The Rationale Behind Prayer

[Guest guest]

The Rationale Behind Prayer

By

 

Sri Swami Chidananda

http://www.sivanandadlshq.org/messages/prayer_rationale.htm

 

God, not only being transcendental, but also being immanent, not only

being immanent but also being a specific indwelling divine principle

within each and every body, why is there so much difficulty in

attaining that which is nearer to us than anything else in all the

universe?

 

Even if the most proximate thing is by your side, if you turn your

head the other way and look in the opposite direction, you will not

be able to see it. That is the trouble. That is the problem. There is

nothing wrong with God, nothing wrong with His immanence, nothing

wrong with His immediacy. What is wrong is that our gaze is

elsewhere. So everything is wrong with the direction we have decided

to turn our gaze to.

 

Therefore, all the saints and mystics have prayed, "O Lord, bless me

and grant that I may constantly remember You. Let my mind be

constantly thinking of You. Let my entire being look only in Your

direction, and may I have no eyes for anything else, no ears for

anything else. Having ears, let me hear nothing except Your name,

Your description, Your glories, Your praise—from saints,

scriptures, teachers, mystics, yogis. Having eyes, let me see nothing

except things pertaining to You, things that will help me to move

towards You. Having a mind, let it think of nothing, but think only

of You.

 

In this way, through all our faculties, let us become only God-

oriented. Let all our faculties move only in His direction. Let us

make up our mind, our entire being, to refuse to focus upon anything

else except the supreme, ultimate, almighty, universal Spirit Divine,

our ultimate goal supreme. This then is the way.

 

Therefore, we pray to the Supreme Being every morning to bless us

that we may have the ability and strength to so do. We pray to Him.

This leads us into another quandary, another difficulty, another

paradox. All religions, all scriptures, all prophets have declared

that God is omniscient. Does He not know our predicament? When He is

omniscient and He thus knows our situation, why should we pray? Does

He not know? Can He not set it right?

 

A baby knows nothing; it cannot express itself. But the mother,

through her love and care, intuitively grasps, "Oh, something is

wrong with baby's tummy. It's feeling discomfort; therefore

it is crying." God is more than father and mother. He is everything

to us, ten times more than any earthly mother that Brahma has ever

created. That being so, where is the need to bring anything to His

notice, as though He doesn't know it? Does He need to be told? He

is the eye of our eye, ear of our ear, heart of our heart, mind of

our mind. So what is the purpose of prayer, the meaning of prayer?

This is the paradox and question that faces us when we say, "Prayer

can overcome all things."

 

A cloth gets soiled. We wish to make it clean, white and shining once

again. So we put it in a bucket of hot water and add soap powder. We

clean it. The water is not in need of the cloth, nor is the soap.

They can serve many other purposes, yet we bring them together. Why?

Because the cloth is in need of water, it is in need of soap.

Therefore, it goes into the proximity, into an active, dynamic

contact with the water and soap. And it comes out clean, white,

completely free from all dirt. It is restored to its original purity.

 

That is the logic behind prayer. Not because the Lord needs to be

told, not because He does not know. He knows everything. It is

because the one who prays is benefited, is blessed by the contact he

creates through prayer. Prayer has gained an essential place in the

context of the mystical aspects of all the living religions of the

world. They all emphasis prayer. Not because we are telling Him

something that He does not know, that He has to be told, but because

the very act of telling Him elevates us, sanctifies us, blesses us.

Therefore it is that we pray.

 

Even so, let us pray to revered and beloved Holy Master that by his

blessings we will be enabled to constantly keep ourselves in a state

of continuous contact and communion with the Supreme Being, for that

is the greatest good of man. In that lies the highest welfare of the

human individual. In that lies the fulfilment and success of the

pilgrim soul upon earth, success in ultimately completing this

journey of life by reaching the destination—not having to come

back again to repeat this journey, but making it the final journey.

 

Supremely blessed are those who are thus graced by the almighty

Spirit Divine and blessed by their spiritual master. May all of you

who sit and hear this word be thus graced by God and guru. God bless

you all!

[Guest guest]

Namaste

 

The value of prayer can never be overstated. Prayer is the point

of contact with God. No one can reveal God to another. By

developing the habit of prayer we place ourselves in a position

to receive God-experience, in due time. Spiritual experience can

come only through proper understanding of prayer. Silent prayer

is the preparation of consciousness for the experience of

Divinity within. From childhood one should be tuned up to the

habit of prayer well enough so that at adult age one is ready to

comprehend the inevitable message that unhappiness and suffering

are necessary for the unfolding of the soul within and to stand

that unhappiness and suffering, prayer is the needed nutrition.

 

PraNAms to all advaitins.

profvk

 

=====

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

You can access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and

Practice, and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.

 

 

 

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