Jain Spirit 2003 10 No 16

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 37

The Amazing Potential of Prayer
Prayer joins us to the infinite
In fact, our level of ignorance is responsible for a situation where we are not able to differentiate between chaff and grain, knowledge and wisdom, sight and insight. Listen to the thousands-year-old wisdom of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:
"O Lord! Lead me From untruth to truth, From darkness to light, From death to immortality."
Prayer empowers us with wisdom instead of knowledge. It enriches us with compassion instead of competition. We come to a situation where the feeling and healing components of experience make us internally festive. We experience a perceptible change and acquire a wider space of tolerance and compassion. After passing through such a mental frame, we do not see reality in piecemeal but with holistic vision. This gift of holistic vision endows our angle of vision to conquer negativity within us and see only the good, humane and bright aspects of human nature. As a result, we become more and more tolerant in our approach. All individuals appear to be good and the concept of 'hate the sin and not the sinner' enters silently within us.
Prayer is the innermost expression as well as the expansion of our mental horizon to our Master. Prayer does not change God; it changes us. It changes our linear attitude for the sake of the altitude of vision. It opens our inner doors to let in God and let ourselves out; to let in love and let out hate; to let in faith and let out fear; to let in appreciation and let out criticism; to let in tolerance and let out arrogance. Wilfred A. Peterson beautifully sums up that "praying is not to get more, but to be more. Prayer brings God into our relationship with our fellow
men. Prayer is thinking and thanking."
Prayer is the simplest form of speech that infant lips can try. This is confidence of trust. It is not eloquence but is earnestness. It is not a substitute for work. It is a determination to work hard and become effective beyond the range of one's normal capacities. Real prayer is always gifted with two blessings. It either liberates us from the troubles we fear from or empowers us with strength and coping capacity to meet them when they come. Prayer should not be undervalued as a formalised routine of words. In fact, it brings about the ultimate integration and harmony of man's highest
faculties. Conditional prayer is meaningless. When we expect something from God in return for our prayer, it is bargaining. If God knows everything, what is the point of asking anything from Him? Only those lacking in faith in God would do it. Pain and pleasure, plenty and deprivation, light and darkness - all these conditions are the creations of God. Out of ignorance, we are not able to understand that the stressful or traumatic experiences we are going through may prove 'blessings in disguise'. In fact, every problem is an opportunity to grow. Problems test our patience and increase our inner strength. Prayer gives focus and direction to our karmas, thereby facilitating our way of living and thinking in close proximity to balanced and blissful thinking. Work becomes worship only when it is preceded and accompanied by prayer.
The concept of collective wisdom flows with devotional fervour in the prayer of a gathering. The positive and healing vibrations of the responding voice of group prayer permeate the bottom level of our mind and help us in internal cleansing. "Prayer is not for asking, it is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without heart. A family that prays together stays together." These are the words of Mahatma Gandhi, who believed in the magic of collective bhajan.
Dr. M.K. Pandey is a freelance journalist and broadcaster based in India.
PHOTO: ATUL K. SHAH
September - November 2003
Jain Spirit
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