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Prayer and its Power
19.
Forms of Prayers
The three main ways to approach the Divine are physical, vocal and mental prayers.
1. Physical Prayer
This is in the form of adoration, bowing before the image and performing the ritual called pūjāwith various materials like water, flowers, sandalwood, incense burning, waving of lights before the deity and so on. Other non-speech forms of prayers include dance, food-offering, etc.
II. Vocal Prayer
This is the main form of prayer which concerns us here. It may be in the form of prose or poetry; very short in the aphoristic form of Mantra, medium in the form of Stotra (psalm or hymn) or quite elaborate as in various forms of pūjā. In all these forms, the devotee invokes purer thoughts in his mind through the medium of sound, which have a close cause and effect relationship with some of the most sublime emotional feelings which can ever be produced in the human mind. There are other forms also which we will discuss later.
III. Mental Prayer
This is the highest form of prayer from the spiritual point of view; and is usually carried out silently along with various froms of meditations and contemplations. The practice of this form is possible for an advanced aspirant who is well versed in right scriptural tenets and has good control over his mind and senses. Normally, when the prayer starts, it is vocal in nature and later on, when the mind of the aspirant becomes more steady, the vocal prayer ends and the silent prayer takes over.
Types and Contents of Prayer
There are many types of prayers with variegated contents. The four main types are praise dominated, dedicating, confession, and community prayers. I. Praise dominated Prayers
Here, the purpose is to glorify God's superhuman virtues and belittle oneself. This practice helps in eliminating one's ego, the main barrier to
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