“He gets me parking spaces”

If you’ve ever been to the Administrative Office of the Center at Dilruba (the house where Elizabeth Patterson and Kitty Davy lived and met all visitors) you couldn’t have missed Jane Mossman’s effervescent and inviting presence. And if you have not been to the Center, you might have heard her singing. And if you haven’t heard of her, chances are she has heard about you. Jane Brown (now Mossman) has worked at the Meher Center since 1983.

Jane knows everyone. She is often teased about being the Baba directory. Drawing tutelage from Meher Baba’s Mandali, she cares about and stays in touch with Baba lovers across generations, like one big extended family. In spite of being so communal, Jane is uniquely singular in her approach. She stands behind it unapologetically, and is distinctively natural. “I love the world, I love going out, I love having a good time. In fact, I was always allergic to the spiritual path,” she says, with a laugh.

How can someone allergic to the path be at the doorstep of God? As a child of the 1960’s Jane personified the wildness of those times. She first heard about Meher Baba in 1967. By 1968, her life had turned into a disillusioned reality amidst drugs, music concerts, failed relationships and an uncanny friendship with Bob Dylan. She was contemplating ending her life just when she saw Baba’s face on a poster on a light pole in New York City. “I remember thinking that of all the gurus floating around, He was my favorite guru. And that thought diffused the prior thought of ending my life.” As time went by she had a strong knowing in her heart that Jesus was back on earth. “And it was so ironic that He existed in the same time period, but He turned the corner and we just missed Him.”

After that there was no looking back from Baba. Meeting Baba lovers, going to Baba meetings, going to Meherabad and Myrtle Beach were all ways in which Baba hooked Jane in His net. In India, she got particularly close with Mehera, who prayed hard for Jane to find a nice man to marry. Her prayers were answered in the form of Bob Brown, Jane’s first husband. Bob and Jane were the musical duo, their music still resonates in the veins of anyone who ever heard it. They were hired as a team to clean cabins on the Center, where while cleaning, they made music and reveled in a Babaful life of love until Bob died unexpectedly from a brain tumor. He was forty-seven years old. “I got such an opportunity to serve Bob. Everyone pitched in to help with his dying process but in spite of all the love, I was very upset with Baba. How could I continue on? We had done everything together!”

Jane was the first to admit that she was a terrible cabin cleaner, more so after Bob. So when she was offered to work at Dilruba as an administrative assistant to Barbara Plews (the Center’s Administrator), she was thrilled. “My prior training had been in office work and I loved working with Barbara. I was assigned a space that used to be Kitty’s office where I still work. This was my new beginning.”

Jane loves her job. And she loves music. Contrary to the layman’s idea of spirituality, she feels there is no path to follow or progress to seek. “All our roles are beautiful. If you love Him, the path will follow you. For me the idea of progressing on the path takes away from love. Slowly but surely we will become our higher selves.” If she had a pursuit, it would be to love better and to be cheerful at all times. As for His presence, she is surrounded by it. But when does she feel it most? “When He gets me parking spaces,” she replies with a sparkly wink.