DOES PRAYER REALLY WORK?

RASHMI KRISHNAN is a retired officer of the Govt. of India, and has been known for her open and helpful attitude in the Administration, while she was serving.

She is also a poet and writer who likes to write about the joy and pain of human experience. She is a follower of Paramhansa Yogananda and Swami Kriyananda through Ananda Sangha. 

She lives in Delhi and now devotes herself to spiritual pursuits, which include study of scriptures, writing, and teaching. She believes in experimenting with spiritual principles and inspires people to do so. She generally looks after the Healing prayers group of Ananda Sangha and conducts workshops on healing, abundance, and other topics. Her blog can be visited at www.rashmisjustsharing.com

Does Prayer Really Work?

Prayer is an integral part of every religion. It is a way of connecting to the Source of all possibilities and seeking help from this Source to achieve what we need but are unable to arrange for ourselves.

When our Individual efforts seem inadequate, and we feel we are up against a wall,  blocking us from success, most of us turn to God, feeling the need to pray. Prayer is a call of the soul and  works when it is offered with sincerity, with faith, with all the energy of the heart and mind combined as an offering with the prayer.

In cases where medical science reaches the limit of known cures, doctors are increasingly turning to spiritual care and have also  experimented with the use of prayer in alleviating pain and prolonging life. The results are mixed. However, results also indicate that at times prayer can really help patients with pain management, depression, anxiety and bring them to a more cheerful and happy frame of mind, even where the final outcome of the illness does not change. Several such studies have been reported in reputed journals.

As a spiritual scientist, I believe that we should work at an idea and experiment with it before we can arrive at any conclusions about it. Let me share with you a real story of prayers that were answered.

This one is really recent, and happened while I was still working at this piece of writing.  We had an event coming up and everything was fine till about two days before the event. Then, someone parked a huge earthmover in the centre of the approach road to our venue. After waiting for one day for it to be moved, we felt the need to do something more than just waiting. We called the civic agencies, the police and the traffic authorities. However, because of the size and nature of the vehicle, no one could do anything unless the driver of the vehicle moved it himself. So began a search for the driver, who finally appeared and said the machine was not responding. Another day was over, and nothing had changed! The entrance was still obstructed. Finally, when we could do nothing else, someone suggested prayer. We did not pray for much. Only, that the vehicle could be moved away from the entrance. While praying, a picture came to my mind, that the vehicle would move a little and then the engine would die down again. Since it had gotten very late, we all slept and the next morning when I reach the venue, I found the earthmover shifted just to the side, a short distance away, sufficient to clear our entrance but stationed nearby, a reminder that God listens but also has other concerns to attend. 

We realised that our prayers had been answered, but just enough. 

The scriptures, have many chronicles of answered prayers. 

In the Bible King Solomon was praying. Appearing in a dream, God said, “Ask what I shall give thee” Solomon asked for an understanding heart.  Pleased that he had asked neither for riches nor for his enemies to be killed nor for long life for himself, God said that he would have not only understanding but also riches and honour which he had not asked for. 

Among stories of Lord Krishna is the tale of his childhood friend Sudama, who had fallen into great poverty as a householder while Srikrishna was king of Dwarka. Desperate for relief, Sudama’s  wife suggested he meet SriKrishna and ask for  help.  Sudama travelled to Dwarka somehow. However he could afford only a  gift of parched rice for Shri Krishna, except some. SriKrishna met Sudama warmly, had the  rice with great relish, fed him nicely and sent him back home on a chariot. Throughout  their meeting, Sudama could not bring himself to tell Srikrishna about his difficulties. On his journey home, he foresaw no relief from poverty, expecting his wife would probably berate him for his failure to tell SriKrishna his true condition, let alone  ask for help. When he reached home, however, he was joyfully surprised to find a modest palace standing where his hut had been, and to see his wife running out to greet him, dressed in all kinds of finery. 

So, God answers our prayers even if we don’t articulate them

 In his book, HOW YOU CAN TALK WITH GOD, Paramhansa Yogananda, a modern-day seer tells us that, talking with God is a definite fact. He narrates seeing  Saints talking with God , not just a one-sided conversation but a real talk where they would  speak to God and He would respond. 

Let me quote:

 “…… I am discussing today how we may persuade him to reply to us”.

 The average man prays to God with his mind only, not with all the fervour of his heart. Such prayers are too weak to bring any response. We should speak to the Divine Spirit with confidence and with a feeling of closeness as if speaking to your own father or mother. Our relationship with God should be one of unconditional love. More than in any other relationship we may rightfully and naturally demand a reply from Spirit in its aspect as the Divine Mother. God is constrained to answer such an appeal, for the essence of a mother is love and forgiveness of her child, no matter how great a sinner he may be.  The relationship between mother and child is the most beautiful form of human love that the Lord has given us”. 

An unshakable belief, even in the face of failure to get a response from God that He is going to talk to us regardless of how many years he has not answered. If we go on trusting him one day he will surely respond. 

KEEP CALLING HIM - Devotional Song (Yogananda)     

If we can understand that praying is talking to God, we would know that expecting a positive outcome of the conversation is  integral to praying. In everyday life also when we go to request someone for a favour or for fulfilling a need or for anything else, it is necessary to believe that such a request can be granted. Without having at least some faith in the possibility of the request being acceded to, we could not even place the request in the proper manner. We also need to believe that the person we are requesting is on our side and will listen with a sympathetic ear. 

About prayer, Swami Kriyananda, another modern spiritual guide, clarifies that praying does not mean begging for a favour. He tells us that when he prays, he shares with God his thoughts and wishes. He also asks God whether it is good to pray for the blessing he is seeking. If he receives a negative response in his heart, then he does not go ahead with the prayer.

Another thing that he likes to tell us is that he would normally avoid praying for himself but would go ahead to pray for others. The reason is that when praying, the prayer should connect with the cosmic mind and the cosmic intelligence, which will involve taking into account the needs and welfare of a larger group or community rather than one’s own little selfish needs.

One example that he shares is of an instance where he had to be delivering a talk and he was suffering severe pain from a kidney stone. No immediate medical relief was possible, and a large audience was gathered to hear him.  So Swamiji prayed to Divine Mother, “If You don’t want me to disappoint all those people, make this body well”.  Within five seconds, as though someone had waived a healing wand over his body, the pain vanished completely and was replaced by a divine joy so intense that he could hardly speak.  As he delivered the talk, Swamiji wept with joy.  

So prayers certainly are answered if the prayer is from the heart with the knowledge that God loves us and wants us to be happy. A loving prayer, made with faith is sure to draw His response. 

Sometimes a prayer is not answered, not because God is not listening but because he sees that what we are seeking is not in our best interest. We have to understand that God is beyond time and can foresee events which we cannot. So sometimes what we are seeking may be in fact not required at all. Desperation in prayer is another name for the feeling that somewhere within you, is the belief that God is unlikely to answer, hence the desperation. Just as perfect love casts out fear, trust drives away desperation. The right way to pray is, to have the faith that He is listening, and will surely answer when the time is right. If he does not give us exactly what we ask for it may be that He will give us what we actually need.

A great saint, Brother Lawrence, used to practise the presence of God in everyday life, in small matters as well as big ones. Everything he did, including his duties and his failures, he did keeping within him the thought of God. 

In his book PRACTICING HIS PRESENCE, he writes, “The simple trust we put in God honours Him much and draws down His great graces. It is impossible that God should deceive or that He should let a soul which is perfectly resigned to Him suffer long,……..I have often experienced the ready help of Divine grace upon all occasions. When I have business to do, I do not think about it beforehand. When the time comes to do it, I see in god as clearly as in a mirror all that is needed for me to do……I am more united to god in my outward employments than when I leave them for devotion and retirement. 

In another passage he says, “All things are possible to him who believes. They are less difficult to him who hopes; they are easier to him who loves; and they are easier still to him who perseveres in the practice of all three of these virtues,”. 

In a Talk given on December 27^th of December,1937, Paramhansa Yogananda exhorted the audience in these terms: Every night when you sit to Meditate, pray to God unceasingly. Tear the silence with your longing. Cry to God as you would cry to your mother or your father: ‘Where are you? You made me; you gave me intelligence to seek You. You are in the flowers in the moon and in the stars; must You remain hidden? Come to me. You must! You must!” With all the concentration of your mind, with all the love of your heart, tear at the veils of silence again and again. As constant churning brings hidden butter out of milk, churn the ether with the ladle of your devotion and it shall produce God. 

Let me conclude with a summing up : 

• Pray as to a dear friend, or as to a loving Father or Mother

• Have faith that your prayers are being heard and will be answered. If they are not immediately answered, have faith that God has your interest at heart and will take care of your needs

• Pray from your heart but also, with a large heart. Prayers that include the welfare of others are more likely to be answered.

• Remember to never  give up. 

• Pray with love

• Leave the matter in God’s hands , and accept whatever comes as prasaad  

And last of all, if we can make love the basis of our relationship with God, we are forever in His loving care. Love makes God your Friend and Protector.  

Joy to You. 

Rashmi Krishnan