Thursday, March 21, 2013

SO WHAT ABOUT PRAYERS ?

     I wrote about the destiny, law of karma and importance of efforts . So the question comes up what about prayers . Do they work , and if they do work , then how do they work and how can we explain them in the setting of law of karma . There is also a greater question . If prayers do work , then are we not giving 'human ' qualities  to the God .If the God answers to our prayers then is it not like a father full filling wishes of his children or the Boss granting a wish of his subordinate .There more questions , like if the God does responds to our 'wishes' , then whose wishes he will respond to . Lets say there are 2 teams that have NBA finals and two different men are supporting different teams , then whose prayers will be answered . Would  the out come of the contest or match or war be decided by the prayers and not by skills or the law of karma or the destiny ?
    I truly don't have answers to these questions . But I do believe in the prayers , in their strength and their effectiveness .So do I have any explanation for this statement . NO ,I don't have , but I am going to try to see if we can discuss this rationally .
    Let me start by saying that there are 3 kind of ordinary people . One group , does prayers for completely selfish motives . The example of this could be more money , better car or getting better girl or boy . This is at the lowest level of the prayers . ( may be those who pray for destruction, or wish bad luck to others may be the worst kind . ) then there are people who think little better . they pray for family or community or the country.Then there are people who pray for nothing for them self.They want to be one with God and want nothing more nothing less.
    There have been studies done to see if prayers change the outcome or help . In one study done in nineteenth century , one guy did look at the longevity of British Royalty. His assumption was that every one in the country 'prayes ' for the health and longevity of the Royalties . So if the prayers were effective, then the longevity of the royalties should be longer than the life expectancy of ordinary people . It turned out that there was no difference . So his conclusion was that the prayers do not work .In a another study done on post cardiac patients the patients for whom there were prayers ,had more complications, than those patients for whom no prayers were done . So we don;t have much proof that prayers work .
    There are number of problems with these studies . The major one is that neither the royalties nor the patients them self did the prayers . If I study for the examination, that my son is going to appear , my studies will not change the outcome of his examination .So how can the prayers done by some one other than  subjects them self , can change the outcome .
    I think prayers work . On e thought is related to the universal consciousness . Many a times we think of someone and he or she calls >(then we say your ears must be burning ). There is universal consciousness .This pervaded through the universe .Since we all have it if we try at right time and right way , we can communicate with each other , though we may not know . It remind me of a story of One great saint Yukteshwar, Guru of Yoganand .One day when Yoganand came to Yukteshawar's ashram from the college , he brought with him cauliflowers for cooking .(some one has to provide the food and cook it )When they started walking on the sand , the Guru asked if the ashram was locked . The last person to come out was Yoganand . He had forgotten to lock . But he answered ,'yes '.Yukteshwar thought for a second and told him that he had forgotten and and so he must be punished . (when one is involved with devotion ,he can not forget practical matters of day to day life )He told him to watch . While all the disciples were watching ,a man came , walking on the street , passed the ashram , then went back , went in the ashram and came out with one head of cauliflower and ran away . Yoganand had left his wallet , his watch , none of which was touched by the thief . His explanation was that he (Yukteshwar )telecommunicated withe thief and told him to take on a cauliflower head . He also stated ( which astonished me more ) that the thought waves are just like any other waves and in future man will be able to 'receive ' various waves .The TV and radio etc are example of these waves . Think about the dog whistle . Man can not hear the frequency that dog can . So if we have the 'anteena' to receive , we can perceive . In one of the books of Jose Silva , title Mind control , he describes how on can change the behavior of others . (provided 3 conditions are met , it can not be bad command like kill some on , here should be possibility of that occurring i.e one can not sell winter coates in Florida in summer . and one must try sincerely . )
      I think some lower level prayers work in this way . How do other prayers work , in next blog .
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