Chapter 11
What constitutes an Ideal Prayer?
“For most persons, the outer ceremonies and rituals
prevalent in the diverse religions are the established approach
to God and Divinity. They are regarded as indispensable. However,
they are neither essential nor necessary, though at times,
they have been allowed or given by Masters by way of inevitable
accommodation to human weakness. They may also be
practised with benefit when they are thus allowed or given by
a Master, but only during the period for which they have been
prescribed, and in the context in which they are intended to be
given effect. They have no lasting value nor can they be made
eternally binding. They were never essential or indispensable;
they are never essential or indispensable; and they will never
be essential or indispensable.”
“Let us take for example the stern discipline and fasts
associated with Ramadhan. No doubt they serve some spiritual
purpose. But one way of looking upon it is to regard them as a
sort of compulsory rationing of food and water in those areas
where they were rare, and where such control was necessary
in the interest of society.”
“It is not necessary to convert the instructions of the
Prophet into inflexible and eternal rules of discipline. In the
context in which they were given, they served both material
and spiritual purpose. They cannot be regarded as inescapable
or necessary in all times and climes. The same thing applies to
other disciplines given by other seers or Masters.”
“The Masters have sometimes followed external disciplines
including prayers and have set an example of humility
and readiness to learn from others. Thus, Mohammed played
the role of being taught by Gabriel. He thereby achieved two
things: Firstly, He gave to the world an example of readiness to
learn from others; and secondly, He awakened the teacher in
Gabriel. No teacher has been content with merely external disciplines.
Through their teachings as well as examples, they have
often set forth prayers as the inner approach to God and Divinity.”
“What constitutes the essence of prayer? Many prayers
to God are current among the lovers of God, arising as they do
from diverse cultural contexts. Some of the prayers invariably
contain an element of asking something from God— either material
or spiritual. In fact, God is so merciful and bountiful that
even without their asking He always gives much more than
His lovers can receive. He knows their real needs more deeply
than they do. Therefore, the element of asking something from
God is superfluous. It often mars the inner love and worship
which a prayer tries to express.”
“The ideal prayer to the Lord is nothing more than spontaneous
praise of His being. You praise Him, not in the spirit of
bargain but in the spirit of self-forgetful appreciation of what
He really is. You praise Him because He is praiseworthy. Your
praise is a spontaneous appreciative response to His true Being—
as infinite Light, infinite Power and infinite Bliss.”
“It is futile to attempt a standard prayer and hold it up
as an ideal for all people of all times. The glory of the Almighty
transcends all human understanding and defies all verbal descriptions.
Eternally fresh and self-renewing in its unlimited amplitude, it never fades. Nor is it ever confined within the
limits of the best of hymns.”
“All hymns and prayers reach out towards the eternal
Truth of Godhood only to merge those who utter them in silent
and unending adoration. If by ideal prayer to the Lord is meant
a set formula, any search for it is a wild goose chase. All prayers
ultimately initiate the soul into an ever deepening silence of
sweet adoration, and all formulae are dissolved and assimilated
into the integral and direct appreciative perception of
divine Truth. That, which seeks to reach towards the immeasurable,
itself becomes incapable of being measured by any set
standards.”
“The ritualistic and repetitive expressions of prayer do
not and cannot do justice to the innermost essence of prayer,
which is adoring love for the eternal Beloved. To attempt to
standardise prayer is to mar its intrinsic beauty.”
“If you pray with a motive to do good to someone, your
prayer may actually bring about good, both to him and to yourself.
Some people pray for the spiritual benefit of those who
have done them some wrong. There also, they are helping others
spiritually.”
“But all prayers with a motive fall short of the ideal
prayer which is without motive. In the entire spiritual panorama
of the universe nothing is more sublime than a spontaneous
prayer. It gushes out of the human heart, filled with
appreciative joy. It is self-expression of the freed spirit without
any actuation of a motive. In its highest form, prayer leaves no
room for the illusory diarchy of the lover and the Beloved. It is
a return to one's own Being.”
