Can someone else pray for me?

[Gauracandra]

This week’s Srila Siddhaswarupananda television program answers the question “Can someone else pray for me?”

 

Audience Member: Can someone else pray for me?

 

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: We have been speaking in connection to televangelists who say “Send me money and I’ll pray for you. I’ll pray for you sister.” Of course you can pray for another person. But you yourself must first develop your relationship with God. Ultimately if you are not very close to Him you must appreciate that you won’t have much influence over Him.

 

There are two methods to try to approach God: the ascending method and the descending method. By the ascending method you will never reach God. So having someone else pray for you is not wrong but it is necessary that that person have a relationship with God. If I am a very close friend of a very important person, like the President, then you can ask me to give him a message. In a similar way, if a person is a confidential loving servant of God, then according to the Vedas God is always waiting to serve His devotee. But God’s servant never asks for anything, he simply serves. In this way there is a love competition, where the devotee serves God and God serves the devotee.

 

In the lives of the saints you will find this kind of prayer. What did Jesus say when they came to arrest him? One of the servants pulled out his sword to protect Christ, and he replied “Don’t you realize that I could have a thousand angels here to protect me if I wanted?” But he didn’t ask God for that protection. And when he was on the cross others yelled at him “Where is your power now? You can’t even get off of the cross.” But he didn’t ask God to get him out of this suffering situation. How did he use his power?

 

Audience Member: He asked God to forgive them.

 

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: Yes. He prayed for others that God would forgive them. So he is praying for others. The confidential servant of God prays for others, but he doesn’t ask for anything. Its not some technique or method to increase his mailing list. Not like these televangelists “Ok, now we are going to have prayer time. I’m going to put my hands over these letters and pray. You put your hands on the television set and pray with me.”

 

The prayer of the devotee of God is continuous and spontaneous. It is his whole life. He is crying for those suffering because they are away from God. That’s what motivates him to eat, to sleep, to write. His whole life is an inner longing that the suffering of the people be alleviated.

 

A devotee of Lord Caitanya asked for all the sinful reactions of the world to come upon him. He would suffer so that others could see the Lord. Crying and crying in this way. This is someone praying for you. If somehow you can get contact with such a confidential servant of God then the Lord Himself will see you. By serving the servant of God your spiritual life becomes easy. The point is not about diplomacy but actual honesty. Sincerity is the only thing required for spiritual life.

 

When we offer our respects to the past spiritual masters we describe them as like a rain cloud that drops water everywhere without discrimination. On land, sand, in the ocean. The servant of God does not discriminate but gives his instructions to everyone. He tries to give everyone God. Water may drop on infertile ground, maybe the person won’t accept the instructions, but still he does not discriminate or hesitate to try to instruct such an individual.

 

When you try to get someone else to pray for you, you are trying to get God’s attention. My spiritual master was always pleasing to God. I am linked up to God by always trying to serve my spiritual master. Ultimately how close we get to God depends on how much we please Him. It’s not like climbing up a mountain. You may think you are 10,000 feet up the mountain, and then it will disappear and you will fall all the way down. You will never get him by the ascending method. The only way to get God is if He reveals Himself to you.

 

Your consideration should be how to please God not how to find Him. The Lord says that He always thinks of the saints just as the saints always think of Him. So yes, others can pray for you. But who is a saint? This is what we were discussing in relation to televangelists. Their whole purpose is to increase their mailing list. This is cheating. Whether is Pat Robertson or this guy or that guy. Everyone is saying they can pray for you just send them your money. But who is he? He is saying he is something special.

 

Everyone is saying they are God’s representative. And I am saying it too. Most people just send $10 to every guy on television hoping one of them is for real [laughter]. I am saying it straight. You have to find a bonafide spiritual master. You will not find people sending me their prayer requests because a bonafide teacher will not encourage others to pray for things. This is simply a cheating business.