Das Gebet: Sein Wesen und seine Methode

Book "Prayer" written by Sant Kirpal Singh, Chapter 2

Prayer is instinctive with man and no one can do without prayer at one stage or another, whatever form it may take. The faithful and the faithless, a Momin and a Kafir, a man of God and a man who has no belief in God, all pray, each one of course in his own particular way. The need for prayer generally arises when one finds himself in distress, in calamity, or in the grip of some devastating disease, or when he desires satisfaction of some unusual physical and spiritual need which he cannot otherwise fulfil, or when he wants to combat forces of adversity or darkness. In such circumstances, he feels that by his own unaided efforts he cannot secure satisfaction of his wants, and in utter helplessness he seeks strength in prayer. In everyday life we see a student seeking the aid of a teacher in the solution of some difficult problems, a patient in illness that of a physician, an employee that of his employer and so on. All these are prayers in varying degrees and forms. Again, for the satisfaction of his daily needs, a child looks up to his parents, a wife to her husband, etc.

In all trying circumstances, prayer is the last weapon in our armoury. Where all human efforts fail, prayer succeeds.

…More things are wrought by prayer than this world
dreams of…
… For what are men better than sheep or goat,
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If knowing God, they lift not their hands in prayer,
Both for themselves and those they call friends.
Tennyson

When prayer is the salt of life, we cannot do without it. But whom do we pray to? The answer naturally is, "To the One Supreme God or the Godman in whom His power resides and through whom it works in the world." All religions are in agreement on the point that prayer at the seat of the soul draws out all the latent powers of Godhood within and one can achieve spiritual beatitude through it. It is a connecting link between the Creator and His creation, between God and man. It is a supporting staff in the hands of a spiritual aspirant and a pilgrim soul cannot do without it, right from the beginning to the end of the journey, for it saves one from many a pitfall on the way and transforms the mind through and through until it shines forth and begins to reflect the light of the soul.

Through His Grace the osprey turns into a royal swan,
O Nanak! He may make a cygnet of a crow.
Guru Nanak

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Matthew 4:4

Prayer is the salt of life and we cannot do without it. It is ingrained in the nature of Man to pray for the fulfilment of his wishes whatever they be. But more often than not we do not know what we may really pray for, how to pray, and what we may do to make our prayer a great dynamic force as may stir up Heaven’s mercy.

The secret of a successful prayer lies not so much in the words we use, nor in the time we devote to it, nor in the effort that we put into it, as it lies in the concentrated attention that we may give it at the seat of the soul so as to make it soulful. The most natural form for a fruitful prayer is the yearning of a soul without the agency of words, oral or mental, with the tongue of thought.

A prayer like this generates and releases such a fund of spiritual energy that all the Cosmic Powers are attracted and combine together, shaping out things as best as possible.

A true prayer is one continuous process, independent of form, time and place, and leads ultimately to the stage of Sehaj - a halcyon calm, a perfect equipoise and a complete satiety, with no desire whatsoever. This then is the climax of a genuine prayer, and here prayer itself ceases to be a prayer and becomes a state of being as one gradually rises first into Cosmic Consciousness with the Divine Will fully revealed unto him. This is the be-all and the end-all of prayer: and how to achieve it is the object of this enquiry.

At the end of the book, by way of an appendix, are collected, in classified form, specimen prayers from various Saints and Scriptures for the benefit of the interested reader.

KIRPAL SINGH
July 1, 1959
Sawan Ashram, Delhi, India