Prayer and Consciousness

By Margo Kirtikar Ph.D.

There is a method to prayer and a method to growth in consciousness.
Some of us make the error of thinking that it is enough to believe in God, to sit in silence and to think about God. Some of us think it is enough if we attend church every Sunday, recite a little prayer before every meal or to help charity once in a while. Some of us think it is enough to mention the name of God or to follow habitual rituals of prayer. All this, however, is not enough. I am genuinely sorry to disappoint you my friend, but this is not enough.

God, the Divine, the Logos, Allah, Brahma, demands much more of us. We wonder why our prayers are not answered. The question is how genuine are we in our prayers? How true are we? How faithful are we? Do you know that it is the intensity of our prayer that determines whether our prayers are answered or not? How much of our energy and passion do we put into our prayers? How much of our true selves do we put into our prayers? Just how committed are we to God when we pray? Are we committed in whole or only in part as we pray? i.e. Is our mind wondering on to other things as we pray therefore in part only or are we fully focused?

You see, because the fact is, that we are required to commit to God totally and fully, in body mind and soul, no less. God demands this of us. This does not mean that we need to be fanatics, not at all, because that would be just as bad an extreme as being too lax in our devotion to God. Let me explain…

We are divine beings and there is a spark of God within each living soul. It is this little spark that is within each one of us, regardless who we are, that we need to fan to a roaring blaze so that we feel God’s warmth. We need to expand this divine spark within us for us to grow in our consciousness level. Too many of us wallow in our follies and mistakes and we defend ourselves with a thousand excuses of why we cannot move forward and away from the habitual negative spaces and detrimental energies that we are stuck in. Year in year out we make virtues of our shortcomings, we say ‘this is who I am and I can’t change that’ or ‘that is how I am and there’s nothing I can do about it’ or ‘this is much too difficult I can’t do this’ or 'I have no time' but these are all nothing but excuses for being lethargic and plain lazy, not interested in making any effort to move away from our zone of material comfort. We spend more time focusing and nurturing and feeding our shortcomings, displaying them like trophies to each other and to the world, instead of shifting our focus on how we can be better human beings, on how we can develop and add positive qualities to our character, to be more constructive and to contribute to family, friends, work place and to the society at large.

There is a method to this if you really want to know. There is a method to growth in consciousness. A simple but effective method used by all who thread the spiritual path in earnest. This method is to judge oneself, not others, but to judge oneself. Constantly and regularly, every end of the day, to look back on the day, to our thoughts and actions, we see where we have failed as good human beings, we see our own mistakes, we acknowledge that with acceptance, and we pray to ask for pardon and forgiveness and then we pray for the right guidance to do better. We pray for patience and for inner strength. We pray for insight, inner vision and wisdom. This we need to do with our whole being and not only with a part of us. We need to be engaged fully with mind body and soul as God demands it. We need to be totally devoted. When we do this regularly without fail, the positive results are guaranteed.

Let’s take this as an example. If you love someone deeply you have the wish and the need, to show this to the person you love, right? You want to express your love to them and you give of yourself without holding back. You don’t think or say, ‘but you know I love you, why do I need to show you? or ‘why should I do this or that for you, you know I love you isn’t that enough ?’ or ‘you know I love you so I do not need to be respectful or appreciative of you’ and so on.
It is of no difference at all with the Divine. We need to show our love, to demonstrate it, to express this in all our prayers to God. We need to love and to cherish God the Divine. We also need to show our love to God by loving the Divine God Spark, the Spirit within ourselves. We need to respect and to love the Divine God Spark within every other human being we deal with. If we keep this thought alive in our mind that there is a Divine Godly Spark in every soul we meet, the Spirit within, and we address this God Spark in everyone we meet, our whole attitude towards our fellow beings will change. Our whole world will change if every one of us made a point of holding this thought in our mind. Imagine that each one of us is a Universe and a mini God in the making and we are all constantly interacting with other mini Gods in the making. For in the end the ultimate truth is God is Cosmic Consciousness, God is Energy, God is Life, God is Light, God is Love and we are all One with God.

I’d like to quote the following from a book ‘The Secret of Light’ by Walter Russel, 1871-1963, a visionary, known as the man who tapped the secrets of the universe.

“Every happening anywhere happens everywhere. The milkweed fluff floating lazily in the summer sky affects the balance of the whole universe of suns and galaxies. Every part of the universe moves in interdependent unison as the wheels of a watch move in unison. The watch wheels are geared together mechanically. The rhythmic wave universe is geared together electrically. The entire universe is one and must be kept in balance as one. Changes of condition in any one part are simultaneously reflected in every other part and are sequentially repeated in it.
Everything that is, is of everything else that is. All things are indissolubly united. – from the Divine Iliad.”

All of us should reflect on these words and remember them as we pray and as we move forward each of us on our own individual path towards cosmic consciousness.

Margo Kirtikar is a spiritual coach and guide, helps people to find their path, achieve their goals, discover their true potential.

http://www.mindempowerment.net

http://www.visionsunusual.com

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