Power Of Prayer Swami Ramdas Power Of Prayer

Power Of Prayer - Swami Ramdas

Power Of Prayer Dear Friends, Today’s subject on which he is asked to speak is 'Power of Prayer'. Prayer presupposes a belief in the existence of God. Otherwise we have nobody to pray to. So, we take it for granted, even before we have seen God, before we have found our union with Him, that He does exist. This faith in His existence comes to us from the messages which we have received from saints and sages and other spiritual masters who have infused this faith into us by their teachings. Now, taking for granted that God exists, we have to next know where He is. There also the saints have taught us that God is dwelling within us. Heart is the seat in which God is residing. And now, it is found out that God is, and He is dwelling within us, we have to realise Him, find Him and live in the light of His grace, light of His guidance. This is possible only by contacting God within us. That contact is possible only through prayer.

Power Of Prayer v v v v Prayer presupposes the existence of God Faith in His existence comes from the teachings and messages of saints, sages and spiritual masters Next we have to know where He is. God is dwelling within our hearts. We have to realise Him and live in the light of His grace and guidance. This is possible only by contacting God within us. Contact is possible only through prayer.

A Means to Communion Prayer is a means by which we communicate with Him and open up a relationship with Him. We look upon Him as father, mother, friend, master or Lord. Any aspect we look upon Him, and then, we consider ourselves to be His children, servants or sons. This relationship brings us nearer to each other, and our prayer then becomes very, very real to us. When we look upon Him as master and ourselves as servants, we pray to Him to give us the right guidance so that we can always walk on the path of righteousness and not go astray. God, who is dwelling within, listens to our prayer, responds to it and grants us the necessary strength to walk always on the path of Truth. This power we derive by prayer. Prayer should be only done with the sole object of getting the knowledge of our union with Him.

A Means to Communion v v v Prayer is a means to communicate with Him and open up a personal relationship (father, mother, friend, Master etc. ) with Him. God, who is dwelling within, listens to our prayer and grants us the necessary strength to walk always on the path of Truth. Prayer should be only done with the sole object of getting the knowledge of our union with Him.

A Means to Communion ‘Knowledge' is the word rightly used here, because we are ever one with Him, but we do not know it. As we do not know it, we are like children missing the mother. Although the mother is in our presence, we may, by shutting the eyes, not feel her presence or see her. The moment we open our eyes we see the mother before us. Not that she came newly to us, but she was there even before, but we had closed our eyes. So it is that we have closed our eyes to the existence of God within us. When we open our eyes, we know God is within us. He has not to come from outside and take His seat within us. He is already there, but we are unconscious of Him, not aware of Him, we have forgotten Him, and therefore we feel we are separate from Him. This sense of separation makes us miserable and unhappy, bound and in every way subjects us to fears, cares, worries and anxieties.

A Means to Communion v v v We are ever one with Him, but we are unaware of it. This sense of separation that makes us miserable and unhappy, bound and in every way subjects us to fears, cares, worries and anxieties. We have to become aware of His presence within.

A Means to Communion The moment we know that God is within us, and we are always basking in the sunshine of His grace, then we feel happy, just like a child which was missing the mother, has found the mother. So prayer enables us to contact God and also to feel His presence within us. Because, as we go on remembering Him through prayer, our intensity to have Him increases, and we feel His nearness and our mind becomes purer and purer day by day, by means of the prayer and by means of continuous remembrance of Him.

A Means to Communion v v The moment we know that God is within us, and we are always basking in the sunshine of His grace Prayer enables us to contact God and also to feel His presence within us.

A Means to Communion For Ramdas, during the time when he was struggling to know God, to realise God and feel His presence, there was one mainstay, that was God’s holy and all-powerful name. Whenever he kept the Name on his tongue, he felt he was very near God, because the Name made him remember God continuously, and the remembrance developed into a consciousness in which he felt not only the nearness of God, but also oneness with Him. So, the Name leads us to Him without any doubt. Prayer and chanting of His name are the two things needed to find Him within ourselves and realise our unity with Him.

A Means to Communion v v v Beloved Papa’s one mainstay during his itinerant life was God’s holy and all-powerful name. The Name leads us to Him without any doubt. Prayer and chanting of His name are the two things needed to find Him within ourselves and realise our unity with Him.

A Means to Communion Ramdas had not done anything else but these two things – prayer and repetition of God's name. Whatever else he did in the way of discipline, such as fasts, solitude, society of saints, regulation of diet, all this came with the sole object of keeping up a continuous remembrance of God in his mind. All these disciplines are not done for their own sake, but with the sole object of constantly tuning the mind with God. Whenever God-remembrance left him, he used to feel utterly miserable. When the remembrance was there, he was perfectly happy.

A Means to Communion v v Papa resorted to two things – prayer and repetition of God's name. Everything else he did was to keep up continuous remembrance of God in his mind.

The Agony of Separation It is then, when the mind does not remember Him, that you feel restless and unhappy. This separation is unbearable when you have once found him, once you have contacted Him and derived peace by that contact, the separation thereafter becomes unbearable. This experience of all devotees of God, who are trying to remember Him and feel His presence always with them, in the early days of the struggle to approach Him, there is what they call 'touch and go', a tug of war as it were is going on within us. We find Him for a time and then we miss Him, and when we miss Him we are in a state of perfect agony. This agony of separation makes us intensely long for Him, pine for Him, and that pining and longing again brings us in contact with Him. It is said that the feeling of the devotee who missed Him is like the feeling of a fish that has been taken out of water. How the fish thirsts for the water, so the devotee thirsts for God when he misses Him. When this state of things is with us, it is easy for us to have continuous remembrance of Him even in separation. That intense remembrance will make us conscious of His presence within us and we will have again reunion. This is in Sanskrit called 'Viraha'. Viraha means agony of separation.

The Agony of Separation v v In the early days of the struggle to approach Him, there will be a 'touch and go', a tug of war within us. This agony of separation makes us intensely long for Him, and that pining and longing again brings us in contact with Him. The feeling of the devotee who experiences Viraha is like the feeling of a fish that has been taken out of water. When this state of things makes it easy to have continuous remembrance. Through the intense remembrance we will have again reunion.

A Means to Communion We are living in the world and we are wishing that we should have God. But our desire to have God is so lukewarm that we do not feel the separation from Him. We are so much used to forgetfullness of Him that we do not consider that this is a kind of disease in us. This is a kind of life which is not the real life that we have to live. But, when we pine for Him and when we pray to Him day and night to send His grace so that we can keep our mind ever in union with Him, in communion with Him, in constant remembrance of Him, then it is that we get what we want from prayer.

A Means to Communion v v v Our desire to have God is so lukewarm that we do not feel the separation from Him. We are so used to forgetfullness that we do not consider this is a kind of disease in us. This is not the real life. When we pray to Him day and night to send His grace so that we can keep our mind ever in union with Him, then it is that we get what we want from prayer.

A Means to Communion Prayer should be done not with a view to get from God any material things. Ramdas remembers in this connection the famous teaching of Jesus Christ, ‘Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and everything else will be added unto you’. We are more concerned about the material things when we are praying to God than about the real thing – the union with Him and the realisation of everlasting life. This is not that we want, we want so many things that God gives us which are after all perishable baubles, which do not remain with us for all times, which we have to ultimately leave behind when we close this earthly career. So, what we want is His grace, so that we can realise our oneness with Him, realise His presence with us and our union with Him. This should be the sole purpose of our prayer to Him.

A Means to Communion v v Prayer should not be done with a view to get material things from God. Sole purpose of our prayer to Him should be to realise our oneness with Him and not for perishable baubles.

God's Assurance In the Bhagavad Gita, you will find also an assurance given by God. Ramdas can repeat this Shloka in Sanskrit to you and explain its meaning in English: ���������� ����������� Ananyas Cintayanto Mam Ye Janah Paryupasate Tesam Nityabhiyuktanam Yoga-ksemam Vahamy Aham ‘I bring full security and peace to that devotee of Mine who keeps his mind ever in remembrance of Me and keeps his soul in union with Me through continuous remembrance’. That means, he who has made God the goal of life and strives to attain Him, and therefore

God's Assurance Ramdas' first year's life, as chronicled in ‘In Quest of God’, was lived by wandering from place to place all over India in a state of complete surrender to God. He had no thought of the body; he had no thought of food; he did not know where to rest. His one thought only was God. His tongue was continuously chanting God's name, his mind was in a state of absorption in the Divine. He was not feeling that he was separate from the Divine. The world, for the time being disappeared from his mind. In this state he wandered all over India and God in a mysterious way looked after him.

God's Assurance v God in a mysterious way looked after Beloved Papa during his itinerant life.

God's Assurance Therefore this very Shloka, the meaning of which Ramdas had given you now, was printed on the first page of his book ‘In Quest Of God’ as its motto. This assurance of God has been fully testified and fully proved to be true in that one year's life which was only the start. Now, of course, it is evident that at every second of his life God is looking after him most tenderly. He has come here all the way, may be about 12, 000 miles from India. All through the journey, he was looked after by Him most tenderly. When he started from there, many people had misgivings that he would have to go through many difficulties and discomforts and so many troubles on the way, but nothing of that kind. God carried out everything so beautifully that he had not to suffer in anyway due to this long travel.

God's Assurance v v This is the motto of his book ‘In Quest Of God’. This assurance of God was fully testified and fully proved to be true.

The Right Prayer So, it is not proper for us to ask God for any material things. Only for things of the highest value, viz. the realisation of Him. To see, to feel, have His contact and companionship always. That can be possible only when we find Him within ourselves as the all-pervading Universal Truth. When you tune yourself with Him, become one with Him as the Universal Truth, then you will never miss Him. You will have His presence always with you. At every point there is contact with Him. Wherever you see, it is He; whatever your feel, it is Him that you feel; in all manner of ways you will have contact with Him. And this comes through the realisation of God within us as the immortal, changeless, all-pervading Truth. And this is done through prayer, done with no selfish motive in it, not with a desire to get anything from Him except that everlasting state in which we feel our oneness with Him. Health, wealth and so many things of the world, come and go. Even this body is not permanent. So to pray for anything perishable is not the correct way. When God can grant us immortality, why should we ask Him for things that are mortal, which are changing, which are impermanent?

The Right Prayer v v v It is not proper for us to ask God for any material things, only for realisation of Him. When we tune yourself with Him, we will have His presence always with us. This is accomplished through prayer done with no selfish motive in it.

The Right Prayer God says, ‘Whatever I give you for your prayer is not permanent. If you ask Me that I should be yours, I can become yours. I alone am immortal. So if you want me, I can become yours, but, you do not want me, you want things from Me and these things are perishable; and those things cannot give you real peace, because they are changing and are perishable. Changing and perishable things cannot give you real and permanent happiness, permanent peace, permanent joy’. So ask Him to be yours or make you His. It comes to the same thing, that means you ask for immortality. In immortality there is real joy and peace. There is a prayer among the Hindus, ‘Lead me, O God! from the unreal to the Real; lead me from darkness to Light; lead me from death to Immortality. ’ This should be our prayer to him and nothing more and nothing less than this. Then we shall come by the highest beatitude in which we will enjoy supreme bliss and peace here and hereafter.

The Right Prayer v v Ask God to be outs or make us His. The prayer: ‘Lead me, O God! from the unreal to the Real; lead me from darkness to Light; lead me from death to Immortality’ should be our prayer to him.