November 27, 2021
Repentance
There are days we might feel the Prayer of Repentance is more applicable than others. But after dictating the prayer seventy years ago this month, Meher Baba demonstrated how important repentance is, again and again, for all of us.
Baba wrote the Prayer of Repentance in November of 1951, during the New Life, when He was playing the role of a seeker. Maybe that was part of His demonstration of what it means to seek God—repenting for everything that keeps us from Him. As Baba put it in 1952, “Maybe some of you, or many of you, have no bindings of desires and attachments; but here today, as I am in the state of a devotee, I would like you all to join me and encourage me in asking God’s forgiveness.” Of the rest of us, Baba said, “The ordinary devotee, no matter how sincere his devotion, remains bound by the law of karma, and so his best course is to apply this law to his own spiritual advantage by the constant practice of virtue and the constant abstention from evil. And when he fails in virtue or falls into sins, he must throw himself on the boundless mercy of God and ask His forgiveness.” [1]
Over the years, Baba frequently used the Prayer of Repentance at pivotal moments. During quiet ceremonies, pregnant with meaning. At mass darshans, in front of a teeming, expectant crowd. At the East-West Gathering, after which He made a gesture as though he were “taking away the load and burden of His lovers’ collective past.” [2] In Meherabad, Meherazad, Andhra Pradesh, Poona, Australia, California, Myrtle Beach.
Sometimes, Baba used the Prayer of Repentance as a distinct remedy for a problem affecting some of His lovers: for example, while dealing with a harrowing tiff between the dedicated leaders spreading Baba’s name in Andhra Pradesh. In 1954, Baba brought these workers together for a serious heart-to-heart. As the intensity of the disagreement reached a fever pitch, Baba asked them to leave the hall for five minutes, wash their faces and hands, and return to say the Prayer of Repentance together.
The conversation continued—about money, honesty, leadership. And then Baba said, “Now, once again, I will confess before God, Whoever He be, our weaknesses on behalf of you all … After the confession, if you really love me even a little, I want your hearts toward one another to be clean. Forget your past differences, clean your hearts, and live for Baba, if you love Baba.” [3]
Before the meeting ended, He had them say the prayer a second time. There were many questions from the group moving forward, especially since Baba made practical and substantial changes in how His work was being conducted in Andhra. But it appears the heart of the issue was captured in that scared prayer—repentance and forgiveness. Doing our best, stumbling, repenting, trying again together.
Each of these times, Baba, God, did not ask His devotees to pray to Him—He prayed with them. During that meeting in Andhra, He said, “I became the confessor on your behalf … Even when I appear to act, not only do I act the part but I become the part. I confessed now wholeheartedly, and I not only did it for the whole universe, but actually became the one who confesses. I do not break my own principles. I am free, but the principle must be maintained.” [4]
Since the time He gave the prayer, even when He was older and frail, Baba would stand, despite all the pain of doing so, and say the prayers, often gently slapping His cheeks as a sign of contrition. He indicated that He was putting power in these prayers so that His presence would be there for all who said them in the future—that God would be there, repenting and forgiving, whenever we stopped and took the time to do so ourselves.
In Meherazad in 1958, Baba often had the Prayer of Repentance recited for the Mandali’s mistakes—and would sometimes take the offender’s hands and use them to slap His own cheeks. He would tell them, “I have done it, don’t worry. What can you ever do? Not a leaf moves without my will!” [5]
On the Center, you can see the Prayer of Repentance hanging in the hush of the Lagoon Cabin. And maybe you can still hear it reverberating in the Barn from Baba’s visits. On May 19, 1958, at the beginning of His final visit to the Center, Baba asked if anyone knew the Prayer of Repentance. Nobody did. “Then we will read it,” He gestured—but nobody had a copy. Jane Haynes described that He looked sad as He asked Kitty Davy to go run and get one. He then asked Jane to read the prayer, and while reading it, she said that He “let me know how much real prayer means.” At the end of the prayer, He said, “Remember, a life of prayer is ever-essential.” [6]
A few days later, on the morning of May 24, Baba entered the Barn and asked what time it was. Then He gestured: “It is nine o’clock, Baba’s time. Join me again today in the Prayer of Repentance, with all sincerity, and God in His infinite compassion will forgive all your sins, weaknesses, shortcomings and failures up to date. Let the prayer sink deep into you and concentrate on me.” [7] They prayed:
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
And 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.
[2] Lord Meher Online Edition, p. 4879
[3] Lord Meher Online Edition, p. 3509
[4] Lord Meher Online Edition, p. 3507
[5] Lord Meher Online Edition, p. 4462
[6] Letters of Love, ed. Jane Haynes, p. 36
[7] Lord Meher Online Edition, p. 4373