“Prayer Made Perfect”

The Universal Prayer brings to mind a magical, moonlit night at Beloved Baba’s Samadhi, where all gather in the echoing sounds of His direct words of praise. Or, think of a quiet, reflective afternoon at the Lagoon Cabin where His prayers hang beside His chair. Sixty-nine years ago, Baba dictated the Universal Prayer in Dehradun on August 13th, 1953. Since then, embedded in every word is His eternal presence.

Baba’s erudite disciple, Dr. C.D. Deshmukh noted that since 1949, the offering of prayers became a large part of Baba’s Ministry. Eruch also shared that even before the Master’s Prayer or the Repentance Prayer were dictated by Baba, He had Eruch note down prayers from Christian, Zoroastrian, Sikh, Hindu and Sufi traditions and instructed the Mandali to recite them. Baba said, “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…” [I]

Within the unconventional structures of Baba’s life and work, prayer seems to be a common thread for connection between God and Man. So much so that the God-Man himself participated meticulously in the recitation of the Master’s Prayer. In an article titled, “Participation in Prayers by Avatar Meher Baba,” Dr. Deshmukh says, “It is not merely a prayer which Avatar Meher Baba recommends to the aspirants; He Himself participates in it with folded hands as one of them.”[II]

Prayers with Baba were never a casual matter. They were a very serious and solemn affair for which Baba prepared Himself and the Mandali. The water pot and basin still rest beside Baba’s chair in Meherazad, where He used to wash up before the prayers. As always, the Mandali were in a hundred percent readiness for His orders. They kept themselves tidy and clean to pray with Him. After the prayers Baba would ask the Mandali to put their feet up on a foot stool and He would bow down to them!

Baba’s own scrupulous participation in the prayers despite His physical suffering is unfathomable to an observer and sometimes even to a disciple. In the late 1960s, Baba’s universal work left Him inexplicably drained, and yet He chose to participate in the prayers. The Lord of the Universe stood up each time despite His pain and fatigue. As time passed, it was impossible for Him to stand alone – someone had to hold Him. And yet, He remained standing the whole time. He did not let His suffering deter Him from folding His hands in complete reverence, descending onto the level of His disciples.

Because it was so hard for Baba to stand, in later years, He gestured, “Read it faster.” Eruch did His best to read the prayer as fast as he could. But one time, reading at the speed of a train, Eruch thought how ridiculous it was to pray this way. This image of a speeding train made him laugh out loud in the midst of reciting the prayers. As a response, Baba expressed that in His state of health, participating in the prayer was no joke to Him. “I have given these prayers to humanity, to posterity, to recite them. And whenever anyone offers these prayers, even after I pass away, owing to My present participation it will help everyone and anyone spiritually who recites them. All that matters is My having participated in the prayer. So every time anybody repeats the prayer, I am there with him, My presence is there.”[III]

Dr Deshmukh observes, “Even at the risk of being taken to be quite an ordinary man, with all human frailties, he prays again and again.”[IV] To bring this very point home, Eruch once recounted the horror of a close disciple of Baba’s at watching His Master pray like a mere mortal. The disciple was a doctor of philosophy and could not grasp the behavior of the Avatar of the age. Some years later, this very disciple came upon a story of Lord Krishna.

Krishna’s favorite disciple, the famous saint, Narada, was denied entry into the Lord’s House by the guard because the Avatar was praying. Narada was shocked. It had never occurred to him that Krishna could pray. Confused, he waited. When he was finally let in, he expressed his confusion to Krishna. “Is there anyone above you to whom you pray?” Krishna laughed and took him to His praying chamber. There Narada saw replicas of himself, Arjuna, Radha, other close disciples and all the gopis with their families. “These are my gods. I shower my love on them and they shower their love on me in return.”[V]

In His latest advent, Meher Baba said, “The Avatar does not pray for his own purity – he prays for others. His praying is quite different; it is not for himself. In fact, the Avatar himself is the Prayer made perfect.”[VI] [I] Beams from Meher Baba on the Spiritual Panorama, by Meher Baba, pp. 74-75
[II] “Participation in Prayers by Meher Baba,” by Dr. C. D Deshmukh, Divya Vani, July 10th, 1962, pp. 44-48.
[II Glimpses of the God-Man, Vol 4, by Bal Natu, pp.98-99
[IV] “Participation in Prayers by Meher Baba,” by Dr. C. D Deshmukh, Divya Vani, July 10th, 1962, pp. 44-48.
[V] ‘Eruch on the Master’s Prayer’’, Awakener Magazine Online, Vol 19 Number 2, p. 16
[VI] Lord Meher, Vol. Twenty, p.6763