Man is in essence a spark of the divine power. But he manifests himself in lower worlds. His physical body is like an animal. His mind makes him human and his spirit which is the spark of God makes him divine. The Summum Bonum of human existence is to seek the kingdom of Heaven within. Man is essentially a spiritual being, his self being an emanation from the Universal Self, God. He can sink in consciousness into the depths of his own being beyond the body, the passions the emotions, the mind, the reasons; these are all his but they are not He, who can pass beyond them all and realise himself as separate from them, the pure I. Then the recognition dawns that the universal spirit into which the self opens, transcends all the beings in which it is manifested and is alike in all.
The paths leading to this self realization are many. One of the paths is through prayer. It is of three fold forms-physical, verbal and mental. The first consists of rituals and ceremonials. In modern life due to stress of activity, lack of leisure and other inconveniences, this form of prayer has almost fallen out of use in the life of the individual. In view of this tendency of the age, great emphasis was laid on verbal and mental prayer which is meditation; and meditation is sequential thinking directed towards and inspiring interesting object - an Istha Devatha, no matter what the deity is.
In all our puranas, great emphasis is laid on verbal prayer because it is easier to practice than the other two. "This seeker after truth" says Manu, "reaches the highest goal by Japa only" And Japa, declares the Mahabharatha, is said to be the best of all spiritual practices in the modern age. The Vishnu Purana supports this view wholeheartedly when it observes, "That which one obtains through meditation in the Satya Yuga (the Golden age), through sacrifice in theTreta yuga (Silver age) and through worship in the DwaparaYuga (Bronze age) may be achieved in the Kali Yuga (Iron age) by reciting names of the Lord."
In the modern age the physical body and the mind of man are highly developed. The divinity in man is dormant. The gulf between the human mind and the divinity within him has not been spanned. The mind is estranged from the divinity latent in man. How to link the mind of man with his divinity? Prayer is the bridge that connects the human with the divine. This prayer has to be practiced daily, hourly and in fact every moment of our waking consciousness in order to strengthen it, so that the divinity in man may be awakened.
A suffering world is calling to us. Within us is the power to heal, waiting to be discovered and released through prayer. Shall we then not find time to pray and to turn inwards and seek the God within, that we may reveal Him to others and that the spiritual life may become a living reality to us and to them? The quality of love, kindness and mercy are the attributes of God. If we imbibe and manifest these qualities in our daily life we could say that we have truly, offered prayer to God. Prayer leads to the Kingdom of Heaven within us and let us begin it now.
Om Shanti! Shanti II Shanti!!!
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