Prarthana (Prayer) is considered to be an integral part of the Hindu Sanathana Dharma or religion. Every Hindu performs Prarthana for understanding God and for perceiving His existence through our body, mind and intellect. In Sanskrit, the word Prarthana means a prayer or seeking. In Hinduism, the word has a deep religious connotation but a secular and generic meaning is “to request, ask, or politely seek something with a feeling of reverence or submissiveness.”
In Prarthana, a devotee makes a petition to God to resolve a problem or address a grievance.
It is believed that when a desired task is undertaken after praying to a Deity, the task is blessed by the Deity. In addition to this, prayers increase our Atma-shakti (Energy of the soul) and confidence. As a result, the task achieves excellence and success. It is said that we attain peace of mind after praying, and a task performed peacefully and with a steady mind always brings good results. In our demanding day-to-day life, only Prathanna/prayer to God helps us to attain peace of mind and gradually leads us towards God-realization.
There are different types of prayers that offer both worldly and eternal spiritual benefits to an individual:
1. Sakam prayers are offered for fulfillment of a desire or worldly happiness such as acquiring wealth, health, success etc and people get entrapped in Maya (illusion) or worldly life.
2. Nishkam prayers are devoid of any worldly desires, intention, or expectation. This kind of prayers contain self-surrender unto God and in turn eliminate ego and wild desires. They lead us to spiritual progress by motivating us to perform Dharmakarya (service to God and humanity) move towards God-realization (Sadhana) and overcome Maya.
3. Vyashti prayers are done for individual gain, removal of unhappiness, acquiring power, personal spiritual progress etc.
4. Samashti prayer are performed for the wellbeing, economic and spiritual progress, prosperity, happiness, benefit of whole family, community, society, village, town, city, country, world, and universe.
The viewpoint of a seeker in the preliminary stage of Sadhana for God-realization is limited only to ‘Me and my Sadhana.’ However, when a person becomes enlightened he/she develops a bhav of Vasudeva kutumbukam (the entire universe is my home) for God-realization. Samashti prayers help to develop love towards all living creatures and think beyond self oneself.
Pandit Jay Narayan Badal is Priest of Shivalaya Temple of Greater Boston
Pandit Jay Narayan Badal
