by C.V.Rajan

Created on: September 21, 2008   Last Updated: October 28, 2008

Prayer is the way of communication with God. In the path of Bhakti (devotion) in Hinduism, prayer is one of the essential and natural acts.

God is omnipresent and omnipotent; He is the creator, the protector and the destroyer. Hindus believe that the very sustenance of the human beings on the earth simply depends on the will of God and "nothing ever moves without His moving".

People are bound to the world and its innumerable attractions; every one's life runs on wants, needs, ambitions and greed. Atheists depend on their ego and their perceived self-righteousness in chasing, acquiring and enjoying their needs and wants. On the other hand, theists, with the strong belief that it is God who is the sole provider, pray to God to grant their needs and wants and at times extend their prayers to satiate their greed and unjustified ambitions too.

In the 4 Vedas, a prominent segment of the contents is devoted to rituals and prayers that are meant to invoke Gods to grace the populace with essentials as well as wealth and riches. There are plenty of prayers seeking good rains, bountiful crops, welfare of cattle, healthy offspring, punishing of enemies, elimination of diseases and so on. Many "homams" (rituals conducted in procedurally in front of fire as per norms given in Vedas) are performed even today by householders as well as religious institutions and temples praying for God's grace to lead happy worldly life.

Prayers are done on one side for seeking boons; on the other side, prayers are made to ward off sufferings.

Hinduism preaches karma or action and Hindus believe in the dictum "what thy sow, thy shall reap". All your actions - good or bad, will have their repercussions and the occurrence of the repercussions transcend time and births. But great masters in Hinduism strongly advocate that karma is not self-propelling and whatever fruits or punishments to your past karmas are executed only by the will of God. In other words, God has the powers to reward you, to punish you less even for heinous crimes or can condone your sins - if only he is happy with you.

That's precisely where prayers come in handy. When you suffer, pray to God for relief and succor. When you are in trouble and feel lost and directionless in life, pray to seek God's guidance. Prayer helps to subdue your egotism. Prayer helps you to express your helplessness and seek the help of the higher force.

However, praying God for goodies and worldly riches is always discouraged by great saints and sages in Hinduism.

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