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Journalism of Courage
The act of praying is perhaps the most natural act of nature. When we pray, we essentially commune with nature. We lose our ego. We go deep into ourselves and appreciate the miracle of life, of living. Each moment of life given to us is a celebration, a hope, an enjoyment, an appreciation of the miracle life is. God is nearest when we pray.
All religions have extolled the power of prayer as a soother, unifier and cleanser. It creates a powerful atmosphere charged with the dynamic of positive thinking and individual ego disappears. We become like empty vessels ready to receive, and positive thoughts flow in.
Or just sit byyourself contemplating on the miracle life is, and you will feel surcharged. You breathe and, as you inhale the air, molecule by molecule, you feel a Presence. You need not look for miracles. Your living and loving are the greatest miracle. It8217;s a silent celebration of Godhood.
The Upanishadic sage, while saying 8220;Tat Twamasi8221;, realised that in his silent prayer, in his choiceless awareness, he got the answer to the basic question of life 8220;Who are thou8221;.
Prayer is the destroyer of Ego, and Ego is our greatest enemy. Coleridge, who wrote, admittedly, by divine inspiration, put the equation of prayer and love beautifully. He said they prayeth best who loveth best all things great and small. Only through a completely egoless state can one achieve perfect love, and an egoless state can only be achieved by prayer, by meditating on silence, by meditating on the causal beginning of creation. It lifts one and pulls one up from the dark confines of one8217;s well-like existence, to share the great glory of God8217;screation 8212; the entire Universe, whose part one is.
And how do we pray? When we rotate the prayer wheel, we symbolically set in motion the wheel of Dharma, which the Sakya Muni spoke of in his Dharma Chakra Pravartan. When we ring the bell, it is to remember Him. When we silently introspect, we commune with Him.
The answer to the query 8220;how do we pray8221; is, therefore, we pray when we are earnest. It is the earnestness that matters. We have the celebrated story by Tolstoy where a priest, who hears of three hermits living in an island, meets them and is astonished that they are unaware of the 8220;correct8221; manner of saying a prayer. He 8220;teaches8221; them the correct manner. As he is returning to the mainland by boat, he sees three tall columns of light just walking over the sea towards him. He is surprised and indeed a little frightened.
When they come near him, he recognises the columns for the three men he had just met. They kneel before him and say 8220;O Man of God. We have no education, no formalinitiation. In ignorance we have forgotten the correct method of praying you taught us a while ago. Will you teach us again?8221;
The priest bows his head. He realises that there is no structure, no form or no 8220;correctness8221; about prayer. The proposition is irrelevant. It is the earnestness that matters.
We have another example where a sage tells Valmiki, then operating as a robber, to repeat the words 8220;mara, mara8221; and treat them as his prayer. As Valmiki repeated those words they, by inversion, got converted into 8220;Ram, Ram8221;. His prayer, informal, impromptu, but from the heart of a contrite individual, was accepted and we all know what a great devotee, writer and saint he blossomed into.
Living is a wonderful experience and it is enriched by the joy of Prayer.
