Prayer Discourse

Prayers may be grouped into two main divisions: secular and spiritual. Secular prayers are for the fulfillment of worldly desires and needs. Life is full of uncertainties, and in the life of every person come times when one finds himself in the grip of forces which are beyond his control. When confronted with fear and despair, sorrows and difficulties, millions of people turn to God in prayer.

Does intercessory prayer work?

There is no need to go deep into the question whether intercessory prayers are answered. We only need to look at our own experience for an answer. However, there are studies available on the subject. How accurate they are is another question.

For our purpose this paper leads us to focus on the second type of prayer, the spiritual prayer, practiced as a spiritual discipline.

The primary purpose of spiritual prayer is to seek divine assistance in attaining moral purity and spiritual progress. A true devotee of God prays not for material things, which are after all transitory, but for spiritual enlightenment. Prayer represents the first stage in one’s quest for higher consciousness.

Even those who do not believe in a personal God or in the effectiveness of prayer should pray for others in order to free themselves from thoughts of dislike, jealousy, and selfishness which are harmful to us. Prayer in this sense is only a way of purifying oneself by sending good thoughts to others rather than focusing on one self.

Since all individual minds are parts of a cosmic mind, this leads us to realize, that we are all linked,.This kind of prayerful thinking will benefit others. One may in this way render service to others in silence, which is a form of mental karma yoga.

It is important for us to understand that the act of praying involves concentration. Our concentration may not be as intense as in contemplation or meditation, but it is nevertheless a great help in keeping our mind focused on our prayer.

We should pray not only for the fulfillment of our inner needs, but also because the very act of praying will take us closer to God.

As we advance on the path of surrendered prayer, the aspect of concentration becomes more important than fulfillment of needs.

All the great religions of the world teach prayer. Christianity gives the greatest importance to it. Christ himself prayed long hours and taught his followers to watch and pray. His apostle St. Paul’s exhortation to pray without ceasing is well known.

                                                      1Thess 5:17

Origen, a great third-century Christian theologian of Alexandria, says that to pray for earthly things is disobedience to God.

St. Augustine points out that the purpose of prayer is not to instruct God, but to elevate man, to bring man round to what he ought to desire, the desire for God.

Prayer for St. Thomas Aquinas is concerned only with man’s faith and contemplation of God’s love.

To St. Teresa of Avila prayer is the only door to those mystical graces that the Lord bestows upon the soul.

 

In Hinduism, prayer once dominated the life of the people particularly during the Vedic period. But later on worship, meditation, and self-inquiry almost completely replaced it. Though the common people still prayed, prayer as a spiritual discipline was seldom stressed by the great teachers.

In modern times Sri Ramakrishna (guru of Swami Vivekananda) has revived it. In the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna one finds the Master recommending prayer on several occasions. Once a devotee asked him, “Then what is the way, sir?” Sri Ramakrishna answered, “Prayer and the company of holy men.” After explaining the benefits of holy company, the Master continued, “There is another way: earnestly praying to God. God is our very own. We should say to Him: ‘O God, what is Thy nature? Reveal Thyself to me. Thou must reveal Thyself to me; for why else hast Thou created me?’ One should pray to God with a longing heart.

A unique feature of Hinduism is that it offers to humanity two great highways, to liberation: the path of knowledge, jnana yoga, and the path of devotion, bhakti yoga.

These two highways represent two fundamentally different orientations of the human soul to be united with the ultimate Reality.

In jnana yoga the ultimate Reality is regarded as impersonal and without attributes, whereas in the path of bhakti, it is regarded as personal with or without a human form.

Secondly, jnana yoga emphasizes self-effort while bhakti yoga, like Christianity is the path of divine grace.

Thirdly, the path of jnana is subject oriented; it is an inquiry into the true nature of Reality as the subject. The path of bhakti is object-oriented; it is an attempt to realize the true nature of God as the highest object and establish a true relationship with him.

The path of bhakti involves what Martin Buber calls an “I and Thou” relationship between the soul and God. (Martin Buber was an Austrian-born Israeli Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I–Thou relationship).

The path of jnana involves an “I-That” relationship, as the Advaitic interpretation of tat tvam asi (that thou art) clearly shows; but even this relationship is illusory, and what jnana yoga establishes is not a relationship, but the real nature of the transcendent Self.

 

The “I-Thou” relationship can be expressed in three ways: prayer, worship, and meditation. These are the three most important disciplines of the path of bhakti and represent three successive stages.

 

The Sanskrit word for prayer is prathana and means a prayer of request. It means asking God for help to free oneself from the stronghold of the senses and turn away from the darkness of ignorance to the light of truth.

This represents the first stage in the quest for higher consciousness in which one, realizes his limitations and opens his heart to divine power and light. It is in effect a movement from God to the soul.

Worship

Worship is offering something to God. It may be one’s body (karma yoga), mind, and soul in surrendered service. Worship shifts the focus of one’s activities from the ego to the divine and detaches the soul from external objects. It is primarily a movement from the soul to God.

 

As a result of these two movements, the soul draws closer to God. This act of approaching God is what dhyana or meditation means. The Vedantic term for meditation is upasana which literally means, sitting near, sitting near God.

 

We can say that prayer, worship, and meditation represent three degrees of the development of intimacy between the soul and God. One begins spiritual life by asking God for favors, then starts offering service to Him, and finally succeeds in being near Him.

These three steps as outlined above represent three stages in the progressive transformation of one’s consciousness.

When Christ in the Sermon on the Mount speaks about asking, seeking, and knocking at the door, he is referring to these three stages, prayer, worship, and meditation.

Christianity raised prayer above all other disciplines. During the middle Ages, Christian spirituality recognized three disciplines: meditation, prayer, and contemplation.

Christian meditation corresponds, not to what is called dhyana in Yoga (which is nowadays translated as meditation, but to manana or reflection which follows reading.

Prayer during the early centuries did not have any definite method, and each individual was free to pray in his own way. Later on it became to be called affective prayer or contemplation or prayer of the heart a practice of uniting oneself with the inner Life in prayer, word and breath.

Contemplation was regarded more as an experience resulting from meditation and prayer than as a discipline. It meant an intimate knowledge of God, which was God’s free and loving gift to the soul. In this sense it corresponds to samadhi in yoga.

What should be emphasized is a prayerful attitude, an attitude of submission to God throughout one’s spiritual life.

In Christian spirituality there are two definitions of prayer which have come down from ancient times.

One is: “Prayer is a conversation with God.”

The other is: “Prayer is the raising of the soul to God.” This definition is more general and can be applied to all the different forms of Christian prayer, but applies specifically to Christian mysticism.

What is prayer?

Prayer is “speaking to God.” It represents the first attempt of the ordinary human soul to approach God. Just as our meeting with our fellow human beings takes the form of a dialogue, so also the first meeting of the soul with God takes the form of an inner dialogue. It is the first effort of the soul to express its spiritual aspiration, for that is the only way the infant soul can orientate itself to the supreme Reality.

 

Just as a child speaks about its needs to its parents or a student seeks guidance from a teacher, so does the soul speak openly to God about its difficulties, needs, and wishes. It is by expressing its needs that the child goes closer to its parents and understands its relationship to them. In the same way, prayer takes the soul closer to God and reveals its relationship with him. It is this speaking to God and dependence on His grace that distinguish prayer from other disciplines.

 

Though God is unseen, prayer is not a monologue. It is a mystic interior exchange with the unseen divine Partner going on through the medium of faith. A true devotee does not feel that God is unknown or does not respond. His burning faith makes God a living presence. It is this continual exercise of faith that makes prayer a spiritual discipline.

 

How to pray?

Talks with those whom we love are always personal and informal. The interior conversation with God, or prayer, too must be intensely personal, natural, and spontaneous. We need to feel free to pray in our own way. Prayer itself will guide us how to proceed further.

 

Nevertheless, not all people have an equal capacity to pray, and may not be clear about what to pray for. Even those who habitually pray may not always be in a mood to pray. To help such people, formal prayers have been composed such as; lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, and from death to immortality. But true prayer is something welling up from the depths of one’s heart according to the soul’s needs.

 

Prayer can be done in two ways: externally and internally. In external prayer one stands or sits before an image or of the Lord and gazing at the image with heartfelt love.

In internal prayer one sits with closed eyes, visualizes the Lord’s image in the heart, and appeals to him mentally.

 

We learn that over time to cultivate an increasing capacity of love as abide, in the interior communion of our heart and find refuge in God, whether in our silent prayer practice, or in the ceaseless prayer of daily life.  We come to know that our true home is God, the Kingdom of God within us.

 

Some people seem to think that prayer would reduce them to the position of a beggar, which is beneath their dignity. Ignorance and egoism lie at the root of such thinking.

In begging there is no relationship between the beggar and the begged. But spiritual prayer is addressed not to a total stranger, but to a Being who is the Soul of one’s soul, the Ruler of the universe, one’s eternal and inseparable Beloved.

When a child expresses his needs, his parents do not think it to be begging; they only give him what really belongs to him. Similarly, prayer is only a way of preparing ourselves to receive what is really ours by divine right. Prayer is only seeking guidance from the eternal guru, the teacher of all teachers.

Another wrong notion about prayer is that it is only a form of aspiration. But, as St. Teresa has pointed out, “It is one thing to desire the grace of devotion, and quite another thing to ask God for it.”

Aspiration becomes effective only when converted into a spiritual discipline

Still another notion, though not wrong, is that prayer is only a lower form of spiritual practice meant for beginners. This is indeed true, for prayer may be regarded as the kindergarten of spiritual life. But when it comes to spiritual life, most people are mere babies and need a kindergarten.

Paramahansa Yogananda Prayers

“When you pray to God, do it from the bottom of your soul. Tell what you truly feel and not what you think He would like you to feel. Be completely sincere towards Him, because there is no way you can hide your inner feelings from Him. An intense prayer gives you a very strong mental force. Your thoughts will then be focused and centered upon Him. Without honesty, this won’t happen. If you don’t feel any state of devotion, pray to Him like this: “God, help me love You”.

O Spirit, make my soul Thy temple, but make my heart Thy beloved home where Thou wouldst dwell with me in ease and everlasting understanding.

Divine Mother, with the language of my soul I demand realization of Thy presence. Thou art the essence of everything. Make me see Thee in every fiber of my being, in every wisp of thought. Awaken my heart!

O Bestower of unceasing bliss! I will seek to make others truly happy, in gratitude for the divine joy Thou hast given me. Through my spiritual happiness I will serve all.

Heavenly Father, teach me to remember Thee in poverty or prosperity, in sickness or health, in ignorance or wisdom. Teach me to open my closed eyes of unbelief and behold Thine instantaneously healing light.

O blazing Light! Awaken my heart, awaken my soul, ignite my darkness, tear the veil of silence, and fill my temple with Thy glory.

Heavenly Father, charge my body with Thy vitality, charge my mind with Thy spiritual power, charge my soul with Thy joy, Thine immortality.

O Father, Thine unlimited and all-healing power is in me. Manifest Thy light through the darkness of my ignorance.

Heavenly Spirit, bless me that I may easily find happiness instead of becoming worried at every test and difficulty.

Teach me to feel that Thou art the power behind all wealth, and the value within all things. Finding Thee first, I will find everything else in Thee.

Invincible Lord, teach me to use my will unceasingly in the performance of good actions, until the little light of my will burns as the cosmic blaze of Thine all-powerful will.

Yoga and Meditation

In these days yoga and meditation are becoming very popular, and millions of people in the East and the West are practicing them. But not many people seem to understand that dhyana or true meditation is a fairly advanced stage of concentration. A large number of people seem to spend their whole life trying to meditate.

 

Attempting higher degrees of concentration without fulfilling the primary conditions is one of the main causes for failure in spiritual life. Unreal things cannot change one’s life. It is always good to remember that a simple prayer which one can do can transform his life far more than a higher spiritual technique which is beyond one’s capacity.

 

“This divine maya of Mine is difficult to overcome; those who take refuge in Me alone cross over this illusion,” says Krishna. Spiritual power is necessary in order to overcome the obstacles and gain spiritual experience. Just as physical strength comes from the food provided by the physical universe, and knowledge comes from ideas originating in the mental universe, so also spiritual power comes from God. At the unseen touch of the golden rays of God’s grace the heart bursts into bloom.

 

The main purpose of prayer is to seek divine power says Ramakrishna. “Through prayer all individual souls can be united with to the Supreme Soul”. There is an inner resistance in all of us to the free flow of divine power. This resistance comes from the ego. Prayer reduces the inner resistance and opens the heart to grace.