On Prayers

Prayers are like birds that climb from the earth to rise to the sky. But some are weak and stay near the ground. Others climb really high and travel far and wide to distant lands of Light and Truth.

Some prayers are like parrots. They are simply learnt and mechanically repeated without their meaning stirring our soul depths. They look neat and nice but stop at that. They cannot fly far nor reach high. Others are like the crow, restless and doubting, full of fear and suspicion. They arise from our petty surface desires for this or that small object of life. These prayers have neither strength nor trust. They too do not reach high or far but sometimes they do get fulfilled due to sheer persistence since nature rewards every effort that involves perseverance.

Still other prayers are like the pigeon and the dove. They are not strong but full of peace born of trust. Hence they call forth the bounty of nature for the fulfillment of what they seek. Yet others are like the eagle. They are precise and clear about their object and strong in their spirit of seeking. They rise high and far on the wings of concentration and arrive at their object speedily and fast. Yet though they climb high their object is low, the fulfillment of some earthly wish or desire.

Rare are the prayers like a swan. Pure and clear they ask for nothing but the very nectar of the gods. These reach farthest to distant horizons, far above the clouds to the very abode of Shiva, the great god Ashutosh, the dispenser of all boons.

But the rarest of all is the prayer that resembles the phoenix. Such a prayer arises once in a thousand years. Paradoxically it descends from the heavens and enters the bosom of the earth stirring it with sublime impulses. It is the prayer that the avatar does for the earth and men. Such are the prayers of the Mother for the earth as recorded in Her prayers and meditations.