Pray to shed tears.

If you want to shed your miseries, learn ti sit silently and pray solemnly. Prayer is a proven method to attain peace and wish-fulfilment. It is being used as a meditative tool the world over, for many thousand years, in nearly every religious tradition. “What things so ever ye desire, when you pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them”, says the Holy Bible (Mark 11:24)

Prayer is a stimulant to creative ideas that help in finding solutions to our problems.  Insight, direction and illumination are divinely given to people who habitually resort to prayer. They feel better, do better, Prayer helps in harmonious functioning of their body and soul.

Chanting of mantras, hymns, ritualistic veneration in temples, mosques, churches and synagogues or repeating the name of God or Goddess reverentially through the beads of a rosary are all forms of prayer.

Through the premise, reasons, language, formulae and contents of prayers differ widely from religion to religion yet the aim in all of them is the same to entreat God to redress the devotee’s grievances or seek forgiveness for sins already committed.

A prayer may be in prose or in verse, a silent mental request or a group entreat

Do not assume , even for a minute that only stereotyped Sanskrit, Latin or Arabic phrases are fit for prayers to be responded by the Almighty. You may select to pray in your own language, God ofcourse understands all the languages.

Pray with convictions and devotion. Make your prayer straight, short and direct prayers are more effective and rewarding. But while praying, do thank god first for the countless blessings bestowed on you.

This will put you in a positive frame of reference. Then ask him the desire-fulfillment. People generally pray to get wealth or worldly possession, freedom from disease or success in their endeavours

Instead of asking him to rig the race or to beat someone or to make you number one, ask to give you the strength to face adversity and the courage to get through the struggle

Pray with a positive bent of mind for yourself as well as for others whom you do not like or who have mistreated you in the past.

The more you pray for others, the more positive results of your endeavours will accrue to make your life problem-free and peaceful.

Your prayer maybe one of the many forms, a short shloka, a big stothra or any sort of worshipping ritual, but the inner core is always the same .i.e., seeking divine favour or wish fulfilment.

Vedic scriptures have a large number of prayers.

A few of them, given below, are regarded as very effective in terms if getting favourable response.

“Pashyema Sharada Shatham

Jeevema Sharada Shatham

Bhudhyema Sharada Shatham

Rohema Sharada Shatham

Pooshema Sharada Shatham

Bhayema Sharada Shatham

Bhuuyema Sharada Shatham

Bhuuyaasi Sharada Shatham”- Atharva Veda 19:67:1-8

O Lord!May we See, Live, Progress, Remain Pious, Prudent, Strong and Powerful a hundred years

“Ohm Bhadram Karnepi Shrunuyaama Devaah:

Bhadram Pashyemaakshabhiryajatraah

Sthirairangaistushtuvaam Sastanoobhih:

Vyashema Devahitham Yadaayuh:

Swati Na Indro Vridhashravaah:

Swasthi Nah Poosha Vishwaveedaaah

Swasthi nastaarkshyo Arishtanemih

Swasthi no Bruhaspathir Dadhaathu

Om Shanthi Shanthi Shanthi:” RigVeda 1:89,8

Ohm, O God ! Let us hear promising things through our ears

O respectful God! Let us see propitious things through our eyes

Let our organs and body be stable, healthy and strong

Let us do what is pleasing to God in the life span allotted to us

May Indra described in the scriptures do well to us

May Purushan who posses the entire knowledge of the world, do good to us and May Trakshya who devastates enemies do good to us

May Brihaspathi do good to us

Ohm Peace Peace Peace

Millions of Hindu’s from all castes have been praying to visible sun by chanting the Gayathri Mantra from time immemorial, both at dawn and dusk. It is held as a supreme prayer to invoke the divine

Attempts to please God of wealth, Kubera are suggested to be made through the following prayer in 

Yajurveda

“Rajadhirajaya Prashyasahino

Namo Vayam Vaisravanaaya Kuurmahaey

Sa May Kaamaaan

Kaama kaamaaya Mahyam”

We offer salutations to vaishravana that is Kuvera who is the king of all kings and the conqueror of others by his might.

Many troubled souls have experienced miracles in their lives after reciting (108 times daily) the following incantation from Durga Saptashati to get rid of sufferings from poverty, childlessness, enemies and accidents.

People are prone to commit sins at some stage of life and repent later. Prayers for atonement (and seeking mercy of God) are also found in various scriptures.

The devotees of shakthi have been using the following one developed by Adi Sankaracharya:

“I know neither Mantra nor Yantra

I Know not songs of praise.

I do not know how to invoke you or meditate

I do not know how the stories about you

I do not know the mudras

I do not cry out in anguish

I know only this, that taking refuge in you alone will destroy my sorrows

You have many sons, among them I am the most insignificant

O mother it doesn’t become thee to give me up

For there may be a bad son, but never a bad mother.

There is none to beat me in sin, None to surpass you in forgiveness

Knowing this , O mother do what is proper.”

The following Jewish prayer may have a powerful appeal any person sincerely seeking atonement for his past sins:

“We have abused and betrayed.

We are cruel

We have destroyed and embittered other people’s lives. We are false to ourselves.

We have gossiped about others and hated them.

We have insultedand jeered.

We have lied.

We have misled others and neglected them.

We are obstinate.

We have robbed and stolen.

We have transgressed through unkindness.

We have been violent and weak.

We have practised extortion

We yielded to strong desires and our zeal was misplaced.

Yet you know everything hidden and unrevealed.

You know mysteries of universe and intimate secrets of everyone alive.

You probe our body state.

You see into the heart and mind.

Nothing escapes you nothing is hidden from your gaze.

Our God and God of our fathers have mercy on us and pardon all our sins. Grant atonement for all our inequities, forgiveness for all our transgressions.”

The high moral principle of confessing and repenting for sins is clearly perceptible in the Jewish prayer.

Our subconscious mind is most relaxed during the devotional prayers and sends guiding signals to the conscious mind to shed misery. A prayer has to be made with total faith, in a  meditative way, without any doubt about its efficacy. Fix up a certain time for offering the prayer. In case it is not possible due to occupational responsibilities one may pray anytime, at any quiet place. A famous doctor of AIIMS New Delhi prays every morning while exercising on his treadmill, as he is hardly free for the whole day.

Praying regularly with faith and conviction over a long period of time transforms a person. As every action is said to produce an equal and opposite reaction, prayer too being an action addressed to God is bound to give the appropriate result. God does answer every single prayer in his own time and, sometimes, when a prayer goes unanswered, that is the answer.

Thank God for unanswered prayers. You need to grow stronger; and when you continue to grow like this, great things are sure to happen and when they do, you may need extra-strength to bear them. Unflinching faith will make you stronger.

  

Lord Krishna Exhorts-

“Sarva dharmaan Parithyajya

Mamekam Saranam Vraja:

Aham thwam sarva Paapebhyo

Mokshayishyaami Maa Srujah:”

(Abandon all dharma’s extrovert tendencies of body, mind and intellect and take refuge in me alone; I will liberate thee from all sins, grieve not. Gita 18:66)

According to Sri Ramanuja, this is the Charam-Sloka, the topmost message from the Lord in Bhagavad Gita.

Compiled

BVB, Jan 2013