Praying our heart out...

I got one good response for my last post on prayer. The writer specified many points on prayer. He asked me to write my views on that. Here is the post with italics showing his/her views.

I have read some more thoughts on prayer, would be great if you can elaborate on it:-

- Many a times it turns into conversations.

Conversation with God or conversation with the deeper part of your Self. Here, you only say and you only listen, but the source of these words is the intelligence vast, beyond thoughts and mind. It is the connectedness with whole.

- Many a times it happens without words.

Words are just external manifestation of your inner feelings. You need not say peace to be in peace. Same way, you need not say words while praying. We use words only to mould our prayer. When Spirit reaches high, words fade away. When there are no words in prayer, it just becomes Samadhi itself.

Praying is surrendering yourself to NOW. That can be felt actually even by being totally silent. No words, no thoughts, no emotions!! Only peace. What a prayer!

- Prayers should be honest, and hide nothing. at times our own deeper thoughts and intents which we don’t realize are there get expressed in it.

If it is not honest, it is not prayer. If you hide something, it is not prayer. As simple as that! Prayer is having conversation with your deeper part of self. Sometimes, we get what we don’t realize before. But many a times, we become prepared to acknowledge what we are able to realize long before but unable to accept it. And as I said earlier, you are ready for prayer means you are ready to accept those things. And once you accept them, it’s a miracle! They no longer trouble you the way they were. That is, you surrender yourself to NOW and stop producing negativity. Love, hope, faith and peace then follow naturally.

- Words in the prayer should be our own.

I will put it in another way. You can’t pray with anything that is not your own! Words can be same but certainly the emotion and intensity should be yours only. If you can realize that with someone’s words, no problem. But if not, then those words are of no use. Moral of the story? Do it sincerely.

- It gives a certain feeling of connectedness, of a deep peace which situations can’t explain.

Certainly. Experience it.

A story I heard on assurance that prayer gives:-

A Rajput's son got married. After the marriage they had to cross the river to get back home. On the way there was a storm. The ship started to fumble. Everyone was afraid and started to panic the bride also got frightened, but when she looked at her husband, he was calm and peaceful.

She asked him, "Why are you so calm when death is so near us?"

He pulled out his sword and put it on the bride's neck and asked her, "Are you frightened of this sword?"

She said "why should I be? It’s my soul mate’s sword"

He said "in the same way, why should I be when this storm is my soul mate’s sword. He knows what is best for me. If it is best for me to live, the body shall survive, if my progress might be better with a new one, then this will perish.

Yes, this story really points out where faith can lead us to? But of course, this faith can only be the result of countless prayers.

Thank you, Mr./Ms/Mrs anonymous for your post. I am praying for some more thoughtful inputs.

AUM…