WHY PRAYER?

Like food for the body prayer is for the soul! It is rather impossible for man to live without prayer! The existence of man is beset with so many difficulties and dangers and critical situations that he is constrained to look up and pray to God! Man’s wants and desires have multiplied endlessly and he is unable to quench his thirst for worldly things. Thus everyone prays to God for one reason or other. The couple pray for children, the student for good marks and a pass in the examination, the businessman for advancement and good profit, the employee for promotion! Every section of society and its members pray for something or other that they desire badly! But do we pray for others? Do we pray for peace and prosperity of the nation in which we live? Confused in the midst of our innumerable desires we forget all others! We become selfish! We are more interested in ourselves than on others and their well being! It is enough if I am safe and alright! This utter selfishness is the unique characteristic of modern prayers! There is a definite surge in people who visit the temples daily! On the other side we see many atrocities, evil deeds, murders, fraud and many illegal activities! The thief and the fraudster too visit the temple and pray for their success and prosperity! Can such request to God be called prayer? Is there anyone who prays for the sake of prayer without asking for material benefits? There are very few Individuals who do so! Those days of bhaktas and saints are over! Constant thought of God is enough to save man from all difficulties and dangers!

Prayer has now become a bargaining deal with God!! “If you give me promotion, I will perform puja and Abhishek or I will give you this and that”- that is the type of modern prayers we see these days. It is as if God is anxious to receive what you offer! He is the provider for all and has blessed us with what all we enjoy in this world! Real prayer should be sincere! You should act according to your thought. Simplicity and sincerity are the cardinal requisites for prayer!There should be harmony between your thoughts and words. Much devotion, service to many devotees and keeping their company for long shall take the person nearer to God! Constant thought on God is quite enough to see you through in many dangers and difficult situations! The best form of prayer is to not ask for worldly things! God is Omnipresent, Omnipotent and omniscient! He knows what you want and like the mother grant you what is good for you. When God is ready to grant salvation or mukti, the ultimate goal of life, why go in for silly and transitory things?

Sage Narada asked Sri Rama to grant him love, devotion and surrender unto his lotus feet!  Sri Rama asked Narada to ask for some other thing! Narada replied that he should not be attracted by His Maya which fascinates the universe! It is the cause of all delusion in the world! Again Sri Rama wanted sage Narada to ask for some other boon. But, Narada said he wanted nothing else!! The very purpose of our birth is to realize ourselves and understand that we are not the body but the chip of the indestructible Atma that manifests in all creatures. If we pray for that  realization all other things will follow! So prayer should be for nobler and spiritual attainments rather than ordinary material gains or profits! We will be wasting our precious time and energy when we ask for very small things from the Giver of the greatest gift viz emancipation! It is interesting to note how in the previous yugas, people with enviable record of tapas or penance wasted their lives by asking God for ordinary things!

In Kruta Yuga Hiranya kasipu performed tremendous tapas for years together! Lord Brahma the Creator presented himself before him and wanted to know what the asura wanted. Foolish asura wanted the boon of deathlessness! That being refused, Hiranyakasipu requested that nothing in the world, air, water, fire, animal, morning, evening, and many others should be allowed to kill him! His evil design was to conquer heaven and destroy the Devas! Brahma granted his boon! God is cleverer than man! When Hiranyakasipu's atrocities increased, Lord Vishnu took the form of man-lion-Nara mriga sareera, caught him on his lap and tore him to pieces!  Man thinks that he is cleverer than God but can never understand the scheme of God! In another incident in the Ramayana, the brother of Ravana, Kumbhakarna, performed severe penance to get more powers! But as destiny would have it, when God presented himself before him, he asked for good deep sleep! That was granted. He was not of much help to Ravana during the war!

The story of Ravana is another example of prayer and penance being wasted! He got all the boons from God; nothing in the world could kill him, Devas or animals, the elements or others! His ego was such that he treated man as worthless! He was the brother of Kubera, the God of Wealth! He was a great devotee of Lord Siva and even tried to shake Kailash, the abode of the Lord! He was also a great singer of Sama Veda! But all came to nothing due to his lust! He did not include man thinking that there would be no danger from him! Lord Vishnu incarnated as Sri Rama and finally put an end to his evil deeds by killing him! It is a lesson for all of us that we should be very cautious in asking for boons from God! Whatever we ask God will grant but nothing more! If we leave everything to Him, and surrender to His Will, He will take over all our responsibilities, burdens and provide what all we require as Krishna did for Sudama or Kuchela! Let our prayers be for spiritual elevation and upliftment, not for attaining personal worldly benefits!