The ideal prayer to the Lord is nothing more than spontaneous praise of His being. – MEHER BABA
Prayers given by Meher Baba
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UNIVERSAL PRAYER (Master's Prayer)
Given by Meher Baba on September 13, 1953 O Parvardigar—the Preserver and Protector of all! You are without Beginning, and without End, Non-dual, beyond comparison, and none can measure You. You are without colour, without expression, without form, and without attributes. You are unlimited and unfathomable, beyond imagination and conception, eternal and imperishable. You are indivisible; and none can see You, but with Eyes Divine. You always were, You always are, and You always will be; You are everywhere, You are in everything; and You are also beyond everywhere and beyond everything. You are in the firmament and in the depths; You are manifest and unmanifest, on all planes and beyond all planes. You are in the three worlds, and also beyond the three worlds; You are imperceptible and independent. You are the Creator, the Lord of lords, the knower of all minds and hearts; You are omnipotent and omnipresent. You are Knowledge Infinite, Power Infinite, and Bliss Infinite. You are the Ocean of Knowledge, all-knowing, infinitely knowing, the Knower of the past, the present, and the future, and You are Knowledge Itself. You are all-merciful and eternally benevolent; You are the Soul of souls, the One with infinite attributes. You are the Trinity of Truth, knowledge, and Bliss, You are the Source of Truth, the Ocean of Love; You are the Ancient One, the Highest of the High; You are Prabhu and Parameshwar, You are the Beyond-God, and the Beyond-Beyond God also, You are Parabrahma, Allah, Elahi, Yezdan, Ahuramazda, and God the Beloved. You are named Ezad—the only One worthy of worship. — Meher Baba |
PRAYER OF REPENTANCE
Given by Meher Baba on November 8, 1952 We repent O God most merciful, for all our sins; For every thought that was false or unjust or unclean; For every word spoken that ought not to have been spoken; For every deed done that ought not to have been done. We repent for every deed and word and thought Inspired by selfishness; And for every deed and word and thought inspired by hatred. We repent most specially for every lustful thought, And every lustful action; For every lie; for all hypocrisy; For every promise given, but not fulfilled; And for all slander and backbiting. Most specially also, we repent for every action That has brought ruin to others; For every word and deed that has given others pain; And for every wish that pain should befall others. In your unbounded mercy, we ask you to forgive us, O God, For all these sins committed by us; And to forgive us for our constant failures To think and speak and act according to your will. — Meher Baba BELOVED GOD
Meher Baba had this prayer read out August 5, 1959 Beloved God, help us all to love You more and more, and more and more and still yet more, till we become worthy of union with You; and help us all to hold fast to Baba’s daaman till the very end. |
THE ESSENCE OF PRAYER
What constitutes the essence of prayer? Many prayers to God are current among the lovers of God, arising as they do from diverse cultural contexts. Some of the prayers invariably contain an element of asking something from God, either material or spiritual. In fact, God is so merciful and bountiful that even without their asking He always gives much more than His lovers can receive. He knows their real needs more deeply than they do. Therefore, the element of asking something from God is superfluous. It often mars the inner love and worship which a prayer tries to express.
The ideal prayer to the Lord is nothing more than spontaneous praise of His being. You praise Him, not in the spirit of bargain but in the spirit of self-forgetful appreciation of what He really is. You praise Him because He is praiseworthy. Your praise is a spontaneous appreciative response to His true being, as infinite light, infinite power and infinite bliss. It is futile to attempt a standard prayer and hold it up as an ideal for all people of all times. The glory of the Almighty transcends all human understanding and defies all verbal descriptions. Eternally fresh and self-renewing in its unlimited amplitude, it never fades. Nor is it ever confined within the limits of the best of hymns.
All hymns and prayers reach out towards the eternal Truth of Godhead only to merge those who utter them in silent and unending adoration. If by ideal prayer to the Lord is meant a set formula, any search for it is a wild goose chase. All prayers ultimately initiate the soul into an ever-deepening silence of sweet adoration; and all formulae are dissolved and assimilated into the integral and direct appreciative perception of divine Truth. That which seeks to reach towards the immeasurable, itself becomes incapable of being measured by any set standards.
The ritualistic and repetitive expressions of prayer do not and cannot do justice to the innermost essence of prayer, which is adoring love for the eternal Beloved. To attempt to standardize prayer is to mar its intrinsic beauty.
If you pray with a motive to do good to someone, your prayer may actually bring about good both to him and to yourself. Some people pray for the the spiritual benefit of those who have done them some wrong. There also, they are helping others spiritually. But all prayers with a motive fall short of the ideal prayer which is without motive. In the entire spiritual panorama of the universe nothing is more sublime than a spontaneous prayer. It gushes out of the human heart, filled with appreciative joy. It is self-expression of the freed spirit without any actuation of a motive. In its highest form, prayer leaves no room for the illusory diarchy of the lover and the Beloved. It is a return to one's own being.
Excerpted from Beams from Meher Baba on the Spiritual Panorama by Meher Baba, pp. 74-76. Copyright 1958 Sufism Reoriented, Inc.
What constitutes the essence of prayer? Many prayers to God are current among the lovers of God, arising as they do from diverse cultural contexts. Some of the prayers invariably contain an element of asking something from God, either material or spiritual. In fact, God is so merciful and bountiful that even without their asking He always gives much more than His lovers can receive. He knows their real needs more deeply than they do. Therefore, the element of asking something from God is superfluous. It often mars the inner love and worship which a prayer tries to express.
The ideal prayer to the Lord is nothing more than spontaneous praise of His being. You praise Him, not in the spirit of bargain but in the spirit of self-forgetful appreciation of what He really is. You praise Him because He is praiseworthy. Your praise is a spontaneous appreciative response to His true being, as infinite light, infinite power and infinite bliss. It is futile to attempt a standard prayer and hold it up as an ideal for all people of all times. The glory of the Almighty transcends all human understanding and defies all verbal descriptions. Eternally fresh and self-renewing in its unlimited amplitude, it never fades. Nor is it ever confined within the limits of the best of hymns.
All hymns and prayers reach out towards the eternal Truth of Godhead only to merge those who utter them in silent and unending adoration. If by ideal prayer to the Lord is meant a set formula, any search for it is a wild goose chase. All prayers ultimately initiate the soul into an ever-deepening silence of sweet adoration; and all formulae are dissolved and assimilated into the integral and direct appreciative perception of divine Truth. That which seeks to reach towards the immeasurable, itself becomes incapable of being measured by any set standards.
The ritualistic and repetitive expressions of prayer do not and cannot do justice to the innermost essence of prayer, which is adoring love for the eternal Beloved. To attempt to standardize prayer is to mar its intrinsic beauty.
If you pray with a motive to do good to someone, your prayer may actually bring about good both to him and to yourself. Some people pray for the the spiritual benefit of those who have done them some wrong. There also, they are helping others spiritually. But all prayers with a motive fall short of the ideal prayer which is without motive. In the entire spiritual panorama of the universe nothing is more sublime than a spontaneous prayer. It gushes out of the human heart, filled with appreciative joy. It is self-expression of the freed spirit without any actuation of a motive. In its highest form, prayer leaves no room for the illusory diarchy of the lover and the Beloved. It is a return to one's own being.
Excerpted from Beams from Meher Baba on the Spiritual Panorama by Meher Baba, pp. 74-76. Copyright 1958 Sufism Reoriented, Inc.
YOU ALONE EXIST
a ghazal (poem) / prayer composed by Meher Baba and Bhau Kalchuri under Baba's guidance.
Who is Meher Baba?
Introductory Biography of Meher Baba
Meher Baba's Words
a ghazal (poem) / prayer composed by Meher Baba and Bhau Kalchuri under Baba's guidance.
Who is Meher Baba?
Introductory Biography of Meher Baba
Meher Baba's Words