In Sanskrit, the word ‘Prarthana’ means prayer or seeking. In Hinduism, the word has a deep religious connotation, which means “to request, or ask or seek something politely with a feeling of reverence or submissiveness”. In the Vedic parlance, prayer was more or less same with mantra, a religious chant or incantation, used to communicate with Gods and seek some kind of wealth, health or favour from Gods.
When an individual prays to the Lord, he devotes all his attention to the Almighty. The form in which the Lord is worshipped could be either saakaar, meaning a human like form, or it could be nirakaar or formless. In bhakti, the individual loses his own ego in worshipping that form and almost attains a merger with it. Prayers are thus considered an essential part of bhakti (devotion).
Prayer is the way of communication with God. In the path of bhakti in Hinduism, prayer is one of the essential and natural acts. God is omnipresent and omnipotent; He is the creator, the protector and the destroyer. Hindus believe that the very sustenance of the human beings on the earth simply depends on the will of God and ‘nothing ever moves without His moving’.
People are bound to the world and its innumerable attractions; everyone’s life runs on wants, needs, ambitions and greed. Atheists depend on their ego and their perceived self-righteousness in chasing, acquiring and enjoying their needs and wants. On the other hand, theists, with the strong belief that it is God who is the sole provider, pray to God to grant their needs and wants and at times extend their prayers to satiate their greed and unjustified ambitions too.
In Hinduism, prayer takes on many forms like mantras, japas and bhajans. Mantras are incantations or chants, which are believed to the endowed with magical powers and powerful vibrations capable of manifesting reality or desired results through the intervention of Gods. Japa is a continuous repetition of one or more names of God or some phrase from the scripture or given by a Guru to calm the senses and control the mind or purify it. Bhajans are devotional songs, usually sung in groups to the accompaniment of music in front of the image of a deity or Guru.
Prayers help people in three important ways. First of all, regular prayers are reminders to self that there is a Lord of the Universe who is always there, aware of everything and capable of taking care of us. Since the Lord is benevolent and fair, and rewards everyone as per their deeds or karma. It is a belief that provides hope to the people that good will prevails over evil. This is one of the most important factors for people having faith in our values.
Second, by being able to express their faith, people are able to relate to the God whom they cannot otherwise experience or observe, and this simple activity reinforces their faith in an omnipotent power of universe and helps them sustain their belief. Third, prayers are said or sung together in temples or in homes. This common activity performed while thinking about the Lord helps people to develop a common bond of faith that extends to each other and thereby fostering a society based on trust and dependability. For ordinary people, it is also the most common means to reinforce their faith and develop a social understanding of abiding by the rules of fairness and truthfulness. The individual has no personal needs and preferences; he accepts the fact that it is not he knows what is wrong for him, but it’s God who knows best. Whatever God wills is absolutely the right thing and he will accept everything as God’s holy prasada (sacred food). Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa reiterates that the only thing one ought to pray to God is pure devotion at the lotus feet of God and nothing else.
Let us end this with a few typical prayers uttered by Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa: “O mother! I am just a machine, you are the operator. I am the house, you are the dweller. I am the chariot, you are the charioteer. I do as you make me do, I talk as you make me talk, I am not. It’s you, It’s you”.
“O mother! Here is your virtue, here is your vice. Take both and grant me pure love for you. Here is knowledge, here is your ignorance. Take both and give me pure love for you. Here is your purity, here is your impurity. Take both and give me pure love for you. Here is your dharma and here is your adharma. Take both and give me pure love for you”.
“O mother! I don’t want name and fame; I don’t want the eight occult powers; I don’t want a hundred occult powers. O mother, I have no desire for creature comforts. Please mother, grant me the pure devotion that I may have pure love for thy lotus feet”
This article is an 'Ashirvachana' given by His Holiness Late Sri Balagangadaranatha Mahaswamji, 71st POntiff of Sri Adichunchanagiri Mahasamstana Math