Why do we pray, wish, hope?
There are innumerable things we would like to change. Right from today's headline to our hidden fears...
And so many things which we would like to remain forever. The security of being a part of our family or community, the courage we gather for taking up a challenge we must take up...,
Can we really control things? Nope. And we know that we can't. That is why we pray, wish, hope.
But does that help? When I was a kid, if I said something bad, my grandparents used to tell me to be careful about what I say, cause God would simply, literally grant me whatever I ask for. I remember ridiculing it and yet trying not to say anything that I might regret later. Later I stopped asking for something every time I visited a temple. If I don't feel complete devotion I just utter a simple greeting and be done. But when I do pray, I try to wish for the exact thing I want. I believe it would work, not because there is a God waiting to fulfill my wishes, but because it has become one of the ways to meditate about what I really want. Sometimes I have wondered that I could use this method to educate myself to want what I think I should want. But every time, it turned out that what 'I should want' is really what 'I do want'. There is only one way for the meditation to work. To be absolutely honest. Cause if we are not, we can't be devoted to our wishes. Devotion comes from honesty. And that is all we have in our hands.
To be honest.
That is the best way to do things. With complete honesty. Acting honest. Trying honest. Hoping and wishing honest. And praying honest.
There are innumerable things we would like to change. Right from today's headline to our hidden fears...
And so many things which we would like to remain forever. The security of being a part of our family or community, the courage we gather for taking up a challenge we must take up...,
Can we really control things? Nope. And we know that we can't. That is why we pray, wish, hope.
But does that help? When I was a kid, if I said something bad, my grandparents used to tell me to be careful about what I say, cause God would simply, literally grant me whatever I ask for. I remember ridiculing it and yet trying not to say anything that I might regret later. Later I stopped asking for something every time I visited a temple. If I don't feel complete devotion I just utter a simple greeting and be done. But when I do pray, I try to wish for the exact thing I want. I believe it would work, not because there is a God waiting to fulfill my wishes, but because it has become one of the ways to meditate about what I really want. Sometimes I have wondered that I could use this method to educate myself to want what I think I should want. But every time, it turned out that what 'I should want' is really what 'I do want'. There is only one way for the meditation to work. To be absolutely honest. Cause if we are not, we can't be devoted to our wishes. Devotion comes from honesty. And that is all we have in our hands.
To be honest.
That is the best way to do things. With complete honesty. Acting honest. Trying honest. Hoping and wishing honest. And praying honest.