040306572533
1949040306572587
1949040306572609
1949040306572651
1949040306572663
1949040306572743
1949040306572773
1949040306572813
1949040306572857
1949040306572861
1949040306572911
1949040306572917
1949040306572941
1949040306572951
1949040306572969
1949040306573029
1949040306573131
1949040306573137
1949040306573149
1949040306573221
1949040306573263
1949040306573307
1949040306573337
1949040306573343
1949040306573377
1949040306573433
1949040306573457
1949040306573461
1949040306573467
1949040306573553
1949040306573611
1949040306573641
1949040306573653
1949040306573677
1949040306573713
1949040306573739
1949040306573749
1949040306573781
1949040306573793
1949040306573821
1949040306573881
1949040306573901
1949040306573959
1949040306574001
1949040306574003
1949040306574057
1949040306574073
1949040306574079
1949040306574087
1949040306574099
1949040306574129
1949040306574133
1949040306574241
1949040306574301
1949040306574327
1949040306574391
1949040306574411
1949040306574433
1949040306574507
1949040306574511
1949040306574523
1949040306574567
1949040306574579
1949040306574597
1949040306574639
1949040306574793
1949040306574849
1949040306574859
1949040306574883
1949040306574939
1949040306574969
1949040306574973
1949040306574981
1949040306575107
1949040306575111
1949040306575113
1949040306575143
1949040306575213
1949040306575279
1949040306575309
1949040306575347
1949040306575407
1949040306575477
1949040306575513
1949040306575543
1949040306575591
1949040306575623
1949040306575701
1949040306575723
1949040306575729
1949040306575743
1949040306575753
1949040306575779
1949040306575797
1949040306575807
1949040306575839
1949040306575849
1949040306575903
1949040306575963
1949040306576001
1949040306576037
1949040306576043
1949040306576113
1949040306576161
1949040306576179
1949040306576289
1949040306576347
1949040306576367
1949040306576371
1949040306576443
1949040306576469
1949040306576491
1949040306576527
1949040306576599
1949040306576613
1949040306576617
1949040306576619
1949040306576673
1949040306576689
1949040306576707
1949040306576709
1949040306576719
1949040306576799
1949040306576817
1949040306576859
1949040306576899
1949040306576991
1949040306577003
1949040306577037
1949040306577061
1949040306577073
1949040306577079
1949040306577093
1949040306577207
1949040306577291
1949040306577349
1949040306577361
1949040306577393
1949040306577499
1949040306577513
1949040306577547
1949040306577589
1949040306577607
1949040306577631
1949040306577691
1949040306577729
1949040306577787
1949040306577831
1949040306577877
1949040306577927
1949040306577981
1949040306578011
1949040306578059
1949040306578063
1949040306578179
1949040306578243
1949040306578251
1949040306578269
1949040306578293
1949040306578341
1949040306578347
1949040306578389
1949040306578419
1949040306578423
1949040306578527
1949040306578543
1949040306578587
1949040306578593
1949040306578609
1949040306578641
1949040306578819
1949040306578839
1949040306578843
1949040306578917
1949040306578933
1949040306579007
1949040306579083
1949040306579161
1949040306579169
1949040306579229
1949040306579241
1949040306579257
1949040306579259
1949040306579263
1949040306579283
1949040306579287
1949040306579293
1949040306579307
1949040306579341
1949040306579389
1949040306579439
1949040306579449
1949040306579511
1949040306579521
1949040306579529
1949040306579547
1949040306579557
1949040306579559
1949040306579563
1949040306579577
1949040306579581
1949040306579629
1949040306579643
1949040306579661
1949040306579809
1949040306579829
1949040306579833
1949040306579887
1949040306579913
1949040306579943

total is 282

Mellow Yellow

I uploaded this doodle to Facebook recently. I completed it during the Grade 12 Graduation Ceremony on Friday. At that point it was only black and white but I colorised it using GIMP and end result I called "Mellow Yellow" after Donovan's 1966 hit. It was only then that I realised that this was the year that I completed my own Secondary education. My doodle garnered twelve likes and some comments so I was quite surprised. It occurred to me that this is my only creative activity nowadays. I play music on my guitar but I don't create any music. I interact with technology a lot but again I don't create anything. I'm encouraged to try my hand at some more doodles, working first with pen on paper, then scanning the finished product and finally colorising it using image editing software. Let's see if I can create some other doodles during the holiday period that lies ahead of me.

PRIME DAY 23447

Today is prime day 23447 for me and I noticed that on the day that I fly to Jakarta, June 22nd, the count will be 23456 which is rather special. I doubt whether I'll see 34567 which will fall on November 23rd 2043, a Monday and Tara's 63rd birthday. If I'm alive I'd be 94. There are two prime days in June, this is the first and the second is on the 28th June. Today's number of course contains two primes, 23 and 47, formed by the first and last two digits of the number. These two numbers are connected because 23 is a Sophie Germaine prime: 23 x 2 + 1 = 47 which is a prime.

Pathocracy

Apart from a 2011 photo of Desy and Sabina walking in Qibao, my last post on this blog was August 8th 2010, sent to Blogger via email using Posterous. Well, Posterous is no more but the substance of that post, the deception about Pearl Harbor and the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, links to the book I'm currently reading called "Day of Deception" by Robert B. Stinnett. I've just started but it's chilling to read of the cold-blooded way that the United States government of the time was willing to sacrifice its own citizens in Hawaii in order to pursue a war with Japan. Sixty years later in 2001 more citizens were sacrificed in order to pursue wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  The United States government expresses mock shock and outrage once again: "wow, we never saw that one coming, how dare they!" 

Life goes on however, and I'm sure that similar deceptions will be carried out by the US government and the governments of other countries in the future. It must be accepted that governments in general are quite willing to trade geopolitical goals for the lives of their citizens if they feel they can get away with it. FDR got away with it as did Bush. This is the nature of a pathocracy, defined as "a system of government created by a small pathological minority that takes control over a society of normal people ... a pathocracy can take many forms and can insinuate itself covertly into any seemingly just system or ideology. As such it can masquerade under the guise of a democracy or theocracy as well as more openly oppressive regimes" (link).

Desy and Sabina jalan jalan

Posted via email from seanreeves's posterous

Hiroshima Day

Today is the anniversary of the day that I arrived in Shanghai one year ago. It's an easy date to remember because it's also another anniversary, Hiroshima Day, commemorating that day in 1945 when the United States dropped its first atomic bomb on Japan. I remember learning as a teenager that the bomb had been dropped reluctantly in order to end the war quickly and avoid the massive military casualties that would have resulted from a land-based invasion of the country. Back then I believed this fairy tale. Of course, the true reasons behind the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were rather more ugly and are nicely summarised in an excerpt from this site:

• The US had made a huge investment in time, mind and money ($2,000,000,000 in 1940 dollars) to produce the bombs, and there was no inclination – and no guts – to stop the momentum.
• The US military – as did its citizens – had a bloodthirsty appetite for revenge because of Pearl Harbor. Mercy wasn't the mind-set of these professed Christians, and the missions were accomplished – with glee.
• The Nagasaki bomb was a plutonium bomb and Hiroshima's was uranium. Scientific curiosity certainly was a major factor for the mass slaughter of the Nagasaki community. The decision to use both bombs had obviously been made well in advance. The three day interval was unconscionably inadequate – Japan being in shambles in its communications and transportation capabilities – and besides, no one, not even the Japanese high command, fully understood what had happened at Hiroshima.
• The Russians had proclaimed their intent to enter the war with Japan 90 days after V- Day, which would have been Aug. 8, two days after Hiroshima. Indeed, Russia did declare war on August 8 and was marching across Manchuria when Nagasaki was incinerated. The US didn't want Japan surrendering to anybody else, especially a future enemy, so the first nuclear "messages" of the infantile Cold War were sent. Russia indeed received less of the spoils of war, and the two superpowers were mired in mutual moral bankruptcy and economic near-bankruptcy for the rest of the century.

These are the facts that spoil the fairy tale. Even so, there are some who would support the revenge motive and say that the Japanese got what they deserved for their dastardly and unprovoked bombing of Pearl Harbor. Like Hiroshima however, there is the fairy tale of Pearl Harbor, painted by the victors in the ensuing war, and then there is the ugly truth as comprehensively explained on this website and from which I've quoted below:

But comprehensive research has not only shown Washington knew in advance of the attack, but deliberately withheld its foreknowledge from our commanders in Hawaii in the hope that the “surprise” attack would catapult the U.S. into World War II.

Sound familiar? Of course it does. The same scenario as 9/11. It worked in 1940 and it worked again more than sixty years later. As Roosevelt said in his 1940 election-year speech: “I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again and again: Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.” You've got to love politicians, especially US Presidents like Truman (who cold-bloodedly authorised the Hiroshima bombing) and Roosevelt (who acted so surprised and outraged when he got the news about Pearl Harbor). Let's remember on Hiroshima Day that sixty-five years on, Washington is just as duplicitous as ever and is still spinning fairy tales.

Silence Day

It was only by accident that I remembered July 10th is Silence Day and like last year I'm able to observe it once again, or at least try to. I tried for the first time last year and slipped up a couple of times by inadvertently speaking. In my case, the habit of speaking proved impossible to stop even for a day but Baba succeeded in maintaining silence for 44 years. Here is the link to my post from 2009 but I'll repeat the reason Baba gave for his silence once again.

Man’s inability to live God’s words makes the Avatar’s teaching a mockery. Instead of practicing the compassion he taught, man has waged wars in his name. Instead of living the humility, purity, and truth of his words, man has given way to hatred, greed, and violence. Because man has been deaf to the principles and precepts laid down by God in the past, in this present Avataric form, I observe silence.

Return to Jakarta

Time to resuscitate this blog if for no other reason than to announce that I'm not ready to withdraw completely from the blogosphere. As a complete aside I must comment on how pathetic the spell checker is on Blogger. It flags "blog", "blogosphere" and "Blogger" as spelling mistakes. Anyhow, I figure that my temporary return to Jakarta after six months warrants a fresh post. Let's begin with my arrival.

I came in on a 30 day tourist visa and consequently had to line up in a very slow-moving queue, firstly to pay for the visa (US$25) at one window and then to acquire the visa at another. While I hesitated to join the queue, a little man approached me offering to help me bypass the queue entirely. I ignored his kind offer but, for a price, I surmise that he would have taken me directly to a person behind one of the counters. Welcome to Jakarta. I knew I was home.

Having joined the queue, I waited, and waited, as the people ahead of me paid their money at one of the three open windows. At last there was only a young couple ahead of me and, when it was their turn, they moved to the nearest open window. However, by the time they reached it, the surly young man behind it had put up a closed sign and snapped at them when they approached the window, having failed to notice the flip from open to closed. He then got up and stretched his legs. Service with a snarl. Now there were only two open windows to service the snaking queue. It was clear that I wasn't in Shanghai any longer.

However, enough of the negativity. On a positive note, I am now able to appreciate the "quietness" of Jakarta traffic as compared to the insanity of Shanghai with its incessant blaring of super-charged horns. Of course, the traffic jams can be horrific in Jakarta but at least the drivers don't resort to mindless, incessant and utterly futile use of their vehicles' horns. Additionally, my local McDonalds now has a special coffee section that also serves up excellent coffee and offers a selection of pastries as well. I am deeply impressed but best of all I can now access Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, YouTube etc. without the need for a VPN. I have left the Great Firewall of China far behind me.