Search:

1 word found.

		Word	Meaning
1		Prayer and Penance	However primitive a religion may be, prayer and penance are the inevitable ingredients. But the object of prayer and the objective for the penance makes the quantum difference, between religions. There are infinite stages of human minds, differing in their grasp and clarity. Within a single human being, with the passage of time, understandings of various depth can occur. Notwithstanding their apparent differences, all human beings are born with 'Aham' (Sense of 'I' and 'ME'). Thus all of us experience a sense of incompleteness in the very depth of our BEING, which compel us to exert towards seeking fulfillment. The uncertainty of securing our satisfaction and fulfillment instigates fear in the very depth of our mind. Thus, DESIRE for satisfaction and FEAR of not being fulfilled, is the functioning rhythm of our mind. Such an anxious inner condition is driven to seek consolation, so as to restore some semblance of "order" , within! Such a source of anchorage for the struggling human mind is 'Prayer' and 'Penance'. Religion is not a redundant luxury, as some unevolved "Intellectuals" arrogate. For humankind, religion is the psychological necessity. As food and water is for the upkeep of one's body, religion is needed for one's psychic health and behavioral balance. Human mind, which is inherently, gripped by fear and desire rhythm, at the very outset it needs a good-deal of metaphysical reassurances. This is exactly the popular version of religion imparts. All religions have worked out extensive prayers and demanding penances, to be undertaken by the faithful. Persons who are overcome by deep anguish of longings and also possessing strong religious faith, if they undertake the prescribed prayer and penance, they will surely derive a palpable relief. Such relief, are therapeutic in their function. This enables people to reattempt their pursuits with renewed vigor and gusto. However, these relief's can offer only temporary inner ease. This because, human propensity for desires, really has no end. Even if some fulfillments happen through prayer and penance, the human sense of 'I' and 'ME' (Ahamkar) comes up with endless demands! Thus the fear and desire chain link in human mind continues. There is yet another level of prayer and penance, which addresses the human predicament from a radically different angle. To undertake this approach, the individual should have got sufficiently prepared by the vicissitudes of worldly life. When one's attention gets spontaneously drawn to the fact of ever multiplying contradictory desires within oneself and also to the inevitable law of LIFE by way of FLUX, which has the ultimate say, as to, 'What should be?' then one's attention wants to unravel the very mystery behind this very odd situation! The emphasis gets drastically shifted from the mere egoistic self-fulfillment. The human intelligence begins to climb the higher spirals on the evolutionary path, where it wants to understand "ITSELF"! The center of 'Awareness' gets shifted to a higher vantage point. One cannot afford to treat this, 'Wanting to understand ONESELF', in the same level of intensity, as the other wants, which we at random pursue blindly in our life. This undertaking demands much more commitment than a mere passing interest of a shallow inspiration. It is indeed an arduous challenge. One has to swim against the current of one's own habit ridden mind. The deep-rooted fears, desires and urges shall surely crop up time-and-again as hindrances. To counter this psychological gravitational pull, one needs a different quality of prayer and penance. In this prayer, the person should be able to surrender totally one's sense of egoistic individuality to the inscrutable power of LIFE. Though this POWER cannot be fully and easily described as an objective reality, the earnestness in one's being gives sufficient insights into this subtler higher realm. The seeker in quest should invoke profound faith and surrender one's ego through prayer to this 'ALL Governing Realm'. The sense of humility should fill one's being, for ushering the state of surrender. Ego is the most difficult to handle enigma. It is the past master of million tricks and a sharpshooter of many encounters. The only penance that can outwit such an enigma is self-denial through skeptical negation. All impulsive promptings and emotional blackmails of one's egoistic state, has to be Choicelessly watched and negated, by grasping the cunning ways of our habitual ignorance. One should have the healthy inner resilience, to stay free of the social value pressure. This is perhaps the most difficult penance of all other penances! Under these aseptic conditions, the unconditional inner let go happens. Enduring steadfastly to prayer and penance can surely lead us to freedom through realization. The delusion of ego cannot be cast out without the help of such prayer and penance. Without the dissolution of ego, there can be no peace and freedom. Thus, "Prayer and Penance' play a very important role in a human being's life. It is the raft, which will surely help us cross the choppy sea of our own inner ignorance.

© Copyright 2001-2023 by Swami Jinendra. ® All Rights Reserved.