Daily Readings from the Works of Swami Venkatesananda


Insights & Inspirations (Venkatesa Daily Readings Vol 2) — Source of Prayer

June 24, 2021

Source of Prayer


Priya      From where does prayer spring? I am praying – to whom? To God. What is God? "I think that God is…" Etc. The rest of the sentence is unimportant. "I think God is… ". So I am praying to a concept or an imaginary being that I myself will put together from descriptions I myself have gathered over the years! I'm not saying that therefore prayer is useless. Prayer is a vital part of religious exercise. So, without entering into speculation concerning who that God is, can we look into this religious exercise which we call prayer?

      One consideration may also help in getting rid of idle speculation and that is this: if I am praying to God and if God is omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, as I have been taught, then immediately I realize that prayer is a silly waste of time! God who is omnipresent knows it already; God who is omnipotent is capable of dealing with all the problems without my having to intercede. So all that is irrelevant.

      I pray. Who do I pray to? I recite the following prayer: "Om sarvesam svasti bhavatu, sarvesam shantir bhavatu saves purnam bhavatu, sarvesam mangalam bhavatu …. " An interesting feature in this prayer is that it does not specifically declare an entity to whom this prayer is addressed. "May all be happy, may no one suffer, may no one be unhappy, may all enjoy health." That is a wish. I am expressing the wish. Who am I talking to? If I do not want to enter into any speculation whatsoever, the one person who immediately hears this prayer is myself. Perhaps if we realize the beauty in that, the prayer becomes living. I am not suggesting that I am praying to God, “Oh God, make everybody happy — so that I dutifully create more and more unhappy people for You to do Your job"! It is God's job to promote everybody's happiness and peace, and in order to make His omnipotence worthwhile, I go on creating trouble in society. That's not the spirit all!

      When these words are uttered the first person who hears the prayer is myself. I am suggesting to myself, I'm praying to myself, "May all be happy," — which means I should not make anyone unhappy, and, if possible, I should work for the happiness, peace, health and prosperity of everyone I come into contact with. That seems to be the very essence of prayer.

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