How To Pray

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Prayer is a very powerful tool available to man to purify the mind and gain spiritual strength. Prayer is the foundation of success. In the most carefully controlled scientific study ever performed on the effects of prayer on healing, cardiologist Randolph Byrd, formerly a University of California professor, showed that prayer is a powerful force in healing and that sometimes it can make the difference between life and death for the sick person.

The sages tell us that for a prayer to be effective, faith in the Divine, concentration of the mind, and positive thinking are necessary prerequisites before, during and after the prayer. If one prays for success and at the same time holds thoughts of failure within, the prayer will not be answered. Sages tell us that the mind is the transmitter of prayers. Thus, a prayer transmitted by a restless mind is akin to broadcasting over a broken transmitter. To receive God's answer to our prayers, sages provide the following instructions for prayers:

 

Meditate before praying to calm restless thoughts. Keep the body still throughout meditation. "Be still and know you are God."

According to yogic literature, the nerve center between the eye-brows (ajna chakra) is the transmitter of prayer and the heart is the receiver of God's answer to the prayer. If a prayer is properly transmitted, God's answer appears in the form of subtle feeling(s) arising in the heart following the prayer.

To pray, focus attention at the center between the eyebrows and say the prayer mentally with the deepest devotion of your heart. Repeat the prayer until it becomes one with your consciousness.

Always pray to God as His child, who demands the rightful share of all God's bounties. Never pray to God as a beggar.

Only genuine prayers are fulfilled. "If you pray five hours daily that you might become a Henry Ford, that prayer will not be granted," explains Paramahansa Yogãnanda.