"The ideal prayer to the Lord is nothing more than spontaneous praise of His being." - Avatar Meher Baba
Meher Mount
Your photo Friday is in gratitude of Avatar Meher Baba…
In June 2001, visitor Arnie Goldstein attended a concert in Southern California performed by Pete Townshend of The Who and a follower of Avatar Meher Baba.
“I also decided to take a journey afterward to Meher Mount in Ojai,” Goldstein remembered. “It was a sunny day. My mind and spirit were open as I walked the grounds and took in the sights.
“Eventually I entered Baba’s Tree canopy. I brought my portable CD player and had decided to listen to ‘O Parvardigar’ by Townshend while sitting and praying (for Mother Earth) under the Baba Tree.
“There was a bench, and hanging by a string on one end of the bench was indeed a paper with the words to Meher Baba’s Universal Prayer. I sat on the ground, turned on the song, put on my headphones, and prayed.”
He suggested a link to ‘O Parvardigar’ — the Universal Prayer in music form — as a way to express gratitude to Meher Baba.
“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 the spontaneous appreciative response to His true being, as infinite light, infinite power and infinite bliss.”
Sources
Photograph: Avatar Meher Baba in Guruprasad, India, 1965. ©Meher Nazar Publications. Used with permission.
Arnold Goldstein’s story is from a forthcoming book of stories related to Baba’s Tree to be published in 2026.
Pete Townshend, “Parvardigar” from the Who Came First album. ℗ 2018 Eel-Pie Recording Productions Ltd., under exclusive license to Universal Music Operations Limited. Released on: 1972-10-01. Composer Lyricist, Recording Engineer, Producer, Engineer, Associated Performer, Performer, Mixing Engineer: Pete Townshend Mastering Engineer: Jon Astley
Beams from Meher Baba, pp. 74-75, © Sufism Reoriented, Inc., U.S.A., 1958, 4th printing May 1996.
Margaret Magnus, “The Ideal Prayer to the Lord,” Meher Mount Story Blog, February 17, 2022. ©Meher Mount Corporation.