The seat of Mani

It's pretty well known that Baba lovers bow down to chairs that once seated Meher Baba. This can look like worshiping a chair, but the notion is that Baba is imagined in the chair, and it represents worshiping him as God.

This practice is not as new as some might believe. The Manichaeans, a form of Gnosticism that thrived between the 3rd and 10th century in the Middle East and Asia, held their closed all-male rituals around what they called "the seat of Mani." Like Baba, Mani (216–274 AD) had declared he was the reincarnation of Zoroaster, Buddha, and Jesus.

Just so you know, that is not something to go and brag about. The Manichaeans had a very black and white world view of good and evil, and are known to have had a negative effect on Christianity. Manichean has become a catchword for black and white thinking about good and evil. Only men could be initiates as only men could achieve their form of salvation. Saint Augustine was a Manichean before he converted to Christianity, after suffering a disillusionment with the Manichean view of good and evil.

The image is from the highly recommendable film Restless Heart about St. Augustine. In this scene the Manichean temple surrounding the seat of Mani is depicted.

Augustine was offered the position of adept, but declined after meeting the head leader of the Manichaeans and being disappointed with his answers to his questions.