The newest Oceanic Publishing book is just weeks away from rolling off the press. Titled – Here Lies My Heart: The Life of Artist Anita de Caro Vieillard With Meher Baba – has been in the wind for four years.
Anita de Caro was born in Manhattan, NY, in 1909. Her Italy-born parents immigrated to New York earlier, at the turn of the 20th Century. As a teenager, Anita came under the influence of Norina Matchabelli, and this connection would lead her to her first meeting with Spiritual Master Meher Baba in Harmon-on-Hudson, NY, in November, 1931.
Anita, Norina, and Elizabeth Patterson all met Meher Baba in the same of week of 1931. The three women would be steadfast friends and equally steadfast in their love for Meher Baba for the rest of their lives. Elizabeth and Norina would go on to establish the 500-acre, oceanfront retreat – Meher Spiriual Center – at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in the mid 1940s.
Here Lies My Heart traces Anita's life which very quickly took her from the USA to Europe, where she began her early art training in Switzerland. She kept in constant touch with Meher Baba throughout the 1930s, joining Baba in Portofino, Italy, for a month in 1933, and Cannes for another longer holiday in 1937.
Meher Baba travelled the world in the 1930s for extended stays in Europe, the United Kingdom, and United States. His connection to Anita never waivered as the two were constantly in touch through correspondence.
Moving to Paris in the Thirties, Anita expanded her studies in abstract painting and soon met fellow artist and engraver Roger Vieillard. The two were married in mid-1939, just as German troops advanced across the border into France. Roger was immediately dispatched to the warfront and Anita quickly went into hiding in a small village outside of Paris.
Later, with the entry of the U.S. into the war, Anita, as an American citizen, was incarcerated for months in an internment camp. Roger finally managed to secure her release, and the couple endured the war years in German occupied Paris until the liberation of the city in August, 1944.
With war's end, Meher Baba again resumed world travel. And, after 15 long years, Anita and Roger were finally reunited with Baba in 1952. Anita managed to spend time with Baba on a number of occasions in the 1950s and in India in 1962. She was determined to reach the state of divine love that Baba encouraged for all followers.
The Vieillards were well known in the artistic circles of Paris maintaining connections with many artists including Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, and the writer Henry Miller and the friends that these artists introduced to them. Gatherings at their home in the Latin Quarter were constant and Anita often used these occasions to discuss Meher Baba with those attending.
After spending periods of time with Meher Baba on the extensive tours of the West he made in the 1950s, Anita finally got to visit India, after 31 years, to be with Baba for the last time at the East-West Gathering in November, 1962.
After Meher Baba dropped the body in January 1969, Anita continued her connection with Baba people around the world and pursued her joint artistic life with Roger. The couple would exhibit their art around the world. Roger was so dedicated that he exhibited almost every year.
Although Meher Baba dropped the physical body in 1969, the divine love mission he launched would continue. Anita would visit Baba centres around the world, including; Baba's home village of Meherabad, India, Meher Spiritual Center in South Carolina, the UK Centre in London, and other centres across the globe. Whenever in residence, Anita would speak of her love for Baba, pouring this love into the hearts of old and new Baba followers.
We hope this newest book – Here Lies My Heart – vividly conveys Anita's love for the God-man; and Meher Baba's unique divine love for her.