In the Light of Truth

27. Prayer

If the question of prayer is to be discussed at all, these words are naturally only addressed to those who are personally interested in prayer. He who does not feel the impulse to pray, may, without hesitation, refrain from doing so, because his words and his thoughts would necessarily evanesce. If a prayer is not deeply felt, it has no value and no result. A feeling of intense gratitude in moments of great joy, or the bitter pang of pain in time of trouble, constitute the best foundations for a prayer that may hope to be heard. At such a moment a man is filled with a concentrated burst of emotion that silences all else and at such a time the essence of the prayer, be it thanksgiving or a request, becomes endowed with unusual power.

Man mostly has quite a false notion of how a prayer operates and develops. It is not every prayer that penetrates to the Almighty. On the contrary it is a very exceptional case when a prayer ascends to the steps of the Throne. Here again the eternal law, the attraction of homogeneous species plays the principal role.

A serious and deeply-felt prayer is attracted by (and on its way attracts) analogous influence to a centre of power representing the principle which forms the essence of the prayer. These centres of power may be called sections of planes in the universe, or by any other name, their effect would be the same in every case. Reciprocal action brings the answer to whatever the principle wish, expressed in the prayer, was, whether for peace, strength, reconvalescence, or concerning plans suddenly arising in the mind, answers to difficult questions or other matters. Some benefit will always result from heart-felt prayer, if it only brings more composure and a greater power of concentration, that in their turn help find deliverance, or some way out of the difficulty.

It is also possible that these prayers, strengthened by the reciprocal co-operation of homogeneous centres of power, find their way spiritually to some charitable soul and induce it to afford help in some way, and thus bring an answer to the prayer.

All these operations can be easily understood by observing transcendental life. Here likewise, perfect impartiality will be found, for it is always the spiritual state of the one who prays, which gives life, strength and efficacy to the prayer.

In the immense expanse or amplitude of the transcendental life in the universe, every variety of sensation belongs to its special homogeneous class, and thus cannot be attracted, but rather would be repelled by any other class. It is only in the case of homogeneous sensations that their fusion and consequent increase of strength is possible.

A prayer that is instigated by different sensations which in spite of their disconnection, still possess a certain amount of vigour, will attract a variety of equivalent influences and thus react in various ways, but this will only be the case if the prayer has been offered up with intense fervour. Whether the petition is then granted, depends entirely on the nature of the different requests. By far the best way is to send forth but one thought, to express but one wish at a time, that there be no confusion.

Christ never meant that the whole of the Lord's Prayer should be said at once. He only summed up all that a man may ask for with the certainty of being heard, provided he prays with fervent intention.

These petitions contain all that man needs for his bodily and spiritual welfare and advancement. And more still, for at the same time they indicate the direction in which man must strive in his life on earth. The order in which these petitions are grouped is a master-piece in itself.

For a man who can enter into and grasp its deep meaning, the Lord's Prayer alone is sufficient in every way. He needs nothing else; in it he will find the whole Gospel in a concentrated form. The Lords Prayer is the key to the realms of Light for him who can live according to its precepts, everyone who wishes to advance and to rise will find it a staff in his hand and a lantern to his feet — so immeasurable is its power.*(Lecture No. 28: The Lord's Prayer)

This all — embracing plenitude indicates the purport of the Lord's Prayer. In it Jesus gave the key to the Kingdom of Heaven, the pith of His Message. But He did not intend that it should be said straight off.

If a man will only take heed when he prays, he will himself see, when repeating the succession of petitions, how often his attention will wander, and how thereby, no matter how familiar the prayer is to him, his emotion loses in intensity!

Indeed it is impossible for him to pass from one request to the other with the deep and necessary fervency indispensable in real prayer.

But Jesus made everything easy to man in His own way. He expressly said: “Become as little children”, which means: think as simply, seek difficulties as little as they do. He would never have expected such an impossibility as to pray the Lord's Prayer all through with the deep concentration required. This also should bring the conviction home to man that Jesus intended something different, something far greater. It was not simply a prayer that He gave. It was the key to the Kingdom of Heaven!

It weakens a prayer to make it multiform. Neither does a child come to its father with seven requests at a time, it will only come with what lies nearest to his heart, whether a grief or a wish.

Hence man also should turn to God in his trouble and utter his plaint. And in most cases it will be one particular matter and not with several at once that he will come. Man should not pray for matters that are of no special moment to him, for in such cases he would not be deeply enough interested to be inspired with the necessary life-giving fervour. He would but be uttering empty phrases, and so weaken a petition which might otherwise be of real import.

Only pray for what is really necessary. Never utter empty phrases which can but distract the attention and lead to insincerity! Prayer demands the deepest and most serious attention, seek therefore solitude and purity when you pray. Solitude will heighten the intensity, and purity will lend the spiritual illumination and the lightness required to carry the prayer up to the realms of Light. It will then be heard and granted in such a manner as will best help the petitioner and really advance him in his whole being.

It is not the impelling force of energy that uplifts a prayer, purity alone lends the needful lightness.

When the earnest desire to pray awakens in a man's breast, he can attain to this purity, even if not in all his prayer. It is not necessary that his whole life be pure, if only he can from time to time, for a few seconds, uplift himself through the purity of his inner feelings in prayer.

Not only seclusion lends strength to the prayer by the facility it affords for deeper concentration, but the same results are arrived at by any strong emotion such as fear, anxiety or joy. It must not be expected that the answer to a prayer should always agree with and correspond to the picture that a man has formed in his mind. The prayer is granted in a much wider sense and brings about what is good for a man's welfare in the future, not for the present moment.

Often it will appear as if the prayer had not been heard and later on, it will prove to have been granted in the best possible way, and the man is glad that it was not granted as he had wished at the moment.

It has often been asked how the law of returns will work in the case of intercession; how the prayer of another can find its way to a man who has not prayed himself, because the reaction must return to the petitioner. Neither is there any exception to the rule in such a case.

The interceder, in his prayer, thinks so intently of the one for whom he is praying, that his strong desire becomes fast anchored in his friend, it encircles him with living thoughts. Thus the prayer rises upwards from him and to him the reaction can come.

The one indispensable condition being that the person who is being prayed for, is of receptive nature and offers suitable anchorage and does not put any obstacles in the way.

If the person proves unworthy and thus cannot be helped, the prayer will pass by without taking effect. This again demonstrates the wonderful justice of Divine Law which does not permit that the unworthy be helped from outside by another. If it is impossible for the intercessary prayer to get a hold on the person prayed for, then the prayer is useless. Here again we find the automatic reciprocity so perfect that man stands dumbfounded at the just distribution of the fruits of man's will and man's work.

If this did not proceed so inexorably, the mechanism of Creation would be defective and allow of undue favour being shown to the unworthy. They deserve no interceder, although in consideration of past friendships, intercession is possible.

Intercession on the part of those who are not impelled to pray from intense desire and genuine feeling has no value whatever, and is but empty air.

There is still another result possible of genuine intercession. It may be a pointer. The prayer rises unhindered and points out one needing help. It may be that a messenger from spiritual heights be sent down on this mission. He can however only afford help to the person indicated under certain conditions prescribed by the law, and his success will depend upon whether the person in question deserves assistance or not, whether he will welcome it or repulse it. If the person needing help has a leaning towards what is evil, the messenger will not be able to get in touch with him, he will not be able to help and his mission will be fruitless, for here the working of the living law interposed. Where there is the right basis, intercession is of unspeakable value. Either it brings help to the sufferer (even if he is unconscious of it), or it unites itself to his wish or his prayer, thus giving it great increase in strength.

[Grail Message by Abdrushin]  [Resonances to the Grail Message]