It's Been a Long, Long, Long Time

While having a shower this evening, the Beatle's song "Long, Long, Long" came into my head for some reason. After my shower, I decided to do a little research into the song. Below are the lyrics and Figure 1 shows the lyrics along with the guitar chords.

Figure 1: source

It's been a long long long time

How could I ever have lost you

When I loved you

It took a long long long time

Now I'm so happy I found you

How I love you

So many tears I was searching

So many tears I was wasting, oh oh

Now I can see you, be you

How can I ever misplace you

How I want you

Oh I love you

You know that I need you

Ooh I love you

Oh

The song was written by George Harrison and the Wikipedia article provides some interesting details surrounding its creation. Here are the opening paragraphs from that article:

"Long, Long, Long" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 album The Beatles (also known as "the White Album"). It was written by George Harrison, the group's lead guitarist, while he and his bandmates were attending Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation course in Rishikesh, India, in early 1968. Although Harrison later stated that he was addressing God in the lyrics, it is the first of his compositions that invites interpretation as both a standard love song and a paean to his deity.

"Long, Long, Long" originated during a period in which Harrison emerged as a prolific songwriter, coinciding with his return to the guitar after two years of studying the Indian sitar. He based the chord pattern on "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" by Bob Dylan, while the song's understated arrangement partly reflects the influence of the Band's 1968 album Music from Big Pink. The Beatles recorded it in London towards the end of the White Album sessions, which were marked by acrimony among the band members in the fallout to their experiences in Rishikesh. An ambient and meditative ballad, it ends with a partly improvised segment that was inspired by the sound of a wine bottle vibrating on a speaker in the studio.

"Long, Long, Long" has received praise from several music critics. On release, William Mann of The Times rated it the equal of the album's best Lennon–McCartney compositions; Ian MacDonald later described it as Harrison's "touching token of exhausted, relieved reconciliation with God" and his "finest moment on The Beatles". Elliott Smith and Jim James are among the other artists who have recorded or performed the song.

The connection of the song to Dylan's "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" was a surprise. Reportedly, the only Western LP that Harrison took with him to Rishikesh was Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, which contains the eleven-minute "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands". The Wikipedia article notes that:

In 1987, Daniel Amos vocalist Terry Scott Taylor recorded what Trouser Press admired as a "first-rate cover" of "Long, Long, Long" for his album A Briefing for the Ascent.

I quite like this cover and in fact YouTube Music has this to say about Terry Scott Taylor:

Terry Scott Taylor is an American songwriter, record producer, writer and founding member of the bands Daniel Amos and The Swirling Eddies. Taylor is also a member of the roots and alternative music group, Lost Dogs. He is currently based in San Jose, California, U.S. Taylor is highly regarded for his songwriting skills. These often include allusions to and reworkings of material ranging from Elizabethan poets to modern authors. Foremost among Taylor's influences is William Blake. The Daniel Amos album title Fearful Symmetry was drawn from Blake's poem "The Tyger," and numerous songs across The Alarma! Chronicles series of albums have Blake-inspired references. Some other poets who have influenced Taylor's work are T. S. Eliot and Christina Rossetti. Eliot's poetry inspired the song "Hollow Man" from the Doppelgänger album. "Where Dreams Come True" from Taylor's solo album, A Briefing for the Ascent, draws heavily from Rosetti's poem "Echo". The inspiration for many Daniel Amos and Taylor songs from the mid-1980s can be found in the book Behold, This Dreamer: Of Reverie, Night, Sleep, Dream, Love-Dreams, Nightmare, Death. 

To my mind, he has a similar voice to David Byrne and as well his cover of "Long, Long, Long" on his A Briefing for the Ascent, I also like "Changeless" that has the following, spiritually-aligned lyrics:

Once upon a lonely hilltop

Where my heart could find no sleep

Rest came down and filled my soul up

From the everlasting deep

Changeless are the stars that shine

Changeless morn' succeeds to even

Still the everlasting hill

Changeless watch the changeless heaven

I need your love

Your changeless love

I need you

I have climbed some lonely hilltops

I have touched the fleeting soul

Dreamt I saw a billion teardrops

Falling down like ice and snow

Changeless breaks the tide to shore

Changeless are the times and seasons

You are the same forever more

I will keep these changeless reasons

(Why)

No shadow of turning falls

No promise is broken

No nothing can turn my heart

From the words You have spoken

Changeless Your love

Deep as an ocean

Taylor was born on May 24th 1950 so he's only a year younger than me. He is a complex character musically as his Wikipedia biography attests. His music deserves further investigation. Getting back to George Harrison however, it can only be noted that his time in India in early 1968 corresponded to a time when Meher Baba was still alive. Baba of course was quite reclusive at that time and it would have been difficult to have an audience with Him. Harrison certainly seems to have been the most spiritually inclined of the Fabulous Four.

The One

I was listening to Van Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" where he sings of giving praise to THE ONE. 

There's a love that's divine

And it's yours and it's mine

Like the sun

And at the end of the day

We should give thanks and pray

To THE ONE, to THE ONE

I thought I'd check out anagrams of THE ONE and discovered NO THEE which is most apt. THEE is an archaic form of YOU and so what more eloquent equation that this:

THE ONE = NO THEE

From the perspective of THE ONE, there is indeed NO THEE but our perspective that means NO ME. The mention of ME conjures up the word EGO and recently I came across another eloquent equation that involved this word.

For a mathematician, this makes perfect sense. This talk of Mathematics and ME and THEE puts me in mind of Omar Khayyam and his famous Rubaiyat where he says (in Edward Fitzgerald's translation anyway):

There was a Door to which I found no Key: 

 

There was a Veil through which I could not see:  

 

Some little Talk awhile of Me and Thee 

There seemed — and then no more of Thee and Me.

I found this blog post from July of 2010 that interprets these words very well I thought:

It’s been too many months since we last had a selection from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat. First, just take a moment to speak these lines aloud. Really feel its rhythm on your tongue, and let its rhyme dance in your ear. I’m not normally a big fan of strictly rhymed verse, especially in translation, but something about Edward FitzGerald’s translations of Omar Khayyam bring a big smile to my face every time I read them. You can taste the sugar in each line.

There was a Door to which I found no Key:

There was a Veil through which I could not see…

The door that has no key and the veil through which one cannot see is the final barrier that separates us from the Divine Beloved. That barrier is dualism itself.

Some little Talk awhile of Me and Thee

There seemed

At first there is the dualistic perception of “Me and Thee,” of the separate identities of the lover and Beloved. That sense of separation — separation from God, separation from Source, separation from the True Self — is the fundamental pain of the soul.

Caught in the midst of this dynamic, we feel pain, we struggle, we encounter a terrible emptiness we try to hide from through the dramas of life. But looking back from the perspective of deep realisation, it can be seen as a sort of dialog between the soul and the Eternal. The dramas of life… “Some little Talk awhile of Me an Thee…” But there is only a surface appearance here, a seeming — “There seemed”

— and then no more of Thee and Me.

When we look, when we learn to really see, that’s when an amazing thing happens — suddenly that final veil falls away. The barrier is passed, not through some action or “key,” but through the instantaneous recognition that the barrier does not, in truth, exist at all. We are stunned to discover that there is no separation (only the ego’s pretence of a separation). And then — “no more of Thee and Me,” only Divine Presence within, without, everywhere!

Omar Khayyam was best known in his time as a mathematician and astronomer. His theorems are still studied by mathematicians today. His poetry really only became widely read when Edward FitzGerald collected several quatrains (rubaiyat) that were attributed to Khayyam and translated them into English as the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

The common view in the West of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is that it is a collection of sensual love poems. Although some scholars debate this question, many people assert that Omar Khayyam was a Sufi, as well as a poet and mathematician, and that his Rubaiyat can only be truly understood using the language of mystical metaphor.

The Master's Prayer

I've always had an aversion to prayers, ever since abandoning Catholicism in 1965. However, today's email from the Avatar Meher Baba Bombay Centre reminded of Baba's 1953 prayer, dictated 68 years ago today. Such emails are an important source of remembrance of Beloved Baba, a daily reminder of his Avatarhood.

Opening page of Avatar Meher Baba
Bombay Centre website

To quote from Lord Meher, American ed., Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 12, p. 4209:

Meher Baba dictated the Master’s (or Parvardigar) Prayer in Dehra Dun on Thursday, August 13th, 1953 and from that day until the 2nd of September, it was recited every evening with Baba taking part in the prayer. Donkin would read it aloud in English, and it was repeated by another mandali in Gujarati. When it was over, Baba would lay his head on the feet of each of the men mandali. This is the prayer:

The Master's Prayer 

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 color, 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; Paramatma; Allah; Elahi; Yezdan;

Ahuramazda; God Almighty, and God the Beloved.

You are named Ezad, the Only One Worthy of Worship. 

Baba had indicated, “I have given these prayers to humanity to recite. They are for all posterity. Whenever anyone recites these prayers, they will be helped spiritually because of My present personal participation.” 

I should recite this prayer more often. My early years of reciting Catholic prayers mechanically and unthinkingly has left me wary. I don't want to relapse into doing that. If I do recite the prayer then if must be done with awareness and sincerity or not done at all. As Baba says, He only listens to the language of the heart.

Another option is to have it recited it to you. You can copy and paste the prayer into a site like Natural Readers and have it read back to you. I found setting the speed to zero and using the voice of Peter (Premium UK) gives a pleasing result. See Figure 1.

Figure 1: screenshot from this source

An even more pleasing result can be had by listening to YouTube versions of the prayer, spoken by an Indian women:

There's another version spoken loudly and forcefully by Harry Kenmore, the blind chiropractor from the United States, but it's less to my taste. However, in that video he also reads out the Prayer of Repentance (given by Meher Baba on 8th November 1952) which is quite powerful:

Prayer of Repentance

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.

Here is a version of the prayer in which the words are displayed slide by slide with accompanying music. The words are not spoken but it's quite beautiful: 

ADDENDUM

added August 25th 2021:

Baba came into the hall on August 25th, (1959) after working with Kaikobad. The men assembled before him. For some time, Baba sat with his eyes closed. He stretched and rested his legs on the bamboo stool. A bed sheet was    spread over his legs for warmth. After resting for some time in this position, Baba signaled for the men to go outside. He remained alone inside for several minutes and then clapped, and the men reentered.

Baba instructed, “None of you should do anything which might disturb my mood.”

He informed Francis, “In connection with the repairs to the old bus, it will be enough to paint it, because if any of the work involves hammering, it is likely to disturb and spoil my mood.” He added, “The world is at stake, and my health is also at stake.”

Pendu was asked by Baba to describe how Baba’s health was last night. “Last night, Baba’s health was very bad,” said Pendu. “These days, he generally feels unwell at night, but yesterday was worse.”

Baba’s face still appeared dark.

Baba stated that he would dictate a prayer, but before this he asked Aloba to perform namaz  (Muslim prayer). Eruch was directed to recite the Parvardigar Prayer.

“Last night, when I was in a very painful state, this new prayer came to my mind.” And humorously, he stated, “First, I memorised it, and now I will dictate it to you:

Beloved God, help us all

to love you more and more

and more and more and still yet more

until we become worthy of Union with you.

And help us all to hold fast to Baba’s daaman

until the very end!

Baba stated that the prayer would be recited again three days later on August 28th.

Lord Meher, American ed., Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 16, p.5633.  

Gulmai Irani

August 10th marked the anniversary of the death of Meher Baba's spiritual mother, Gulmai Irani, who died in 1962 at age 80. Figure 1 shows my favourite photograph of Gulmai with Baba because she looks so utterly content.

Figure 1: Source

The following extract is taken from Lord Meher:

MEANWHILE, Adi’s mother Gulmai’s ill condition, due to kidney disease, worsened in August. While at Meherabad on August 6th, Baba informed Padri to be prepared for Gulmai’s burial on the Hill, as she would be dying shortly. On the evening of August 8th, Gulmai’s condition became serious, and Adi sent Sarosh to Meherazad to inform Baba. Baba instructed Sarosh that when Gulmai passed away, he should be informed and her body removed to Meherabad, where her coffin would be lowered into the grave in his presence.

On the morning of August 9th, Baba unexpectedly decided to be driven to Khushru Quarters to see Gulmai. Although she had ceased to recognize anyone and was almost in an unconscious state, she opened her eyes and her face brightened when she saw Baba. She caressed his face and managed to utter, “Ba-ba.” After kissing her on the forehead and embracing Gulmai, Baba returned to Meherazad.

The next day, taking a critical turn for the worse, Gulmai was unable to speak and suffered spells of unconsciousness. Even so, with great difficulty she was moving her lips and repeating Baba’s name. At midnight, she startled from a coma-like sleep and loudly called out Baba’s name. With all her strength, she continued this for a few minutes without pause. While uttering Baba’s name, Gulmai merged in him forever at the age of seventy-eight.

Waman Padole was sent to Meherazad to inform Baba of Gulmai’s passing.

At 9:00 A.M., on Saturday, August 11th, Gulmai’s body was taken to Meherabad Hill where a grave had been dug. Baba arrived at ten o’clock and performed the last rites by placing flowers on her forehead and body. Almost two hundred persons from Arangaon and Ahmednagar were present. As the coffin was lowered into the earth, Baba, looking extremely sad, tossed flowers over it while Kaikobad offered prayers. Thus Baba’s spiritual mother Gulmai came to rest in Meherabad, the place she herself had been so instrumental in laying at his feet.

Baba remarked to Adi, “She is very fortunate that I was present at her burial.” As if in an additional tribute to her, this was the last time Meher Baba ever went to Meherabad.

Gulmai’s dedication, service and love for Meher Baba are truly monumental, for she and her husband, Kaikhushru (Khan Saheb), were the ones who gave him the land in Arangaon later called Meherabad.

Lord Meher, American ed., Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 17, pp. 5919 – 5923.

A full account of Gulmai's life can be found at this site. Figure 2 shows Gulmai's family tree.

Figure 2: Source

Figure 3 shows a photo taken of Gulmai, supposedly taken the day before she died, which seems to contradict the story told in Lord Meher (that she was at death's door). In any case, the photograph must have been taken not long before here passing. She has a faraway look in her eyes, that's for sure.

Figure 3: Source

Like Doctor Donkin whom I wrote about in my previous post (Baba on Masts), Gulmai is another person who surrendered to Baba completely and unconditionally.