Page 20 - C.A.L.L. #23 - Spring 2004

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Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship , Philadelphia Lanka , Australia and the UK The central Fellowship
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house is on Overbrook Ave . in Philadelphia There we
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I got my first taste of communal living in 1965 when I gather to share meals enjoy fellowship worship and
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was an ulpanist (student-worker on a religious study Bawa ' s teachings Each person contributes
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kibbutz . As an American teenager accustomed to whatever he or she can to the life of the community .
freedom and a degree of independence , I found it The Fellowship also has a rural property which serves
impossible to adjust to the rigors and restrictions of as a cemetery and gathering place .
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kibbutz life . After I finished my ulpan stint I returned Bawa did not depart this life until he had given us the
tools to maintain our unity . He taught us the proper
to the States .
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I went to university , married and had four kids the way to work and pray together . He outlawed gossip
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youngest was born in ' 75 My husband and I were and the practice of judging others . He also taught us
concerned about the kind of world we had brought our how to solve conflicts when they arise . If we fail to
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children into . We doubted that we could change the use the tools correctly the fault is ours not his Bawa
world but we thought it might be possible to find a referred to our community as the "funny family " and
good community in which to raise our family . We to himself as the father of our wisdom . It still amazes
visited a number of 1970 ' s communes but could not me that this tiny man from the jungles of Sri Lanka
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commit to any of them , and it s a good thing we could attract people from all walks of life , all comers
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didn '.t By the end of the 70 s most had failed In of the earth , and all manner of religious traditions and
some cases drugs and promiscuity broke down the make a real family out of them . Again I encourage
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sense of community . In others bad weather was the anyone interested in The Fellowship to visit our
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culprit . I recall one commune in Kentucky where the website : www bmf org There you will find a listing
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housing was creative but impractical : one couple lived of publications , video tapes and audio tapes that will
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in a tee pee , another in an African mud hut and tell you more about Bawa , his funny family and his
another in a tree house made of carpet remnants . This message of love .
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was fine in the spring , summer and fall but by the
Yours in community ,
end of the first winter many were ready to leave . So

much for ' returning to nature .'
Yehudit Felcher-Francis
In 1975 I heard about a community that was forming in

Philadelphia to study the teachings of a Holy Man from
Greetings to the readership of C.AL.L.
Sri Lanka and I went to investigate . I sensed
Shalom! My name is Yehudit and I'm a member of a community
immediately that this community was different . It had
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a strength , peace and focus that others lacked The called the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship in Philadelphia. I am also
a medical anthropologist and a geriatric nurse. I'm very interested in
main difference was that this community had Bawa
the subject of aging in intentional communities and I'm hoping
Muhaiyaddeen .
some CALL readers will be willing to share their experiences with
In simplest terms , Bawa was the kindest person I ever
me. Basically I would like to know how various communities provide
met and the most brilliant teacher I ever had . In his
for the needs of their elders (physical, social, emotional, spiritual,
teachings I found the antidote to all of the poisons
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circulating in the American system greed selfishness etc.). I find that, very often, communities do a great job of
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rampant materialism , violence etc . , etc Bawa s core addressing the needs of children; after all, the children are the
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message , as I understood it was There is a God future. But what about those at the opposite end of the age
There is one God . And this Creator of all things wants spectrum? How does your community deal with issues of aging?
us to live our lives in such a way as to do no harm to My email address is: ulpanyehudit@hotmail.com
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other lives . Rathe ,r we should seek to do good Bawa and my home address is:

told us that in order to accomplish this , we needed to
Yehudit Felcher-Francis
rid ourselves of bad qualities and we needed to learn
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wisdom . From 1971 until his death in 1986 he devoted 1 Dutton Farm Lane
West Grove, PA 19390
his life to helping us achieve that good state .
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Although Bawa is no longer with us physically his U.S.A

presence guides this community . The Fellowship now Yours in community, Yehudit
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has branches in several states , also in Canada Sri
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