Prayer
“Man is what he thinks, so think of the Supreme.”
(Vedanta)
“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites who like to pray so everyone can see them. But when you pray, go to your room and close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen, and your Father who sees what you do in private, will reward you.”
“When you pray, do not use meaningless words like the pagans, for your Father already knows what you need.” (Matthew, 6:5-8)
“But the hour shall come and it is here already, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. God is Spirit and Truth and those who worship Him should worship in spirit and in truth. “ (John, 4: 3-24)
We have all got a more or less false idea about how we should pray and about the role of prayer in our lives. Church authorities have implemented the idea that in order to pray we have to adopt a certain attitude and use special words. However Jesus has clearly said how we should pray, according to the Gospels above.
Leo Tolstoy has a beautiful story: “Three old monks lived on an island. They were so simple that their only prayer was: “We are three, you are three, have mercy on us!” this naïve prayer produced numerous miracles. The bishop of the region, hearing about the three monks and their inadmissible prayer decided to go and teach them the canonical prayers. Getting there, the bishop tried to make them understand that their prayer addressed to Heaven was lacking dignity, and taught the prayers that were usually said in church. Then he left the island, getting back on board the ship. A little while after he left, the bishop noticed a shining light on the wake of water behind the ship. When this light came closer, he was surprised to see the three monks actually running on water to catch up with the ship: “We forgot the beautiful prayers you taught us” – they said when they got closer – “that’s why we hurried to catch you so that you could teach us once again.” With respect and fear, the bishop answered: “My brothers, you may continue to pray as you did in the past.”
Apparently, the story is based upon fact, as documents state that the bishop met the three old monks on his journey from Arhangelsk to the monastery Solovetk, at the mouth of the Dvina River .
Considering God as a force exterior to him, man uses prayer as a means to get in contact with God.
Prayer is faith in action. It is the most powerful form of thinking. As with every energy, it can be dangerous, because if the formation and process are not carefully supervised, disastrous effects can result.
Regarding the question whether through prayer and sacrifice special favours can be obtained from God, the answer is yes and no.
Mankind has evolved from being a child and can therefore support the objective examination of this issue. Everything is important in the Universe; the appearance and the disappearance of a flower or of the tiniest insect produces infinite vibrations. “No bird falls without the Father’s knowledge” says the Gospel. The person who, for instance, asks for his or her beloved’s healing ignores the consequences of his wish: in fact the person never knows what he asks.
If the healing he asks for is written in the divine manuscript, it will be obtained, not because he has asked for it, but because it is necessary for life. However, if death is pre-ordained, then death will come. Does it mean therefore that prayer is done in vain, that it is useless? Not at all: nothing is in vain or useless. Prayer though has another purpose than what we think, and this regards our future evolution. As a wise man said, it is not the destination or the achieving of a goal that is important, but the walking along the path that leads to it.
No matter how trivial or interesting the prayer might be, it puts the creature closer to his Creator and from this short contact the person becomes kinder and more purified.
Communication between the Creator and the creation, which is man, is not an illusion: it was established at our first breath and has never stopped since. At a certain moment it produced prayer.
In general, people do not practice authentic prayer. Their prayer is a way of begging for help in order to satisfy the ephemeral. When praying, people establish the connection with the gods they created and not with God, the Great Force.
The level the prayer can go up to depends on the vibration that causes it: the more impersonal this is, the higher it can go; and the level it reaches determines where the answer will come from.
True prayer is not begging, but love, trust, and devotion; it is the connection between Father and Son, it is the consciousness of total communion. Therefore, prayer means inner peace, silence, trust and the calm waiting for the answer. God speaks to us through revelations and through all His creatures. However for prayer to be effective, it is necessary to open up the heart. We can get in contact with God every time we are in front of His creatures: flowers, trees, animals and people.
Prayers can be divided into 3 special categories:
- In the first category are prayers whose object are earthly goods: the obtaining of physical advantages like clothes, money, success in business, healing, etc.
- The second category comprises of prayers for spiritual evolution, power, understanding, intellectual and moral help, and for inner light.
- In the third category are prayers that do not ask anything; rather they consist of the meditation upon divine perfection, in worship of the Divinity; in ardent aspiration for communion with God.
yogaesoteric
december 2009
