Seven Names of God Prayer
Encyclopedia
The Seven Names of God Prayer is a prayer given by Meher Baba
to his students and close disciples to memorize and recite, often as a chant or song, at certain times during his life.
Meher Baba composed the prayer on June 16, 1927 for the students in his free school known as the Meher Ashram to memorize and recite daily. The boy's schedule included rising at 5:00 a.m. and after washing they were to chant The Seven Names of God prayer. The prayer was also sung before each meal in the dining hall. Baba later had his adult disciples memorize the prayer.
Baba composed another version during his final seclusion in 1967 that he had a disciple named Kaikobad repeat aloud in his presence.
, God was sometimes called The Seven. Among the ancient Hebrews, the seven names for the Deity
over which the scribes had to exercise particular care were:
See Names of God in Judaism.
recognize seven names of God, often citing Psalm 23
.
Meher Baba
Meher Baba , , born Merwan Sheriar Irani, was an Indian mystic and spiritual master who declared publicly in 1954 that he was the Avatar of the age....
to his students and close disciples to memorize and recite, often as a chant or song, at certain times during his life.
- HariHariHari is an Avatar, another name of and , and appears as the 650th name in the Vishnu sahasranama of Mahabharata. In Sanskrit "hari" sometimes refers to a colour, green, yellow, or fawn-coloured/khaki. It is the colour of the Sun and of Soma...
, ParamatmaParamatmanIn Hindu theology, Paramatman or Paramātmā is the Absolute Atman or Supreme Soul or Spirit in the Vedanta and Yoga philosophies of India....
,
- AllahAllahAllah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
, AhuramazdaAhura MazdaAhura Mazdā is the Avestan name for a divinity of the Old Iranian religion who was proclaimed the uncreated God by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism...
,
- GodGodGod is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, YezdanYazataYazata is the Avestan language word for a Zoroastrian concept. The word has a wide range of meanings but generally signifies a divinity...
, HuHu (Sufism)Hu or Huwa is a name for God in Sufism. Literally: He. God. In Sufism Hu or Huwa is the pronoun used with Allah or God, and is used as a name of God...
Meher Baba composed the prayer on June 16, 1927 for the students in his free school known as the Meher Ashram to memorize and recite daily. The boy's schedule included rising at 5:00 a.m. and after washing they were to chant The Seven Names of God prayer. The prayer was also sung before each meal in the dining hall. Baba later had his adult disciples memorize the prayer.
Baba composed another version during his final seclusion in 1967 that he had a disciple named Kaikobad repeat aloud in his presence.
- Ya Yezdan, Ahuramazda,
- Allah, IshwarIshvaraIshvara is a philosophical concept in Hinduism, meaning controller or the Supreme controller in a theistic school of thought or the Supreme Being, or as an Ishta-deva of monistic thought.-Etymology:...
, Paramatma,
- God Almighty, ParvardigarParvardigarParvardigar or Parwardigar is a Sufi name of God. Its literal meaning is sustainer, a name metaphorically and attributively used for Allah or God....
!
Seven Names of God in Judaism
The tradition of seven names of God is not new to Meher Baba. In medieval JudaismJudaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, God was sometimes called The Seven. Among the ancient Hebrews, the seven names for the Deity
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
over which the scribes had to exercise particular care were:
- El (One of the oldest names of a monotheisticMonotheismMonotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
God, dating at least as early as tablets found in SyriaSyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
2300 BC) - ElohimElohimElohim is a grammatically singular or plural noun for "god" or "gods" in both modern and ancient Hebrew language. When used with singular verbs and adjectives elohim is usually singular, "god" or especially, the God. When used with plural verbs and adjectives elohim is usually plural, "gods" or...
("Strong One" or "Lord Almighty") - Adonai ("My Lord" and origin of the GreekAncient GreeceAncient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
name AdonisAdonisAdonis , in Greek mythology, the god of beauty and desire, is a figure with Northwest Semitic antecedents, where he is a central figure in various mystery religions. The Greek , Adōnis is a variation of the Semitic word Adonai, "lord", which is also one of the names used to refer to God in the Old...
) - Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh ("I am that I amI Am that I AmI Am that I Am is a common English translation of the response God used in the Hebrew Bible when Moses asked for His name . It is one of the most famous verses in the Torah...
") - YHWHTetragrammatonThe term Tetragrammaton refers to the name of the God of Israel YHWH used in the Hebrew Bible.-Hebrew Bible:...
- ShaddaiShaddaiShaddai was a late Bronze Age Amorite city on the banks of the Euphrates river, in northern Syria, as well as the name, or a signifying epithet of a West Semitic deity, whose name was attached by the Hebrews to that of El as one of the names of God in Judaism....
("Almighty" According to Exodus 6:2, 3, Shaddai was the name by which God was known to AbrahamAbrahamAbraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
, IsaacIsaacIsaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites...
and JacobJacobJacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the...
.) - Zebaot ("Heavenly Host")
See Names of God in Judaism.
Seven Names of God in Christianity
Some ChristiansChristianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
recognize seven names of God, often citing Psalm 23
Psalm 23
In the 23rd Psalm in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the writer describes God as his Shepherd. The text, beloved by Jews and Christians alike, is often alluded to in popular media and has been set to music....
.
- YHWH-Yireh — "The Lord will provide"
- YHWH-Rapha — "The Lord that healeth"
- YHWH-Niss"i — "The Lord our Banner"
- YHWH-Shalom — "The Lord our Peace"
- YHWH-Ra-ah — "The Lord my Shepherd"
- YHWH-Tsidkenu — "The Lord our Righteousness"
- YHWH-Shammah — "The Lord is present"
See also
- O ParvardigarO ParvardigarO Parvardigar is the common name of a prayer composed by Meher Baba, sometimes called the Master's Prayer or the Universal Prayer. It is also a song on an album by Pete Townshend....
- Prayer of RepentancePrayer of RepentanceThe Prayer of Repentance is a prayer created by Meher Baba. Meher Baba dictated the prayer in Gujarati in Khuldabad, India in November, 1951.The prayer has become a part of a canon of prayers regularly repeated by Meher Baba's followers, along with the O Parvardigar and the Beloved God Prayer...
- Beloved God PrayerBeloved God PrayerBeloved God is the common name of a prayer created by Meher Baba on August 25, 1959. Meher Baba was fond of the prayer, and encouraged his followers to repeat it....
- 101 Names of God101 Names of GodIn Zoroastrianism, 101 names of God is a list of names of God . The list is preserved in Persian, Pazand and Gujarati...
- Names of GodNames of GodNames of God, or Holy Names, describe a form of addressing God present in liturgy or prayer of various world religions. Prayer involving the Holy Name or the Name of God has become established as common spiritual practice in both Western and Eastern spiritual practices...
External links
- Katie Irani's Version of Seven Names of God in Mov and MPEG files
- Quotes on Prayer by Meher Baba
- Prayers by Meher Baba