The topic has been worded thus only to attract your attention. In real life I actually believe in praying .. just that my perception of praying and prayers is different from what many believe.
Conclusions first – if you don’t want read it all.
You have read and followed volumes on power of prayers and how prayers can reverse things. I challenge this with all my might. And here is my case.
- Remember, through prayers, you only change things within you, inside you and what you think and perceive and act up.
You can never change things outside of you; what has to happen will happen and if anyone is telling you it can change is fooling himself or you or both - Be determined to do your best and at the same time prepare yourself to face what you can not change.
- In day to day life – praying in a closed room is a sure method of staying in dark for ever.
The only form of praying that can put you in touch with God is to come out and do good to others.
Now, if I could have your 5 minutes
People tell me you are talking non sense, prayers can, and do, change things. My answer is simple – if you are hoping that Prayers can reverse any situation outside you, you are essentially challenging God. In which case, God bless you.
Do you need a real world proof of what I am saying? Here is my very simple litmus test.
Take a small tiny healthy seed and sow it in ground, watering it as prescribed and leave it there.
Now go to your most pious place and initiate a prayer as strong as you can, put the whole world to pray along with you. Put all the monks, all the temples, gurus, ashrams, all religions, all faiths, all saints, all the god men to support your prayers. Put all the political pressure you can support your prayers. Send thousands of dollars to charities and temples for special poojas, perform all the Havans and Yajnas that you could conceive of, have as many special services as you can arrange. Chant all the Mantras, Hymns, Bajans, in Sanskrit, In Arabic, in Urdu, Hindi, Spanish, Latin … dance in joy, meditate for as long as you wish, offer not just 5 but 500 Namaz per day, do all that you can and have been taught!
The prayer should be that the seed should remain as it is and not grow into a sapling..
Whenever you think your prayer time is over, go check the seed.
If it has remained only a seed, never ever pay attention to what I say hereafter and I rest my case right here.
But, if it has grown into a nice smiling sapling, wake up and Trust that you can never change anything outside you by praying. But you can only change your own response to what you can not change. So don’t fool a patient by diverting him from medical care to power of prayers. You will be guilty of his/her murder.
Give me a break, man! If you could not prevent a tiny small harmless seed from growing into a plant – you are only fooling yourself that you can achieve world peace by prayers.
Am I Being Negative?
Some people told me the above example is negative because it’s wrong to pray for some good thing not to happen and therefore I am just being a fanatic atheist. I can only sympathise and smile at such a weak argument.
Here is my second test.
Now take the same seed and put it in a bottle with no water inside and close the lid tight and leave the bottle in a dark corner of your garage. Now put the same army of prayers around the world including yourself – to pray that seed should grow into a sapling. After ten days or whenever your prayers are done, go check the bottle. Don’t blame me if you look like a fool in your own eyes.
Am I being rude and arrogant here?
Perhaps I am but am I the point here?
No I am not.
The point is this :
In any situation, easy or difficult – be determined to do your best, the very best as prescribed by a science that is neutral and proven beyond doubt and acceptable by all. Have faith in God and His laws which you can not change and prepare yourself for accepting those.
But, Mr. Bhan .. praying is not only for granting wishes in distress???
Quite right, it is not.
That brings me to prayers which we perform not for any specific wish but for the so called purification of mind and soul.
These are more acceptable to me, but quite sadly these are not performable in a closed room with you and yourself as the only subject and the only object.
That, in my humble opinion, is not only a mere waste of time but also a greater insult to God.
God has created so many situations for you to pray.
Go out every day when it’s your prayer time and look for a man in distress and help him. There are a million people that need the attention you are capable of giving. God gave you the ability to help and you are wasting it away by sitting in front of a lifeless image or bending in various directions and selfishly asking for your own peace and purity. As if God was some sort of a monarch granting wishes based on the intensity of how you pleaded your case. Funny in deed.
And thats why I say, by not giving attention to those that are less previlged than you – you are making a fool of God by telling him that I am more important than the opportunity you gave me to serve you.
In the words of Swami Vivekannada “The more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified, and God will be in them.” If your prayers are not focused only towards doing good to someone that’s in difficulty, and by a method that’s visible to him and to the world to follow, you are being either ignorant or selfish in your prayers.
I am Done … and here is the conclusion
- In any distress situation – pray only to hope you can get more ideas on how to address the distress and not hope for the God’s will to reverse. You will not know what Gods will is – so focus on what you do know and explore ALL known possible ways of addressing the distress.
- Be determined to do everything you can and at the same time – prepare yourself to deal with what you may not be able to change.
- In daily life, the only form prayer that has some value, is the one that can add a smile on the face of a human being who is less privileged than you are. There is no timing for such prayers and you can be performing these 24X7. Any prayers held in a closed room for your own material or spiritual good are only a manifestation of your laziness and running away from the real prayers needed of you by God. You will be alone for ever in that closed room!
With that I am pleased to handover the mic to you – my beloved readers…. As usual please delight me with your comments below. Please feel free to write what you wish and feel … This blogpost is not moderated or controlled. And if you choose to read and not comment – I will understand.
