Guest guest Posted November 19, 2007 Report Share Posted November 19, 2007 Namaste all: Swami has asked we post this question from him Which is greater, praying to God or working for God? Jai Ma Jai wami vishweshwar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Workinginspectionconnection108 <inspectionconnection108 wrote: Namaste all: Swami has asked we post this question from him Which is greater, praying to God or working for God? Jai Ma Jai wami vishweshwar Jai Maa,Devi Never miss a thing. Make your homepage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Working inspectionconnection108 <inspectionconnection108 wrote: Namaste all: Swami has asked we post this question from himWhich is greater, praying to God or working for God?Jai Ma Jai wamivishweshwar Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Mobile. Try it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 I'm not sure I see the difference between the two. -sOn 11/19/07, inspectionconnection108 < inspectionconnection108 wrote: Namaste all: Swami has asked we post this question from him Which is greater, praying to God or working for God? Jai Ma Jai wami vishweshwar -- -------erin www.erinjohansen.comwww.flibbertygibbette.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 It is the same. Work can become prayer and prayer can become work (seva). It all depends on the attitude and sincerity of the moment. , " inspectionconnection108 " <inspectionconnection108 wrote: > > Namaste all: Swami has asked we post this question from him > > Which is greater, praying to God or working for God? > > Jai Ma Jai wami > > vishweshwar > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Namaste Swamiji, thank you for asking the question. In my understanding, we shuld always pray to God for the awareness that we are Her instruments. There is no working for God unless She works through us. Prayer is the 'inside' and work the 'outside' of the same thing, with love and deepest respect, Henny In , " inspectionconnection108 " <inspectionconnection108 wrote: > > Namaste all: Swami has asked we post this question from him > > Which is greater, praying to God or working for God? > > Jai Ma Jai wami > > vishweshwar > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Pranams Swamiji, As I understand (or misunderstand) it.... Prayer to God without work for God lacks sincerity. Work for God is better because it demonstrates love, but how long can one keep the attitude of working for God without prayer? Eventually you we fall back into worldliness. Jai Maa! Rolf , " inspectionconnection108 " <inspectionconnection108 wrote: > > Namaste all: Swami has asked we post this question from him > > Which is greater, praying to God or working for God? > > Jai Ma Jai wami > > vishweshwar > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 , " inspectionconnection108 " <inspectionconnection108 wrote: > > Namaste all: Swami has asked we post this question from him > > Which is greater, praying to God or working for God? > > Jai Ma Jai wami > > vishweshwar > I loved seeing the answers to this question! I thought about the question before I read the answers and found that others answered much the way I did in my mind. Work done with devotion is prayer. Prayer is an action and thus it can be called work. However if one still has a sense of " I " and " mine " , a sense of " doership " , working FOR God, is like offering ALL of ones actions to God (in the sense of karma yoga as described in the Bhagavad Gita) and could be considered greater than prayer alone. If one has no sense of " doership " , what work or prayer is to be done? And by whom? It is all the Mother's dance, and working and praying become steps and movements in the dance. This seems to relate so much to the ongoing discussion of ego which I have been pondering, and Vishweshwar's lovely answers from the life of Shri Ramakrishna. (and also the posts from the Hanuman Puja!)I journaled about that(ego) and consulted with " The Gospel " , just for myself. Maybe that could be considered prayer, which is private and beneficial for my own sadhana. But if I post it here, perhaps it is more like work,done in the world, which may inspire or benefit others as well as myself. so here is another take on work, prayer and intentional duality. Intentional Duality: An interesting quote from the Abridged Gospel Of Shri Ramakrishna, Shri Ramakrishna is discussing the ego and the " I " feeling with the devotees and says: " Further, you see, people speak of the waves as belonging to the Ganges; but no one says that the Ganges belongs to the waves. " There is no " Purusha/Prakriti dualism " here. The waves and the Ganges are not two, it is one river of consciousness flowing. The Ahamkara, or the feeling of " I " is one aspect of the nature of that flow, as are the other aspects of mind. Shri Ramakrishna is well aware that it is the human condition to be identified with the waves, the individual ego and the body, and so he tells us: " However you may reason and argue, the feeling that the body is identical with the soul will somehow crop up from an unexpected quarter. " Therefore he says, " The feeling,'I am He' is not wholesome. A man who entertains such an idea, while looking on his body as the Self, causes himself great harm...He deceives himself as well as others. He cannot understand his own state of mind. " His precription for this, to avoid this pitfall is to keep up an intentional duality of the ego as the servant of God or the devotee of God. To be in constant rememberance that we " belong to the Ganges " . He often tells the story of " Hanuman Consiousness " - When Lord Rama asked Hanuman, " How do you look upon me? " Hanuman replies, " O Rama, as long as I have the feeling of " I " , I see that thou art the whole and I am a part; Thou art the Master and I am thy servant. But when, O Rama, I have the knowledge of Truth, then I realize that Thou art I, and I am Thou. " So, in the deepest part of the water, the waves disappear, the " I " , the wave is no longer percieved and only the water exists, the wave of Hanuman dissappears into Rama, undifferentiated consciousness. So here is Hanuman, knowing the Truth of non-duality in his heart, but fully aware that as long as he is incarnated as Hanuman, this " I " crops up and he knows how to deal with it appropriately. Again, Shri Ramakrishna says: " Since this " I " must remain, let the rascal be God's servant. " !!!!! Love to all and thank you for this wonderful community! Leela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Thank you Swami for the question; I have been pondering it all day and it has illuminated room for growth for me. The truth is that I don't know enough about the numinous to answer this question. How does prayer work? What are the effects of the work that I offer Mother every day? I do not know. I do both daily with the attitude of being an offering for Divine Mother's creation of heaven on earth, and hope to be of use. With gratitude, Jennifer , " inspectionconnection108 " <inspectionconnection108 wrote: > > Namaste all: Swami has asked we post this question from him > > Which is greater, praying to God or working for God? > > Jai Ma Jai wami > > vishweshwar > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Namaste Swamiji, Thank you for asking US a question! I humbly offer the following answer: My initial reaction to this was work, but upon further thought, I began to see that they are actually two aspects of the same thing. If we practice ishwara pranidhana, and fully surrender ourselves, then isn't every word we speak a prayer to God, and isn't every action we take work for God? Prayer is defined as a `devout petition to God,' or a `fervent request.' However, it is also communion with God. In our prayers, we do not only ask God to be with us, to guide us, to help us, to bless us; we praise God, we admire, and offer our deepest love and devotion. From this perspective, if we remember to let our work be an offering to the Divine (on all levels of existence), and use it as an opportunity to commune with God, then work becomes a moving prayer. So, which is greater – praying or working? Anything we do that helps us to focus our attention on God all the time is the goal, so whichever one we are doing in that moment is the greater! love wendy , " inspectionconnection108 " <inspectionconnection108 wrote: > > Namaste all: Swami has asked we post this question from him > > Which is greater, praying to God or working for God? > > Jai Ma Jai Swami > > vishweshwar > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Namaste Vish, Thanks you for posting the question. ======== Beloved Swamiji, my humble response is that i believe them both to be important and working for God. Though prayer can contain some measure of selfishness as one seeks to requests personal fulfilment through prayer, prayer is also used to make this world a better place and in this way can be seen as working for God. We work for God through our 8 until 5 jobs providing service at many different levels. It is All God. Pranam Kaliananda , "inspectionconnection108" <inspectionconnection108 wrote:>> Namaste all: Swami has asked we post this question from him> > Which is greater, praying to God or working for God?> > Jai Ma Jai wami> > vishweshwar> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 24, 2007 Report Share Posted November 24, 2007 Namaste, Sorry to be so late with this answer but much contemplation was needed. I believe it is best to express our love to Maa by our actions (i.e. working for God). We must also pray to recieve Maa's grace so that we can perform the right actions with love and truth. Thus, with my very little knowledge I can't determine if any of the two are greater, I would say both must co-exist in equilibrium. Jaye Kali Maa. Gyandesh. inspectionconnection108 <inspectionconnection108 wrote: Namaste all: Swami has asked we post this question from himWhich is greater, praying to God or working for God?Jai Ma Jai wamivishweshwar Get easy, one-click access to your favorites. Make your homepage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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