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Prayer and its Power
H.H. ATMANANDJI MAHARAJ
Introduction
The prayer may be defined as the universally accepted mode of communication between the devotee and the Divine, practiced in all religious traditions of our planet. The four main categories of the devotees, who approach the Divine for their beatitude, have been classically and aptly described in Śrīmad Bhagavad-Gītā (VII/16) as follows:
i. The distressed (Ärta) ii. The inquisitive (Jijñaṣu) iii. The desirer (Artharthi)
iv. The enlightened (Jñāni)
Regarding its prevalence, we find it to be universal and international because no elaborate preparations, either in the form of materials or in the form of method of its implementation, is required. The almighty will always listen to me even if I were illiterate or a pauper or ugly or otherwise downtrodden. He has no distinction among. His devotees regarding race, religion, nationality or any other external criteria the only real instrument required to approach Him is Divine love, untained by selfish motive or falsehood. In its pure spiritual form, it is the pouring out of our heart before God. An important point to note here, is that all great men of the world pray God. Even those saints who have attained a very high spiritual state also pray to Him and pass decades of their lives in the eulogy of the Divine, as in the case of the great sage Maharṣi Vyasa in Hindu tradition who wrote Śrimad Bhagavata and Acārya Jinasena-I and Acarya Hemacandra who wrote Mahāpurāṇa and Vītarāga-Stava, respectively in Jaina tradition.
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