ON PRAYER...

There is no religion which does not have Prayer. Normally, we think of prayer in terms of requests made to God, requests for favours that is. Many of the standard prayers do have built into them requests for something or the other. In fact, there are even special prayers for special requests, like recovering lost articles, for example.

For many years, I used to think that making requests is what prayers are all about. That is to say, one- we praise God, and two- we slip in our special request - success in exams, success in recruitment interview, and what have you. I remember once watching the telecast of a closely-contested cricket match between India and Pakistan, being played in Sharjah. There was a big crowd watching the match since there are a lot of expatriate Indians and Pakistanis in the Gulf. The camera showed lots of Pakistanis fervently praying to Allah, presumably for the victory of their team! I asked myself: "Does Allah have no better business than getting mixed up with a silly cricket match?"

What exactly is Prayer? How exactly ought we to pray? And why should we pray? These are things I learnt only after coming to Swami. First and foremost, Prayer is a conversation with God. It is just like talking to one's mother, for example. And just as one is used to asking mom for this and that, one also asks God without inhibition for various things.

Some object to making requests to God. Concerning this, Baba says that it is better to ask God directly, than begging humans for all kinds of favours. Indeed this is true. But then does one have to remember God only when there is a request to make? This is the question one must ask oneself. In almost all traditions, children are taught [if at all they are] prayers that involve requests of one kind or the other. But is this what we must do? Is this what prayers are all about?

Prayer ought to be an expression of Love for God, an expression of gratitude for God and above all, an expression of our willingness for God. We must remember God not when we are in distress but when we are happy. That is the first step in developing unselfish love for God. In the Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna that He has four types of devotees: Those who want wealth and prosperity, those who are in distress, those who are thirsting for God, and those who have attained Wisdom. God loves all no doubt but He has preferences too. This also has been spelt out clearly by Krishna and reiterated times without number by our Beloved Baba. I call particular attention to His Divine Discourse delivered on 24th May, 2000, during the Summer Course [see, Summer Showers in Brindavan, 2000, p. 201].

I have brought up the matter of prayer because prayer is the simplest and easiest form of meditation. People think that meditation involves the whole drill of sitting down calmly in the prescribed pose, closing the eyes, and slowly going through an entire procedure. Yes, that is FORMAL meditation. Formal meditation is very difficult, and requires not only years of patient and intense practice, but conditioning one's entire life-style to suit doing meditation. The Rishis of old did precisely this, and a famous one named Patanjali has spelt out the prescription in detail. As Swami has told students several times, meditation is not easy in this day and age. Nor is it required really, contrary to the belief of many. He asks: "What does meditation really mean? It simply means thinking about the Lord." Vivekananda put it crisply. He declared: "Meditation is the constant remembrance of the Lord."

Now let me tie up prayer and 'meditation' into a format that even a child would find easy to follow. Let us just talk to Swami, as though He is directly before us. We can certainly do this, say when we are alone, when we are travelling in a plane, and so on. This way, Swami becomes a real Friend. Time and again, Swami says, "You must regard God as your friend; this is better that being His servant." Operationally, it is my experience that it is safer to be play the role of a servant when in the direct, physical presence of Swami! But when having a heart to heart conversation along the lines indicated above, we can take the liberty of being His Friend. In fact, many great devotees have done precisely this.

Besides this we must also pray in the usual manner to Swami. Our prayer must express gratitude for the numerous things we receive, known and unknown. If we enjoy good health it is not because we are controlling our diet or jogging regularly etc. It is because of Swami's Grace. If we are successful in business, it is because of Swami's Grace; so on it goes, and we must not omit to express our gratitude for it. The list of things for which we must be grateful is endless. Besides expressing gratitude for the blessings and favours we have personally received, we can and must pray for others. Swami likes very much when we pray for OTHERS and do not ask anything for ourselves. That is selflessness, and God loves to see that quality in us.

In short, prayer can become a very pleasant experience, and one that we can eagerly look forward to. Prayer makes us think of God and this is something many office bearers in the Sai Organisation tend to slip up on, pleading work load and the like. Abstaining from prayer has no excuse; one can always find time to talk to God. More than anything else, it leads to internal cleansing. The longer we put off prayer, the more is the 'dirt' that accumulates within. In the semiconductor industry, the foundry where they make silicon chips [like the Pentium chip, for example] is kept unbelievably clean. They go to enormous effort to constantly purify the air; otherwise, the yield of good chips would go down drastically. In the same way, we too must find time to commune with Swami as frequently as possible.

If we give this a serious try, we would find life becoming very different for us. I say this on the basis of personal experience. What a sea change it brings! Let me conclude by recalling a beautiful and absolutely wonderful prayer due to St. Francis. It goes like this: