Every religion speaks of prayer. Hindus pray. Christians pray. Moslems pray. Buddhists pray. All pray. What is this prayer? How do we pray? In which language should we pray? What is a good time for prayer?
People also speak of meditation. What is meditation? How do we meditate?
What do we Pray for?
With our every activity, continuously we want to be happy. We want to be healthy. We want to live long. We want to live so long – we want to enjoy infinite life. We want knowledge. We want many things. Our desires have no end, but the goal of all our desires is to be happy and we are constantly searching for that happiness. Why?
Because I am potentially divine. I am the image of God. God is infinite. God is love and Love is God. The desire is for infinite love, infinite knowledge and infinite life because it is my nature. I want to realize that I am that infinite divinity. I am God’s child.
Where is God?
There is a story in Indian mythology. After God created the world, God wanted to have a place of rest where no one would disturb him. God asked the celestial sage Narada (an angel) for advice. Narada suggested heaven. God said, “The human beings I created are so intelligent, they will find a way to come to heaven.” Then Narada suggested the moon. “The moon is too close” God said, “They will easily come to the moon.” Narada started thinking again as to what would be a really good place. Then God announced that he would live in the heart of each and every person and that way they would never be able to find him.
Narada was surprised. If moon was close then why did God want to be in the hearts of people where he would be much closer? But there was the trick. People have forgotten God’s presence within them. They have forgotten that God is with them all the time, watching them. They are searching for him outside. Looking at a flower, they see only a flower but not God’s beauty in it. Looking at a fruit, they fail to realize it is God’s fruit.
You are never alone. One who has created you is hiding within you and looking at you. Are you looking back at him? Prayer and meditation help us to live in the presence of God. Experience the presence of God in every breath.
Establish a Personal Relationship
Prayer begins with a relationship. Establish a relationship with God. If you study the Bible you will find that Jesus was praying to God as the Father - Abbah. Jesus said, “I and my Father are one. Who has seen me has seen my Father.” Jesus called God his Father. God can be your mother. Many Hindus pray to God as mother. You can have the relationship of a friend. God can be my friend who stays with me all the time, a best friend who never expects anything from me, and is standing by always to help me. Prayer begins with a relationship. Establish your personal relationship and with this relationship you begin to pray.
The Language of Love
Once you have established a relationship you need a language to pray. How shall I pray? A child speaks the language of the mother. The child learns the language from the mother. We call it the mother tongue. In which language will I pray to God who is my mother and my father? Will I pray in English or in Sanskrit? In Aramaic or in Hebrew? In Arabic or in Pali? Prayer need not be in mere words. Prayer is not a literary work or combination of words. Prayer is the expression of love and feeling coming from the heart. Speak to God in the language of love. The words should come from the core of your heart. The words should come from your inner fulfillment. Prayer is an expression of love. Expression comes through experience. Only one who has experienced what sweetness is, can say sugar is sweet or honey is sweet. If one has not experienced what sweetness is, what can he say?
How to Pray
Ordinarily people sing and chant. It is good. God has given us a mouth to speak. Why should I not sing glorifying God my mother and father? Let the mouth sing but at the same time do not forget that you are speaking in the presence of God.
Hrushikanam hrushikesha sevanam bhakti uchyate
Prayer is to experience the love of God within and to express it through the senses. Prayer should be continuous, not a part time job. People go to church once a week on Sunday or go to the temple once a week or on special occasions. Some people have a prayer room or an altar at home and offer prayer a few times a day. Is this prayer enough? It is good but it is it enough?
Not a Part - time Job It is not enough. Then what is enough? In the Bible it is said, “Pray continuously.” Let your whole life be a prayer. Prayer is a full time job. Not full time job in the modern sense, which is forty hours a week. No. It is 168 hours a week. How can you make your life a prayer? How to do this?
Pray not with just words but through your activities. We are human beings. We do three types of work- physical, mental and spiritual. God has given us the sense organs to work with and the mind to think. The human mind is the most developed. God created Man last. If you read the Bible, you will find that God said, “Rule over the animals on earth, the birds in the air and the aquatic creatures in the water.” Man could not understand this. He misunderstood rule to mean he could kill and destroy the other species. No. God gave human beings the talent and the skill to help their own kind and also to help the animals and the other creatures to grow. Man is the only creation of God who has the capacity to look after himself and also other humans, animals and plants. To rule means to regulate and help them grow.
Let all Work be Prayer
With the help of the sense organs and the mind let all work be a prayer. How? When you get up in the morning, thank God for giving you a good night’s rest and for still being alive. When going to the toilet don’t forget God because it is He who is breathing. Looking in the mirror remember God who gave the beauty to the face. Brushing the teeth be thankful – “God you have given me all these, I am only a caretaker.” Take a shower thinking it is the body of God given to you as a temporary gift. Dress up thinking you are decorating the body of God. When looking at the food on the table, thank God for the nourishing food, giving strength to your body and mind. When Jesus prayed, “Give me my daily bread,” he meant the bread for the body, mind and soul.
When you go to work, while talking to clients, patients, students, mother or father- whomever you are speaking to, think you are speaking to the presence of God. If you can constantly be aware that God is with you and you are not alone; you will have no fear and it makes you strong.
Prayer makes a person strong. Prayer is not the begging of the beggar, prayer comes from strength and it multiplies one’s strength. Prayer makes a person powerful and nothing can shake him.
Give up Doer-ship
Do every work as worship, loving God and dedicating it to God. Such work will make one free. It will not bind. Ordinary people do work thinking “I am doing” and because of this ego and doer-ship the bondage of karma results. If I do something good, I get a good result, and if I do something bad, I will get a bad result, if I claim doer-ship. But if I do everything as worship of God, in God consciousness, negative work and negative thoughts cannot touch me. I will be like a lotus flower, which, although remaining in mud and water, will not be tainted by the mud or water. I will be smiling looking at the sun. Any work done in this spirit becomes a prayer, and a liberating work – not bondage. We must resolve that whatever situation we are in, we will not forget God’s presence. We must make our lives a continuous prayer.