KIRPAL SINGH

PRAYER
its Nature & Technique
 I have written a book on the Naam, or Word, or Kalma,
in which quotations from different scriptures are given;
and also ‘The Crown of Life’ which is a comparative study
of the different systems of yoga.
Apart from these I have written books on Saints and their teachings,
and other books.
There is intentionally no author's right reserved
for the publication of these, so that these teachings
which are a gift of nature may easily reach everyone.
Sant Kirpal Singh, 14 April, 1973

Publisher:
UNITY OF MAN (Regd.)
Kirpal Sagar, Near Rahon,
Distt. S.B.S. Nagar 144517, INDIA

www.kirpal-sagar.org (Europe)
www.kirpal-sagar.co.in (India)
[email protected] (contact in Europe)
[email protected] (contact in India)

First edition 2006

Second edition 2019
Third edition 2020

No rights reserved.
 KIRPAL SINGH

PRAYER
its Nature & Technique
Sant Kirpal Singh Ji (1894-1974)
 Dedicated
to the Almighty God
working through all Masters who have come
and Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj
at whose lotus feet
the author imbibed sweet elixir of
Holy Naam – the Word
About the Author and His ongoing Work

I n human history we find only a few glimpses of lives that differ from
the majority.
However, the ideal of a human who attained higher consciousness and
became one with God is found in all religious traditions and Holy Scrip-
tures. They derive from the life and teachings of one or more of those rare
personalities. Their lifework consisted in demonstrating that we all have
the inherent capacity to become like them. But it was never their intention
to create outer formations or religions. Sant Kirpal Singh did not bring a
new faith either, but rather revived the original knowledge which is to be
found within the core of all religions.

Sant Kirpal Singh was born on February 6th, 1894 in Sayyad Kasran
in a part of the Punjab which now belongs to Pakistan.

The search for God led Him to study the Holy Scriprutes of different
religions as well as philosophy of many Sufis, yogis and mystics. He met
many whom people considered to be a master, but He remained sceptical
and refused to take anyone as His master unless He had some direct proof
of His competence. He prayed to God to manifest to Him directly within.
His prayers were fulfilled and He saw His Master Baba Sawan Singh
within seven years before He met Him physically.

During His time of discipleship, He carried many responsibilities in

the work of His Master, while fulfilling all duties as father of a family.
After a career as deputy assistant controller of military accounts, He retired
in 1947.
Before Baba Sawan Singh left His body on April 2nd, 1948, He in-
structed Kirpal Singh to continue His further mission and sent Him to
Delhi, where the Sawan Ashram became His main residence.*
* For more details about the life of Sant Kirpal Singh, please refer to the biography
“Sant Kirpal Singh – His life and Mission” (available as download-link at the end of
this book or visit our website www.sant-kirpal-singh.org)

VI Prayer
 Sant Kirpal Singh soon became known as a holy personality who lived
what He preached – people could see that a great soul had come into the
world.

During three World Tours in 1955, 1963 and 1972, He visited a great
number of countries in the West, where He met religious leaders, politi-
cians and personalities of the public life.
Wherever He went, He conveyed the message of unity, and many who
searched for spiritual guidance were introduced into meditation by Him
and got inner experience of the Godpower, called Naam or Word. Soon
he had disciples all over the world and his books were translated into sev-
eral languages.

For over fourteen years, He was repeatedly elected president of the

World Fellowship of Religions (WFR) and could create mutual under-
standing among different faiths due to His purely spiritual view. His efforts
for peace in the world and for tolerance among all religions made Him
well-known all over the world.

At the end of the 1960’s, He introduced the concept of Manav Kendras

– centres for an integrative development of man: socially, intellectually
and spiritually, and undertook the first practical steps in this direction.

On His last Punjab tour in 1973, Sant Kirpal Singh entrusted Dr. Harb-
hajan Singh and his wife Biji Surinder Kaur to build up the Kirpal Sagar
project, based on His concept of Manav Kendras. He himself chose the
site for it, located approx. 30 km north of Ludhiana, near Nawanshahr,
stating:
“The Manav Kendra I wanted to build is not yet built – it will be
built here.”
It was the last work He left to be accomplished.

In 1974, His efforts reached a summit when He convened the first

World Conference on Unity of Man, which took place in Delhi from
February 3rd – 6th, 1974.

About the Author adn his ongoing work VII

 Religious, political and social leaders from all over India and delegates
from approximately 30 nations participated in that conference. There, Sant
Kirpal Singh gave a key to all of us how this awareness of unity would
also be able to bring about a fundamental change in human society:
“The work of the Conference will be carried on much further,
Each time we see that God is working through our neighbour,
our brother – through all men;
Each time we resist the temptation to consider our welfare ahead
of that of our brother or sister;
When we see that every human being we meet is a child of God.
Our common aim should be to alleviate men’s suffering and reduce
their separation. In that sense this Conference will never end.“

At that time, only very few people recognized the signs that Sant Kirpal
Singh was already making preparations for His physical departure. He
wanted to put His work into the hands of conscious people, ready to work
in a selfless way and able to be a guiding example for a spiritual life.
He commissioned Dr. Harbhajan Singh and his wife Biji Surinder Kaur
to carry on His mission before His physical departure.
In very close contact with Sant Kirpal Singh for many years, Dr. Harb-
hajan Singh and his wife had many experiences showing His competence.
They knew very well that He hadn’t come as a mere Master, who could
be replaced afterwards by a “spiritual successor”.

On April 4th, Sant Kirpal Singh gave Dr. Harbhajan Singh His instruc-
tions for the coming time. Already before He had guaranteed:
“Today I give you one promise: you tell the theoretical aspect of
life, and I will give it within practically.”
Sant Kirpal Singh departed on August 21st, 1974 with Dr. Harbhajan
Singh at His side. Sant Kirpal Singh left His physical body, but not His
work.

VIII Prayer
Continuing the Work
From the very beginning, Dr. Harbhjan Singh and his wife Biji Surinder
Kaur guided the construction of the project Kirpal Sagar for more than
forty years, supported by volunteers from all over the world. Kirpal Sagar
does not only carry the name of Sant Kirpal Singh, it carries His radiation
and blessing. It does not belong to anybody, nor to any particular religion
– it belongs to all mankind.
Parallel to the construction of Kirpal Sagar in India, they spread the
teachings of Sant Kirpal Singh in the East and West and Initiation was
given on behalf of Sant Kirpal Singh. They never allowed anybody to
take them as “spiritual successors”, but set an example as how a real dis-
ciple is able to work by the grace of the Almighty.
After Dr. Harbhajan Singh left His body in September 1995, Biji
Surinder Kaur continued the work until she went back in 2016. They both
had dedicated their whole life to the work of Sant Kirpal Singh and in-
spired many to follow their footsteps. During all that time they gave their
support with love, wisdom and knowledge for the development of a strong
foundation, on which His work still goes on.

Present Time
In His books and writings Sant Kirpal Singh emphazises the importance
of a “living Master“, whom one has to meet. This refers to the law of the
Iron Age, in which it was determined that for man’s guidance and spiritual
development always one Master succeeded the other.
People naturally seem to be more inclined to turn to a physical ‘Master’.
Now the question arises, “Who is the Master or Guru?”, a question which
had already been asked to Guru Nanak. He replied:
“My Guru is Shabd – the God-into-expression Power is my Guru.
God is my Guru, and He will lead me into the Absolute God.”
This answer will ever be valid. Sant Kirpal Singh also stated that the
term “Master” stands for “Masterpower”. So the Master is not the body.
It is the Godpower working through him.

About the Author adn his ongoing work IX

 In the teachings of the competent Masters it has been explained that
there are stages of Mastership: Sadh, Sant and Param Sant. They work
from different inner planes, with different competence, according to the
need of the time and the condition of mankind. The Param Sant comes
from the highest plane.
Nobody has seen God in His absolute form, but when He came into
being, He created a primal force, which created the whole universe. This
power is called Sat Purusha or the Almighty and He works in the Param
Sant. He comes into the world when times are changing.
Now we are at the very end of the cycle of Yugas or Ages: The Iron
Age (Kali Yug) is changing into the Golden Age (Sat Yug). Sant Kirpal
Singh came especially for that reason, to bring this change into the world,
by giving help, guidance and inner experience which is becoming more
and more visible nowadays.
This power is not bound to the physical body, but is capable of con-
tinuing the work even after having left the body. This being the case, the
outer work of a physical Master is not needed.
In 1974 during His stay in hospital Sant Kirpal Singh was asked about
the future work. Pointing upwards, He replied:
“He, Khuda (the Almighty) already did His work and He will go
on doing it!”
Khuda also means “He who comes by Himself”.
In the hard times of the Iron Age, a successive number of Masters were
working. Now it is the time of the Shabd Guru – the inner Master.
“Think of Him and He will be there. He is closer to you, than
your own skin.”
This was, what Dr. Harbhajan Singh always recommended and it con-
cerns the direct link between soul and God.

For further information, please contact our websites and addresses at the end of the book!

X Prayer
About the Author adn his ongoing work XI
Baba Sawan Singh Ji (1858-1948)
To The Reader
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
MATTHEW 4:4

P RAYER is the salt of life and we cannot do without it. It is ingrained

in the nature of Man to pray for the fulfillment of his wishes whatever
they be. But more often than not we do not know what we may really
pray for, how to pray, and what we may do to make our prayer a great
dynamic force as may stir up Heaven’s mercy.
The secret of a successful prayer lies not so much in the words we use,
nor in the time we devote to it, nor in the effort that we put into it, as it
lies in the concentrated attention that we may give it at the seat of the soul
so as to make it soulful. The most natural form for a fruitful prayer is the
yearning of a soul without the agency of words, oral or mental, with the
tongue of thought.
A prayer like this generates and releases such a fund of spiritual energy
that all the Cosmic Powers are attracted and combine together, shaping
out things as best as possible.
A true prayer is one continuous process, independent of form, time
and place, and leads ultimately to the stage of Sehaj - a halcyon calm, a
perfect equipoise and a complete satiety, with no desire whatsoever. This
then is the climax of a genuine prayer, and here prayer itself ceases to be
a prayer and becomes a state of being as one gradually rises first into Cos-
mic Consciousness with the Divine Will fully revealed unto him. This is
the be-all and the end-all of prayer: and how to achieve it is the object of
this enquiry.
At the end of the book, by way of an appendix, are collected, in clas-
sified form, specimen prayers from various Saints and Scriptures for the
benefit of the interested reader.
KIRPAL SINGH – July 1, 1959 – Sawan Ashram, Delhi, India

To the Reader XIII

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND HIS ONGOING WORK VI

TO THE READER XIII

1. Prayer Defined 1
2. Prayer: Instinctive in Man 5
3. Whom to Address 7
4. A Direct Appeal to God Within 13
5. Prayer and Effort 15
6. The Essentials of Prayer 17
7. Hurdles in the Way of Prayer 23
8. How to Overcome Inner Difficulties 24
9. The Three Types of Prayer 26
10. Loud Prayers 28
11. Individual and Public Prayers 29
12. Congregational Prayers 30
13. Place for Prayer 32
14. Prerequisites in Prayer 35
15. Time for Prayer 40
16. Occasion for Prayer 41
17. Prayer and Sin 42
18. Prayers for Others 44
19. Acceptance of Prayers 45
20. Need for Prayer 49
21. The Advantages of Prayer 51
22. Gradations in Prayer 52
23. What to Ask from God 55
24. Guru is the Greatest Gift of God 71
25. What One Should Ask from the Godman 74

XIV Prayer
 APPENDIX: 79
Specimen Prayers 81
Prayers from Kabir 85
Ode to the Satguru 87
Hymns of Mira 91
From Dhani Dharam Das 93
From Sikh Scriptures 94
Cherishing Salvation 102
Imploring the unequalled Boon of Naam 108
For granting Solemn Chance to serve Saints and for
Self-sourrender to the Lord 110
For Shelter from five Passions 112
General Praxers for all 114
From Book of Common Prayer 118
Prayer for Selflessness 122
Bedtime Prayer 122
Springtime Prayer
Prayers from Various Religions 125

REFERENCES 128
LITERATURE 132

Table of Contents XV
My wishes count but little:
Let Thy Will prevail.
NANAK
 1. Prayer
Prayer is the Master-Key that unlocks the Kingdom of Heaven

P rayer can be defined as an anguished cry of the soul in distress of help-

lessness, to a Power fuller and greater than itself for relief and comfort.
It is, in the generic and commonly accepted sense, an invocation to God
or a Godman (living Master), competent enough to grant solace and peace
to a mind tortured by the problems of life and life’s surroundings.
Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
Uttered or unexpressed;
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.
VISCOUNT MONTGOMERY
A worldly-wise man in this scientific age regards human life just as
any other mechanical contrivance which moves and acts blindly on the
lone principle of “Cause and Effect” with no guiding hand behind it.
Against this mechanistic concept of man and the universe, there is an or-
ganic concept as well. Without denying the principle of “Cause and Effect”
that is visibly in operation in human affairs, the exponents of the organic
theory see behind it the hand of God, or the Law of God, in and through
which the principle of “Cause and Effect” is at work. The Law of God
then is the motor power or seed force from which every conceivable prin-
ciple - scientific or ethical - springs and works out the Divine Will ac-
cording to His purpose. Unfortunately, we see only the surface currents
and cannot penetrate into the depths beneath.
In common experience we see that a worldly-wise man, with all the
material resources at his command, is actually in a state of dire helplessness.
Ever dissatisfied with what he has, he cries for more and blindly works to
that end, employing all means, fair or foul, to achieve his desires. But all
his riches and possessions, pelf and power, name and fame, fail to give
him any degree of satisfaction. He still continues, more helpless than ever

Prayer defined 1
in the face of disease, decay and death. His mind is always haunted by un-
told fears and imaginary horrors. With no moorings, he drifts rudderless
upon the ocean of life, a prey to chance winds and waters. In this sad plight,
either he flounders on the rock of suicide, or, if he escapes that, he drags
on a weary existence until death comes to his rescue. But even in death
he finds no comfort. He yields to it simply because he cannot help it. This
is the sad story of a common man of the workaday world.
On the other hand, a really wise man also tries, like the former, to col-
lect means of a comfortable existence; but unlike the other, these do not,
in his case, form an obsession with him. Behind all his efforts, he sees
the hand of God and is never bothered by success or failure in his en-
deavours. He leaves the result to the “Divine Will” for that alone knows
what is good for him to possess. If things come to him as he desires, he
does not feel elated but accepts them with sincere thanks and with a grate-
ful heart. But if things turn the other way he does not feel dejected, but
smilingly bows down his head before the Supreme Judge who decided
otherwise; and at every step he prays to God, for he knows that without
His active aid, he cannot do anything by himself.
“Prayer” is, in a strict sense, another name for collecting the outgoing
and wandering faculties of the mind, at the root of the mind. Like the rays
of the sun, these spread out into the world, and likewise these can be with-
drawn and collected at their source. A person in infatuation with a thing
which he cannot get, or in distress and distraction over some calamity
from which he cannot escape, sets his face toward God for success in his
endeavours or comfort in his woebegone condition as the case may be.
This concentration while begging for help is called prayer.
Human heart is the throne of God and hence it is, at times, termed Kaaba.
Of all the pilgrimages, the one to the human heart
is the most sacred,
Much better it is to win merit here,
than countless trips to Mecca.
MAULANA RUMI

2 Prayer
 As soon as a person collects himself and focuses his attention at the
seat of the soul, he stirs up the mercy of God, which, in turn, fills him
with strength and fortitude never experienced before. These enable him
to find a way out of the difficulty whatever it be. A will, when concen-
trated, works wonders. “Where there is a will there is a way,” is a common
saying. Prayer is nothing but concentrated will falling back upon its source,
the great reservoir of power in which are lodged all sorts of possibilities
- physical, mental and spiritual - and one can draw upon any of these ac-
cording to one’s needs. Great indeed is man. He lives in a God-made tem-
ple along with God Himself. His very spirit is just a drop from the Ocean
of Divine Life. Between God and spirit, there is no other obstacle but that
of the veil of the mind. If this veil were to stop fluttering in the breeze of
desires, as it does at present, the spirit could take in directly the Cosmic
Energy from its very source.
“As you think, so you become,” is a common adage. If a part thinks of
the whole, it gradually begins to imbibe the characteristics of the latter.
So is the case with the human spirit. It can gradually expand until it becomes
all-embracing from the cribbed, cabined, cramped and cringing position
that it occupies in its present state. When freed from its entanglements -
physical, mental and causal - it triumphantly cries out: “I am soul,” or “I
am as Thou art,” or “I and my Father are one” (as Christ put it).
There are two types of people in the world: Firstly, those who can
withdraw, introvert and take inspiration directly from the Great Power
within. Secondly, those who depend on outer aids, like churches and tem-
ples, for worship and for offering prayers at altars or before idols and stat-
ues. Some try to seek inspiration from the great forces of Nature, like the
sun, the moon, the snow-covered hilltops, waters of the sacred rivers, as
different manifestations of the One Power behind the entire Universe.
Everyone according to his faith and degree of concentration gets some
benefit from his mode of worship, for nothing is lost in Nature and no ef-
fort goes in vain.

Prayer defined 3
 Some people do not believe in the existence of God and as such have
no faith in prayer, for they do not realize that God has no objective ap-
pearance and cannot be seen by the eyes of flesh.
O Nanak! The eyes that behold the Lord are quite different from
those with which we see the world.1
GURU ARJAN
The truth, in fact, is that God is spirit, and can be worshipped in spirit
only. We cannot worship Him with human hands and much less in hand-
made temples and synagogues. He dwells in the inmost depths of the hu-
man soul. He is the soul of our very soul. He is immanent in every form
and not apart from forms. All colours and all patterns alike take their hue
and design from Him alone. Whether we believe in Him or not, we actually
live in Him and have our very being in Him.
True prayer then is the means to concentrate the wandering wits at one
centre - the centre of the soul - to gather up the spirit currents at the still-
point in the body, between and behind the eyes. Herein lies all worship,
all prayers, all renunciation and all knowledge of here and hereafter. The
path to salvation lies in direct touch with the Inner Power rather than to
get entangled in this or that thing. “Truth is one, though sages have de-
scribed it variously,” is a well-known Upanishadic saying. Why not then
search out the Eternal Truth, of which Nanak speaks:
Truth was in the beginning of Creation, Truth has been the
beginning of each Age, and Truth shall ever remain when all
ages and creations pass away.
JAP JI

4 Prayer
 2. Prayer: Instinctive in Man

P rayer is instinctive with man and no one can do without prayer at one
stage or another, whatever form it may take. The faithful and the
faithless, a Momin and a Kafir, a man of God and a man who has no belief
in God, all pray, each one of course in his own particular way. The need
for prayer generally arises when one finds himself in distress, in calamity,
or in the grip of some devastating disease, or when he desires satisfaction
of some unusual physical and spiritual need which he cannot otherwise
fulfil, or when he wants to combat forces of adversity or darkness. In such
circumstances, he feels that by his own unaided efforts he cannot secure
satisfaction of his wants, and in utter helplessness he seeks strength in
prayer. In everyday life we see a student seeking the aid of a teacher in
the solution of some difficult problems, a patient in illness that of a physi-
cian, an employee that of his employer and so on. All these are prayers
in varying degrees and forms. Again, for the satisfaction of his daily needs,
a child looks up to his parents, a wife to her husband, etc.
In all trying circumstances, prayer is the last weapon in our armoury.
Where all human efforts fail, prayer succeeds.
…More things are wrought by prayer than this world
dreams of…
… For what are men better than sheep or goat,
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If knowing God, they lift not their hands in prayer,
Both for themselves and those they call friends.
TENNYSON
When prayer is the salt of life, we cannot do without it. But whom do
we pray to? The answer naturally is, “To the One Supreme God or the
Godman in whom His power resides and through whom it works in the
world.” All religions are in agreement on the point that prayer at the seat
of the soul draws out all the latent powers of Godhood within and one
can achieve spiritual beatitude through it. It is a connecting link between
the Creator and His creation, between God and man. It is a supporting

Prayer: instictive in man 5

staff in the hands of a spiritual aspirant and a pilgrim soul cannot do with-
out it, right from the beginning to the end of the journey, for it saves one
from many a pitfall on the way and transforms the mind through and
through until it shines forth and begins to reflect the light of the soul.
Through His Grace the osprey turns into a royal swan,
O Nanak! He may make a cygnet of a crow.2
GURU NANAK

6 Prayer
 3. Whom to Address

O ne must pray to the Lord God alone who is Omnipotent and com-
petent to grant all wishes.
There is nothing which God cannot grant.
KABIR
Rich indeed is one who has Nature at his beck and call.3
GURU ARJAN
The various gods and goddesses have a limited scope and sphere of
action and so work within limitations. They themselves draw their powers
from Him and may not grant the petty boons that lie within their sphere,
and certainly cannot grant salvation to the soul. A freed soul can grant
freedom and no one else can. Guru Arjan tells us that God alone can rem-
edy all types of maladies, no matter whether physical (like aches, ailments
and various types of diseases), astral (like unforeseen and unpredictable
disasters from accidents, thunder and lightning, floods and earthquakes,
etc.), or causal (ingrained and inherent evil propensities like lust, anger,
greed, attachment and egoism).
God! Thou art the dispeller of all evils and bestower of peace,
Whosoever prays unto Thee, can have no ill.4
GURU ARJAN
The dawn of Heaven’s Light makes one a worshipper of Truth
alone,
The blossoming of loving devotion makes one forget lifeless
objects of adoration,
The knowledge of Him shows the futility of all rites and rituals,
The manifestation of the holy light within distinguishes the pure
from the impure.
Guru Gobind Singh
Again, Guru Arjan says:
I pray to Him who is the bestower of all blessings and saviour
from all ills,

Whom to address 7
 Shower Thy mercy, O Merciful! For then will my efforts be well
directed.5
Remember the One and sing thou His praises,
Chant His holy name and keep Him ensconced in thy heart.
Ceaselessly meditate on His endless attributes, and
Serve Him with all thy heart and soul.
God is one, peerless and precious,
Complete in Himself, all-pervasive and permeating,
Creator of the vast creation is that One.
Worship then the One and none besides,
Be saturated, body and mind, in His love,
O Nanak! Through the Grace of the Master, is that One
realized.6
GURU ARJAN
If ever thou hast a wish, ask the Lord for its fulfilment,
It shall be granted unto thee, the Master is witness thereto.
Boundless riches come from Him and so doth the Elixir of Life,
Merciful is the dispeller of all fears and ever abideth with His
slave.7
GURU RAM DAS
I pray to Thee, O Lord, the Lord Thou art of my body and soul.
Nanak attributes his greatness to Thee, for none knew him ever
before.8
GURU ARJAN
Thou art the woof and warp, O Lord, and I pray unto Thee,
For Thou art my altar, whether in pleasure or in pain I be.9
GURU RAM DAS
In vain we pray to the people of the world full of troubles as
they are,
Pray alone to the Lord if wishest thou to cross the ocean of
life.10
GURU ARJAN

8 Prayer
 In the holy Koran, it is clearly stated that God alone need be invoked,
for an invocation to Him is the only true invocation in the correct sense
of the word.
Similarly, Abraham, while denouncing his own followers, declared:
I leave you and all the gods that you worship.
I just call upon my God and I am confident that I shall not
remain empty-handed.
Again he addressed them thus:
O ye faithful, let us unite and come to a common ground - the
ground of Divinity - and worship none else but God and
consider not anyone else on par with Him, for none can equal
Him.11
KORAN
The instinct of love cannot come into play unless one sees the beloved.
As long as we do not see Godhead or the glory of God, we cannot have
any faith in the existence of God; and without this all prayers go in vain.
But Guru or Godman is the abode of God’s Light and is a radiating centre
of the same. We can pray with equal efficacy to the Master, who is at one
with God. Connected as he is with the Powerhouse behind him, he is
equally competent to grant our desires and fulfil our wishes. It is said
that,
God manifests Himself in the form of a Sadh (a disciplined
soul).12
GURU ARJAN
Again, the Bible tells us:
Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret
unto his servants, the prophets.13

In Gurbani we have:
God speaks through a Sadh.
GURU ARJAN

Whom to address 9
 A Muslim divine tells us:
His (the Master’s) words are Allah’s (God’s) words, though
seemingly these may appear to be coming from a human
tongue.

A prayer to the living Master is as good as a prayer to God. One must,

therefore, wholly and solely depend on the Master and turn to Him for
the fulfilment of his desires.
So all prayers should be addressed to one who holds the mystery of
life and death in his hands. We must have perfect faith in the living God,
who lives and moves amongst us in a human form. With the attention
fully focused on Him, we ought not to think of anyone else. This is the
one way we can commune with Him. Kabir Sahib tells us that distance
does not count in the relationship between the Master and the disciple.
The two may be separated by vast oceans in between, but the very thought
of the Master, in the disciple, is bound to attract the Master’s attention
and he can direct him (the disciple) wherever he may be. It is said of
Vivekananda that when he rose to address the World Parliament of Re-
ligions in Chicago he felt diffident. He asked for a glass of water, closed
his eyes for a moment, and thought of his Master (Paramhansa Ramakr-
ishna, the sage of Dakshineshwar) and in an instant the floodgates of in-
spiration opened within him, and he delivered an unprecedented and im-
passioned discourse lasting for several hours. A Godman is a veritable
king, and at his door all the mighty kings of the earth bow down their
heads in humble supplication and seek the fulfilment of their cherished
desires and attainment of their otherwise unattainable ambitions.
Guru Arjan says in this context:
He has within his controlling power all the potentates,
Nay, the vast creation itself is under his sway.
His will reigns supreme everywhere,
And nothing lies outside his Divine Will;
O offer thy prayer to thy Master alone,
For he shall fulfil all thy heart’s desires.

10 Prayer
 His seat is in the highest heavens, and
Devotion unto him lies in communion with His Word.
All-pervading, He is complete in Himself,
And His light shines in every heart,
His remembrance dispels all sorrows,
Even the angel of death does not come near his devotee.
The dead come to life by the Power of His Word, and
The lowliest and the lost are received and honoured.
O, Nanak! Thy prayer has been heard and accepted, and
Through the Grace of the Master,
His Light has been made manifest within.15

A Godman has within his grasp all that one may need - the gifts of
Dharma, Artha, Kaama and Moksha (the merits of righteousness, earthly
riches and possessions, fulfilment of wishes and desires, and salvation it-
self).
If one wants any of the four great boons
He must take to the service of a Sadh.
If one wishes to have riddance from affliction and sorrow,
One must commune with the Word, in the depths of one’s soul.
If one is after name and fame,
One must lose his ego in the company of a saint.
If one be afraid of the pangs of birth and death,
One must seek shelter at the lotus feet of a saint.16
GURU ARJAN
From the above it is abundantly clear that we must go in prayer unto
God or a Godman, and after being able to commune with Him, we should
depend on Him alone and not on any other power; for He alone is capable
of drawing one out from the mighty swirls and eddying pools of mind
and matter, and of applying a healing balm to the lacerated hearts torn by
wild desires and temptations. He is the strength of the weak, the sheet an-
chor in the storm and stress of life and a haven of safety for the homeless.
His glance of Grace soothes the broken hearts.

Whom to address 11
 A perfect Master attends to the heart,
And from heart to heart, a life impulse darts.
BHAI NANDLAL
It behoves a disciple to unhesitatingly unburden his mind to his Master
and place his difficulties before him, wherever he may be, for the Master
is above time and space and can attend to his disciple’s tale of woe.
Rip open thy mind before thy Master;
Cast aside all thy cunning and cleverness, and
Take refuge, body and soul, at His feet.17
GURU ARJAN
In the holy Koran, we have:
Except him, there is none who listens to the woeful tale of the
distressed and the agonized cry of the helpless and renders
solace unto him.

Christ’s remarks in this behalf are significant enough:

That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name,
He may give it you.18
If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.19

Since God or a Godman is the treasure house of all blessings, we must

offer our prayer to either of Them and to none else.

12 Prayer
 4. A Direct Appeal to God Within

I n worldly matters, we do seek the help of persons who are more intel-
ligent and capable than we are. We also offer prayers for aid to God -
the greatest power conceivable - and that, no doubt, is a correct approach
to the difficult and baffling problems which confront us every day in the
course of our lives. But to regard that Omnipotent Power as something
separate and apart from us, and to appeal to Him as to an outside benefactor,
is assuredly a sorrowful mistake which is made by us; for he is the very
soul of our soul, and is ever working within and without us, and we, in
fact, live and have our very being in Him. The secret of success lies in
direct prayer and appeal to the power within, as these bear sure fruit and
in abundance. We do a great injustice both to Him and to ourselves when
we think of God residing on snow-capped mountains, or under the depths
of sacred rivers and water-springs, or in temples and mosques, or in church-
es and synagogues, or in this or that holy place. Limited as we are in time,
space and causation, we try to limit the Limitless within the narrow grooves
that imagination can conceive of. Such belief on our part and consequent
frustrations that result therefrom not infrequently tend to make us sceptical
of Him.
When the reservoir of all power is in each one of us, we can, by a dip
therein, become spiritually great and powerful. As physical exercises
make us robust and strong physically, so do spiritual exercises awaken
in us latent spiritual powers. By means of these we can pull up the sluice
gates and thus flood our very being with Divine Currents. When a person
becomes Divinised or Divinity Personified, the very Nature, which is the
handmaid of God, begins to dance at his beck and call to fulfil all his
needs and requirements.
A strong will does forge ahead and make a way for itself. We do, at
times, by praying to some supposed powers without, succeed in our en-
deavours. Such success is in fact due to a little concentrated effort on our
part rather than to any outside agency. In this way we not only deceive

A direct appeal to god within 13

ourselves, but gradually perpetuate the self-deception to the extent that
in course of time it becomes a part of us, and we cannot but look upon
God as something extraneous to us, and the worst of it is that we do not
at all come in contact with the untold treasures of Divinity that lie within
us and constitute our own heritage. It is only after the inner contact with
Him has been established that we can truly understand His pervasiveness
in the Universe and see His glory everywhere. Without this direct per-
ception and first-hand experience of Him within, our conception of God
is just hearsay or bookish and hence erroneous, and our prayers to Him
a meaningless jargon.

14 Prayer
 5. Prayer and Effort

P rayer and effort go cheek by jowl. We pray to God for what? For the
success of our endeavours. Should we wish for a thing, we must try
for it, and alongside our efforts to achieve it, pray that God may grant it.
Prayer is just the last weapon and a sure one that comes to our aid. Where
all human efforts fail, prayer succeeds.
... More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.
TENNYSON
As a bird cannot fly on one wing only, nor a chariot move on one
wheel, so effort and prayer must go together if we want success in all our
ventures. One of them by itself can achieve nothing. As long as a person
is not fully Divinised, or in other words does not become a conscious co-
worker with the Supreme Power by understanding His Will, he cannot
do without endeavour, for God helps those who help themselves.
A mere prayer without endeavour seldom bears fruit. Just take the in-
stance of a boy who is late for school. If he were to sit down on the road-
side to pray, he would be running against time. If he wants to gain time,
he must run and it is possible that even if he be late his teacher may forgive
him because of the effort he has made to reach there in time. To have a
ruling passion for an objective and to work hard for achieving the same
is the right type of prayer in the truest sense of the word. Effort should
be combined with prayer, for mere lip service to reach the goal will not
help much. In all sincerity one should pray, and indeed the very striving
for a thing with heart and soul is the greatest prayer and is bound to fruc-
tify. In all trials and tribulations, one must try to rid himself of his weari-
ness and pray to God that He may help him in his endeavours. This is the
only right attitude. In the Koran, it is said that when Moses and Aaron
prayed for victory over the Pharaoh, God, accepting their prayers, com-
manded them to stand steadfast and not to follow the tracks of those who
were ignorant of the Reality. Moses, too, commanded his followers to be

Prayer and Effort 15

true and seek the help of God. In moments of storm and stress, never
grow disheartened, especially as you stand on the bedrock of God and
Godman. If, in spite of this, you fail in your endeavours, then take that
failure as coming from God for your good.

16 Prayer
 6. The Essentials of Prayer
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children, how much more shall your Father which is in
Heaven give good things to them that ask Him.20
CHRIST

A prayer never goes in vain. A cry from the heart is always heard and at-
tended to; but how, and in what manner, depends on the Will of God.
A prayer of a devotee never goes in vain.21
Whatever a devotee asks of Him, that cannot but happen.22
He doth grant whatever is asked of Him,
O Nanak! The words of a devotee prove true here and
hereafter.23
GURU ARJAN
In the Sikh scriptures it is mentioned that the Father God ordained that
He would freely give whatsoever His children may ask of Him.
The Ever-kind Father has pledged to fulfil what His children
may desire.24
GURU ARJAN
The Holy Koran likewise vouchsafes this very idea when it states:
God has said, “Call upon Me and I shall accept thy call.”

And again:
O Rasul! Whenever any person enquires of Me, tell him that I
reside in him and I listen to his prayers whatever the same
may be.

In the Gospel of St. Matthew we have:

Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and
it shall be opened unto you:
For everyone that asketh receiveth; And he that seeketh
findeth; And to him that knocketh it shall be opened.25

The essentials of prayer 17

 In actual experience, however, we find that most of our prayers do not
bear any fruit. We have, therefore, to study the question critically as to
what type of prayer is acceptable to God, how that prayer is offered, and
why all prayers are not accepted. For success in prayers there are certain
essential prerequisites:
(i) Faith in God is the root cause of success. We may deceive ourselves
and those around us, but we cannot deceive the inner power - God. In of-
fering prayers, we run a great handicap race. We are not true in our
thoughts, words and deeds. There is, in fact, no harmony among the three.
We depend too much on our own cunning, manoeuvring and scheming.
We have no confidence in God and His powers. Our prayers do not arise
from the depths of our soul. Far from being an anguished cry, we me-
chanically utter a few words of hurried prayer. It is just doing a lip service
to God which is not even skin deep. No wonder then that these perfunctory
and ceremonial prayers for form’s sake go in vain and are not heard. We
must realize that God is great, and that He knows our inmost thoughts
and the very working of our mind, and have faith in His munificence, for:
He knows what lies within the folds of our mind,
And is fully aware of the afflictions of all: the virtuous and
the vile.
GURU GOBIND SINGH
(ii) Surrender to God. With faith in God, the next step automatically
is to surrender one’s all at the feet of God. When the little self loses itself
in the greater Self, the latter works and acts for and on behalf of the former.
In such a case there hardly remains the need of actual prayer.
O mind! Be acceptable to thy Lord,
Be ye all humble and lowly unto Him.26
GURU ARJAN
(iii) Love for God is another prerequisite for successful prayers. We
ought to be grateful to Him for what He has done for us without our
asking, before we ask Him for further boons. We must love and respect
His commandments and strictly follow them. We bow down a thousand

18 Prayer
times before Him, but we do not, unfortunately, take His words seriously.
Little do we realize that He is not apart from His words.
If ye love me, keep my commandments.27
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you,
Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.28
CHRIST
Delight yourself also in the Lord; and He shall give the desires
of thine heart.29
THE PSALMS
(iv) Right attitude is another essential for expecting favours of God.
Right attitude may be considered in relation both to God and to man. “He
that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayers shall be
abomination.”
And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His
commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His
sight.

Again, if we want God to forgive our trespasses, we must be prepared

to forgive freely the trespasses of others.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors . . .
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will
also forgive you.
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your
Father forgive your trespasses.30
CHRIST
(v) Fear of God. We do not live in fear of the Lord. He is the very soul
of our souls, but we shamelessly do things in secret as if He knows them
not. We feel ashamed to do a sinful act in the presence of a toddler of ten-
der years, but have not even that much regard for the King of kings en-
throned within us and looking not only to all our deeds, but even reading
our thoughts and knowing the drift of our instincts and propensities lying
in the limbo of our subconscious mind. His fear alone can make us fearless

The essentials of prayer 19

of the world, but unfortunately we live in a state of perpetual fear of all
and sundry and go about cringing petty favours here and there.
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him.31
THE PSALMS
Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.32
ST. MARK
(vi) Purification. Purity of body, mind and soul is the most important
factor in winning the love of the Lord. It may be considered in three dif-
ferent stages - Repentance, Forgiveness and Abstention.
(a) Repentance. Nothing under heaven is perfect and each one of us
has his own weaknesses. Sin has come to man as a heritage from Adam.
Mind in man is the agent of the Negative Power, and it misses no oppor-
tunity to tempt man against God. In daily life we slip at every step. Our
best resolves turn into airy nothings when temptations assail us. Unaided
we cannot possibly escape from the cunning wiles, subtle snares and wild
clutches of Kal or the Lord of Time, i.e., the mind. It is only the saving
arm of the Master that can protect us and rid us of its terrible onslaughts.
But every time that we fall prey to temptations we must realize our weak-
ness and sincerely repent for what we have done.
(b) Forgiveness. Repentance, though good in itself, cannot alter the
past. Each act of omission or commission leaves its indelible impression
on the mind and singles us out for its reaction or fruit. In this way countless
Karmic impressions go on accumulating day in and day out, making ad-
ditions to our Sanchit Karmas (a vast storehouse of unfructified actions).
Nobody can escape from this tremendous load which has a far-reaching
effect, extending sometimes to hundreds of lives and over. Is there no
remedy, then, to burn away the powder magazine before it blows us up?
The saints tell us that there is a way and a sure one indeed. Prayer for for-
giveness is a positive weapon in the hands of a sinner. There is hope for
everybody including the sinners. Saints come into the world to save the

20 Prayer
sinners and the lost. An association with a Master-soul goes a long way
in liquidating the Karmic account. While He forgives in His Saving Grace
our daily lapses, He at the same time enjoins abstention from repetition
of the same. “So far and no further,” is their admonition. “Go and sin no
more,” was the usual advice with Christ and Master Sawan Singh too,
who used to advise his disciples to make a halt wherever they were and
to sin no more. The past actions can be washed off, provided we refrain
from sowing any more of the dragon’s teeth.
(c) Abstention. While repentance and forgiveness help us in escaping
the effect of Kriyaman or day-to-day acts, we have yet to guard against
future repetitions. No purificatory process can help us through unless we
put a stop to the incessant round of the Karmic wheel, which gains mo-
mentum from our every act.
At times a magistrate may award a lesser penalty for a crime but that
may not ennoble the criminal. In the dispensation of the Master, there is
always the stern admonition which is so necessary an element in keeping
a person on his guard. He has to wash a sinner clean so as to fit him for
his journey Homeward. Like a Master-sculptor, he has to chisel hard to
bring shape and form out of a formless piece of stone.
In brief, it is necessary that we must first of all mould our life according
to the instructions of the Master, and feel a genuine delight in thinking
of Him. Secondly, we must understand His Will and pray for those things
that are to His liking; and thirdly, we must learn to accept smilingly His
decrees whatever they be.
Last but not least, love is the soil on which life thrives the most. A
lover gives and never takes favours. If one tries to live a godly life, all
God’s favours automatically flow down to him. One who loves God need
not ask for any favour. It is enough for us to dedicate our very life to Him
and become His bound slaves. It is up to Him to treat us as He wishes.
To live in His Holy Presence is its own reward and there can be no reward
greater and richer than this.

THE ESSENTIALS OF PRAYER 21

 Downright heresy it is to pray,
To ask God to take the calamity away.
Maulana Rumi
Thy frowns are fairer far
Than the smiles of many maidens are.
Coleridge
There is exhilarating sweetness
Even in thy frowns, O Master.33
GURU ARJAN

22 Prayer
 7. Hurdles in the Way of Prayer

S ome feel that when God knows even the innermost secrets of our
minds, wherein lies the need for prayer? Some others think that when
God is to grant a gift for the asking, we may in ignorance ask for things
that may ultimately be harmful or injurious to us and we may have to re-
pent for our folly. Still others believe that God, who is more than our
earthly father, knowing what is good for His children would provide that
without our asking and keep back that which may be detrimental to our
interest. Despite all these arguments, the saints insist on offering prayers.
Doubtless God knows our needs:
Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask
Him.34
CHRIST
His greatness lies in His Omniscience.35

GURU ARJAN
He knows the secret of every heart,
And what lies hidden underneath.
GURU GOBIND SINGH
My Kirdgaar (Creator) knows my needs much better than I do.
A MUSLIM DIVINE
Still the underlying object in offering prayer is that we may know and
understand our needs, be prepared for the fulfilment of the same when
the time comes and be thankful to Him.
We are thy children, O Master,
Grant thou the gift of right understanding.36
To the ignorant children, Father giveth the light.37
GURU RAM DAS
Sometimes it might seem that our prayers for riddance from calamities
are not heeded, but in all certainty we do get from them fortitude enough
to withstand the calamities, and strength to successfully combat them
without feeling their sting and their pinching effect.

Hurdles in the Way of Prayer 23

 8. How to Overcome Inner Difficulties

H eart is the pulpit for offering prayer and must, therefore, be cleaned
and purified before we engage in prayer.
(i) Purity of heart consists in respectful and humble attitude toward
God free from all cares and anxieties of the world.
The All-knowing Himself sets everything right,
To Him, O Nanak, Offer ye thy prayer.38
GURU ANGAD
With folded hands offer thy prayers.39
GURU ARJAN
(ii) Humility born of helplessness, coupled with confidence and faith
in Him.
(iii) Loving Devotion. Next we have to still the mind to make it free
from the mental oscillations that continuously pull it this way and that.
To achieve stillness of the mind we have to find within some centre or
pole to which it may be drawn time and again, so that gradually we suc-
ceed in stilling the mind at will. Until such ground is found, an aspirant
is in a very delicate and slippery state. As he withdraws from the outer
world and its associations, and waits for the dawn of the new world, he
is haunted by countless seed impressions hitherto lying buried in the depth
of unconsciousness. One can free himself from these either by right con-
templation or by seeking aid through prayer to the Power within. The
surest and the easiest way to cross over these hurdles is to think of the
form of the Master and to fix one’s attention in that form. This “tapping
inside” or “knocking” as it grows continuous and steady, gradually forces
open the “Way in” bringing to view endless vistas of spiritual visions and
rapturous strains of Divine Symphonies.
Again there are myriads of obstacles in the inner path. Sometimes an
aspirant gets no response to his prayers and begins to doubt their efficacy.

24 Prayer
At other times far removed from God, he finds himself in a strange and
vast stillness and feels his own vibrations. Others get entangled in the deep
darkness behind the eyes and cannot penetrate into the Beyond. So bewil-
dering and complicated are these regions of darkness and silence that one
feels he has lost his way. In spite of his best efforts, he totters over and
over again, tries to stand on his legs but slips over. This is indeed a very
sad and delicate situation. By his unaided efforts he cannot safely come
out of this labyrinth. It is in such weird and eerie surroundings that instruc-
tions from a Master-soul can be of avail to him. These are just a few of
the countless difficulties with which this path is strewn. The Negative
Power has a regular network of pitfalls to thwart designs even of the wisest
and wariest of souls, and by all kinds of wiles tries to ambush the weary
traveller on the path. Its triumph lies in keeping the Jivas or embodied
souls entirely in its clutches so that its sway over them remains undimin-
ished and its glory undimmed. One can escape these dark forces only
through the help of one who has himself conquered them, for such forces
live in fear of him and do not molest a soul that is in league with him. The
long arm of the Master and his strong hand can lead a Jiva unscathed
through all dangers with which the inner path is beset at every step.

How to Overcome Inner Difficulties 25

 9. The Three Types of Prayer

T here are three ways of offering a prayer:

(i) Vocal or oral: That is to say a prayer offered by means of tongue

or words of mouth. It consists in repeating some set prayer as recorded
in scriptures or as given by this or that Mahatma as a “model prayer”.
Some feel that such prayers are not of much consequence. A prayer, in
fact, is not a mere repetition of particular words but an anguished cry of
an individual soul arising from its deepest depths. Such oral prayers may
be likened to borrowed clothes which never fit the borrower. As models
these are very valuable and we should try to make such impassioned ap-
peals directly from the innermost recesses of our mind, truly depicting
our feelings and emotions.
(ii) Mental: A prayer may be repeated by the tongue of thought alone.
This can be done only when one can prepare a suitable ground for it within
himself. One must see the presence of God and be able to concentrate his
thoughts before offering a thanksgiving to Him, making free and frank
confessions of all his shortcomings and seeking His aid in all his endeav-
ours. It is an art, and like any other art requires a great deal of patience
and steadfastness, such as is necessary in learning music or painting. To
start with, the mind has to be trained and stilled by constant thought of
the Master, which works like a goad (the steel rod used by Mahouts or
elephant drivers for keeping the animal under control). After offering
such a prayer, one must for some time wait for His grace or blessedness,
which “descends like a gentle dove,” says Christ. With it also comes peace
that thrills one throughout from head to foot. Once a person tastes of this,
he feels a perfect satiation within himself. The infatuation of the world
with its wondrous charms falls off like a discarded and a long-forgotten
thing in the limbo of the past. In the world, he is now no longer of the
world. What a wondrous change indeed! Some people consider this as
the be-all and end-all of spirituality. But this is not the case. This change

26 Prayer
in outlook is but a precursor or a harbinger of the advent of the luminous
form of the Master - and much more thereafter.
(iii) Spiritual: For true spirituality, a Sadhak has yet to wait and watch.
As he continues his Sadhna, he occasionally transcends his physical body
and meets the Master in his self-refulgent form. Thence onward countless
vistas of spiritual scenes unfold themselves before his inner vision. These
are beyond description. While yet a denizen of this world, he gets an
access to higher regions, from whence come nothing but blessedness.
Here he gets dyed through and through in the true colour of pure spiritu-
ality. Now he is no more “worldly-wise” as he used to be, but is charged
with spirituality. He is altogether transformed into a person established
in his Divinity or God-head. This may be termed mystical prayer. In this
type of prayer an aspirant has nothing to do. It is all wrought by the Master.
Once he takes charge of the soul, it becomes his responsibility to work
out this transformation by gradually eliminating all traces of dross and
converting the soul into pure gold. Even a most elementary experience
of this stage sets at rest all doubts and misgivings. It is enough to awaken
a soul into Cosmic Awareness, and from then onward it is established on
its own and is no longer a prey to scepticism. In its naked pristine glory
it cries out - “I am the soul” or “I am as Thou art” or “I am Brahm.”

The Three Types of Prayer 27

 10. Loud Prayers

P rayers when uttered loudly do for the time being work like a lever in
lifting the mind upward and bring about a sobriety, but as we do not
understand their proper value and significance, these do not help in prepar-
ing the ground for raising the spiritual superstructure. On the contrary,
we often feel entangled in public applause and approbation. The result,
more often than not, is that we fall an easy prey to self-deception. As
these do not come from the depth of the soul, they sound hollow without
a single true ring in them. They may be used to capture the imagination
of an audience for the moment, but do no ultimate good to those engaged
in it, either as performers or as listeners. These at times create physical
sensation and bring about a trance but do not lead to Conscious Awareness,
which can only come with self-knowledge. God cannot be cowed down
by loud and strong words nor does He need them. He is the very soul of
our soul and can hear the faintest and feeblest tread of an ant. He knows
our wants even more than we do, and long before we even feel them. The
riches of spirituality do not at all come with loud professions or protes-
tations. A prayer in the deep silence of the mind and uttered with the
tongue of thought alone is capable of bearing any fruit.
The rest is all in vain.
Call upon thy God in all humility and in all silence.
You need not shout, for He knows everything.
KORAN
He hears an ant’s call before he does the trumpet of an
elephant.40
GURU GOBIND SINGH

28 Prayer
 11. Individual and Public Prayers

I n individual prayer, there is, of course, no need to utter words loudly.

One has just to change the course of one’s thoughts from one channel
to another. In it, mental Simran is quite enough.
What is there in the quest of God?
Transplant the mind and see Him in all.
SHAH INAYAT
In public prayers we generally lose sight of real personal emotions and
in spite of ourselves drift into hyperbole. In a prayer like this, there is no
harmony between the mind and the tongue. Divorced from personal feel-
ings, we are thinking only of the public applause of the moment. All the
time we try to play upon the feelings of the audience, so as to draw more
offerings from their pockets or tears from their eyes or words of praise
for our accomplishment. These are more or less ceremonial prayers, mostly
offered on the occasion of Urs or anniversary of the birth or death of var-
ious saints. Both Qawwalis among the Muslims and Kirtans among the
Hindus fall into this category.
These set prayers are simply the outpourings of devotees in the past
and not the spontaneous emotional outbursts of those who recite them,
and as such are not likely to be accepted, nor do they bear any appreciable
fruit or make any lasting impression on the participants on such occasions,
whether the singers or the hearers. An arrow that does not take its flight
right from the archer’s bow-string, strung well down to the chest, hardly
hits the target. Similarly, mere oral prayers, not coming out of the depths
of the soul, fail to reach the Godman, who is also the very soul of our
soul and is already aware of our needs more than we ourselves are.

Individual and Public Prayers 29

 12. Congregational Prayers

T he same may be said of congregational prayers which too fall under

the above head. These are offered in temples and mosques, churches
and synagogues, gurdwaras and other sacred places. The man at the pulpit
gives the sermon and the audience mechanically hears it, or he reads a
prayer and the congregation just repeats it in a chorus. Except for some
honourable exceptions, the rest just walk in for the weekly or monthly
service, as the case may be, for form’s sake. If such prayers do not create
in us a longing for God, they avail nothing. This is the most elementary
service that is expected from such prayers and if that too is not achieved,
nothing is gained therefrom.
Such services, if conducted on proper lines, can do a lot of good to the
people. We may pray in all humility for the welfare of humanity in general,
which is a universal cause and dear to God. It is a powerful instrument
that has been responsible for building nations and welding together so-
cieties.
O Nanak! Great is His name.
May there be welfare of all under Thy Will, O Lord.
Guru Nanak
O God! Put us on the right path,
Make us steadfast in faith,
Grant us mercy, O Allah,
None is more merciful than Thee.
O God! Forgive us our trespasses,
And ignore our high-handedness,
Make us true in Thy Path,
And grant us victory over the unbelievers and the unfaithful.
KORAN
The object of such prayers is either to ennoble ourselves or to benefit
the audience or to tell God of universal sufferings or some needs of hu-
manity in general or, in the last resort, to ingratiate and push ourselves

30 Prayer
into public favour by a show of religiosity. Prayers offered and services
conducted with the last of these motives are, of course, not only quite
useless but definitely harmful and must therefore be avoided at all costs.
In Sura Baqar of the Koran, it is stated:
O God! If we err either in our endeavour or in practice, do not
call Thou us on that account; but forgive us our
shortcomings.
O God! Never put us to hard trials and never impose on us
restrictions and obligations as were ordained in times past.
O God! Do not put a heavy load on us which we may not have
the strength to bear.
O God! Forgive us our transgressions and shower Thy blessings
on us, for Thou art our Lord and Master; to whom may we
turn except unto Thee. Grant us Thy victory and glory against
the unbelievers and the unfaithful.

Congregational Prayers 31
 13. Place for Prayer

F or prayer one needs no specific place. It grows best and thrives most
on a leavened heart. All that is needed is a quiet place, free from the
hubbub of the world or other distracting factors. It may be done within
doors or without. Even one’s sleeping room can serve the purpose or just
a part of it if the whole be not available. In the absence of any place at home,
one may walk down to a temple or a mosque, a church or a synagogue, for
all such places are meant to satisfy this need of the public. If none of these
are near at hand, one can by himself, while walking, sitting, or lying down
along a river bank or a mountain side, do Simran as ordained by the Master
and commune with God and place before Him his inner feelings. Of course
the entire world is God’s creation and can be used as such.
This world is the abode of God, and God truly lives in the
world.41
GURU ANGAD
Blessed becomes the place where one sits down to pray. The whole
earth is sacred and one may offer his prayer wherever he likes.
Mosque is the Earth and as holy it is,
Pray ye the faithful when the time comes,
Care not for the place wherever it be.
ALAMSAEEN
God has created the whole world and He is the Lord of it all. He does
not live in temples and mosques made by human hands. He, being spirit,
can be worshipped in spirit only.
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He
is Lord of Heaven and Earth, dwelleth not in temples made
with hands.42
ST. PAUL
All is holy where devotion kneels.
O. W. HOLMES

32 Prayer
 God is the Master of East and West
Turn whichsoever side thou may,
God shall look thee in the face,
For He pervades in all the space.43
KORAN
Human body is the temple of God, and it befits man to worship God
in the God-made temple in which He resides. We, on the contrary, run
out to man-made temples and mosques outside to offer our prayers.
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God,
and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?44
ST. PAUL
This body is the temple of God (Hari Mandir),
The true pearl of Jnana comes to shine in it.45
GURU AMAR DAS
Thy mind is the mosque,
Let thou be the worshipper therein.
A Muslim Divine
God can be best worshipped in the body. One need not wander from
place to place like a shuttlecock. All glory and beauty lies within you.
Outside the human body all structures are made of water and clay. The
Vedas, the Puranas, the Koran, and the Gospel, all repeat the same tale.
The Beloved is in the House,
I search for Him high and low without.
While the pitcher full of water stands beside,
Woe unto me for wandering athirst.
A MUSLIM DIVINE
But thou when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou
hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and
thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.46
CHRIST

Place for Prayer 33

 Here a question might arise as to why God, who is in the body, is not
visible to us. It may be explained that our eyes of flesh can see material
things only. They are too gross to behold the Divine Glory of the most
subtle. Unless the power of vision comes into conformity with the density
of the object, we cannot see the object. It is, therefore, only the Inner Eye
that can, when opened, see Him.
Different are the eyes, O Nanak,
That behold the vision of God.47
GURU ARJAN
O remove the scales from my eyes,
And show me the face of the True One.
KABIR
Again:
Rise up to the level of God,
Then alone shalt thou see Him.48
When thou closest the ten outlets of thy body,
The Light of God shall shine in thee.49
GURU ARJAN
If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of
light.50
CHRIST
True prayer consists in withdrawing the spirit within with a pure mind
and fully devotional attitude. Such a prayer cannot but bear fruit in abun-
dance and in no time.

34 Prayer
 14. Prerequisites in Prayer
(i) Need of Godman. As a prayer is to be addressed to someone, it is but
necessary that we must first have a firm belief in the existence of the
Being whom we address. We have as yet no experience of God, and have
therefore no conception of Him nor of His powers. Our knowledge of
Him, however little it may be, is a secondary one, derived from the study
of books or heard from persons as ignorant of Him as we are. In such a
state we can contemplate nothing. But there may be a person who may
have a direct knowledge of God and be inwardly in tune with the Infinite.
There is a peculiar charm in his company. His weighty words of wisdom
at once sink deep into the mind. His utterances, charged with His power,
have a magnetic influence. One feels a kind of serenity and an inward
calm in his holy presence. He does not reason of God. He simply talks
of Him with authority, because he has a firsthand knowledge of Him and
consciously lives in Him every moment of his life. Such a person may
be termed a Prophet, a Messiah, or a Godman. The Gospel tells us that
God speaks through His Prophets or the chosen Ones. It is but a natural
thing. Man alone can be a teacher of man, and for God’s science we must
have some Godman to teach us that. Sant Satguru is the pole from where
God’s Light is reflected. From him alone we can know of the Path leading
to God; and he can be a sure guide who can be depended upon, in weal
or woe, both here and hereafter.
He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father. . .
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me.51
CHRIST
From what has been said above, it naturally follows that Godman or
Sant Satguru is the right person to be approached in the first instance and
to whom all our prayers should be addressed. Faith is the keynote of suc-
cess in all our endeavours. We must, then, have firm and full faith in the
competency of the Master. With love and humility we must make an ap-
proach to him if we want to make a beginning in Spiritual Science. We
must pray to him sincerely from the depth of our heart. We should think

Prerequisites in Prayer 35
it fortunate indeed if in his grace he accepts us for imparting knowledge
of Para Vidya - the Science of knowledge of Self and knowledge of God
- which in fact is the seed-knowledge from which all knowledge springs.
(ii) Complete Absorption. The next essential in this connection is com-
plete absorption. While offering prayer we must forget everything else,
including our body and our bodily relations. Singleness of purpose is a
sine qua non for hitting the target. It is common knowledge that one
cannot serve two Masters at one time. We have to choose between God
and Mammon and then forget the other. One by one we have to slip
through the various sheaths enveloping the soul like funeral shrouds in
their folds. The spirit is a living entity and cannot move ahead unless it
discards the material appendages in which it is wrapped - physical, mental
and causal. By complete absorption these drop off one by one of their
own accord, leaving the spirit free for flights in the spiritual regions. Mo-
hammedans call this absorption Fana-fil-Sheikh, which ultimately leads
to Fana-fil-Allah, thus completing the journey from Fana to Baqa (from
death to immortality).
(iii) Truthfulness and Contentment. Our prayers can be fruitful only
when we are true to ourselves in all aspects of life. We must have right
thoughts, right aspirations, right contemplation, right livelihood and right
conduct. Purity in thought, word and deed must precede everything else.
Righteousness, chastity and truthfulness are all closely associated with
and actually spring from Brahmcharya (self-control), which is a great mo-
tive force in life. It is on the bedrock of Brahmcharya that all these things
grow and bear fruit.
Contentment is an active aid in controlling the wandering faculties of
the mind. Unless mental oscillations stop and stillness is achieved, we
cannot offer a true and sincere prayer. A stilled mind alone can reflect
God’s Light when it may dawn.
God is attracted swift and sure,
With prayer from mind contented and pure.52
GURU NANAK

36 Prayer
 To thine own self be true and then it must follow, as night the
day, thou canst not be false to any man.
SHAKESPEARE
(iv) Sincere and stirring sensation. Prayer must arise from the depths
of the soul. It should not be a vain repetition of empty words with little
meaning in them. What we pray for we must really wish for, not only in-
tellectually but from the very core of our being. It must churn the very
soul to its depths and the music of prayer should come out and tingle from
the very nerves, tissues and fibres of the entire frame making us unmindful
and oblivious of everything else beside the sweet music of the soul.
O Kabir! Why to the minaret goest the Imam for a call, for God
is not deaf,
Why not address thy call to the mind so that it goeth within.
(v) Spontaneity. A prayer being the cry of the soul in agony is most
beautiful and most natural when it gushes forth spontaneously like a spring
of cool water from the bowels of the Earth. It needs no embellishments
of particular words and peculiar phrases. On the contrary, such adornments
mar the true beauty of free expression, and very frequently the man of
prayer is imperceptibly drawn in and imprisoned in the net of verbiage.
All this makes a prayer artificial - a product of deliberate art divorced
from feelings. Such prayers make us false to ourselves and are not at all
beneficial. God is concerned with genuine emotions expressed in how-
soever simple words and not with set speeches, vain repetitions, osten-
tatious phraseology and learned expostulations.
Maulana Rumi has given us a beautiful illustration of a loving prayer
that a simple and unsophisticated shepherd boy was muttering in his own
humble way as Prophet Moses passed by him. He was saying:
O God! Where art Thou? I would like to serve Thee.
I would knit for Thee woolen garments and comb Thy hair.
I would like to serve Thee with milk, curd, cheese and clarified butter,
Tend Thee in Thine illness, kiss Thy hands and massage Thy feet.
I would like to make a sacrifice of all my sheep and goats for Thy sake.

Prerequisites in Prayer 37
 These words of the shepherd boy sounded as heresy to the Prophet,
who in a rage began to reprimand the boy saying: “Shut up your mouth,
O infidel. Why are you talking like a fool? Withdraw your insolent words
or else God will curse us with hell-fires for your blasphemy. God is not
a human being and He does not stand in need of any of the things that
you offer Him. He is a spirit, without any hands and feet, and you have
insulted Him with your idle talk.” Stung to the quick, the simple-hearted
boy tore his clothes, ran to the wilderness and wept bitterly for having
incurred the displeasure of God. In the intensity of his agony he lost his
consciousness, and behold, he saw within him the Light of God and heard
a sweet and kind voice assuring him that all his prayers, sincere as they
were, were acceptable to God and He was greatly pleased with him for
his offerings. On the other hand, when Moses went into his wonted med-
itation, he felt that God was sorely vexed with him for having driven a
loving soul away from Him. God reprimanded him:
“You came into the world for uniting people unto Me, and not
for separating those who were one with Me,”

and spake thus:

“Everyone remembers Me in his own words and according to his
own inner feelings. I have accepted all that the shepherd boy offered
Me spontaneously in his innocent and unpolished words as they
may appear to you, but I am highly displeased with you for having
driven him from his communing with Me. I am not affected by
words alone, for whatever they be, they do not in any way sanctify
Me but purify the heart of him who utters them. I see not to the
glossy words but to the heart and the inner sincerity that lies therein
behind the words, for it is from the abundance of heart that a man
speaks, no matter in what broken and uncouth words he may give
expression to his feelings. O Moses! There is a world of difference
between the learned, entangled in the etiquette of polished speech,
and the love-stricken hearts that give vent to what is within them,
the withered souls in the waste-land of the heart, lost to all sense of
decency and decorum as you would call it. Don’t you know that

38 Prayer
 even the Government does not impose any land revenue on a land
that is banjar or a waste? A martyr in God needs thy care and at-
tention. The religion of love is quite different from the religion of
set formalism and ritual, and for the lovers there is no religion higher
than that of God Himself. A jewel remains a jewel even if it has no
hallmark on it.”
When Moses heard these words, he felt terrified and went to the jungle,
found out the shepherd boy and said, “I have brought for you happy tid-
ings. God has accepted all your prayer and your seemingly heretic words
are as good as those of a devout, and your devotion is the light of your
body. Whatever comes to you from within, utter without any fear.” The
boy replied smilingly, “O Moses, I have now far transcended all the bar-
riers of the flesh. Your rebuke was enough to bring in me a great change.
Now I know the Great One and my condition is that which no words can
portray.”

Prerequisites in Prayer 39
 15. Time for Prayer

P rayer needs no specific time nor any particular hour. In fact, one can
pray without ceasing. It is an ebullition of spirit and like a volcano
may burst at any moment. Prayer should, however, be offered regularly
at any time during the day or night. Early morning hours and evening
twilight hours are, of course, very congenial and most suitable.
At the ambrosial hour of the early dawn,
Be ye in communion with the Divine Word,
And meditate on His glory.53
GURU NANAK
Most of us search for a time for prayer and unfortunately are so busy
that in the end we find no time at all. A prayer does not need any philo-
sophic dissertation or elaborate arrangement. One has just in loving faith
to express his inner urge in the simplest words possible. A true prayer
needs no particular time and place. We have to sit quietly in the temple
of the body, at the seat of the soul, and to gaze in between the eyebrows
and mentally repeat whatever charged words have been given to us by
the Master. That is more than enough of a prayer. But the trouble with us
is that we do not know how to pray. We may in a case like this simply
ask, “O Lord! Teach us how to pray.” In this respect, we can be guided
by the specimen prayers given by the various Masters.

40 Prayer
 16. Occasion for Prayer

W e generally pray when we are in distress and trouble, but when we

escape therefrom we begin thinking that we wrought liberation by
our own efforts and thereafter do not feel the need for prayer. We must
guard against such serious pitfalls. Prayer in fact is needed at every step.
When in difficulty, we must pray to escape therefrom. In distress, when
all else fails, the thought of the Omnipotent Father gives solace to the
mind. When success be in sight, then pray that you may not get elated
and puffed up and ask for God’s Grace and bounty for without these we
can never succeed. After the fulfilment of our desires or riddance from
difficulties, we must render thanks to the Almighty for His favours. When
God is the loving Father and we cannot do without Him at all, prayer
must become a part of our very being.

Occasion for Prayer 41

 17. Prayer and Sin

A mere confession of sins and shortcomings in prayer does not avail

anything. If we think that by mere confession our sins can be washed
off, and we can once again indulge in them freely we are wrong. Such an
attitude, far from being a saving force, keeps us perpetually down in sins.
Redemption is the gift that comes either from God or the Godman who
specifically comes for the benefit of sinners. Our job is just to understand
his commandments and to keep them scrupulously, leaving the rest to
him.
How may one know the Truth and break through the cloud of
falsehood?
There is a Way, O Nanak: To make His Will our own,
His Will which is already wrought in our existence.54
GURU NANAK
Every action has a reaction. Every act of omission or commission has
an appropriate penalty. We cannot escape from sin as long as we consider
ourselves as born of the flesh, for flesh is the root cause of all evils in the
world. Until a spirit learns to leave the sensual plane at will, enjoyments
and distractions do thrive like a bay tree.
Too much indulgence means distress,
Enjoyments lead ultimately to disease.
Pleasures cannot chase away pain,
Without His acceptance one wanders in the wilderness.55
GURU NANAK
God is all love. To think that it is because of our forgiveness that He
forgives us for trespasses, or else He would not do so, is to misunderstand
Him and makes a misuse of prayers as a means for doing more wrongs.
The man of God, on the other hand, has a twofold plan of Dispensation.
While granting forgiveness for faults on the one hand, He remonstrates
severely against repetition. “Thus far and no further,” is His admonition.

42 Prayer
“Go and sin no more”, was a familiar phrase with Christ when He used
to forgive the sinners. In this way He works out his purificatory process
and the spirit is chiselled into a shape and form that may be acceptable
to God.
Prayer per se cannot alter His Law of Dispensation nor help to reach
Him. It is only the loving and intense longing for God and strict obedience
to the commandments of the Godman that make a prayer a means leading
Godward. Love, and not loud prayers, is the cornerstone of God’s Law
of Redemption.
If we lovingly depend upon the strong arm of the Godman, his Grace
gushes out spontaneously from the fountain of love in him. “Reciprocity
in love” is proverbial indeed, and there is no limit to his saving Grace.
Even the penalty that he imposes is tinted with rays of love, with no trace
of rancour in it.

Prayer and Sin 43

 18. Prayers for Others

S ince all souls are of the same essence as of God and are correlated
with each other, one may as well pray for the benefit of others. High
souls always pray for the good of the entire humanity. They are not content
with the greatest good for the greatest number as is commonly sought by
the leaders of society. Their prayers generally end with the words: “O
God, do good unto all.”
The Muslims first pray for the Momins (their brethren in faith), and
thereafter for all the rest. The Buddhists likewise pray for all. Christ even
suggested prayer for one’s enemies. Amongst the Hindus it is a common
practice to close their prayers with a few charitable words for all living
creatures, great and small. Some people offer prayers for the ills of the
entire humanity and still others make use of it in the case of individual
ailments. Telepathy has now conclusively proved how heartstrings be-
tween individuals play in unison, irrespective of distance between the
two. There is a tremendous power in thought vibrations and their range
is unlimited. Is not the coming into being of the countless universes and
their dissolution the result of some thought-force, if we may be permitted
to use the phrase as indicative of God’s Will, no matter what we may call
it - Kalma, Word, Hukam, or Bhana. Thus the sympathetic chords between
the Master and the disciples carry silent messages of love to and fro be-
tween them with a force that is unimaginable. This wonderful relationship
one can establish with God. By being in tune with the Infinite, one can
by force of thought do a lot of good to others, as at bottom all are embed-
ded in the same soil, the Divine ground.

44 Prayer
 19. Acceptance of Prayers

I t is a common experience that most of our prayers get no response. The

reason for this is not hard to find. We have not yet learned the Will of
God and how that Will works entirely for our benefit. In our ignorance
we very often pray for things that in the long run are likely to do more
harm than good, and no wonder that the loving Father in His boundless
compassion for us does not accept such prayers, and they bear no fruit,
or else we would never be able to escape from sensual enjoyments.
Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss that ye may
consume it upon your lusts.
Again:
We ignorant of ourselves,
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good; so find we profit
By losing of our prayers.
SHAKESPEARE
George Meredith tells us to remember:
That he who rises from prayer a better man, his prayer alone is
answered.
Again, we generally pray to God for miracles and no wonder such
prayers are not granted.
Whatever a man prays for, he prays for a miracle.
Every prayer reduces itself to this: “Great God, grant that twice
two be not four.”
IWAN S. TURGENIEV
All the time we are living a sensual life and have not yet known that
there is another side of the picture as well - life beyond the senses. Most
of our prayers are, therefore, of a temporal nature, and if they were granted
without any exception we would naturally sink lower and lower in the

Acceptance of Prayers 45
scale of moral values, and our sins would increase more and more day
by day, and there would hardly be a chance to get out of these prison-
houses of the world and of the body and bodily enjoyments, with the
result that we would forever remain an exile from the Kingdom of God
– a Lost Province – with no hope for reunion.
When a disciple remembers the Master, he experiences within him a
soothing influence and a sort of Divine intoxication. This is known as
telepathy or sympathetic communication from heart to heart from a dis-
tance. In the same way we can, by tuning our attention with the Infinite,
draw upon the great reservoir of God-Power and utilize that for the benef-
icent good of others. For this purpose one has to unite his self in the Divine
ground wherein all are embedded, and from there pass on the heavenly
influence to the individual or society desired to be benefitted. In this at-
titude one has not to place the desires of others before the Creator, but
has simply to invoke His loving pleasure and await His Grace to work
out the desired result.
If Radio’s slim fingers can pluck a melody
From night, and toss it over a continent or sea,
Why should mortals wonder if God hears prayer?
ETHIL ROMING FULLER
But man is just a part of the creation and each individual but an in-
finitesimal speck therein. Gifted as we are with a limited vision, we do
not know and understand that Grand Plan, that “Mighty Maze” as Alexan-
der Pope, the Laureate of peace, puts it: It is indeed too much for “pre-
sumptuous man … so weak, so little and so blind,” a tiny part in the vast
machinery of His creation. Again the great poet tells us:
Heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate.
All but the page prescribed, their present state . . .
All nature is but art, unknown to thee;
All chance, direction, which thou canst not see;
All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good.

46 Prayer
 And, spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite,
The Truth is clear, “Whatever is, is right” . . .
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan,
The proper study of mankind is Man,
Chaos of thought and passion all confused...
Great Lord of all things, yet a prey to all,
Sole Judge of Truth, in endless error hurled.
Each one, therefore, from his narrow angle of vision prays for a thing
and knows not how it will fit in the Cosmic Order. In the hot and sultry
months, for example, people living in towns pray for a refreshing shower,
while in the rural areas peasants at the same time ask for more sunshine
and heat for ripening their corn.
Man looks not beyond his nose. He does not even know what is good
for him. Often he asks for things which, when granted, become a veritable
source of nuisance to him, and with much regret he has to retrace his
steps. The story of the “Golden Touch” is significant in this connection.
King Midas after much longing and prayer got the boon of converting
everything he touched into gold. After a few moments of happiness he
realized his mistake. The food he put into his mouth turned into a lump
of gold. The water as it touched his lips solidified into gold. His only
daughter as she came running and embraced him became a statue of gold.
As he went to the soft bed he found himself on hard metallic cushions.
God or Godman knows best. Our past and future are like an open book
to Him. He would never grant such prayers as are ultimately baneful to
us. How can the loving Father give to a child that which might prove a
poison to him? A Persian poet says:
My God is more anxious than myself to fulfil my needs,
All my endeavours in this behalf are but tortuous deeds.
One should pray to God for such gifts as He may consider beneficial.
O God, I know not what is good for me, for I am immersed head
and ears in the maze of the world.56
RAVIDAS

Acceptance of Prayers 47
 Khwaja Nizami prayeth:
O God! Thou alone art my well-wisher. Show me the way
whereby I may win Thy Grace and attain salvation.

In the holy Koran also it is stated that people ought to pray for that
which may be useful both in this world and in the next.

48 Prayer
 20. Need for Prayer

W e cannot win God either by flattery or by vain repetitions, nor does

He stand to gain or lose anything whether we offer prayers or not.
Compassionate as He is, His Grace is always at work in each and all alike
for we cannot live without It. We can, however, attract that Grace to our
advantage by becoming a fit receptacle for It. Humility and faith purify
the mind and make it a fit instrument for God’s Grace. These two aids
help in inverting the lotus of the mind which at present is attuned with
the senses. Unless we are able to turn its direction upward, God’s Grace
cannot flow directly into it. Prayers, humble and sincere, help in estab-
lishing a harmony between man’s and God’s Grace. He needs no forensic
arguments and legal acumen in defence of our deeds and needs. All that
is required is a pure and loving heart attuned to His Grace and the latter
is automatically attracted to it.
God is all Love, and we cannot ask Him to be more loving. He is Om-
niscient, and we cannot by loud and strong prayers make Him any wiser.
Perfection cannot be made more perfect by our protestations and prayers.
We must learn to “stand and wait” as the classic poet Milton puts it, and
His Grace shall of its own be attracted and flood our very being.
… God doth not need
Either man’s work or His own gifts; who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best; His state
Is kingly, thousands at His bidding speed
And post o’er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve, who only stand and wait.
JOHN MILTON
God is an unchangeable permanence and eternally the same:
He was when there was nothing;
He was before all ages began;
He existeth now, O Nanak,
And shall exist forevermore.57
GURU NANAK

Need for Prayer 49

 Eternity is ever in love with the products of time.
W.B. YEATS
The way to God’s Grace lies not in striving and crying. It is enough
for man to wait silently as a receptacle for Divine breath, which bloweth
where it listeth. It is merely by waiting and trusting that one arrives at the
Ultimate Truth, which cannot be apprehended at all except as it is focussed
upon the soul of man. Here lies the advantage of prayer which moulds a
correct attitude for approach to the Divine Will.
Wheresoever I turn my face, Thou art there,
Why should I pray to anyone else, when I see
Thou art there to listen to my prayer, O Lord.58
GURU ARJAN
Man’s only duty is to be ever grateful to God for His innumerable gifts
and blessings. On the contrary, we become so infatuated by them that we
not only lose Him but lose our own self also in the plenitude of His boun-
ties and more often than not are carried off our feet by the whirlwind of
desires.
We get attached to the gifts, forgetting the bountiful Lord.
For we have forgotten that we have to die some day.59
GURU ARJAN

50 Prayer
 21. The Advantages of Prayer

P rayer is the essence of spirituality. It affords a wonderful recreation

to the body, mind and soul. It brings in complete satisfaction and sa-
tiation, which nothing else can give. The peace, which comes with prayer,
is of a unique nature, quite unimaginable. A kind of serenity descends
upon the subliminal self within.
Prayer has in it a great dynamic force. It strengthens and befits a person
to face and fight the battle of life fearlessly and successfully. It is in fact
the only panacea for all types of ills: Adhi Bhutak (diseases and ailments),
Adhi Devak (accidents over which man has no control), Adhi Atmic (evil
propensities of the mind), and above all brings in inner peace and satiety.
It buckles a person with courage and fortitude and brings about a complete
reorientation.
Prayer is the key that unlocks the Kingdom of Heaven. It pulls up the
sluice gates and releases from within immense power and resourcefulness.
Where all human efforts fail, there prayer succeeds.

Lord Tennyson tells us:

... More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.

Even if prayer may seem to fail to avert calamity, yet it has the power
to take the sting out of it. With an inner transformation there comes a
change in the angle of vision, which greatly affects the outlook on life.
Everything puts on a new mantle of colour superbly Divine.
Last but not least, prayer opens our eyes to Reality and enables us to
see things in their true perspective. It gives new values to life and gradually
transports an individual into a New World and initiates him into a New
Order. With a life of prayer a person eventually rises into cosmic awareness
and sees the hidden hand of God working out His will and His purpose
which otherwise remains a sealed book too subtle for the average man to
pierce through and peep into. The more this inner contact is established,
the more Godhead is imbibed by the spirit. Only when a complete identi-
fication comes about does one become a conscious co-worker with Him.

The Advantages of Prayer 51

 22. Gradations in Prayers

In the course of time an aspirant begins to feel more and more the need
for spiritual uplift than for mere physical comforts. In Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad we have this prayer:
From the unreal lead me to the real, from darkness lead me to
light and from death lead me to immortality.

As soon as an aspirant begins to have inner experience, all worldly en-

joyments lose their charm. Having had an experience, howsoever little, of
the Unchangeable Permanence, he now finds no pleasure in the ever-chang-
ing objects of the world, subject as they are to gradual decay, disintegration
and ultimate dissolution. He asks no more for physical comforts.
What shall I pray for, when nothing is permanent.60
KABIR
The whole world is slavishly mad, following the Epicurean principle
“Eat, drink and be merry.” None has time to think of God and the inner
Self. But nothing in the world holds any attraction for a true aspirant. He
makes best use of whatever comes in his way and works but to satisfy
the bare needs of his body, and spends the rest of his time in Sadhna (spir-
itual discipline) so as to derive the greatest benefit for his soul.
For times without number have I drunk life to the lees.
Without Thy Saving Grace, O Lord! Nanak hath no release.61
GURU ARJAN
Hereafter the aspirant lives just for the manifestation of the God-head
within himself and to sing the glory of His name.
Let the lotus feet of the Master rest in the heart,
Let the tongue repeat His Holy Word,
To live a life of constant remembrance nurture ye this living
temple of the Lord.62
GURU ARJAN

52 Prayer
 While on this Path the pilgrim traveller realizes his ignorance, and
knowing his incapacity extends to God his hands in prayer:
O Lord! Make me swim safely to the other shore,
I know not swimming, extend to me Thy hand of help.63
NAMDEV
As his angle of vision changes, so does the nature of his prayer. At
first a person prays for the fulfilment of his physical needs; but when one
starts on the spiritual Path he prays for the removal of such obstacles as
come in his way, e.g. sense-turmoil, mental chattering, ingrained karmic
impressions.
This period is most critical in the life of a sadhak. Until actual self-re-
alization he is in a state of perpetual restlessness, tossing back and forth.
He belongs wholly neither to the world nor to God. While in the eyes of
worldly people he is a man of piety, yet in the heart of his heart he knows
he is full of iniquities.
Farid the sinful is still robed in black,
Though the people address him as Darvesh.
FARID SAHIB
In this state of uncertainty the sadhak at times tries to snap away and
escape from the struggle; but after a time the inner urge once again comes
upon him, and he takes courage and starts Godward.
Should a traveller while travelling fall down,
There is nothing to wonder and cavil at.
O Kabir! One who sits and starts not on the journey,
Has an immeasurable distance yet to traverse.

But until a person is able to subdue his senses and sensory organs and rid
the mind of oscillations, the kindly Light of God does not dawn upon him.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.64
If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.65
CHRIST

Gradations in Prayer 53
 He who controls his ten organs,
Heaven’s Light dawns within him.66
GURU ARJAN
The wiles of the mind are both very subtle and risky. It often lies in
ambush and makes its inroads when least expected. The ingrained evil
propensities though invisible are very strong, and time and again they
come to the surface to deliver blows which often prove fatal. The coil
strikes out like lightning, with such sharp and sudden twists and turns
that man by himself is helpless in its clutches. Here comes the need for
the long and strong arm of the Master, which stretches forth with equal
agility to his rescue:
Subdue the mind with the Power of the Master.
SWAMI SHIV DAYAL SINGH
Mind cannot come to rest unless it is overshadowed by the
power of the Master.
MAULANA RUMI
The sleeping mind comes to its own
By constant thought of the Master.67
GURU RAM DAS

54 Prayer
 23. What to Ask from God

A lady on marriage entrusts her all to her husband and gladly accepts
the new mode of life whatever it be. Now nothing else appeals to
her but him. It is for the husband now to provide all her needs and to look
after her comforts.
Render unto Him all that belongs to Him,
And make His Will thine own.
In return He showers His blessings manifold,
O Nanak! He is ever so merciful.68
He who has Him as his boon companion,
He stands in need of naught.69
GURU ARJAN
Once a certain king intended to go abroad. He inquired of his queens
as to what gift each of them would like him to bring for them from the
foreign lands. One of them asked for costly jewels, another for rich apparel,
and still another for cosmetics. Some asked for fineries and others for
delicacies, etc. The youngest of them, who loved the king most, requested
his early return so that she would not have to languish long in his absence.
The king on his return sent the various gifts to his other queens and himself
went to the palace of the youngest and was highly pleased that there was
someone who loved him the most, much more than his riches and wealth.
The queen too thanked God for her good fortune that her husband was
with her and that she needed nothing else. The rest of the queens, though
each one of them had got what she wanted, had not the good fortune to
claim their husband’s attention. All their riches and gifts availed them
not without their beloved.
In exactly the same way we, through short-sightedness, ask from God
or Godman for trinkets of no consequence and not Him and His Saving
Grace, and like the different queens in the parable, suffer most the pangs
of separation. All the riches of the world fail to give the least satisfaction.
On the contrary, these things distract us from the Truth and make us more
miserable. If we could but win His Grace we would then be in want no

What to ask from God 55

more. All His riches come to us automatically, without asking. Even if
they are denied for one reason or another, it matters not, for without Him
and His love they are dirty trash.
All riches and fineries befit him who has won Him,
And even without them, what care if he were to live in poverty.70

Our most elementary needs are of the body - to wit, food, clothing and
shelter. For these things we strive hard, working madly and restlessly
from morn till night. We sacrifice our very self to procure these comforts
- if any comfort they provide. Do we not realize that when a child comes
into the world his life plan is sketched out beforehand? Without this, no-
body would be here at all. With destiny all shaped, the mould is cast and
the spirit enters therein, ready to take his life’s journey in the world.
With a predestined plan one comes into the world,
O Tulsi! With all this, the mind does not accept it.

Dame Nature now gets ready for the royal reception of the Prince of
the Universe, providing milk in the mother’s breast, shelter in the mother’s
lap, and an army of attendants to attend to his minutest needs. The Powers
of Nature mobilize all their forces to claim the prince-child as their own.
But as the child grows and develops into adolescence and begins to feel
the life-impulse surging in him, the world, as a foster mother, claims him
as her own and he fondly clings to her and her gifts forgetting his native
and prenatal home in heaven.
Heaven lies about us in our infancy,
Shades of the prison-house begin to close upon the growing boy.
Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own;
Yearning she hath in her own natural kind,
And even with something of a mother’s mind, and no unworthy aim,
The homely nurse doth all she can,
To make her foster child, her inmate Man,
forget the glories he hath known,
And that imperial palace whence he came.
WORDSWORTH

56 Prayer
 Again, all the gifts of the world are purely ephemeral. They are always
in an unstable and changing state. Nothing is permanent. Everything is
subject to decay and dissolution.
Momentarily things appear and then recede back into the Fullness,
In the twinkling of an eye the world itself sinks into the great deep.71
KABIR
Midst the ever-changing phenomena of the world, there is but one Un-
changeable Permanence and that is God and God-in-action (the Holy
Spirit, Kalma, Naam or Word), responsible for the creation, sustenance
and dissolution of countless universes. Why then should we not long for,
ask for, and pray for that imperishable life principle, so that we too may
have “Life Everlasting” and come to our eternal heritage, the everlasting
Godhood which is our birthright.
Listen ye to the call of the hollow man, manifest Thyself,
O Lord,
Nanak has humbly reached Thy door, through the Grace of Thy
devotee.72
GURU ARJAN
Our native home is in Sach Khand. Ages upon ages have gone by since
we parted from the Father, and we are still in exile in this world.
The soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar.
WORDSWORTH
We must then yearn for a reunion with the Beloved, separated as we
are from Him for myriads of ages.
For ages upon ages have we been separated,
Unite us unto Thee, O Lord, through sheer compassion if Thou wilt.
We have wandered high and low in all the points of the compass,
Now keep us O Thou under the shadow of Thy holy wings.73
GURU ARJAN

What to ask from God 57

 In countless births have I wandered away and away from Thee,
This (human) birth I have dedicated to Thee and staked on Thee,
Ravidas now lives in hope to meet Thee once again.74
RAVIDAS
Guru Amar Das, therefore, prayeth:
Through innumerable gyres have I gone without rest,
In Thy mercy, O Merciful! Grant me the boon of Thy
manifestation.75

Guru Arjan prayeth:

Many a birth I had in various species,
Every time I had to undergo many sufferings.
Through Thy Grace I have now a human birth,
This then is the time to manifest Thyself unto me, O Lord.76
Lift me O Lord! I have fallen at Thy door,
Accept me in compassion, tired as I am of my wanderings.
Saviour of Thy devotees, save the sinners as well,
I know none besides Thee to offer my prayers,
O, ferry me safely across the ocean of living matter.77

The soul pines in the separation of her Lord. Even if she is not worthy
of the Lord, she prays for union with Him.
All are blessed in the love of their Lord,
But I alone am the unfortunate one.
So filled with spots through and through,
My consort does not like even to see my face.78
GURU AMAR DAS
Meritless as I am, I intensely pray for my turn, O Nanak,
All the spouses had Thee in abundance, spare a night for me
as well.79
All the maidens have gone with their spouses,
Where should I, the unfortunate, turn my face?

58 Prayer
 With my parents I was the light of their eyes,
But woe unto me that my Lord looks not at me.80
GURU AMAR DAS
Kill me if Thou wilt but turn not away,
Hug me to Thy bosom, listen ye to my prayer,
Just look this way and earn my gratitude,
Why kill me by turning Thy face away.81
KABIR
Thirsty as I am for Thy sight,
My mind calls for Thee in agony,
I pray to Thee, O Formless! And crave for Thy mercy.82
Life is worth living with Thee before me.
Be merciful, O sweet Beloved,
And drive away all doubts and delusions.83
I earnestly beseech and pray for just one thing,
I make a sacrifice of all my wealth and possessions for a
union with Thee.84
GURU ARJAN
What may I ask for and repeat unto Thee except
That I hunger and thirst for Thy sight;
It is through the Word of the Master that one reaches Truth,
Nanak, therefore, prays for this alone.85
I have just one submission and listen ye to that,
Certainly Thou art great, compassionate, and immaculate.86
GURU NANAK
We never remember Thee and waste our life in fruitless pursuits.
Nanak sayeth, O God, remember Thou the pledge (of
redemption), regardless of our defaults.87
Thou art the abode of all virtues and Lord of us all with no
virtue in us,
No bondsman can praise Thee enough, when he holds even his
body and life from Thee.

What to ask from God 59

 Thou saved me from the hell-fires, I have taken shelter at Thy
feet,
Thou art the only stake of my life and honour, I depend on
naught else.88
Great is the Lord, boundless, infinite and ineffable,
O Nanak! He is the Saviour of all who take refuge in Him.89
I pray to Thee, O Lord! Of body, mind and soul,
O Nanak! It is His greatness else none knew me before.90
GURU ARJAN
Thou alone art the Doer of all things,
To whom then should we offer prayers.91
GURU NANAK
Helpless are we and Merciful art Thou,
What can we, the sinners, say unto Thee.
In spite of our broken words of no meaning,
Accept us and grant us the gift of perfection.92
RAVIDAS
Thou art the woof and warp of my very existence,
I, therefore, pray unto Thee alone.
I have no other place to turn to for worship,
I place all my comforts and discomforts before Thee.93
I cannot do justice to Thy greatness,
For I am an ignorant fool.
O Lord! Redeem poor Nanak,
For he has taken shelter at Thy feet.94
GURU RAM DAS
Again, we have in the Sikh Scriptures:
We, the ignorant, insensate and devoid of all virtues, have taken
refuge with Thee, O Primal Being,
Through Thy Boundless Grace, O Lord!
Save us, in spite of all our shortcomings.95
O God! Have mercy and ferry us across,

60 Prayer
 Save us with the help of Thy Melodious Song.
We are bogged in the mire of infatuation,
O, extend to us Thy hand and pull us out.96
GURU RAM DAS
Look ye not on my merits and demerits,
But forgive me my faults, O Merciful.
How can the clay toy be washed clean?
That indeed is the fate of all human beings.97
O Lord! Be Thou compassionate on the orphan at Thy door,
Sustain him in the blind well of the body,
For he is imbecile both in mind and intellect.98
We are the great defaulters and sinners with a galaxy of
thefts to boot,
Now Nanak is at Thy feet, O Lord! Save him as Thou wilt.99
GURU ARJAN
O Saviour and Sustainer Peerless, listen ye to me,
O Nanak! The ignorant and the foolish never think of Him,
Nor do they know the pitch dark night in which they live.100
GURU NANAK
I have no virtues of the body or of the mind, and have come
from afar,
I have neither riches nor beauty, save me the homeless one.101
One who slips at every step cannot escape on his own account,
O Nanak, He may forgive and pilot me across in His Divine
Mercy.102
GURU ARJAN
We commit blunders without number, and know not their
consequences,
O Lord! Forgive us in Thy Grace for we are inveterate
sinners.103
GURU AMAR DAS

What to ask from God 61

 Like the great deep sea, we are full of faults,
With Thy Mercy and Saving Grace,
Thou canst save the millstones from sinking down.104
GURU NANAK
The whole world is in the throes of death pangs. God alone can save
it, as He may with His limitless love.
The entire world is being consumed in the invisible flames of
hellfire,
Save us all with Thy loving Grace in whatever way it may be
possible.105
GURU AMAR DAS
O Lord! Thou art peerlessly deep and infinitely high and none
reaches Thee,
We pray that we may not forget Thee, the fountain of all
comforts.106
GURU ARJAN
O the Great Giver and perfect Master,
I ask of Thee but one gift, the gift of Hari.
Shower Thy blessings on Nanak,
O my oldest Friend, become manifest in me.107
GURU RAM DAS
Good and evil intentions are both in your control, O Lord. We are but
instruments and You are the motor-power behind us. We only act and do
as You actuate us from behind.
All our thoughts and good intentions are in Thy control,
Thou alone art the motor power behind all our actions,
O Nanak! He is the overruling power that works as He Wills.108
GURU RAM DAS
We, per se, are incapable of rendering any service to God, and cannot
pride ourselves on our so-called service. It is in the refulgence of God’s

62 Prayer
Light that we live and have our very being. When He withdraws the life
current, we become helpless:
None can serve Thee nor feel elated at anything.
When the life currents are withdrawn, how helpless we
become.109
GURU AMAR DAS
We must ask for God from God, for all else means inviting headache.
The greatest gift from Him is that of Naam or the Power of Godhead,
which when granted brings with it contentment and satisfaction.
Except Thee all else is the source of trouble and misery,
Grant us the gift of Thy Word that brings in peace and
satiation.110
GURU ARJAN
Maulana Rumi prayeth in this wise:
Ask from God nothing but God.
Except Him, all else is perishable.
Never ask God for a thing that must decay,
Ask not of God anything beside Himself.
Darken not thy mind with thoughts and cares that are
chimerical.

(i) Ask for God:

One may invoke help in crucial moments of his life, from God or from
a Godman, for He alone can rescue him from such slippery moments.
Full of the deadly sins and tormented by lusts of the flesh I cry,
Rescue me by Thy Grace, as best Thou may.
O Great and Compassionate One! I am at Thy mercy,
With austerities and penances one cannot escape,
But with Thy glance of Grace, take Nanak out of the blind well.111
O Lord! Save me,
I am incapable of doing anything,
In Thy mercy, grant me the gift of Naam.112
GURU ARJAN

What to ask from God 63

 I pray to the Guru, the beloved of God,
A filthy worm am I, O grant me the light of Naam.113
GURU RAM DAS
Mind can be controlled only by the Dhun of Naam or the celestial
strains of music, and it is for this that one has to pray. No other type of
yoga - Jnana, Hatha, Karma, etc. - can be of any avail in this connection;
nor has anyone been able to escape from the clutches of the mind with
all his wits about him. One may tame the wild mind only through the
practice of Sat-Shabd or Naam (the True Word) and one can have initiation
into this practice from some adept in the line. The moment it comes into
contact with Naam, the mind gets docile and instead of being an arch-
traitor as hitherto, it turns into a positive ally and helps the spirit in its
onward march on the Spiritual Path.
O, I have got the treasure of Hari Naam,
My mind now wanders not but is in eternal rest.114
GURU TEG BAHADUR
Listening to the Dhun, the mind gets stilled,
None of the myriad of ways can work this miracle.
The yogin practices yogic exercises,
The Jnani is immersed in Jnana.
The hermit tires himself out in lone solitude,
The anchorite does endless austerities.
Those who meditate on the mental patterns,
They too suffer from a great delusion.
Learning and knowledge are of not much avail,
For the wise in the end have to rue their wisdom.
The Pandit engages in the recitation of the Vedas
But all his sacred lore fails to take him any nearer to God.
No other means are of any consequence what-ever,
The only beneficial way is that of Shabd.
When a Master of the Sound Current appears on the scene,
The disciple too begins to feel the yearning of the new birth.

64 Prayer
 With the practice of the Surat Shabd Yoga,
The mind-stuff gradually sinks within itself till nothing
remains.115
SWAMI SHIV DAYAL SINGH
When once this contact with Naam is established, the Sadhak always
feels the presence of the Higher Power and the Power remains forever
with him wherever he may be - on the snowy mountain tops or in the
burning desert sands. Revelling in the greatness of that Power, he leaves
all his cares to Him and becomes indifferent to everything around him.
He cheerfully accepts whatever comes his way as coming from Him for
his benefit alone. He consciously sees the Divine Will at work and smil-
ingly surrenders himself to it with words of genuine gratitude on his lips.
He has no longer any wishes and desires of his own except what may be
of God. Now he works as a mere instrument moving like an automaton
under the influence of that Power. He sees all creatures, high and low,
just as tiny specks set in an orderly harmony in the immense Universe
surrounding him. He now divines a procession which is orderly, an order
which is harmonious, obeying a Will infinitely above him and yet in-
finitesimally careful of him. In this way is established a complete harmony
between the soul of man and the soul of the Universe. At every step he
cries forth, Let Thy Will be done:
All creatures, the highest to the lowest, are at Thy mercy, and
Thou carest for them one and all.
Whatever pleaseth Thee, that is best; Nanak has no other wish
but this.116
Whatever pleaseth Thee is good,
Thou art forevermore,
O Formless One.117
GURU NANAK
O Nanak! Great is the Power of Naam,
Let there be peace unto all, through Thy Will.

What to ask from God 65

 The pontifical blessings generally end with the words: Urbi et Orbi
(to the citizen and the world).
In the end there comes a stage when the Sadhak feels no necessity even
for prayer.
Sweet art Thy doings,
Nanak desireth only Hari Naam.118
In whatsoever state I am, that is a Heaven unto me.119
GURU ARJAN
When God is the Knower of the secrets of all, there hardly remains
anything to be told Him. With the Lord seated in each one of us and per-
meating our very being, what need is there to pray and to whom?
Hari is the Indweller and knoweth all,
To whom then art we to tell of us?120
GURU ARJAN
What should the lowly urge for
When God is seated within all?121
GURU RAM DAS
Saints always live in this state. Being one with His Will and conscious
co-workers with Him, prayer of itself becomes a heresy for them and
savours of scepticism. Nature’s forces simply wait on them. However
slight a thought may arise, it must, like an immutable law, prevail. God
is ever with His devotee and looks after him with more care and attention
than any loving mother would give her child.
Guru Arjan tells us:
He who asks from the Lord, whatever it be,
that is granted forthwith,
O Nanak! The words of the devotee do come true wherever he
may be.
For the sake of His devotee He runs far and near,
And stands ever by his side,
Whatever the devotee asks of Him, that must happen.122

66 Prayer
 Kabir, describing the condition of his mind, tells us that it has, like the
water of Ganges, become so transparent that even God has become en-
amoured of him:
Kabir, thy mind is now as clear as the Ganges water.
Even God Himself restlessly follows thee shouting, “Kabir,
Kabir.”123

When all the desires of a devotee get automatically fulfilled, he natu-

rally becomes desireless. The wish-yielding treasure of Naam, becoming
manifest within, takes care of him at every step.
With the Lord God as a loving Father, the child has no hunger
for aught,
For Thou art the treasure-house of Naam and he gets whatever
he wishes.124
The prayers of the devotee cannot go in vain.125
GURU ARJAN
When the Great Donor is with the devotee, the devotee has nothing to
pray for; for he is one with Him and there is nothing besides whom he
may address.
Guru Arjan draws a wonderful pen-picture of this state of perfect satiety:
Deathless is He and I have nothing to fear,
He being Immortal, I have not to wail;
He is not poor and I have no want,
He being above sorrow and pain, I too have none;
Besides Him there is no destroyer, He and I live eternally,
When He is free, there is nothing to bind me,
Both of us are above the stage of bondage;
He being Immaculate, I too have no stain,
He being within me, what taint can I have?
He has nothing to think of and nothing is left for me to think,
Neither of us has anything to gloss over;
Desireless is He and I too desire nothing,

What to ask from God 67

 He is spotlessly pure and so am I,
I have no existence apart from Him, for He alone is:
O Nanak! Through the Master has this delusion disappeared:
Having dipped in Him, we are dyed in one colour.126

(ii) Ask for Guru (a competent Living Master)

The Lord is overflowing in the Guru. “Being immanent in the Guru,
He distributes the Word.” The Guru is God personified. Pray to the Lord:
Oh Merciful Father, the Destroyer of our ills, be kind and send
us the Satguru. He is the very support of our life. Through
Him alone we can attain to Thee.
Thou art Merciful and the Destroyer of all our ills. Attend to our
prayer. Please make us search for the Satguru, through whom
we know Thee.127
O Lord, the very Soul of the Universe, grant us faith in Naam
(the Mystic Word); and the benevolent and purifying
company of the true men.128
O Lord, allow us that Satguru, remembering whom we shall be
liberated. At his very Darshan (a sight of him) the mind feels
exhilarated. We shall again and again lay our very life at his
lotus feet.129
GURU RAM DAS
Beg from the Lord and the Guru their Divine Vision, complete self-
surrender and the gift of Naam. Pray also to be saved from the evil ten-
dencies of the mind and the senses. Being Omnipotent, He is capable of
granting us all these boons. Besides this, the seekers may pray for the gift
of happily resigning to His sweet Will. We have no good qualities in us.
Being ignorant and of low mental calibre, we are not well versed in reli-
gious ceremonies, etc. Therefore: “O Beloved! Have mercy on us. Bestow
on us the capacity to sing Thy praises and to remain happy in whatever
be Thy Will.”

68 Prayer
 Virtueless, blind, ignorant and unlettered as we are,
We know not what is good for us or for society,
Be merciful, O Lord! That Nanak may sing of Thee,
And may ever rejoice in Thy Will and Pleasure.130
GURU RAM DAS
In addition to this, pray for the grant of devotion and of Naam.
By repeatedly uttering Thy Naam, we are freed from doubt and fear,
Those who are absorbed in Thy sweet remembrance will be
freed from the cycle of birth and death.131
GURU ARJAN
We are humble mendicants at Thy door,
Be gracious enough to bless us with Thine Amrit (Nectar) of
the Word,
Satguru is my Master Friend, please grant me his contact.132
GURU RAM DAS
Forgive me for my lack of good qualities and make me your
own, my Master,
Thou art Infinite and Unknowable,
Graciously make known to me Thyself through Shabd - the
Mystic Word.133
GURU AMAR DAS
My Lord, the Creator, is the Ocean of all goodness,
Who can adequately praise Him?
Saints pray for the gift of the highest bliss of Naam.134
GURU ARJAN
We are but humble mendicants and beggars, Thou art the
Protector of our honour,
Be kind and give us the alms of Thy Naam, so that we may
remain always intoxicated in Thy love.135
GURU AMAR DAS

What to ask from God 69

 O Lord! Take us under the shadow of Thy protecting wings,
We are unable to do anything on our own,
Graciously give us Thy Naam.136
O my Divine Friend, grant that I may every day make an effort
to think only of Thee all the time,
O, give me a contact with Shabd - the Bread of life.137
The company of Saints dyes us with His Naam and all our
desires are fulfilled,
Nanak prays for Thy Mercy and Thy Grace and that we may
remain absorbed in the sweet memory of Thy lotus feet.138
GURU ARJAN
O Rama! Make us the servant of Thy Servants.
Grant us the boon to bask in the light of Saints so long as the
breath of our life lasts.139
GURU RAM DAS
O Merciful Lord! Graciously grant us the radiant dust from the
feet of Saints.140
GURU AMAR DAS

70 Prayer
 24. Guru is the Greatest Gift of God

T he truest riches and the greatest gift of God is the Godman, the person
who, having realized himself, is established in his Godhead. He is in
a sense a polarized God or pole from which God manifests Himself
amongst His people. Limitless and Infinite as God is, He is beyond com-
prehension by finite powers of perception. He can, however, be appre-
hended in the Master somewhat as a vast sea can be apprehended at the
beach with bathing ghats, where sea waters gently flow in, so bathers can
have a safe dip.
As like attracts like, man must of necessity have man as his teacher,
for no one else can teach him. The way to God, therefore, lies through
man. Some Godman alone can tell us of the “Way out” from the world
and a “Way in” into the Kingdom of God, now a Lost Province to mankind
in general. The fall of man was brought about by man and the regeneration
of man too is to be brought about by man. But there is a world of difference
between man and man - the latter being God-in-man.
Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His
secrets unto His servant, the Prophets.141
AMOS
All scripture is given by inspiration of God.142
ST. PAUL
The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.143
ST. JOHN
Guru is God personified, for God speaks through the Guru.
Poor Nanak speaks whenever He desires him to do so.
GURU NANAK
The words of the Master are the words of Allah, though
seemingly uttered by Abdullah (the Servant of God).
MAULANA RUMI

Guru is the Greatest Gift of God 71

 I speak not of myself; but the Father that dwelleth in me, He
doeth the works.144
CHRIST
The greatest prayer a person can therefore offer to God is that He may,
in His unbounded mercy, establish his contact with His prophets who
may lead him Godward. The Godman or the Prophet shows him the Way
- the Grand Trunk Road that leads to God. It is nothing but the Sound
Current or Sound Principle differently called by different sages: The Word
or the Holy Spirit by the Christians, Kalma, Bang-e-Asmani or Nida-e-
Arshi by the Mohammedans, Udgit, Akash Bani, Naad or Sruti by the
Hindus, and Shabd or Naam by the Sikhs. Zoroaster calls it Sraosha and
the Theosophists “The Voice of the Silence.” Christ speaks of it as “The
Voice of the Son of God.” God overflows in the Guru and unites man
with the Word to reach back to his True Home.
When the dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God; and they
that hear shall live.145
CHRIST
This Sound Current then is the means to salvation. It is the Master Key
that unlocks the Kingdom of Heaven. It bestows life eternal on man and
restores him once again to the Garden of Eden from which he was driven
away by disobedience to God. What greater boon can a man seek from
God but restoration to the Kingdom lost by him. It marks the end of his
long exile through countless centuries as He hails back the lost sheep to
His fold. The Master is the kind Shepherd who, out of compassion, does
all this for erring humanity. Such high souls hold a commission from the
Most High.
I am come in my Father’s name.146
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me
draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.147
CHRIST
We have similar references in the Sikh Scriptures as well.
Kabir knows the secrets of God and brings His message to mankind.
KABIR

72 Prayer
 He who sent thee into the world, He calls thee back again and
wistfully awaits thy homecoming.
GURU ARJAN
Herein lies the greatness of Master-souls. They effect a reunion between
man and God. The long-drawn period of separation comes to an end and
the lost child is restored once again to the Father. It marks the Grand
Homecoming through endless trials and tribulations. The Saving Grace
of God is stirred by the Godman and the purpose of life is fulfilled. Hence-
forth the Son and the Father are not only reconciled but become one.
From the great deep to the great deep he goes.
TENNYSON
No longer is he an exile in the world but an inheritor of the Kingdom
of God, established once more in his native Godhead.
This is the true fulfilment of the covenant between God and man, and
the true resurrection or rising from the dead as vouchsafed by the Son of
God to man. This is the fulfilment of God’s Law and the purpose of human
birth.
This is the fundamental Law of God: That no one can reach Him
except through Satguru (the Master-soul).148
GURU RAM DAS
Again:
God clothed Himself in vile man’s flesh, that so
He might be weak enough to suffer woe.
JOHN DONNE
Therefore, always pray to God to bring us in contact with a Godman
– the Master.

Guru is the Greatest Gift of God 73

 25. What One Should Ask from the Godman

T he Master is the mouthpiece of God. He is the Pole at which God

manifests His Godhood. He is the bathing ghat or beach where a per-
son can safely enter into the sea for a dip. He is like a switch which has
in it the concentrated energy of the powerhouse. The Son and the Father
are one and administer the same Law. “I and my Father are one,” says
Christ. Clothed in Heavenly Light, He radiates Light into the world.
I am the light of the world, and he that followeth me, shall not
walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.149
CHRIST
God or a Godman is the Treasure House of Naam. Naam is God’s
Master-instrument with which He created the Universe and with which
He is sustaining it. The moment He withdraws this power of His, the
result is disintegration, dissolution and death.
Saint John calls It “Word”:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by Him; and without Him was not
anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life
was the light of man. And the light shineth in darkness and
the darkness comprehendeth it not.150
A prophet, a saint, an apostle is truly the repository of God’s Power.
He is the veritable abode of God Himself:
God comes into the world in the garb of a Sadh (Saint).151
GURU ARJAN
Whoever then has a longing for God must hasten to a true Saint and
seek God from Him. Nothing but the Saving Grace of the Master can
work a true transformation in the worldly-wise man, fully identified as
he is with the sensual plane.

74 Prayer
 I think of Thee and lovingly long for Thee,
I pray to the saints to manifest Thee in me.152
I pray to the sadhs for I hear God is of His devotees,
Nanak has an intense longing for Him, O! Have mercy.153
GURU ARJAN
Separate for ages, unite now, O Lord,
This is the greatest desire of my heart.
Hear my prayers through the Master,
Nanak has no other wish but this.154
GURU RAM DAS
I pray to the saints for union,
That is what Nanak asks for.155
GURU ARJAN
The souls that have realized the Lord, I shall inquire of them,
In all humility, I shall supplicate to know the Way to Him.156
GURU NANAK
Saints are the representatives of God, and to them we pray,
We are but filthy worms, O Satguru, grant us the light of Naam.157
GURU RAM DAS
Bhai Gurdas has given us a beautiful specimen of prayer for the Sikhs:
I am a depraved sinner and a heretic,
A thief, a gambler, and a housebreaker,
A thug that lives on illicit gains,
A constant prey to all kinds of lusts,
A slave to the five passions, viz., lust, anger, greed, attachment
and egoism,
A betrayer, an ungrateful wretch, abhorred by all.
O ye, with all these faults, and still more,
Remember the Satguru for He is compassionate indeed.158
Once this relationship of Master and disciple is established, the latter
becomes fully dependent upon him. The acceptance of the disciple by
the Master means acceptance of the entire responsibility of his Karmic

What one should ask from the Godman 75

debt or burden, including Pralabdh (fate or destiny), Kriyaman (actions
or deeds performed from day to day), and Sanchit Karmas (the storehouse
of unfructified karmic impressions). Like an official liquidator, it is now
his job to liquidate the debts of the disciple, wind them up and free him
from them so as to put him on his feet again for the second birth leading
to the life of the spirit.
We are now of the Master, a bond-slave unto Him,
O Nanak! With the relationship of Master and servant, save
us now.159
GURU RAM DAS
I long for an eternal friend,
Ever true, from end to end.160
GURU ARJAN
I pray to the Satguru to lead me to the Friend,
By meeting whom, peace descends and death vanishes.161
GURU NANAK
O Master! May I live by beholding Thee,
And my life’s aim be fulfilled.
O, fulfil my prayers that I may live by Thy Word,
May I ever abide under Thy protection,
Whose value only the blessed few may know,
And that too only through the Master’s Grace.
Grant this boon, O my Beloved,
That Thou may ever dwell in my mind.
Nanak has but one wish alone,
That he may never forget the fountainhead of all virtues.162
Everything is in Thy Controlling Power, O Destroyer of fear,
So saith Nanak, save the ignorant, O Merciful One.163
GURU ARJAN
Seeing that the whole world is being consumed by invisible
flames of fire, I come to Thy feet,
I pray, O perfect Master, save us as Thou wilt.164
GURU AMAR DAS

76 Prayer
What one should ask from the Godman 77
78 Prayer
 APPENDIX

Appendix 79
80 Prayer
 Prayers
Miscellaneous and Brief Specimens

I t will not be out of place to give below some specimen prayers for the
benefit of the readers, with a few introductory remarks in this behalf.
Man is an ensouled body, or in other words soul plus body; and of the
two, soul is the more precious because it is the active and live-principle
that enlivens the body. In fact, body has no value apart from the soul.
The great souls or Mahatmas are of varied types. There are Mahatmas
who ask of God such necessities of life as may keep their body and soul
together, so that after satisfying their physical needs they may spend their
time in meditation on God. Jesus in his prayer asked for “daily bread” to
satisfy Nature’s foremost need - “Give us this day our daily bread.” Such
souls regard everything as of God and ask Him for the fulfilment of their
primary needs from day to day and then engage in uninterrupted devotion
for the rest of the time. The physical body is the vehicle of the soul and
has, as such, to be fed for the higher purpose of life, to wit the advancement
of soul. Hunger, says Kabir, is a great handicap in the path of devotion.
O Kabir! The dog of hunger spoils meditation by snarls,
Just throw a crumb to it and then sit at ease.
In the beginning the Satguru teaches a disciple to pray for his needs,
as would appear from the following prayers of Kabir:
One cannot meditate with hunger gnawing within,
Take Thou the rosary away from me, O Lord.1
Grant unto me flour, ghee and salt besides some pulse,
That I may have a day’s ration to live upon.
A cot, a pillow with a bed and a quilt,
That I may meditate on Thee undisturbed.
I have not been greedy in my demands,
For I love nothing better than Thy Word.2
Give unto me as much as I may live on in peace,
And none turns away hungry from my door.

Appendix 81
 Bhagat Dhanna likewise prayed:
O Lord! I pray unto Thee,
Thou dost supply the needs of thy devotees.
Furnish me with pulse, flour and butter,
That I may happily live in comfort.
Give me clothes and a pair of shoes to wear,
And a good supply of wheat and cereals,
And milk cattle for the supply of milk,
Besides a fine mare to ride on,
And a homely obedient mate in the house;
This is all Dhanna asks for.3
In the Lord’s Prayer of Jesus Christ, we have a beautiful example of
all that one need ask:
Our Father who art in Heaven, Holy is Thy Name,
Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day the Bread of Life, and forgive us our offences as
we forgive those who offend us.
By the Spirit lead us out of all temptation, and deliver us from evil.
For Thine, Thou Everlasting Lord, is the Kingdom, the
Power, and the glory forever.4
Similarly we have a beautiful prayer from the Lord to the Earthly Mother:
Our Mother which art upon earth, hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, and thy will be done in us, as it is in thee.
As thou sendest every day thy angels, send them to us also.
Forgive us our sins, as we atone all our sins against thee.
And lead us not into sickness, but deliver us from all evil, for
thine is the earth, the body, and the health.5
ESSENE GOSPEL OF JOHN
The disciples of Buddha, without considering the necessity for formal
prayers, have always wished well for all humanity; and this, in fact, is
the highest type of prayer, whether we call it prayer or not. Whenever

82 Prayer
after self-ablution, they sit in meditation in the morning and evening, they
express these thoughts:
I wish to have universal love for all. I wish that all creation on
all sides - above me and below, on my right and left - may
live in peace. I wish well unto all, living either in this world
or in heaven or in hell. Let there be peace everywhere.

In the Rig Veda (Hindu Scriptures) there are prayers invoking God for
the fulfilment of physical and other worldly needs. In Sukat 53 of Mandal
6, we have:
O Lord of valour, we pray for all the gifts of God: for success in
our endeavours and the gift of food, and all such things that
are desirable. O God of Love, let there be nothing in one’s
way to gain food in abundance and have our wishes fulfilled.

In their daily Sandhya, the Hindus recite:

Brahm, the eye of the three regions and the Devas, is in front of
us. We wish to have him before us for a hundred years, and
may we live a hundred years to see him, to hear him, to sing
of him, and live for him happily and in prayer, for a hundred
years and more.

The Vedantins also think of, dwell upon, and meditate on the Ma-
havakyas (their traditional aphorisms) “Aham Brahm Asmi” (I am Brahm)
and “Tat Twam Asi” (I am as Thou art).
The Gayatri - the most sacred Mantra - is a Prayer to the Lord to lead
us to Him, the Sun of all Light.
Khawaja Hafiz Shirazi, in a state of Divine intoxication, prayed to his
Master thus:
Helpless I am and Thou art helpful,
Separated are we for myriads of ages.
In sheer compassion, take me to Thy abode,
Attracted by Thy wondrous beauty, I follow Thee.

Appendix 83
 Else could I not budge an inch from my place,
Fortunate was Ayaz, the slave of Mahmud,
For having won the kingly favour.
It is a proud privilege to serve at Thy door,
With Thy glance of Grace, make me worthy of it.

Shamas Tabrez prayed to his preceptor as follows:

O Cup-bearer, serve Thou the wine of the other world,
That may give a vision of the Invisible.
A draught whereof may give Divine Intoxication,
And close the critical eyes of the flesh,
And open the mystic eye within.
O Master! Ostrich lives on the Kaaf Mountain,
Thou art the true abode of the bird of my soul.
As candle is the altar for the moth,
My life is a thousand times sacrificed on Thee.
Throw down the sluice gates of the waters of life,
And make manifest the fabled spring of Kausar.
Grant me the intoxication of love,
And keep my wandering wits at anchor.
My only prayer is that Thou enter and occupy Thy seat
in the mosque of my body:
And sanctify my poor abode with Thy holy presence.

The set prayer among the Muslims runs:

In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful,
Praise be to God, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds;
Most Gracious, Most Merciful;
Master of the Day of Judgment;
Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek.
Show us the straight way, the way of those on whom Thou hast
bestowed Thy Grace,
Those whose portion is not wrath, and who go not astray. Amen!

84 Prayer
 PRAYERS FROM KABIR
With folded hands I pray: Hear, O Ocean of Mercy!
Grant me the gifts of compassion, humility, knowledge and
happiness, in the company of the saints.
Kabir with thoughts fixed on Thy lotus feet prays,
O Guru! Tell me about the True Path of the saints.
What should I ask of Thee? For I feel greatly ashamed,
I commit sins of which Thou art a veritable witness:
how then can I please Thee?
While I have all the faults in me, Thou art all goodness.
If I may forget Thee, I pray that Thou mayest not forget.
O Lord! May I never forget Thee even in the midst of millions;
You can have many like me, but for me there is none beside Thee.
If I were to forget Thee, where should I get shelter?
I cannot give my heart to others - Siva, Virancha or Narda.
With all my faults, do not get angry with me, the Master doth
forgive the lapses of his servant;
Forgetful Kabir is all tainted vile,
But the Master has a loving heart.
I am steeped in sins, sins without number,
It is for Thee to forgive me or to kill me,
Forgive, forgive and again forgive, O Forgiver Divine,
An ever-erring child I am, but I depend on the Father’s Grace.
Thou art the abode of infinite virtues with no vice whatever,
But when I search my own self, I find myself full of all ills.
There is not a single virtue in me, listen, O Master Divine!
It is through the Power of Thy Word that I am honoured
everywhere.
I am all-false, while the Lord is Sterling Truth,
Full of sins as I am, O save me if Thou wilt.

Appendix 85
 Born with a thistle in my flesh, full of all evils I am,
Thou art the great Donor and Saviour, O save me right.
O save me right for I am caught in a great whirlpool,
And shall be carried away by the strong current if Thou dost
not take hold of me.
For other sinners Thou art a well of refreshing waters, but I am
an ocean of sins,
I only depend on the Word of the Master, hear, O Merciful One,
I know not what love is, nor have I any other virtue,
I wonder, how will I have the love of my Beloved?
If I meet the Master, I shall cry out my anguish,
With my head on His feet, I shall speak out my mind.
Permeating all, Thou art immanent in every form,
If I have to leave Thee off, who else will ferry me across?
The ocean of life is too deep to be measured and sketched.
With thy mercy, O Merciful One, I may get a footing.
Full of all evil, I have nothing to boast of and am hard of heart,
But perfect as my Master is, He can land me ashore.
O my perfect Master! Take a firm hold of me,
And lead me to the goal with no break on the way.
Grant me the gift of devotion, O my Munificent One!
I wish for naught, save a ceaseless service unto Thee.
Master! Thou art generous and merciful,
I am drowning in mid-stream, take me over to the shore.
How can the love between Thee and me sever!
As the leaf of the lotus abides in the water, so dost Thou in Thy
servant;
As the night-bird chakor gazes at the moon all the night o’er,
So do I, my Lord, thy servant.
From the beginning of time until the ending of time, there is love
between Thee and me,
How can such love be extinguished?
Kabir therefore says: As the river plunges into the ocean, so
doth my heart in Thee.

86 Prayer
 ODE TO THE SATGURU
Long and dreary has been the struggle of the mind but all in vain,
All potent art Thou and can do aught, then why this delay?
Wandering up and down in the wheel of life, I have never had a
success,
O Munificent Lord, have mercy, free the spirit and concentrate
it all.
The arch enemy of the mind is but a waste, O sow in it the seeds
of love.
Enamoured of false delights, it knows not true happiness,
Hankering after the pleasures of the world, it has never
tasted the sweetness of the Word,
What should I do? How should I try to set it right?
For it does not take to the Word of the Master,
This mind is a curious medley and has no interest in the Shabd:
How can it save itself from the vicious cycle of births and deaths,
When it does not practice the Word given by the Master?
It shall keep tossing in the world and remain in the clutches
of Yama (the God of Death).
Forgetful of the Word of the Master, it shall suffer terribly,
O Master! Immanent in every heart, why dost Thou not lead
me out?
When there is none else whom I can call mine own,
O take me to the Heaven above,
Have mercy on me now, and take me to Thy Heavenly House as
Thou may.
Entangled in evil thoughts, I am an utter stranger in a strange land,
Reform me this time and I shall lovingly think of Thee all the time.
I feel repentant and sad as I know not how to contact my Beloved,
He lives in the High Heavens while I am a creature of the
earth and miserable without Him.
O Satguru! Attend to my tale of woe and take me out of the
domain of Death;

Appendix 87
 In sheer helplessness I cry unto Thee, O hear,
Thou, the Gracious and the Merciful to all but this
unfortunate wretch.
How may I tell Thee of my pain? For I am lying on a bed of thorns;
Thou, O Beloved! Hast encouraged me to fly to the heavens
with the wings of love,
Thy Grace has enabled me to meet my Beloved and to escape
from all toils and miseries.

O Master! Just listen to my prayer, I bow unto Thee again and again:
Drive the evil out of me and grant me proximity to Thy lotus feet.
Ferry me safely ashore for my barque is in the midst of an
eddying whirl.
None save Thee is my own, save me as Thine own, O Master!
With all my ills I am yet Thine, and Thou art Donor beyond
all limitations.
I am in great pain, sorrow and affliction, rescue me at Thy pleasure.
I worship Thee with all my heart and soul, and make a
sacrifice of all unto Thee.
Now I have a powerful sheet anchor though I know not Thy worth.
Thou hast explained the mystery of the inner Sound Current,
but the devil of the mind listens to It not.
Wandering in the ups and downs of life, it runs after name and fame;
How may I turn its direction without Thy loving Grace, O
Master?
O Lord of my spirit! Listen to my prayer, pull the mind out from
its rut.

I ask of the Master but one gift: Make me recognize the mystic Word,
All my life have I wandered with the mind, O free me from the
bondage of Karmas,
Let my Consciousness recede within and hear the ceaseless
Sound, and the mind grow still.
Thus can I escape from all ills and reach the eternal place of Sat
Shabd (the true mystic Word).

88 Prayer
 Grant unto me the intoxication of the Word so that I may remain
absorbed in It.
Then harm and dishonour shall not affect me, for I shall always
be lost in Thy sweet memory.
Let me not be swept off by the time stream, but grant the sheet
anchor of the Word.
My mind has now grown humble, O Master! Let it lose itself in
Thy lotus feet.

O Master! Take me to Thy Abode;

I am a useless fellow, always entangled in doubts and delusions,
O Thou, the Merciful! Take me to Thy Abode.
I have no count of the sins I have committed, and my mind
does not catch the Word,
What should I do? My strength fails me and my mind finds no rest.
O Satguru! Take pity on me, for I remain miserable all the time.
Neither the consciousness recedes within nor the mind gets
stilled, and I cannot appreciate the greatness of the Word.
I have taken to the Path of the Masters, a High Road to Spirituality,
Why then, O Master, dost Thou take no hold of me?
This noble Path of the Masters shall suffer a great setback if I
succeed not in my endeavours.
I cry from my egoistic reason, and do not resign myself to Thy Will,
I beg of Thee again and again, O give me the gift of Thy Word!
O Master, Word personified as Thou art, I come to Thee for relief.

How can I liberate myself from the wiles of the mind? This is the
problem of my soul.
It has cast a deadly spell of worldly pleasures, and I am thus
separated from my Real Home.
Enmeshed in the ten senses, I find myself in a vicious circle,
Having been expelled from the tenth portal, I am wandering
through the nine gates.
Caught in the web of worldly pleasure, I find no way out of the
bondage.

Appendix 89
 Besides the Master I see nobody capable enough to lead me out
of the wilderness.
I am all-afraid of Yama (the Lord of Death), who else can free
me of this fear?
I have degraded myself to the life of beasts as I have never loved
the Master.
As a branch fallen off the tree, I am cast away from the Real Home,
I beg the Master to get my mind to love His lotus feet.
Purify my heart with Thy Satsang; for there it will separate itself
from the body and contact the Mystic Sound,
And then will it drink Amrit (nectar) from the fount of immortality;
And then will pains and miseries disappear and the soul will
have no fear.
Then will I contact the Sound Principle (Word or Shabd) and
gain the love of my Swami (Lord).
O Lord, make me Thine own! I have come, for I seek shelter at
Thy feet.6
SWAMI SHIV DAYAL SINGH

90 Prayer
 HYMNS OF MIRA
Herein have I suffered much,
Drive away my sorrow and scepticism.
Now I am in search of Thee, O Lord!
Take me beyond the bounds of affliction.
The whole world is flooding down
The current of births and deaths,
O Lord of Mira—Girdhar Nagar!
Rescue her from the giant wheel of births.

I know no peace without seeing Thee, for I know the deep

anguish in my heart.
Over and over again I go to the housetop to see if Thou art
coming; and my eyes have swollen red with weeping.
The whole world is false and transitory, and so all the friends
and relations.
With folded hands I pray that Thou mayest hear me.
This mind of mine, a great scoundrel, is ever out like an
elephant run amuck.
The Master, having explained the secret, has taken me in his
fold, and I am at rest.
O Girdhar Nagar - the Lord of Mira! I am now fully absorbed in
contemplation of Thee,
Every moment I see Thine immanence everywhere and seeing I
feel blessed.

My friends have turned enemies and hate me, one and all, but
Thou alone art my well-wisher.
My boat is marooned on the high sea, and I feel restless all the
day and get no sleep at night.
By constant waiting and watching have I grown lean like a thorn.
The arrows of love have pierced my heart and I cannot for
even a moment forget the love pangs.
Thou regained the accursed Ahilya from a stone in the wilderness,

Appendix 91
 O what complaint is there against Mira - O speak to me of that.
The perfect Guru, Ravi Das, came from the Supreme Abode
to my rescue,
And He opened up the Way for me, and I became one with the Lord.

I am being swept down in a fearful current, save me, O Lord, if

Thou wilt,
None is my own in this world, but Thou alone art mine.
All friends and relations: One and all,
All are attached to me through selfish ends.
Let the Lord of Mira listen to her supplications.
Grant her the boon of Thy feet, if Thou wilt.

92 Prayer
 FROM DHANI DHARAM DAS
Grant unto me, O Master, the gift of devotion, for Thou art a
great Donor,
I wish I may not forget Thee all my life and serve Thee always,
Pilgrimages, fasts and vigils attract me not, nor the worship
of gods;
I have no desire for anything save Thee;
Thou art everything to me, O Possessor of all riches!
I need nothing when I have a Perfect Master by my side;
I would not like even in dream to think of wife, wealth and
children, but of Thee and Thy Greatness.
Listen ye to the prayer of Dharam Das, O the Munificent Lord!
Take me out of the gyres and make me Thine own.
O Lord! Have mercy on me,
Thou Knower of all hearts, I have no virtue in me.
I cannot get rid of my evil, not even momentarily,
I have on my head a heavy load of cunning and deceit.
Entangled amongst wife, son and riches, I have lost my very self,
O, come to the rescue of Sur, as his barque is about to sink.

Appendix 93
 FROM SIKH SCRIPTURES
There are many beautiful prayers in the Adi Granth Sahib, the scriptures
of the Sikhs. Some examples follow:
We are severed from Thee through our own deeds: Show mercy
and take us unto Thee again,
Having wandered in all directions, tired and worn out we have
come to Thy feet.
Just as a dry cow is of no consequence and vegetables without
moisture go stale and become valueless,
So we, the worthless, have no peace without our Beloved.
If the Beloved reveals Himself not in the house (body), the
house, nay the very town where one lives is like a desert,
And all the make-up and ornamentation of the body become
useless.
In the absence of the Beloved, all friends and relations appear
like angels of death (Yamaduts),
Nanak prayeth: Kindly grant me the gift of Thy Holy Word.
And unite me with the Lord, who abides forever.7

My mind yearns for the sight of the Lord, as doth a thirsty man
for water,
My heart is pierced with the love’s dart from my Lord and He
alone knows my miserable state.
Whosoever narrates to me the tales of my Beloved, he alone is a
brother unto me.
Come together, ye brothers, accept the Master’s Word and sing
songs of my Beloved.
O Lord! Fulfil Nanak’s desire: Grant him Thy holy vision, the
harbinger of peace.

O mother! How can I find my Beloved, the Lord of my soul?

I am not beautiful, nor wise, nor strong,
I am a stranger come from afar,
I have no riches, nor am I youthful;

94 Prayer
 Grant this helpless creature Thy shelter (Sharan).
I have become love-stricken from endless seeking,
I am wandering about, thirsty for a vision of the Lord,
Now, O Nanak! The most merciful Lord has quenched my
thirst through contact with the saints.8

O Ocean of Mercy! Always reside in my heart,

Grant me such wisdom that may make me love the Lord.
I ask for the dust of Thy servant’s feet, that I may rub it over and
over again on my forehead.
Fallen as I am to the lowest depths, I am sure that I will be
purified by singing Thy praises.
Let Thy Will be sweet unto me, and whatever Thou doest be
pleasant for me.
Whatever Thou givest I should accept with good grace and not
wish for aught else.
Knowing Thee to be always near me, I wish to be the dust to Thy
servants.
If we get the company of saints, then alone can we attain the Lord.
We are always Thy boy-servants, and Thou art our Master.
Nanak saith: I am a child and Thou art my father and mother,
And Thy Naam in my mouth is just like exhilarating nectar.9

It is through Thee that I live, forsake me not even for a moment.

O grant me but one gift: Remove my doubts and protect me,
my Beloved, Thou the Knower of all secrets;
The wealth of the Word is more than millions of earthly kingdoms;
The nectar of Thy Glance is the highest honour for me.
O Omnipotent Beloved! Grant me the power to sing Thy praises
all the time,
O Benefactor of all souls, I take shelter with Thee,
Nanak lovingly sacrifices himself at Thy feet.10

Lord, make me the dust of Thy feet, most merciful Beloved, the
Captivator of my heart,
Be Gracious enough to satisfy this craving of mine.

Appendix 95
 Thy praises are being chanted in all the ten directions,
Thine all-knowing wisdom is present everywhere.
Those who sing Thy praises, my Creator, shall have no regrets
when quitting the world.
The contact of the saints relieves us from all bonds and pains;
Nanak knows that all pleasures, riches and delights are of no
consequence, without the love of the Lord.11

There is none beside Thee, Thou the Creator, and all happens as
Thou desireth.
All my strength is from Thee and so the support of my mind;
Nanak always meditates on Thee alone.

O Par Brahm, Thou art the highest Benefactor, and sustaineth all,
Thou art and Thou shalt ever be: Unreachable, Unknowable,
the Highest and the Endless.
Those who serve Thee are freed from fear and pain.
Through Guru’s Grace, Nanak sings Thy praises.

Whatever we see is evolved from Thee, Thou the Ocean of

Goodness, beautiful Lord,
O seeker, remember Him constantly: But the remembrance,
O Nanak, cometh only through His Grace.
I am a humble servant of one who meditates on Thee,
Company of such a one liberates all the world,
Nanak saith: O Lord! I pray for the luminous dust of the saints:
Fulfil this craving of mine.12

Thou art a most loving Lord with many disciples like me,
Thou art an Ocean of Jewels, with depths immeasurable,
Thou, O Supreme Wisdom! Be merciful unto me, and give me
understanding to meditate on Thee all the time.
O my self, do not be vain and proud, but humble like dust for
that is the way to liberation,

96 Prayer
 The Lord of Nanak is the highest of all, and many like Nanak
serve His Will.13

Be gracious, my Lord, that my eyes may behold Thy Gracious Form,

Give me millions of tongues, my Beloved,
That I may sing Thy Naam,
Singing of Thee will save me from the path of Yama and drive
away all pain and sorrow.
The Lord permeates the water, earth, ether and everything
besides and I see Him everywhere.
All doubts and delusions having vanished, I see the Lord as the
nearest of the near.
O Lord! Be merciful to Nanak, that he may have Thy blessed vision.

My Beloved Lord, grant me millions of ears that I may hear Thy

praises forever;
Hearing it is that purifies the mind and snaps the bondage of time;
All bondage ends by constantly meditating on the Ever-present;
And then comes in rejoicing and True Knowledge,
By constantly repeating His Name (Naam) we become
concentrated into an effortless state of Bliss.
Remembrance of the Lord burns away all sins, and evil thoughts
fly as by an enchanter driven,
Nanak prayeth: Lord, be kind, that men may hear the Voice of
the Ever-present Word.
Millions of hands serve Thee, and millions of feet walk in Thy Path;
Thy Word is the boat to ferry us across the ocean of life and death.
Whoever sits in that boat crosses the Bhavsagar (the fearful sea
of life and death), and is blessed forever, with no desire
unfulfilled.
All the deadly sins vanish giving place to Bliss, and the Mystic
Sound becomes audible.
Whatever the mind desires that comes to pass;
The Unstruck Sound of the Word is a priceless gem,
Nanak saith: Be kind and grant us the boon of treading Thy
Path all the time.

Appendix 97
 This is the boon, this the honour, this the treasure of Naam, and
fortunate is he who comes by it;
This is the greatest delight and the highest enjoyment,
for one who meditates at His feet.
Now the mind is absorbed in the contemplation of His feet and
has taken shelter in Him, the Creator of all,
Everything is Thine, O Lord! And Thou art mine, O Merciful One;
I am a worthless fellow and Thou an Ocean of Bliss:
This realization comes through the company of the saints.
Nanak saith: The Lord hath been kind; my mind is now
absorbed in the sweet contemplation of His lotus feet.

Thou art my Father and Thou art my Mother,

Thou art my relative and Thou art my brother,
Thou art my Protector everywhere,
What fear can I have?
I found Thee out through Thy Merciful Grace.
Thou art my shelter and also my honour,
There is none besides Thee,
Whatever happens is of Thy doing and nothing is of us.14

Thou art our Lord and to Thee we pray:

The soul and the body are Thy gifts,
Thou art mother and father to us, and we are Thy children;
Through Thy kindness we get immense happiness.
Nobody knows Thy greatness,
Thou art the Highest Lord of all,
Thou art the Sustainer of all creation,
Which is created by Thee and obeys Thy Will.
Thou alone knowest Thy vastness,
Nanak is always pouring himself out in Thy love.15

O Benefactor of this unworthy soul! My life, body and mind are

all Thine,
How can one gauge Thy greatness?

98 Prayer
 What cleverness can a purchased slave show?
All my body and soul are Thine: O most beautiful and attractive
Beloved!
I shall give all that I have for a glimpse of Thee,
Thou my Benefactor, O Lord!
I am a poor beggar at thy door, and Thou art ever Gracious.
There is nothing that I can do.
O Master! Thou alone art Unreachable and Limitless!
What service can I render?

What words can I utter to please Thee?

How can I have Thy Darshan (a look at Thee)?
We cannot know Thy Greatness, nor Thine Existence Infinite.
My mind is yearning just for a glimpse of Thee.
I persist in begging of Thee without feeling any sense of shame,
The gift that I may have the luminous dust from the feet of
Thy saints to smear on my face.
The Master showed His mercy, O Nanak!
And the Lord liberated me through His Grace.16

Who is ours besides Thee?

O my Beloved, the Sustainer of my life breath.
You only know the inner state of my mind,
And you alone are the Good Friend.
I have derived all happiness from Thee,
O my Master! Unspeakable, Unweighable,
I cannot describe Thy various plays,
O Thou, the Ocean of all Goodness and the source of real
happiness.
Thou art Unreachable, Ever-Present Lord, but becomest known
through the Master’s Grace.
Thou hast eliminated all my fears, and have liberated me after
finishing off my egoism,
The fear of life and death is also gone in the company of the saints.
I touch the feet of the Guru and serve Him.

Appendix 99
 I sacrifice my whole being a million times for Him through
whose Grace I have crossed the sea of fear;
Nanak saith: I have now found the Beloved.17
Thou art my Protector here and hereafter,
Thou nourished me in my mother’s womb.
The fire of Maya cannot affect those who are intoxicated with
Thy love,
And are absorbed in Thy holy contemplation.
What qualities of Thine can I describe?
I realize Thy presence within my mind and body:
Thou art my Friend and Master,
I know not anyone else besides Thee.
Whomsoever Thou takest under Thy Protection, not a breath
of the scorching air can touch Him.
Thou art the Lord and in Thy sharan (shelter) one gets immense
happiness.
Thou makest Thyself known through meditation in the company
of the saints: Thou the Highest, the Limitless and the Priceless.
Thou art my True Master and I Thy humble slave;
Thou art Lord, Thy greatness true,
Nanak sacrifices his all for Thee.18

Thou art my boon companion and my Friend,

Thou art my Beloved and my love goes only to Thee,
Thou art my spouse, honour and adornment,
And I cannot live without Thee, even for a while.

Thou art my jewel and my very life,

Thou my Master and my Ruler too,
I shall ever abide by Thy Will
And shall do what Thou willest.
Wherever I look, I see Thee there in fullness.
I will recite with my tongue
Thy Word that made me fearless,
Thou art my great Treasure and Bhandar (merchandise).

100 Prayer
 Thou art sweetly sweet and the support of my mind,
Thou art my honour and I am absorbed in Thy love.
Thou art my shelter and Thou my support,
I worship Thee in my mind and body after having got this
secret from the Guru,
The Guru made me firmly established in the One,
O Nanak! The servant of Hari is ever sustained by Hari.19

Appendix 101
 CHERISHING SALVATION
Forget not Thy servant; if for nothing else consider my previous
love of Thee and possess my heart.
Thou art Gracious and Uplifter of the fallen and so look not to
our faults.
Thou art my soul, my very life breath, and all my riches and
happiness,
Kindly burn down the veil of egoism that separates me from Thee:
How can a fish live without water?
And how an infant without milk?
Nanak is thirsty for the light of Thy lotus feet:
A glimpse of Thee brings in all the happiness that one needs.20

Blessed is the love which pours itself out on the lotus feet of the
Beloved;
When most fortunately I found the Perfect One,
I obtained the fruit of millions of austerities and meditations,
I am a poor slave of Thine and depend upon Thee alone with
nothing else to depend upon.
The repetition of the Lord’s Name has banished all my fears,
and with the collyrium of Thy Word (All wisdom), I have been
roused from a long drawn sleep of ignorance.
Thou art fathomless and extremely great, O Lord! The veritable
Ocean of kindness, full of jewels.
Nanak seeks and begs for the Divine Naam: He bows at the feet
of the Lord.21

Lord, be Gracious, and keep me in Thy sharan (shelter), for I

know not how to serve Thee, low and ignorant as I am.
I have the proud privilege to have Thee as my Beloved:
We are all sinners and always commit mistakes, while Thou
art the Benefactor of the worthless.
We run after Maya with our back to the Lord for such are our
deeds.

102 Prayer
 Thou givest us everything in Thy Compassion, while we are
callously ungrateful to Thee,
Entangled in Thy gifts, we forget the Donor Divine.
There is nothing beyond Thee, O my Liberator,
Nanak saith: O I have come to seek Thy shelter, liberate this
muddle-headed one also.22

O Hari! Save me from disgrace, as I am greatly afraid of Yama

(Death).
I have come to Thy sharan, O Ocean of mercy:
I am foolish and greedy and I have run myself out in sinning
and sinning.
The fear of death haunts me in and out all the time.
I am being consumed in the invisible fires within.
I have tried many remedies to obtain salvation,
And have searched in all the ten directions,
But the secrets of the Lord residing within, I could not find.
Devoid of all virtues, I have done no meditation nor
undergone any austerities,
What should I do now?
O Nanak! Exhausted and defeated as thou art,
Seek thou His anchorage and pray for the boon of
fearlessness.23

Do hear my prayer, O my Lord!

I am Thy disciple even if filled with millions of sins.
Thou art the Destroyer of all ills: Ever kind and bewitching, the
Dispeller of sorrows and woes,
Grant me shelter at Thy feet, and protect me, O Thou the All-
Pervading Absolute.
Seated in the hearts of all, Thou art both seeing and hearing us
through, for Thou art nearer than the nearest,
O Lord! Do hear Nanak’s prayer: Save me, for I am Thy
disciple.
Thou art ever All-Powerful, while we are poor beggars
entangled in worldly attractions.

Appendix 103
 O, do take us out of the mire and free us from the bondage of
mind and matter,
For we are every moment paying the penalty for our faults:
O my Creator, Thou art unattached and free from all
limitations.
Tired as I am from wanderings into many incarnations,
O have mercy upon me,
Nanak prayeth: I am the slave of Hari;
The Lord is the support of my life breath.

Thou art All-Powerful, while I have inferior intelligence, my Lord;

Thou, however, providest even for the ungrateful,
Perfect as Thou art in Thy Merciful Vision:
O Creator, Thou art Beyond all understanding and Limitless,
while I am lowly and know naught.
With my back upon the pearls, I collect shells,
Brute, low and ignorant as I am,
The hard earned maya (wealth), collected through means fair and
foul, is transitory and disappears in the twinkling of an eye.
Nanak seeks the shelter of the Omnipotent One,
Do save me from ultimate disgrace.24

We are dirty, Thou Pure: we are so unworthy of Thee, O Benefactor,

We are fools, while thou art All Wisdom and Possessor of all
powers (arts).
O Madho, what a world of difference between the two;
We the failing ones and Thou so perfect:
We the sinners, and Thou the Destroyer of all sins, O beautiful
Beloved:
Thou hast created everything and hast provided for everyone
with life, body and soul,
This worthless one is without qualities, and yet Thou givest him
all out of Thy kindness.
Thou doest good which we do not appreciate and yet Thou art
always kind,

104 Prayer
 O Lord! Protect Thy children, Thou the treasure of everything
and an ever-abiding King.
The creation begs of Thee.
Nanak saith: Low as we are, save us for the sake of Thy saints.25

Make me Thine own, O Merciful One, for I have taken shelter at

Thy door,
Save me, O Benefactor of the poor, I have tired myself out in
quest of Thee,
It is in Thy very nature to love Thy devotees and to lift up the fallen;
There is no one else save Thee to hearken to my prayer,
I pray, take me up, O Merciful One, and get me out of the ocean
of Sansara by holding my hand.26

O my Beloved; hear how I wander alone in the wilderness!

How can I have patience without the Beloved?
The Carefree as He is.
A wife cannot live without her spouse during the long and
tortuous nights;
I do not get a wink of sleep, I only yearn for my love, O listen to me.
In the absence of the Beloved, none has any sympathy for me,
and I cry all alone.
Nanak saith: The wife doth get her Beloved if she really feels
unhappy and is extremely miserable without him.
The Beloved of my life has left me, who is there to unite me with Him?
There is happiness when love unites, for then the Word (Mystic
Sound) becomes pleasant.
When the Word doth become blissful, we get the right place,
with the inner (mystic) lamp illumining the body.
Hear, my friend, we become really beautiful by singing the
praises of the Supreme Truth.
When Satguru united me with the Beloved, I got the pleasure of
His company,
And the Divine Word full of nectar made me buoyant with
happiness.

Appendix 105
 Nanak says: A wife can have true happiness, when the Beloved
is also fond of her;
Though forgetful of Thee, we are still Thine own, O Lord!

Even if I commit mistakes, still I have the proud privilege to

belong to Thee,
He whose mind has gone elsewhere, will surely die from the
very regret of having done so.
How can I leave the side of my Beloved, when I see that He is
the Sustainer of my soul?
Thou art my friend and relation, and I am highly proud of Thee,
When Thou art in, I am happy and feel that my poor self is
honoured.
Now that Thou hast been so kind to me,
Pray let me not look anywhere else, and
Let me keep the gift of Thy remembrance ever locked in my heart.
I will walk down leagues to have Thy Darshan (a love glance),
I will love to hear Thy stories should it please Thee and the
Satguru,
Millions of suns and moons cannot equal the glory of Thy one hair;
Thou art the greatest of the Great: The Indescribable and the
Ineffable.
I cannot praise Thee sufficiently: Thy friends run into millions
and all superior to me,
Just bestow one Gracious Look on me, and I will be the happiest
creature.
By seeing Him, the mind gets Supreme Peace, and all mental ills
leave off,
How can I forget Him Who saturates me with His Divine
Presence?
With great humility I threw myself at His feet, and He made me
His own for the asking.
Nanak got Him through the help of a Saint, for it was so
preordained.28

106 Prayer
 Thou art my Father, Thou art my Mother,
Thou art my soul and life, O Bestower of Happiness:
Thou art my Master, and I am Thy slave,
And apart from Thee nothing is mine.
Grant that I may be singing Thy praises day and night:
We are Thine instruments and Thou playest on them.
We are beggars at Thy door, give us the Gift, O our Benefactor!
Through Thy Grace I may enjoy inner Bliss, for Thou art
permeating every heart.
Through Thy Grace alone one can repeat Thy sweet Naam,
And sing Thy praises in the company of Thy beloved saints.
Through Thy Mercy, our pains are eliminated, and through Thy
Grace, the lotus of the heart opens out.
I lovingly pour myself out at the feet of the Gurdev (the Radiant
Form of the Master),
Whose Darshan (sight) is fruitful and whose service so purifying.
Be kind, O my Lord! That Nanak may sing Thy praises constantly.29

My Lord, what a poor helpless fellow am I!

Thou hast raised me into a man from a very low birth,
And therein lies Thy greatness.
Thou art the Lord of all, the Giver of soul and the life-breath,
And none can describe Thy numerous attributes.
Beloved of all, Thou providest nourishment to all, Thou the
Sustainer of all life,
None knows Thy mystery permeating as Thou art unto the
vastness and the Beyond, for all this is Thy manifestation,
Nanak prayeth: Grant me the ship of the saints’ company to
cross the ocean of life and death.30

Keep us as it pleaseth Thee, we have come unto Thy shelter.

We commit mistakes day and night, and the Lord forgives us and
protects our honour,
We are Thy ever-erring children, and Thou art our Guru and Father,
O give us good advice: Nanak is Thy servant, save Him from
disgrace.31

Appendix 107
 IMPLORING THE UNEQUALLED BOON OF NAAM
Satguru, I have come to Thy feet:
Give me the bliss of Naam for Divine honour and free me from
all anxieties.
I cannot think of any other place of rest, and as a last resort, I
am at Thy door,
Whether I deserve it or not, O save me as Thou wilt, for merit I
have none.
Thou art ever forgiving, ever kind and sustaineth all,
Nanak hath taken his refuge with the Saints: Kindly protect
him this time.32

I get real life from a vision of Thy Divine Face, and feel myself
fortunate indeed,
Hear this prayer of mine, my Lord:
Make me Thy disciple and give me the gift of Naam,
And keep me under Thy protection, my Benevolent Lord.
It is only the rare few who appreciate the Guru’s Grace,
Hear my appeal, my Lord and Friend:
Let Thy lotus feet abide in my heart,
Nanak makes but one request:
Do not slip away from my remembrance,
O Thou, the Ocean of All-Goodness.33

O Lord! Be kind and grant that we may sing Thy praises,

I wistfully wait for the time when the Lord will hug me to His
bosom.
We are children without wisdom and are steeped in stark
ignorance,
Thou our Father, make us understand.
Sons commit mistakes again and again, while the Father of us
all still loves them.

108 Prayer
 Whatever, O Lord! Whatever Thou givest us, we gladly accept it,
for we have no other shelter whereto we may turn.
The Lord shall be dear to such devotees, who are dear to the
Lord,
Through Thy Grace, we shall merge ourselves into Thee,
Through Thy Grace alone can we constantly remember Thee,
Nanak has come to Hari’s door,
He will save me from disgrace.34

Appendix 109
 FOR GRANTING SOLEMN CHANCE
TO SERVE SAINTS AND FOR
SELF-SURRENDER TO THE LORD
O Merciful One, I ask of Thee to make me a slave of Thy
servants:
When Thou speakest to me, I feel alive, and get all wealth and
kingdoms.
The treasure of Naam nectar is plentiful in the house of the
Lord’s devotees,
I feel elated in their company for there I hear His praises,
My body gets purified in their service.
I bring water for them, fan them, grind their corn and get happy
by washing their feet,
I cannot do anything of myself.
Show me Thy Grace, O Lord!
Give me a place to live with the Divine Saints.35

O show me Thy Gracious Face, that I may sing Thy praises at

dusk and dawn and dust the feet of Thy servants with the long
hair of my head;
That is my inner desire, O Master! For there is none besides
Thee that I may think of.
I meditate on Thy lotus feet, and look toward Thee:
Merciful Lord! The Master of all.
With folded hands I pray, that Nanak,
Thy servant, may repeat Thy Divine Naam,
And get into the Beyond in the twinkling of an eye.36

O Lord! I have just one desire:

O Treasure of mercy and benevolence, make me a disciple of
Thy saints;
I may make obeisance unto them at early morning hours,
And reverently look at their beaming faces day and night,

110 Prayer
 And dedicate myself, body and mind to their service;
I may ever sing praises of the Lord with my tongue, and
With each breath of my life, let me remember the Lord, and let
me live with the saints from day to day.
My only food and wealth is Thy Divine Naam,
Thus Nanak enjoys real bliss.37

Do me one favour: Let my forehead be at the feet of the saints,

My eyes have His Darshan (look),
My body lie in the luminous dust of His Feet,
The Word of the Guru surge in my heart,
And the Name of the Lord abide in me.
Liberate me from the five deadly sins (lust, anger, greed,
attachment and egoism),
And burn all my doubts and delusions, O Master,
Whatever you do we may take it to be for our good without
any regrets whatsoever.
You are the Benefactor of Nanak, O Lord!
Liberate me through the company of Thy saints.38

Appendix 111
 FOR SHELTER FROM FIVE PASSIONS
My Father save me: I am without any virtue,
While Thou art All Virtuous; I am all alone and have to
contend with five enemies.
Protect me, O my Saviour! The foes play hell with me and make
me terribly miserable,
I have come therefore to Thy sharan (shelter).
I have tried all sadhnas to avoid them, but they do not leave me.
Having heard of the protective power of the Saints, I have come
to them for relief,
They were kind enough to come to my rescue and I found great
relief through them.
The Saints gave me a lesson in fearlessness and I practiced their
Word:
Thus I did conquer the fearful foes through the blissful Bani (the
Mystic Sound),
Nanak says: Having seen the Light I have attained the Deep
Stillness.39

Thou makest me free from passions, falsehood, greed and

speaking ill of others;
Weed all the evil propensities out of me and call me near to Thee;
And make me the knower of Thy Will.
Hari’s servants sing songs of happiness.
O teach me the way whereby I may never forget Thee even for a
moment.
Most fortunately, Nanak met the Perfect Guru,
And since then his mind has ceased to wander anywhere.40

I know none other than Thee:

Thou art with me, Thou my friend and companion, O Lord!
What fear can I have with Thee as my sheet anchor and my
hope?

112 Prayer
 Let me not forget Thee for a moment, even while I sit or stand
and am in bed or out of it;
Keep me always in Thy sharan (protection), for
This world is a dreadful ocean of fire,
O Nanak’s Satguru! Thou art the giver of real happiness;
And we are Thy children, O Lord!41

Appendix 113
 GENERAL PRAYERS FOR ALL
All the sins of the saint’s devotees who serve the Lord are
eliminated and done away with,
Be kind to us, O Lord! And keep us in the company of those dear
to Thee.
My Lord! I cannot describe Thy Greatness.
With the dead weight of sins like millstones around us, we were
sinking in midstream, when Thou so graciously lifted us out.
For many incarnations we were entangled in the obnoxious
lures of the world, but when we came into contact with the
saints, we were saved.
As gold is purified by heating in the fire, so does our dirty mind
get etherealized.
Recite His Naam day and night, and make your heart saturated
with the love of Hari,
His Naam is a perfect remedy in this world:
Our egoism too was finished up by the Power of His holy Word.
Hari is unique and beyond our understanding and still beyond
the beyond,
O the Infinitely Conscious Personality,
Be Thou kind to Thy servant;
Nanak has come to Thy shelter.42

We are blind and blindly entangled in the stupefying enjoyments

of the senses,
How can we follow the Path of the Guru?
Only through the Grace of the True Teacher can we join His fold.43

There is none so poor as I am and none more merciful than Thou art,
What then is needed?
I have but an unsteady mind:
O lead me to a Perfect Saint.
When I pour out all my love for the Lord,
Why art Thou so silent, O Madho?

114 Prayer
 We have been separated from Sach Khand for many an
incarnation;
But this life I dedicate to Thee.
Ravidas says: I live in the hope of having Thy sacred Darshan
(a meeting),
Which I have not had for such a long time.44

What qualities of Thine can we describe?

O Master! Thou art Limitless and beyond all description.
We sing praises of Thy Naam day and night and that is our only hope.
We are ignorant and do not know how to cross over to Thee.
The lowly Nanak is His bondsman and a drawer of water,
Make us live as Thou pleaseth, for now we live under Thy shelter.
We commit mistakes at every step,
But Thou art the Forgiver and Keeper of our honour,
We are Thy ignorant children, and Thou art our Father and Master.
O Teach us the Way:
He took Nanak out of serfdom
And has accepted him as His own.45

O Master, have mercy upon us,

And take us to Thyself.
We are but worthless cargo,
And Thou canst pilot us to our End.46

O Master, come and unite me,

Who has been long separated from my Lord;
My body and mind have been emptied of attachment,
O fill me with the Light of God.47

Having renounced all things,

I have come to Thee, my Master;
O take me under Thy wings,
And make of me what Thou wilt.48

Appendix 115
 The Master is the true devotee of the Lord,
And so to Him I pray;
We are but worthless creatures and seek Thy protection,
O grant us the gift of Thy Word.49

Seeing the world in flames,

We turned to the Lord for refuge;
O Master, save us and deliver us,
For therein lies God’s Glory.50

I am purifying my heart,
To make it fit for Thy Altar,
O True Friend! I have come to seek Thy refuge,
Teach me the Way to God.51

Thou alone knowest Thy mysteries,

For Thou art all complete;
O give refuge to a worthless orphan,
And lead him to his destined goal.52

I pray to my Master to unite me to my Lord,

Meeting whom I may find peace and freedom from death.53

When I prayed for the company of the saints,

Hearing me the Lord’s true devotee came unto me;
It was my good fortune that they made me their own.54

Nanak prays to the Master that he may be united with God.55

O my Beloved, grant me the holy Word of God.

Those that have full faith in the Master, their worries are over.56

O Master, we have come to Thy fold,

To have the peace of the Divine Word,
And the Grace of God,
And a riddance from all our cares.57

116 Prayer
 May I live beholding Thee, O my Master,
And may my deeds bear fruit;
This is our prayer to Thee, O Lord,
Grant us the boon of Thy Word and make us Thine own.58

This is my only prayer to Thee,

That I, lost in Thy meditation, be dyed in Thy color.59

Thou Giver of all gifts, grant me this boon,

That I may be freed from vanity and ego, from lust, greed and
wrath.60

Appendix 117
 FROM BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER

T he following prayers have been selected from the Book of Common

Prayer as used by the clergy and laity of the Church of England. These
will serve as inspired examples of spiritual devotion, reverence, humility,
supplication and praise to the Supreme Creator. Such sublime incentives
are inherent in all religions, establishing the universality of a common
origin and destiny for all mankind.
O God, the strength of them all that put their trust in Thee,
mercifully accept our prayers; and because through the
weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing
without Thee, grant us the help of thy Grace, that in keeping
of Thy commandments we may please Thee, both in will and
deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
O Lord, Who never failest to help and govern them whom Thou
dost bring up in Thy steadfast fear and love; Keep us, we
beseech Thee, under the protection of Thy good providence,
and make us to have a perpetual fear and love of Thy holy
name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
O Lord, we beseech Thee mercifully to hear us; and grant that
we, to whom Thou hast given a hearty desire to pray, may by
Thy mighty aid be defended and comforted in all dangers and
adversities; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
O God, the Protector of all who trust in Thee, without Whom
nothing is strong, nothing is holy; increase and multiply upon
us Thy mercy; that Thou being our ruler and guide, we may
so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the
things eternal. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus
Christ’s sake our Lord. Amen.
Grant, O Lord, we beseech Thee, that the course of this world
may be so peaceably ordered by Thy governance, that Thy
Church may joyfully serve Thee in all godly quietness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

118 Prayer
 O God Who hast prepared for them that love Thee such things
as pass man’s understanding; Pour into our hearts such love
towards Thee, that we, loving Thee above all things, may
obtain Thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lord of all power and might, Who art the Author and Giver of
all good things; Graft in our hearts the love of Thy Name,
increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and
of Thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.
O God, who declarest Thine Almighty Power most chiefly in
showing mercy and pity; Mercifully grant unto us such a
measure of Thy Grace, that we, running the way of Thy
commandments, may obtain Thy gracious promises, and be
made partakers of Thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who art always more ready to
hear than we to pray, and are wont to give more than either
we desire or deserve; Pour down upon us the abundance of
Thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience
is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not
worthy to ask, but through the merits and meditation of Jesus
Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
Almighty and Merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that
Thy faithful people do unto Thee true and laudable service;
Grant, we beseech Thee, that we may so faithfully serve Thee
in this life, that we fail not finally to attain Thy heavenly
promises; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Almighty and Everlasting God, give unto us the increase of
faith, hope and charity and that we may obtain that which
Thou dost promise, make us to love that which Thou dost
command; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Appendix 119
 Keep, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy Church with Thy perpetual
mercy; and because of the frailty of man without Thee cannot
but fail, keep us ever by Thy help, from all things hurtful, and
lead us to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.
O Lord, we beseech Thee, let Thy continual pity cleanse and
defend Thy Church; and because it cannot continue in safety
without Thy succour, preserve it ever-more by Thy help and
goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lord, we beseech thee, grant Thy people Grace to withstand the
temptations of the world, the flesh and the Devil, and with
our pure hearts and minds to follow Thee the only God;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
O God, for as much as without Thee we are not able to please
Thee; mercifully grant, that Thy Holy Spirit may in all things
direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
O Almighty and Most Merciful God, of Thy bountiful goodness
keep us; that we, being ready both in body and soul, may
cheerfully accomplish those things that Thou wouldst have
done; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Grant, we beseech Thee, Merciful Lord, to Thy faithful people
pardon and peace, that they may be cleaned from all sins,
and serve Thee with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.
Lord, we beseech Thee to keep Thy household the Church in
continual godliness, that through Thy protection it may be
free from all adversities, and devoutly given to serve Thee in
good works, to the glory of Thy Name; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.

120 Prayer
 O God, our refuge and strength, Who art the author of all
goodness; be ready, we beseech thee, to hear the devout
prayers of Thy Church; and grant that those things which we
ask faithfully we may obtain effectually; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.
O Lord, we beseech Thee, absolve Thy people from their
offences; that through Thy bountiful goodness we may all be
delivered from the hands of those sins which by our frailty we
have committed: Grant this, O Heavenly Father, for Jesus
Christ’s sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.

Appendix 121
 PRAYER FOR SELFLESSNESS
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace; where there is
hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where
there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be
consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to
be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive; it is in
pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life.
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI

BEDTIME PRAYER
O Heavenly Father, protect and bless all things that have
breath; guard them from all evil and let them sleep in peace.
ALBERT SCHWEITZER

SPRINGTIME PRAYER
Now winter is gone, and spring is here: Now tiny leaves, and
blossoms sweet, lambs in the fields, and baby calves, and
budding flowers about my feet. O teach me gentleness, please
God, to care for all things weak and small, that I may grow
strong and brave and helpful in my love for all.
ANONYMOUS
We may conclude this section with the following few prayers:
Almighty God, unto Whom all hearts be open, all desires known,
and from Whom no secrets are hid; cleanse the thoughts of
our hearts by the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may
perfectly love Thee, and worthily magnify Thy Holy Name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

122 Prayer
 O Lord Christ, we, Thy faithful soldiers, dedicate this new day
to Thee, praying that it may shine in Thy service as a pure
pearl in the chaplet of our life, O Thou Great King of Love, to
whom be praise and adoration forevermore. Amen.
Teach us, O Lord, to see Thy life in all men and in all the
peoples of Thine earth, and so guide the nations into the
understanding of Thy laws that peace and good will may
reign upon earth; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
To the most Holy and adorable Trinity, Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, Three Persons in One God; to Christ our Lord, The
Only Wise Counsellor, the Prince of Peace; to the Seven
Mighty Spirits before the Throne; and to the glorious
Assembly of just men made perfect, the Watchers, the Saints,
the Holy Ones, be praise unceasing from every living
creature; and honour, might and glory, henceforth and
forevermore. Amen.
The Peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your
hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of
His Son, Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you, and
remain with you always. Amen.
Midst Thy circling power I stand,
On every side I find Thy hand,
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,
I am surrounded still with God.
Let these thoughts possess my breast
Wherever I roam, wherever I rest,
Let not my weaker passions dare
Consent to sin, for God is there.

Appendix 123
 PRAYERS FROM VARIOUS RELIGIONS
FROM HINDU SCRIPTURES
Om: The Thousand-headed Purusha, thousand-eyed, thousand-
footed, even He, encompassing the Universe on all sides,
remained over ten fingers in extent. Purusha alone is all this,
that which has been and that which is to be. Moreover, He is
the Director of immortality; and hence manifests Himself as
the Universe evolving by means of food. Of this magnitude is
His greatness, even greater than this is Purusha. One fourth
of Him forms all created things, the Immortal three fourths
are in the regions above.
One God sits hidden in every creature, pervading all, the Inmost
Self of all beings, the Watcher over all acts, abiding in all
created things, the Witness, the Heart, the Absolute, Free of
all attributes.
The One Dweller, Self-controlled, who divided the One Seed
into the Many, who is their Atma, those steadfast ones see
Him enthroned with their Atma; for them alone is Bliss
Eternal, not for others.
That blessing do we choose, in order that we may sing for the
purposes of the sacrifice, and for the Lord of the sacrifice.
Divine blessing be ours. May blessing be on the children of
men. May that which is of good effect go always singing
upward. May blessing be on us, the two-footed, blessing on
the four-footed. Om! Peace, Peace, Peace!

FROM ZOROASTRIAN SCRIPTURES

1. We pray for the gracious joy of God the Omniscient Lord of
Existence. Beneficent Holiness is the best of blessings. It
alone is the source of true happiness. Happiness to him who
is sincerely righteous.

124 Prayer
 2. O Lord! Through the most-beneficent and excellent Path of
Purity may we see Thee, face to face. May we then observe Thy
many aspects. And may we be finally merged into Thy Benign
Presence.
3. Cleanse Thou my soul, O Omniscient and most Bountiful
Spirit! Grant me strength through Perfect Wisdom, goodness
through devotion, courage through righteousness, and
leadership through Benevolent Mind. In order that I may
acquire spiritual knowledge to instruct others, grant me that
power, which is indeed the resulting blessing from the Lord
of Benevolence. Reveal unto me the laws of religion through
upright mind and pure conduct. Then does Zoroaster give
away, in charity, even his own life besides his perfect
benevolent Wisdom, to the Omniscient Lord. He dedicates his
power of speech and action, to serve Asha (Holy Divine
Spirit) and Sraosha (the angel of inspiration).
4. As is Ahu (the High Ruler) absolute in His Will, so is the
Spiritual Teacher Ratu wielding authority through the law of
righteousness. The reward of good deeds, done as offering
unto the Lord, is the gift of Benevolent Mind. Whoever gives
protecting help to the needy, is entitled to receive power from
the Creator.
5. O Omniscient God: When malicious people seek to harm me,
who else shall grant me protection, except the Divine Fire and
Wisdom that are within me? Indicate to me, O God! The good
deeds that may propagate righteousness in this world. In
order that I may expound to others the teachings of the good
Faith, tell me, O Lord! How the evil forces may be foiled.
Surely Thy protecting words that are eternal will prevail.
Reveal unto me a teacher, who may be full of Wisdom, and
proficient in the lore of both the worlds, so innocent that the
Angel of Inspiration may approach him through his loving
thoughts. A true teacher is Thy beloved agent.

Appendix 125
 6. O Immortal Archangel: I offer unto you my sacrifice and
devotion through thought, word and deed, and with all my
heart I dedicate the very life of my existence. I adore the Path
of Purity.
7. Whoever amongst the living beings is foremost in loving
sacrifice, is always within the knowledge of the Lord, because
of his righteous conduct. We pay our homage unto all such
men and women who have sought to serve.

FROM JAIN SCRIPTURES

Reverence to the Arhats,
Reverence to the Perfect Ones,
Reverence to the Heads of the Sangha,
Reverence to the Preceptors,
Reverence to all holy Monks in the World.
All these five are worthy of Reverence. They are all protectors against
sin. Among all auspicious things, this is the most auspicious.

FROM HEBREW SCRIPTURES

Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. May it be
Thy will, O Lord our God, and of our fathers; to cause us to
walk in Thy Law and cleave to Thy commandments; and lead
us not into sin, transgression, temptation and contempt.
Remove from us every evil inclination and cause us to adhere
to the good.
O, grant us grace, favour and mercy in Thy sight, and in the
sight of all that behold us; and bestow gracious favours on
us. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who bestowest gracious
favours on Thy people Israel. Amen.
(The word “Israel” is composed of ISR (Righteous), EL (Omnipotent);
hence means: Those who righteously walk in the Law of God.)

126 Prayer
 FROM BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES
Praise be to the Lord, the Holy One, Perfect in Wisdom.
Praise be to the Lord, the Holy One, Perfect in Wisdom.
Praise be to the Lord, the Holy One, Perfect in Wisdom.
I go to the Buddha for refuge,
I go to the Law for refuge,
I go to the Brotherhood for refuge.
For the second time, I go to the Buddha for refuge,
For the second time, I go to the Law for refuge,
For the second time, I go to the Brotherhood for refuge.
For the third time, I go to the Buddha for refuge,
For the third time, I go to the Law for refuge,
For the third time, I go to the Brotherhood for refuge.
I promise to abstain from taking the life of any living creature.
I promise to abstain from taking anything with thievish intent.
I promise to abstain from the evil indulgence of bodily passions.
I promise to abstain from falsehood.
I promise to abstain from any intoxicating liquor or drug.

FROM THEOSOPHY
Invocation by all
O Hidden Life! Vibrant in every atom;
O Hidden Light! Shining in every creature;
O Hidden Love! Embracing all in Oneness;
May each who feels himself as one with Thee,
Know he is also one with every other.
ANNIE BESANT

Appendix 127
 References

1. Maru War M.5 31. Psalm 103:13

2. Sri Rag M.1 32. Mark 9:24
3. Gauri M.5 33. Suhi M.5
4. Todi M.5 34. Matthew 6:8
5. Sri Rag M.5 35. Asa M.5
6. Gauri M.5 36. Asa M.4
7. War Sri Rag M.4 37. Kalyan M.4
8. Asa M.5 38. Maru War M.2
9. Suhi M.4 39. Bhairon M.5
10. Gujri M.5 40. Akal Ustat
11. Al-Umar: Ayat 9-10 41. Asa M.2
12. Maru M.5 42. Acts 17:24
13. Amos 3:7 43. Al-Bakr
14. Gauri M.5 44. I Corinthians 3:16
15. Ibid. 45. Parbhati M.3
16. Ibid. 46. Matthew 6:6
17. Gujri M.5 47. Maru War M. 5
18. John 15:16 48. Gauri M.5
19. John 14:14 49. Ibid.
20. Matthew 7:11 50. Matthew 6:22
21. Bilawal M.5 51. John 14:9, 11
22. Asa M.5 52. Ramkali M.1
23. Dhanasri M.5 53. Jap Ji
24. Malar M.5 54. Jap Ji
25. Matthew 7:7-8 55. Maru M.1
26. Dev M.5 56. Jaitsari Ravidas
27. John 14:15 57. Jap Ji
28. John 15:7 58. Gauri M.5
29. Psalm 37:4 59. Dhanasri M.5
30. Matthew 6:12, 14-15 60. Dhanasri Kabir

128 Prayer
 61. Gauri M.5 91. Bhairon M.1
62. Bihagra War M.5 92. Dhanasri Ravidas
63. Gond Namdev 93. Suhi M.4
64. Matthew 5:8 94. Ibid.
65. Matthew 6:22 95. Bilawal M.4
66. Gauri M.5 96. Asa M.4
67. Suhi M.4 97. Ramkali M.5
68. Gauri M.5 98. Gauri M.5
69. Ibid. 99. Ibid.
70. Shalok M.5 100. Tokhari M.1
71. Gauri Kabir 101. Gauri M.5
72. Gauri M.5 102. Ibid.
73. Majh M.5 103. Shalok M.3
74. Dhanasri Ravidas 104. Gauri M.1
75. Dhanasri M.3 105. Bilawal War M.3
76. Gauri M.5 106. Suhi M.5
77. Jaitsari M.5 107. Kalyan M.4
78. Suhi War M.3 108. Bilawal M.4
79. War Ramkali M.5 109. Bilawal M.3
80. Vadhans M.3 110. Ramkali M.5
81. Asa Kabir 111. Kanra M.5
82. Asa M.5 112. Dhanasri M.5
83. Sarang M.5 113. Gujri M.4
84. Bilawal M.5 114. Basant M.9
85. Suhi M.1 115. Sar Bachan 216
86. Tilang M.1 116. Bilawal M.1
87. Sorath M.5 117. Jap Ji 16
88. Suhi M.5 118. Asa M.5
89. Jaitsari M.5 119. Ibid.
90. Asa M.5 120. Sorath M.5

References 129
 121. Kanra M.4 151. Maru M.5
122. Asa M.5 152. Malar M.5
123. Shalok Kabir 153. Todi M.5
124. Malar M.5 154. Maru M.4
125. Bilawal M.5 155. Suhi M.5
126. Asa M.5 156. Telang M.1
127. Gauri M.4 157. Gujri M.4
128. Kanra M.4 158. War 36, Pauri 28
129. Bhairon M.4 159. Suhi M.4
130. Suhi M.4 160. Gauri M.5
131. Gujri M.5 161. Sri Rag M.1
132. Maru M.4 162. Suhi M.5
133. Prabhati M.3 163. Bilawal M.5
134. Suhi M.5 164. Vadhans M.3
135. Dhanasri M.3
136. Dhanasri M.5
137. Gujri M.5
138. Bihagra M.5
139. Kalyan M.4
140. Gauri M.3
141. Amos 3:7
142. II Timothy 3:16
143. John 1:12
144. John 14:10
145. John 5:25
146. John 5:43
147. John 6:44
148. Bihagra-ki-War M.4
149. John 8:12
150. John 1:1-5

130 Prayer
 References –Appendix

1. Shalok Kabir 30. Sarang M.5

2. Sorath Kabir 31. Asa M.4
3. Dhanasri Dhanna 32. Todi M.5
4. Manual of Prayer 33. Suhi M.5
(May 1957), page 15 34. Kalyan M.4
5. Essene Gospel of John 35. Gujri War M.5
(E. B. Szekely, trans.) 36. Ibid.
22:1-39 37. Dev Gandhari M.5
6. Sar Bachan 38. Bilawal M.5
7. Bara Maha 133 39. Gauri M.5
8. Gauri M.5 40. Sorath M.5
9. Todi M.5 41. Asa M.5
10. Ibid. 42. Dhanasri M.4
11. Ibid. 43. Dhanasri M.5
12. Tilang M.5 44. Dhanasri Ravidas
13. Suhi M.5 45. Asa M.4
14. Majh M.5 46. Malar M.4
15. Gauri M.5 47. Asa M.4
16. Suhi M.5 48. Suhi M.5
18. Majh M.5 49. Gujri M.5
19. Gauri M.5 50. Vadhans M.3
20. Bilawal M.5 51. Sorath M.5
21. Kanra M.5 52. Gauri M.5
22. Bilawal M.5 53. Sri Rag M.1
23. Jaitsari M.9 54. Todi M.5
24. Bihagra M.5 55. Suhi M.1
25. Sorath M.5 56. Sarang M.4
26. War Jaitsari M.5 57. Todi M.5
27. Gauri M.1 58. Suhi M.5
28. Suhi M.5 59. Bilawal M.5
29. Bhairon M.5 60. Suhi M.1

References 131
Literature by Kirpal Singh
THE CROWN OF LIFE
An extensive study of Yoga. The first half of the book details the nature and re-
wards of the many forms of yoga. The second half of the book is an in depth study
of Surat Shabd Yoga, the Yoga of the Celestial Sound Current, which the author
states is “the Crown of Life”.

GODMAN
If there is always at least one authorized spiritual guide on earth at any time ;
what are the characteristics which will enable the honest seeker to distinguish
him from those who are not competent? A complete study of these supreme mys-
tics and their hallmarks.

A GREAT SAINT: Baba Jaimal Singh

A unique biography, tracing the development of one of the most outstanding
Saints of modern times. Should be read by every seeker after God for the encour-
agement it offers.

THE JAP JI – The message of Guru Nanak

An extensive explanation of the basic principles taught by Guru Nanak (1469 –
1539) with comparative scriptures cited. Stanzas of the hymns in English, as well
as the original text in phonetic wording.

MORNING TALKS
Consists of 40 discourses by the author during 1967, 1968, and 1969 in India,
which relate to the ethical and spiritual life of those undertaking spiritual disci-
pline.

NAAM OR WORD
“ ... In the beginning was the WORD … and the WORD was God.” Quotations
from Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic and Christian sacred writings confirm the univer-
sality of this spiritual manifestation of God in religious tradition and mystical
practices.

132 Prayer
PRAYER: Its Nature and Technique
Discusses all forms and aspects of prayer, from the most elementary to the ultimate
state of ‘praying without ceasing’. Also contains collected prayers from all religious
traditions.

SPIRITUALITY: What it is
A straightforward explanation of man’s ultimate opportunity. Explains spirituality
and religion in all its aspects. (also available in German and Italian)

THE WHEEL OF LIFE

The meaning of one’s life on earth is carefully examined in this book. The law
of ‘action and reaction’ or the ‘Karmic law’ is explained in detail.

THE MYSTERY OF DEATH

The reader is presented with the whys and wherefores of the ‘great final change
called death’. Its study offers an approach to understand the relation between
body and soul.

THE NIGHT IS A JUNGLE

"Let me introduce myself, I have come to you as a man to man. I am just as any
of you are. Of course, each man has got the same privileges from God. I developed
in a way that concerns my own Self. What I learned at the feet of my Master about
my own Self, the real Self, I will put before you so that those who are seeking
after Truth may find some guidance."

TEACHINGS OF SANT KIRPAL SINGH

A compilation of the extensive writings and talks by Kirpal Singh on the subject
of spirituality. Grouped into five general headings: The Holy Path, Diary, Med-
itation, New Life in the World, and New Life in God. Republished in 2005 as 3
volumes.

Literature by Kirpal Singh 133

Literature by Unity of Man
BIOGRAPHY OF SANT KIRPAL SINGH
A volume of more than 300 pages describes the life of Sant Kirpal Singh, his childhood,
the time of service in the government, the relation between him and his Master Baba
Sawan Singh, his mission, the three World Tours to the West, glimpses of his time
in India, and the continuation of his work after he left his body in 1974. The foreword
was written by Dr. Harbhajan Singh.

Brochures: Sayings of Sant Kirpal Singh

The biannual brochure containing talks of Sant Kirpal Singh, Dr. Harbhajan Singh,
and Mrs Surinder Kaur can be ordered free of charge at the below address.
Books and brochures by Sant Kirpal Singh in Hindi and Punjabi are available at
Kirpal Sagar, India (see contact addresses).

Books and scriptures are available as download at:

www.kirpal-sagar.co.in (/Media/Books)
www.kirpalsingh-teachings.org

134 Prayer
135
136 Prayer
Further Information:
Headquarter:
UNITY OF MAN (Regd.)
Kirpal Sagar, Near Rahon 144517
Distt. S.B.S. Nagar (Nawanshar), Punjab
INDIA
+91-1823-240 064, +91-1823-242 434
[email protected] (contact in Europe)
[email protected] (contact in India)

Center for the West (Europe):

UNITY OF MAN – Sant Kirpal Singh
Steinklüftstraße 34
5340 St. Gilgen
AUSTRIA (Europe)
+43-6227-7577
[email protected]
[email protected]

Center for North America:

UNITY OF MAN
750 Oakdale Road,
Unit 59 North York, ON M3N 2Z4
CANADA
+1 647-784-1653
[email protected]

Internet:
https://www.unity-of-man.org
http://spirituality.unity-of-man.org
https://sant-kirpal-singh.org
https://audio.sant-kirpal-singh.org
https://kirpal-sagar.org (Europe)
http://kirpal-sagar.co.in (India)
https://kirpalsingh-teachings.org
https://kirpalsingh-mission.org
http://www.uom-conference.org

137
 KIRPAL SINGH
PRAYER
Prayer is the salt of life and we cannot do without it. It
is ingrained in the nature of man to pray for the fulfil-
ment of his wishes whatever they be. But more often
than not we do not know what we may really pray for,
how to pray, and what we may do to make our prayer
a great dynamic force as may stir up heaven’s mercy.
The secret of a successful prayer lies not so much in
the words we use, nor in the time we devote to it, nor in the effort that we put
into it, as it lies in the concentrated attention that we may give it at the seat of
the soul so as to make it soulful. The most natural form for a fruitful prayer is the
yearning of a soul without the agency of words, oral or mental, with the tongue
of thought.
A prayer like this generates and releases such a fund of spiritual energy that all
the cosmic powers are attracted and combine together, shaping out things as
best as possible.
A true prayer is one continuous process, independent of form, time and place,
and leads ultimately to the stage of Sehaj - a halcyon calm, a perfect equipoise
and a complete satiety, with no desire whatsoever. This then is the climax of a
genuine prayer, and here prayer itself ceases to be a prayer and becomes a
state of being as one gradually rises first into cosmic consciousness with the di-
vine will fully revealed unto him. This is the be-all and the end-all of prayer: and
how to achieve it is the object of this enquiry.
At the end of the book, by way of an appendix, are collected, in classified form,
specimen prayers from various Saints and Scriptures for the benefit of the inter-
ested reader.
Kirpal Singh, July 1, 1959
Sawan Ashram, Delhi, India

BE GOOD • DO GOOD • BE ONE