Several questions arise in the whirlpool of my mind. Is it necessary to pray? What do we pray for? Is there a definite way that we must follow for the prayer to be effective? Is our general behavior a form of prayer?
I seek answers in the Bhagavad Gita. When Arjuna is distressed and morally confused on the battlefield, Krishna comes to his rescue and provides him with answers. He tells him to fulfill his duties as a warrior, differentiate between right and wrong, and realize the temporal nature of our physical self. Krishna also explains vedantic and yogic philosophies.
How does that relate to my initial questions related to prayer? It does, in a very subtle way. It is my understanding that prayer should be offered sans any materialistic demands. A prayer should help a person enlighten his/her immortal self (soul), strengthen his/her conscience. Why? Because conscience governs our ability to determine between right and wrong. It helps us to make the right choices. Duty, to me, is a form of prayer as well. Each of us has a duty to perform, duty as a son, a brother, a wife, a husband, a mother, a father, a ruler, and so on. How many of us do it successfully?
Today, we have a lot of people with decayed conscience. Thats because our prayers have become superficial. And as a result, we have grown outwardly. Instead of getting closer to our inner self, we have grown away from it. The more obsessed we have become with the materialistic pursuits, our general behavior has spiraled for worse. Ironically, human beings were never so far from humanity in the history of time.
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