People often ask, “Why should I pray? I believe in leading a moral life and doing good deeds. Is that not enough?” However, to be consistently virtuous, one requires tremendous strength, determination and a noble ideal, otherwise it is easily given up and we lament, “Why should I go on doing good and suffer when others are not doing so and, yet, enjoying life?” In order to avoid being discouraged from living a righteous life, we must understand the secret of prayer.
For a fan to move, it must be connected to electricity; the fan’s connection can be seen as its prayer to the source of energy. God is the ultimate source of all goodness and provides the requisite spiritual strength to lead a good and moral life. One may wish to do good but the mind is such that it gets distracted. Prayer gives strength.
Prayer is not begging or presenting a list of demands. Perform all your duties in life remembering God. Your mind gets tuned to Him and all His qualities and power will come to you. When people serve society for the sake of power or fame, they stop the moment they are not recognised for their efforts. When we work for the Lord, we will not be upset even if people criticise or even crucify us.
Remembering that all beauty, strength, talent and other, are blessings of the Lord, we will not be proud and arrogant. Ravana suffered greatly, but could not surrender because of his ego. When we pray, we derive spiritual strength, we dedicate our work to God, and thus remove our ego. God is that consciousness which makes the inert living. Pray to God and receive His blessings and the strength to live a life of dharma.
Swami Tejomayananda, head of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide, is an orator, poet, singer, composer and storyteller. To find out more about Chinmaya Mission and Swamiji, visit www.chinmayamission.com.
© Central Chinmaya Mission Trust.
