Making prayer work for you

Let me tell you a small story that will help you realise the secret of prayer. 

More than a thousand years ago there lived a family; a young man and his parents. They believed that God was invisible, all powerful and God was with them all the time. So firm was their belief and acceptance of God that they neither encouraged idol worship nor superstitious religious practices. 

However, the mother was sceptical about not being religious and following religious customs. The young man’s father however only prayed in terms of the end-result he wanted. His prayer was that he wanted his son to be happy, well-established and successful. 

One day the young man fell into a well and was badly injured. He had broken several bones. His mother, overcome with love and concern seeing her son’s condition, blamed her husband for not praying to God. “This is our son’s condition because of our negligence in worshipping God”, she said. 

But the father was sure of what he was doing. “I am praying to the real God,” he said. “My prayer is that our son should be happy and successful. There is a reason for everything. For my prayer to be realized, God knows what to do and when.” The mother was not convinced.

A few days later the kingdom was invaded by a powerful king. All the eligible male citizens were expected to join the battle to fight off the enemy. Since he was already injured, the young man was the only male member left behind in the village. 

After a long and hard battle of 11 years the father and other men of the village returned to find a well-maintained, well-organized, happy and prosperous town in place of their village. 

“Our village has been invaded by some king,” they thought. The women told them the village wasn’t invaded but they did have a new king who had taken care of them. “But we don’t call him king, instead we call him our protector,” they said. “Because he didn’t rule us, he protected us.” This great individual was none other than the young man who couldn’t fight because of his injuries. 

His father now turned to the mother and said, “This is what I had prayed for and God has given me more than what I wanted.”

“To get more than what you pray for, the only thing required is to pray consistently without doubting your prayer and without doubting God,” this is the greatest secret of prayer. When you doubt your prayer, you doubt God himself. 

No amount of prayers will help in any way when there is a doubt in your mind. A prayer is to reconfirm to yourself that what you want is going to happen in the way you want. It will happen for sure, because this is the way the creator has designed the relation between you and the universe.

Wishing you a life of Peace, Success and Happiness.  

Aham Brahmasmi!! 

—  Atmayogi Shri Aasaanji is a non-religious, contemporary Spiritual Master and the founder of the Atmayoga Foundation (Institute for Inner-Science and Self-Transformation) www.atmayoga.in