Sahib – almost every other month. Then a succession of tragedies struck the family. Two daughters lost their husbands; a third’s marriage broke up within a few weeks of its celebration. And their business collapsed. One fine morning the family decided that all their prayers and worship had been in vain and that God had shown utter disregard for them. They abandoned prayers and gave away their Granth Sahib to a gurudwara. The second family did even worse. After years of preaching Sikhism and making converts, the head suddenly came to the conclusion that prayers and recitations from the Granth Sahib were futile and wanted to sell the holy scripture to a raddiwala by its weight in paper. There was a near riot outside his house.
Prayers, though ostensibly addressed to God are, in fact, addressed to oneself. There is nothing intrinsically good in prayer: prayers come from the same mouth as oaths. Dacoits are known to pray before they rob and kill people. Combatants in battle pray for victory; only one side wins. Carlyle, in his Life of Fredrick the Great has Prince Leopold praying: “O God, assist our side: at least avoid assisting the enemy, and leave the rest to me.” Belief in the efficacy of prayer is based on the desire to be successful in whatever is uppermost in one’s mind. If you are ill, you pray to be restored to good health. And quite often it generates the will necessary to get the better of one’s ailment. My mother-in-law, stricken by stomach cancer and having been declared unfit to be administered general anaesthesia, asked the surgeon to allow a Sikh attendant to recite aloud the Sikh morning prayer Japji while her stomach was being cut open. She went through the ordeal without showing any sign of the pain she was suffering or shedding a tear. She came through the operation successfully. Many people pray to have peace of mind; they get peace of mind. This is all that the Bard meant when he said: “More things are wrought prayer than the world dreams of…” Prayer does not produce miracles, it only gives us reassurance and self-confidence to help us face adversities.
The Bible has a great deal to say on the efficacy of prayer. The best known version, repeated in many forms throughout the holy book, is from the Psalms: “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry!” It is repeated almost in these words in the cry of anguish by David when he is unable to deal with his rebellious son Absalom: “Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not thyself from my supplication.” And it is David again who raises his hands and says: “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” There is historical evidence to prove that this form of prayer was used by the early Christians to distance themselves from the pagans who killed animals as sacrifice and had reduced prayer to a meaningless ritual. What David meant to emphasize was that prayers offered by a person with a pure heart and without desire to bargain with God could be as effective as the incense and smoke of sacrifice.
It is evident that Christianity accepted the power of prayer to strengthen the moral fibre of the pure hearted. Paul exhorts his followers to fight the powers of darkness and regard God as their armour: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Evil.” What is emphasized over and over again is that one must not lose faith in God or in the power of prayer. “The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.”
23-29/6/1989
Human Face of God
I asked for an audience with the Dalai Lama. I did not intend to question him about the Chinese occupation of his homeland – which to me is as immoral as the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, now fortunately coming to an end. Rulers of China are not bothered about political morality nor
Prayers, though ostensibly addressed to God are, in fact, addressed to oneself. There is nothing intrinsically good in prayer: prayers come from the same mouth as oaths. Dacoits are known to pray before they rob and kill people. Combatants in battle pray for victory; only one side wins. Carlyle, in his Life of Fredrick the Great has Prince Leopold praying: “O God, assist our side: at least avoid assisting the enemy, and leave the rest to me.” Belief in the efficacy of prayer is based on the desire to be successful in whatever is uppermost in one’s mind. If you are ill, you pray to be restored to good health. And quite often it generates the will necessary to get the better of one’s ailment. My mother-in-law, stricken by stomach cancer and having been declared unfit to be administered general anaesthesia, asked the surgeon to allow a Sikh attendant to recite aloud the Sikh morning prayer Japji while her stomach was being cut open. She went through the ordeal without showing any sign of the pain she was suffering or shedding a tear. She came through the operation successfully. Many people pray to have peace of mind; they get peace of mind. This is all that the Bard meant when he said: “More things are wrought prayer than the world dreams of…” Prayer does not produce miracles, it only gives us reassurance and self-confidence to help us face adversities.
The Bible has a great deal to say on the efficacy of prayer. The best known version, repeated in many forms throughout the holy book, is from the Psalms: “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry!” It is repeated almost in these words in the cry of anguish by David when he is unable to deal with his rebellious son Absalom: “Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not thyself from my supplication.” And it is David again who raises his hands and says: “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” There is historical evidence to prove that this form of prayer was used by the early Christians to distance themselves from the pagans who killed animals as sacrifice and had reduced prayer to a meaningless ritual. What David meant to emphasize was that prayers offered by a person with a pure heart and without desire to bargain with God could be as effective as the incense and smoke of sacrifice.
It is evident that Christianity accepted the power of prayer to strengthen the moral fibre of the pure hearted. Paul exhorts his followers to fight the powers of darkness and regard God as their armour: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Evil.” What is emphasized over and over again is that one must not lose faith in God or in the power of prayer. “The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.”
23-29/6/1989
Human Face of God
I asked for an audience with the Dalai Lama. I did not intend to question him about the Chinese occupation of his homeland – which to me is as immoral as the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, now fortunately coming to an end. Rulers of China are not bothered about political morality nor
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