A
prayer is a serious act of requesting
for something one does not have from someone who is believed to have in plenty
and is not absolutely averse to giving it away to the one who requests for it.
We human beings, generally, believe that the God has an inexhaustible stock of
everything one can think of, and, He is benevolent enough to part with to
satisfy the need of the one who prays for the thing the one needs.
The
one who prays for something, more or less, relies on the simplicity, ability
and benevolence of the one to whom the prayer is directed to. However, perhaps,
it never occurs to the one who prays that the probable giver may find it
necessary to assess the genuineness one’s need and the righteousness of the
request.
Some
of us over simplify the act of praying. They compare it with the cry of an
infant who is hungry. They argue, even a mother is likely to omit feeding her
baby if the baby fails to attract her attention by not crying loudly. But, what
happens when the baby begins to send false signals even when it is not hungry?
Obviously, in that case, the mother tries to find out what exactly is wrong
with the baby. Without entering into fruitless arguments about the existence of
the God, we can say that if there is baby in genuine need of a feed, there is a
mother who can feed and there is an instinctive cry of the baby to seek her
attention. And, this arrangement is in place since time immemorial; without us,
the human beings, having to make any contribution to make it work.
Are
we as casual about our prayers as we are about our lives? Do we take our
prayers as one of the many convenient options, we are accustomed to? If not,
then, while making a prayer to the God, we have to summon a witness, a Sakshi,
our inner self, to convince us, and the God, that what we need is genuine. And,
if we are not able to do so, or remain indecisive, leaving everything about our
prayer at the discretion of the God, Who, undoubtedly, is more intelligent and
considerate than us.
We
must not take our prayers casually.
PROMOD KUMAR SHARMA
[The writer of this blog is also the author of “Mahatma A
Scientist of the Intuitively Obvious” and “In Search of Our Wonderful Words”.]
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