RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL PRACTICES

What is the Place of Prayer?

Since the ancient Vedas, Hindu teachings contain various prayers, praises and propitiations to the Supreme Reality in its different aspects. Prayers may be given on different levels. The lower level consists of praying to the Divine for ordinary goals of life like health, wealth, and family happiness. This lower level of prayer is essential for the right functioning of society. The higher level is to pray to God for spiritual knowledge and Divine love.

This is necessary to bring us into the spiritual life. There is also a third form of prayer wherein we pray to the Divine for the benefit of others. The highest form of this is to pray to the Divine for the benefit of all creatures, with prayers for universal peace and understanding.

There is a science of prayer whereby we connect with the Divine energies in the universe to bring about the fulfillment of the desires of the soul. For this the use of the appropriate mantras and rituals becomes helpful.

Prayer can also be misapplied or part of a system of black magic. If our prayer is motivated by the wish to control or hurt others it is impure. Prayer to convert others to a belief, for example, is a lower form of prayer that is tinged with egoism and violence.

Yet all forms of prayer have their limitations. Praying to God for some personal reward is tainted with egoism. It is not wrong but it does not reflect a mature soul. Praying to the Divine for universal well-being, however useful, is also no substitute for meditation. Praying to the Divine to know him is also limited by the concept of duality, that God is apart from ourselves.

Prayer is preliminary to meditation through which alone is there can be direct knowledge of the Divine. Real communion with the Divine comes through the silent mind, the mind that is not seeking anything for itself but is open to the bliss of Pure Existence. The receptive mind is the highest state of prayer, in which no thought occurs.

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