Reasons for prayer

Prayer, for what?

"Should my prayer be for the judicious reward of my sincere endeavour?" asks Dadi Janki

Since time immemorial, man has been paying his respects and obeisance and homage to the Almighty, though his reverence of the Supreme has often been out of fear of the unseen and unexpected. No doubt in this vast and huge universe, very little is under man’s control and the complex and complicated structure of this creation–called our world–is beyond his comprehension. Yet, he tries to see an order in the otherwise seeming disorder.

Sometimes, it seems natural that man should pray to the Almighty. After all, He has created us all and looks to all our needs and is said to be standing with us and by us in times of our needs. It is really good if we try to express our gratitude to Him for all His bounty and blessings, for all the gifts of health and comforts of social living. But if I look within, I find that I remember Him rarely to thank for His blessings and gifts as it is for not providing me with the deserved or undeserved, proper or improper demands of my social, professional, family and economic living.

I and people like me are found in every temple, mosque, church, gurudwara etc and are perhaps the most humble at that time. Our eyes may be holding back the tears, while the lips flutter in their mixed effort of saying and holding back certain words. Anyone can understand our state of mind. We consider ourselves perhaps the most deserving of God’s bounties and perhaps the most-ignored, if not aggrieved, of human souls. We seem to be making one more attempt at convincing the presiding deity that our needs and demands, our wishes and desires, our requirements and expectations are the most genuine and He must grant us all that without any further delay. Of course, everyone has his/her right and style of putting their case before the Almighty.

Is there any doubt in my mind that God may be unjust and may not bestow on me what He should? Does He also behave like any present day opportunist politician or a selfish and corrupt bureaucrat?

But what often troubles my sense of logic and offends my comprehension may not be liked or even understood by many. Should my prayer be for the judicious reward of my sincere endeavour? Is there any doubt in my mind that God may be unjust and may not bestow on me what He should? Does He also behave like any present day opportunist politician or a selfish and corrupt bureaucrat? Why should I pray and request for what is rightfully mine? On the other hand am I asking Him something that I know I don’t deserve or for which I have not paid the due price in efforts? In this case also, do I mean to say that He gives undue and undeserved favour to people of His own choice? I am dumb-founded in all such cases. So what is the prayer for?

Moreover, we all treat God as our Father. But do we pray before our father or beg for what we deserve to get as his children? I am really shocked that a child should beg, with folded hands, before his/her father and should even make certain offerings if the father fulfilled or promised to fulfill that wish or demand.

Call me an atheist, if you like, but my prayer to God may be for the peace and happiness of the whole human race. But I cannot beg for something that I deserve to have as His child and my Father should not give me which I don’t deserve. I don’t want Him to be called unjust or biased only because of my wishes and desires. I often like one of the Brahma Kumaris hymns/bhajan:

Sab kuchh to mil gaya hai, tujhe chahne ke baad,
Ab kya kisi se maangun, tujhe pane ke baad.

(Once being in love with You I have found everything and
don’t feel like asking for anything once I have found You.)

Dadi Janki

The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University (BKWSU) is an international non-governmental organisation, which intends to help individuals re-discover and strengthen their inherent worth by encouraging and facilitating a process of spiritual awakening.

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