There was a time when it was believed that dreamers, visionaries, preachers, pujaris, housewives all believed in prayer. Prayers, however, were not for the rational man. Today, my friends, a number of scientists are bearing testimony to the power of prayer. There is that great statistician, Bobson, who says, “The greatest undeveloped resource of the world is faith, and the greatest unused power is prayer.” There is tremendous power in prayer, but we have not used it.
The great Nobel Laureate Alexis Carrel said on one occasion, “Prayer is the most powerful force that anyone can ever generate.” Prayer is atmic energy, more powerful than atomic energy.
To be able to pray, you do need to have a living faith in prayer, otherwise, your prayers will be only mechanical. You need to have an experience, a confrontation with God. It is only then that you will realise the magic power of prayer.
We don’t pray because we don’t feel the need to pray. There was a girl who said to me, “Do you know I spend most of my time in prayer?” She is a college student. I said, “That’s wonderful. You are one of the exceptional girls who believes in prayer.” I then asked, “What is the reason for your praying so much?” She said, “I have fallen in love with a young man, and I have been praying that our respective parents permit us to marry.” Now there was a need. She had that need, and she said she went on praying, praying, praying. The real reason is that we do not feel the need for prayer. If only we felt the need, prayer would become a spontaneous thing, it would come automatically. Once your prayers are answered, you acquire a living faith in prayers.
Prayer is the swiftest and surest way to establish a link with God. It cleanses your thoughts, purifies your mind and elevates your consciousness. You can be sure that God listens carefully to every word you say! You may utter prayers from the scriptures or use your own words when you pray. The language of the heart is the best for any prayer!
Dada J P Vaswani was a humanitarian, philosopher, educator, acclaimed writer, powerful orator, messiah of ahimsa, and non-sectarian spiritual leader.
