Reborn in His Love

Norina Matchebelli, Elizabeth’s companion in the creation of Meher Center, died on June 15, 1957. She asked Elizabeth and Kitty to not grieve her death. Knowing that Baba would wish it so as well, on the night after her death Elizabeth, Kitty and Margaret went to watch a play at the Carousel Star Theater. At the door they were met by a woman named Jane Barry Haynes, who in fact founded the theater but was collecting tickets that night because the ticket collector had taken ill. As soon as Elizabeth walked in, Jane said, “Come in, I have been waiting for you.” In that moment, Elizabeth experienced an instant recognition of Jane. Meanwhile, Jane had no memory of this meeting.

Jane’s recognition of Elizabeth or even Meher Baba for that matter was not instant. Perhaps because the fruition of such long-drawn and deep longing requires the Master’s impeccable timing. In her own words, Jane believed she was veiled. As a theatre actress, words like drama, beauty, ambition and larger-than-life are often used to describe Jane, but that very Jane was so much more than met the eye. She wrote, “Years were veiled under a heavy curtain of superficial life; a life of pleasure, pursuit of all facets of illusion. This seemed a darkness of my own making; needs for achievements, worldly pleasure – a reaching out in all directions – excesses of every kind. Needs that I never recognized as one single need: the need to love God to know him and to serve Him.”

In 1957, at thirty-two years of age, Jane had a spiritual crisis. She had told her mother that she would not live past thirty-three. In an experience of leaving her body she cried out loud, “But I am not ready.” That’s when she was extracted from that deep pit by the hand of God.

Shortly after this experience, she moved to Myrtle Beach with her three children, to pursue work as a director and producer in the local theater. During this period, an arrangement was made for her to actually visit Meher Center as a companion to acclaimed stage actress Zazu Pitts, who was curious about Meher Baba. As it turned out Ms. Pitts never did show up and Jane went alone. It was then that she met Elizabeth Patterson, Kitty Davy and Margaret Craske for the first time at the original Gateway. That is when Elizabeth recognized her to be the lady from the theatre. The next year, Jane met Meher Baba for the first time.

Her son Charles Haynes says, “She was completely drawn to Baba and inspired by the lives of Kitty and Elizabeth. But in Baba she did not want to see a holy man or a good person, she wanted to see Him as Christ.” In the Barn in 1958, the unthinkable happened for Jane, “a miracle that only God can perform – the unveiling, a glimpse of the God Man’s Divinity.” She saw him as Christ, the Christ of her dreams, her prayers, her pain. And she knew Meher Baba to be the Ancient One. Later, Meher Baba sent a cable to Jane saying, “Reborn in My Love, You are blessed. Love Me more and more.”*

On the same trip, Baba gave Jane another gift that would last a lifetime. He spoke of saints, one among them being St. Teresa of Avila. About her He said, “She devoted her entire life to Jesus Christ – to Me.” Another recognition occurred for Jane, that of her own purpose. Her heart surged in a sigh affirming that she herself would like to try to love Him in that way. Later she visited Avila and the sixteen foundations of the Discalced Carmelite order. Christopher Wilson, who shared her love for the saint, says, “St. Teresa’s writings helped Jane construct her own life of prayer and constant focus on Meher Baba, the eternal Christ. St. Teresa’s primary instruction to her nuns was that they remain in unceasing prayer, regardless of the situation in which they find themselves – whether alone in their cells or working in the convent’s kitchen. That was Jane’s aspiration also – to always keep her eyes on Baba, to listen to Him, and to praise Him for His mercies.”

Nothing that the Avatar says is without meaning. At the East-West Gathering in India in 1962, Baba asked Jane, “Tell me Jane, do you have work?” Knowing well that she had no theatre work, she said, “Yes – Baba’s work.” Baba replied, “So be it – always. It will always be only Baba’s work.” ** And it was. Just as she played her role in the world to the utmost, she did so at the Center as Elizabeth’s “spiritual twin.” After Elizabeth died, she became the second President of the Board of Directors of Meher Center from 1980 to 1995. Whether one met her or just heard about her, one thing is for sure, in her dramatic depth of love and beauty, she was and continues to remain unforgettable.

* Letters of Love, By Jane Barry Haynes
**Lord Meher Online, p. 4838