Vijay Vohra
Prayer is only another word for communicating with God. It is a channel through which kripa, blessings and grace of God flow into us. Prayer is a key which opens many doors, whether we are giving thanks or seeking help for ourselves or others, we are working to understand our relationship with the Lord. Some prayers are praises to God, some are affirmation of His Glory, some are petition seeking His help and some are thanks giving. But in all prayers we seek to draw closer and closer to God. Prayer is one of the most basic and most ancient element of every religion.
Prayer is the uphill track for our runaway desires. Until we direct our desires along proper lines it is best to surrender them to God. The Lord knows what is best for us. HE will help us to direct our efforts along the right lines. Prayers are a great help in stilling the mind and invoking the Grace of God. The offering of prayer to God repeatedly during the course of everyday, clears one’s mind of impurities that have collected when the individual is performing his/her worldly duties. It is therefore not surprising that all religions recommend that prayers should be offered to God as often as possible throughout the day.
Our beloved Bhagwan Sri Satya Sai Baba said, “Prayer is the very breath of religion for it brings man and God together and with every sigh nearer and nearer”.
From the very outset it is necessary for us to practice the habit of regular prayer. A regular time and place help us to quickly concentrate and reach a state of calm. Regular prayer makes us aware of God’s omnipresence and attracts His grace for God is as close to us as we are to Him. Bhagwan Baba said, “In the beginning one might need some special set of circumstances for clearing the mind for concentration of God. After a while if one finds that God is omnipresent and becomes aware of Him and one’s thoughts are centered on God, then no matter where one is, it is the same. Prayers may be addressed to God and the prayers will reach Him”.
Swami has written some simple prayers for us which we are supposed to repeat every day.
Morning Prayer
Oh Lord! I am now born from the womb of sleep. I am determined to carry out all the tasks of this day as offering to you, with you ever present before my mind’s eye. Make my words, thoughts and deeds sacred and pure. Let me inflict no pain on any one; let no one inflict pain on me. Direct me and guide me this day.
Prayer before Sleeping at Night
Oh Lord! The tasks of this day, the burden of which I placed on you this morning are over. It is you who made me walk, talk, think and act. I therefore place at your lotus feet all my thoughts, words and deeds. My task is done, receive me, I am coming back to you.
Prayer before Meal
Oh Lords! You are the food, you are the creator of food, you are the provider of food and also the consumer of the food. Therefore we offer all that we are about to eat at you lotus feet and pray that You will bless this food, and bless us, so that we do your will in this world and serve You in this world and thus achieve self realization.
Does prayer really works? Yes prayer works but not always in the manner we intend. We may not receive a particular benefit that we seek, but prayer still draws us closer to God. It establishes a line of communication with the Lord and builds His presence in our mind. And yes many times our, specific prayers are granted, although not always as we expect.
Well some may ask that when God knows what is best for us because He is omnipresent why we should pray for something. But it is wrong to think that God would do everything by Himself because HE is omnipotent. Beloved Swami said, “It is your duty to ask God. Words must be said and the words must correspond to the thoughts. The thoughts must be put into true words. It is true enough that the Divinity knows all, but HE requires that the true words be said. The mother may know that to maintain the life of the child requires food but milk is given when the child asks for it”
God knows what we seek but it is up to us to ask. In asking we make a conscious choice of what path we wish to follow. We ask specific results and thereby accept the consequences of those results. We must ask what we want but our actions should not contradict our words. If we pray for greater love, we cannot continue to harbor hate.
No one can instruct another when or how that person should pray. All of us have different needs and attitudes. What is appropriate at one time may not be at another time. The values and languages of different culture also vary. It is not possible for us to evaluate the worth of another person’s prayer for all speak to God in their own way. It is not the words we use or the forms of God we address that give its power; it is the devotion in our hearts.
Prayers are not always answered immediately. Many of us wish for one thing today and for another thing tomorrow. We must show that our prayer is a heartfelt need. It must be sincere and pure to reach the Lord. It is beyond us to know how or why prayers are granted. So many factors are involved that we cannot hope to understand the process, timing, karma, grace, the degree of personal efforts all have a bearing on the situation. There may be other reasons why our prayers are not answered. We may have karma to work out or lessons to learn e.g. when we pray for a miraculous cure, we may not seek the factors which caused the illness. Some people receive cures, while others do not. If the lessons of that illness have not been learned, it would be cruel to relieve the illness for it would only have to be repeated. But if the lessons have been learned and debt paid, then a cure could endow the individual with new faith and determination.
Bhagwan Baba said, “Prayers for worldly ends do not reach God. They will reach only those deities who deal with such restricted spheres. But all prayers arising from pure, unselfish eagerness to render service and from heart that are all inclusive will reach God”. Swami further explained, “We should ask ourselves the questions as to whether God has received these prayers Himself or not at all. Well even in a small kingdom various works are performed by several ministers who are assigned the charge of certain departments. So in running the affairs of the cosmos, the Almighty God too assigns certain functions to certain Gods like Indra, Varuna and Rudra. We know that all earthly problems are not taken directly to the King but are presented to the concerned minister for action. Similarly all prayers of man do not reach God Himself as they are attended to by His “ministers” Indra, Varuna, Rudra and others. Only those prayers which have their origins in the spirit of Nishkam karma, infinite and pure love and an unsullied heart reach the Lord directly”.
So it is best to pray for results which reduce desires and promote peace, love and understanding. The heart is a wiser guide and a source of true prayer and communication with God. Swami says, “Prayers must emanate from the heart where God resides, and not from the head, where doctrines and doubts clash”. The material objects that we pray for often increase our desires and make our lives more difficult. However some material wishes may be granted so that we will appreciate God’s benevolence. Our beloved Swami says, “I give you what you want so that you will learn to want what I have to give”.
To explain why some of our prayers are not accepted or answered by God once Swami gave a perfect example. HE said, “Well there are two devotees of the Lord. One of them prays to God for rain to prevent his crops from getting dried up. The other however, prays to Him for the absence of rainfall for sometimes in view of a grand marriage ceremony he intends to perform in his house shortly. Thus they put the Lord in dilemma. Now which devotee’s prayer should God answer?”
So this wise course is to trust in the Lord to provide what is necessary for us. Through prayer we learn to accept that which we cannot change and to change what we can. However, some prayers do not even require an answer, while other may take lifetime to realize.
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