Seclusion and East-West Gathering

1960s

Seclusion and East-West Gathering

Meher Baba returned to India and began more periods of fasting, meditation, and seclusion. This seclusion work was draining and exhausting. Meher Baba said he was doing work on behalf of the spiritual welfare of all humanity.

In 1962, Meher Baba gave one of his last public functions, a series of meetings he called The East-West Gathering. At these meetings, in which his western followers were invited to meet his Indian disciples, Baba gave darshan to many thousands of people, despite the physical strain this caused on his broken body.

Position on drug use

Main article: God in a pill?

In 1966, at the height of the Psychedelic era, Meher Baba allowed individual visits by three young western academics who asked about the spiritual aspects of drugs. They printed Meher Baba's response in a pamphlet entitled God in a Pill? Meher Baba stated that drug use was spiritually damaging and that if enlightenment were possible through drugs then "God is not worthy of being God." At Meher Baba's request, the three returned to the West and spread this message, which increased Meher Baba's notoriety among the young. It was during this period that the popular poster of a smiling Baba, captioned "Don't Worry, Be Happy" became widely distributed, even appearing in day-glo versions (a similar poster is shown briefly in the Woodstock concert documentary).