Prayers : How Does It Work ?

1.    Introduction to the mechanism of prayer

When faced with difficult or insurmountable situations in day-to-day life, like the loss of a valuable, an incurable illness, a major financial problem, etc., people pray to God or to an aspect of Him, also known as a deity. These are prayers with material or worldly expectations.

Seekers of God, whose main focus in life is spiritual growth, also pray regularly to God not only in difficult situations but even in day-to-day situations. The prayers, however, are not about worldly expectations but about their spiritual growth and are said as a part of their spiritual practice.

It is important to note that when there is any problem or difficulty in life, the root cause can be physical, mental or spiritual in nature. Research carried out by SSRF shows that up to 80% of the people have problem caused in their spiritual realm. Destiny and departed ancestors are two very important factors in the spiritual causes of problems in life.

2. How are prayers answered? What is the mechanism?

2.1 Who answers our prayers?

·         The following diagram shows who answers our prayers depending on the type of prayer. Generally, the prayer differs as per the spiritual level of the person. For example, a person who is at a 30% spiritual level will more often than not pray for worldly things. A person at the 50% spiritual level will more often than not pray for spiritual progress. Accordingly, the prayers are answered by various subtle energies in the Universe. What is interesting is that even negative energies answer prayers, either where harm is requested and/or to entrap a person under their influence by initially granting their wishes. For example, as shown in the diagram below, a person who prays for the death of another person will be helped by a negative subtle entity from the 4th Region of Hell. Prayers for worldly benefit are generally responded to by lower deities or lower positive energies. Prayers for spiritual growth are responded to by higher-level deities and higher positive energies.

·         When we make a prayer with expectation to God or a specific deity, such as asking for a job or overcoming an illness, our prayers, as stated earlier, are answered by lower-level deities or lower positive energies. Let us take the example of a person who has prayed intensely for a job. If it is in the person’s destiny to be without a job for five years, then the lower positive energy or the lower-level deity can answer the prayer by pushing out this five year jobless period to somewhere later in the person’s life. Thus, the person still has to go through a phase of being jobless. (This is because regardless of anything, one has to undergo one’s destiny and it can only be overcome by one’s spiritual practice.)

·         Sometimes higher-level deities also help the worldly situation of a seeker if it is causing an obstacle in their spiritual growth.

2.2 How are prayers answered?

·         When a person prays, they remember God intensely and have an intimate dialogue with Him about issues very close to their heart. By the law of reflex action, God also feels closer to them.

·         Prayers have the ability to activate the deity principles (aspects of God) in the Universe. The subtlest frequencies are generated when one pays gratitude along with the prayer. These frequencies have the ability to not only activate but also touch the deity; hence the deity principle is activated faster. This activation of the deity principle (aspect of God) results in fulfilment of prayers. The deities bring about the fulfilment of prayers by the power to resolve. 

Example of prayers followed by gratitude:

-   Lord, may I do all activities in this entire day as my spiritual practice. Lord, I expressgratitude at your Holy Feet for having given me the thought, and for getting this prayer done through me.

-Lord, Please let me get this Job, I really need it. Lord Please accept my gratitude for giving me the thought to pray

Prayers attract subtle divine frequencies towards the person and as a result, the essence around the person is destroyed. Thus, the environment surrounding the person becomes comparatively more positive. As the subtle basic sattva component in the surrounding environment is increased, the thoughts of the person are reduced and they also become sāttvik. This is because the mind is influenced by the external environment.

·         Prayer increases the particles of the subtle basic sattva component in the vital body sheath. When we pay gratitude, the particles of the subtle basic Sattva component in the mental body sheath increase. Thus, prayer, complemented with gratitude, results in spiritual purification of the vital body and mental body sheaths.

For further information about the vital and mental body, Because of spiritual purification of the vital body sheath and mental body sheath, the impressions in both the sheaths begin to be destroyed. As the impressions are reduced, thoughts about oneself are minimised and attraction towards worldly things (Māyā) decreases. This leads to an increase in desire for God and a yearning to merge with Him. Also, as both sheaths are purified, negative energies cannot enter the body.

·         When we pray, we accept our inability to solve a problem ourselves and hence, in seeing ourselves as lesser, our ego is reduced. With a reduction in ego there is a temporary rise in spiritual level. This causes a temporary increase in subtle basic Sattva component. Further, when we pay gratitude, it generates humility in us which has an even greater positive effect on our spiritual level. Hence, our communion with God increases. This rise in the subtle basic Sattva component itself increases our capacity to overcome or bear the problem.

2.    When do our prayers work?

In our life, 65% of events happen as per destiny. Destined events are those events that we have no control over.

Destined events, both good and bad, are bound to happen in our lives. Bad destined events may be an illness or a bad marriage. The average person mainly prays to God when bad events happen in their life. They pray to God to relieve the bad event. However, we find that our prayers are not always answered.

So what is the law? When does prayer override a bad destined event so that with the prayer, the event itself does not happen or at least we are insulated from it?

The rule of thumb is:

·         If the prayer is stronger than the intensity of the destined event, then the prayer will be answered.

·         If the intensity of the destiny is stronger than the prayer, then the prayer will be answered partially or not at all.

4. What decides the effectiveness of one’s prayer?

The following factors add to the effectiveness of the prayer:

·         spiritual  level of the person praying – the higher the spiritual level, the more effective is their prayer.

·         Quality of prayer - whether the prayer is mechanical, heartfelt, or with spiritual emotion (bhāv) from the seeker.

·         For whom is one praying (i.e., whether for self or others) – When we pray for others, the spiritual strength required is much more. The greater the number of people in society intended to be affected by the event, the greater is the spiritual strength required to effect the desired result. Only Saints of a higher order can effect change in society.

·         Ego - Lower ego contributes to the effectiveness of prayer.

·         What prayer posture (mudrā) is a person using? This becomes a major factor for the majority of people, as the above factors are lesser in most people.

4.1 The spiritual level of a person and prayer

The spiritual level of a person praying is one of the main criteria in deciding the effectiveness of the prayer.

·         For seekers above the 60% spiritual level, prayer is not required. They act from the spiritual emotion/feeling that ‘Let everything happen as per God’s will.’ They actually experience that everything in their lives is happening and is provided for by God’s grace. Their mind is constantly in a state of gratitude to God. Once this state is achieved, prayer is not needed.

·         Prayers of people who are below the 30% spiritual level lack potency and at best they provide them with only psychological benefit. This is because the covering of ego is too great for their prayers to reach the deity principle.

·         Thus, we can see that prayer works most effectively for people between the spiritual level of 30-60%