My moving to Shariat Farm really began at a reading by David Cousins in January 1997, months before I first set foot on the farm. I hadn't heard of Meher Baba, but David told me that He was standing behind my left shoulder, cranking up my heart that was all run-down.
In April, I received a phone call from a man I didn't know who gave his name as Jesse, and when I mentioned Meher Baba he told me that he had photos of Him that he would give me, but it would be two months before I had an opportunity to be in Jesse’s town.
On the day to pick up the photos, I found the lime rock road described in the directions, turned into sparse woods, followed sand tracks through dried grass to a curve in the road, then stopped at the edge of a field. Tall grasses grew back to where two live oaks made diminutive a low, faded-peach building with a wide, covered front porch.
Once inside, seated on his sofa and recognizing Meher Baba in photos, I asked if we could walk in the field that I could see through a sliding glass door, back to where I could hear there were horses neighing
Earlier, in David's February workshop, he had told me that I might want to go to India in the fall, but that I didn't have to, and then pausing, added, "Although you are a journey person." By late September, I had a partially paid ticket as I waited for the necessary sale of my home in Massachusetts to complete the payment. Jesse had called again, and this time to say that he might want to rent his home while he was in India for six months.
I had found a driveway off the lime rock road, wondering as I drove through woods, if I had turned at the right mailbox. .... As I walked through the tall grass to the porch, in those early few moments, I had stood still in a theater of humming insects and known this was my home—and that the thought was totally inappropriate. Nonetheless, I'd felt undeniable contentment, as in coming home," serendipitous love," and an unquenchable longing to stay.*
* All quotes in this post will be found in Prema Jasmine Camp's A Flower for God: A Memoir (Seattle, WA: Wilson Duke Press, 2021).