Philosophy of prayer

[Guest guest]

To begin with we must understand as to why do we pray? There are basically 12 reasons for prayer:

1 We pray to depend on God for help in distress. 2 We pray for asking God for

enlightenment. 3 We pray for communion with God through single-minded devotion.

4 We pray for asking for peace from God when the mind is restless. 5 We pray for

surrendering ourselves to God completely. 6 We pray to God for giving us the

ability to comfort others. 7 We pray for expecting God to decide what is best

for us when we are in a dilemma. 8 We pray for making friendship with God. 9 We

pray for melting the mind and ego in silence in God. 10 We pray for requesting

God to give strength, peace and pure intellect e.g. Gayatri Prayer. 11 We pray

for asking God to purify the heart and make us abide in Him forever. 12 We pray

for thanking God for his blessings.

In essence, what the above 12 reasons convey to us is that a prayer has two

parts: one is soliciting a favour from the Almighty and the other is

surrendering ourselves to His will. While the first part is practiced by most

of us on a daily basis, the second part is the real and ultimate goal because

it implies dedication.

Dedication means feeling the light of God within your heart. If your heart is

devoid of divine light, you will not be happy, cheerful and successful in your

lives. Remember, your success depends on the inward state of your mind. Your

mind will create hindrance in your work if it is not in communion with God

because He alone is the permanent abode of peace. Yes, I agree that most of us

want to have riches, healthy lives, nice children and prosperous future. But if

we always approached God with a begging attitude then we are treating Him as our

bearer to supply the things required by us at once. This is no devotion to God

but devotion to our own selfish desires.

My extensive research of the scriptures indicates that there are seven (7)

techniques of successful prayer: 1 When you pray just talk to God as a little

boy would to a father or mother whom he loves and with whom he feels in

harmony. Tell Him everything that is on your mind and in your heart. 2 Talk to

God in simple everyday speech. He understands every language. It is not

necessary to use an exaggerated formal speech. You would not talk to your

father or mother that way, would you? God is your heavenly father (or mother).

Why should you be formal to Him or Her? This will make your relationship with

Him more natural. 3 Tell God what you want. You might as well be factual. You

want something. Tell Him about it. Tell Him you would like to have it if He

thinks it is good for you. But also say and mean it that you will leave it to

Him to decide and you will accept His decision as best for you. If you do this

regularly it will bring to you what you ought to have, and thus

fulfill your own destiny. It will be possible for God to give you things that

you should have-wonderful things. It is really unfortunate, the marvelous

things we miss, things God wants to give us and cannot because we insist upon

something else, something only a fraction as fine as He wants to give us. 4

Practice praying as many times during the day as possible. For example, when

you are driving your car, instead of the aimless thoughts that go through your

mind, talk to God as you drive. If you have a companion in the front seat, you

would talk to him or her. Would you not? Then, imagine the Lord is there and in

fact He is, so just talk to Him about everything. If you are waiting for the

subway train or bus, have a little chat with Him. Most importantly say little

prayer before you go to bed. If it is not possible, get into bed, relax and

then pray. God will lull you to a wonderful carefree sleep. 5 It is not always

necessary to say words when you pray. Spend a few moments

just thinking about Him. Think how good He is, how kind He is and that He is

right by your side guiding and watching over you 6 Don’t always pray for

yourself. Try helping others by your prayers. Pray for those who are in trouble

or are ill. Whether they are your loved ones or your friends or neighbours, your

prayer will profoundly affect them. 7 Last but not the least whatever you do, do

not make all prayers into the form of begging God for something. The prayer for

thanksgiving is much more powerful. Make your prayer consisting of a listing of

all the fine things you possess, or all the wonderful things that have happened

to you. Name them over, thank God for them and make that your whole prayer. You

will find that these prayers of thanksgiving grow. In the final analysis,

please do not pray to God to run after you to satisfy your selfish desires. You

are supposed to do your work as efficiently and skillfully as possible. With

faith in God and using the above

techniques of prayer you will have success in every walk of life.

By Gyan RajhansMay the Merciful Sri Sai Baba always shower His grace on us and

our families and remove our problems and anxieties by giving us all - strength

, goodluck, success and happiness with peace of mind.Sai bhakt,Deepa

Hdebu7366