Afterwards, Baba had Eruch explain:
… When you come before him, you have many things which you would like to say to him; but, in fact, it is not necessary to tell him. He knows. If he did not know it, coming before him would not matter. It is impossible to be deceived when it is the knowledge of the heart.
The prayer that God hears is the prayer of the heart, that raising of the heart, that suffering of the heart – that is what God pays attention to. And so it does not matter, and certainly it is foolish to rely upon the usual religious practices and ritual. What matters is your heart, the prayer that arises from your heart. That is the prayer that Baba hears, that God hears.
Baba says Jesus Christ said this exactly when he said: “When you pray, close the door; pray in secret.” Therefore, pray from the heart even if you are with a thousand people. People know it all by heart but they do not grasp it, or God would hear.
Pray from the heart by giving yourselves. Just saying the words or being still, unless you are giving yourselves, is useless. It is the prayer of your heart, the giving of your heart, that counts. Those prayers are answered. Jesus meant, you do not pray, you do not ask, because you do not really ask with all your being.
If one desires to live eternally, one must die for Baba. If you know what that means, why then you understand. It is the profoundest thing. Dying does not mean physical death; it means dying inwardly.
–Date and place: July 1956;  London
Lord Meher (First Ed), p4948
www.lordmeher.org (Revised 2014), p3979
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“I believe in self-control, not in coercion. Coercion is based on oppression, and results in fear and hatred. Self control requires courage, and may be induced by love.” (LM online, Revised 2014, p1411)