Prayer vs Meditation
Category: Spirituality
March 27, 2019
Prayer vs Meditation? They’re more similar than we realize. Do you want to know the difference between prayer and meditation? For most people, the two are the same or at least similar. Nearly everyone realizes that both are ways to connect to a higher power or consciousness.
But in Sahaja meditation, we’re clear about how they’re different. More importantly, how to tangibly achieve and experience the results of both.
Meditation is a State
As we’ve continued to say several times and in several different ways, meditation is really the achievement of a higher consciousness of our innermost being – the spirit or inner self. We achieve this higher state in Sahaja meditation through the rising of the inner Kundalini energy that lifts our attention to this higher state of consciousness. Our attention is the vehicle of our consciousness and a means of spiritual growth.
When we and specifically our attention and inner self reach this higher state of consciousness, we enter a realm where are one with the all-pervading power or energy of the universe.
It is the most realistic and tangible experience of “heaven on earth”. And when we’re in heaven, shouldn’t our prayers be heard more easily? Yes, definitely.
But beyond this, do we need to pray at all in the first place?
Prayers are Heard and Recognized When We Have The Connection to The Higher Power
As much as most people would not like to hear this, the truth is that spirituality can only be achieved through the connection of our inner self to the all-pervading power. And any prayers to the divine can only be heard when we have this connection.
Does this mean that the prayers of millions of people are futile? Not necessarily. There’s this power of seeking within human beings, an urge to get closer to the divine power. When in that state, we’re always searching and in many ways, anxious to reach the ultimate goal in life. We know that the divine power exists, we’re keen to discover it. The divine or all-pervading power, for its part, is indeed all-pervading or present everywhere. It moves everything in this universe. And so, seeking the divine very ardently and with strong desire takes people closer to the divine. It presents them with opportunities to be united with it and also for their prayers to be heard and fulfilled.
Yet, this power gives complete freedom to human beings and allows them to go on any path they can according to their free will. Many times it may also protect them, but it is not possible to know when it is or isn’t. In general, it is true that this power always desires the good for all human beings. It is very compassionate and forgiving. But if human beings want to get onto undesirable or harmful paths, it will not stop them, except giving them some warnings.
But the situation changes when we have this connection and are one with this power. We enter into its realm and become part and parcel of it. This means that not only is our desire of seeking it fulfilled, but by becoming a part of it, we start going in the right direction and are intuitively guided by it at all times. It does a much stronger and closer job of influencing our lives including preventing us from straying into negative paths. It can also gently punish us and try everything to dissuade us from getting into wrong ways and habits. It can actively work to heal us and resolve our problems. This it does by directly working on our subtle energy system of chakras and channels. And yes, it does it every day when we surrender to this power in our state of meditation.
It is thus amply clear that our prayers are heard and a lot more effective when we are in the state of meditation and more so if we are regular meditators that are integrated with the divine power.
What is also true is that human beings may lead a life of excesses. When they’re hit with problems due to these excesses, they may oscillate between serious prayers followed by a sense of complacency when their life moves on past their problems. And so, they may continue their lives with an inconsistent disposition towards the all-pervading power including feeling no need to become one with it.
In such cases, we can surely expect that our prayers will likely not have much impact, although it is true that the divine power is exceptionally forgiving, compassionate and is ultimately the power of love. However, it mostly allows human beings to exercise their freedom.
Do We Really Need Prayers If We’re United with the Power?
Yes and no. As we evolve as meditators, one of the highest goals in life is Self-Transcendence – the desire to pursue causes beyond our own skin. As we begin to do this, we naturally start using prayers for the more significant causes in life and for the good of others. And no, we rarely feel the need to pray or place any requests for ourselves with the divine power. That’s because we enter a desire-less state and for the most part lead our lives very smoothly, without any significant problems. If we do enter a crisis situation, we witness it knowing that is inevitable and a plan of the divine for our own good. We do not necessarily wish for the outcome or result to be different in testing times. The ultimate learning that the difficult situations in life are stepping stones for us to get better in life is instilled within us.
So you could say that in the deepest states of meditation, explicit prayers become redundant and unnecessary.
Can you know if your prayers worked or not?
We tend to simplify things and narrow the outcomes in our lives to things we can perceive and understand. This holds good for prayers too. We expect to pray and then see immediate gratification or a response that our problem has been solved or not. Truth is that most of our problems in life are very complex, there’s a history of root causes to them. And the solution we want is very often not the solution that is good for us, except when the problem is a crisis causing us harm of some kind. In life, you get what you need, not what you want, as they say.
There is however a clear method for meditators to know whether our requests and prayers have at least been acknowledged by the higher power and on most occasions, even for us to get positive or negative confirmation of our request. This is achieved through our vibratory awareness or the perception of the divine vibrations on our subtle energy system. Yes, it’s that real. You can feel the problem and whether the solutions and requests we place for solving them have been received.
That is the real advantage of true meditation – your prayers really work or at least you know well when they do not. And prayer is not merely faith-based, it is real and tangible in the state of meditation.
Lastly, we almost invariably visualize prayer and associate it with a particular God or some religion, prayer in our meditation is a direct message sent to the higher power – instantaneously, clearly and fruitfully.
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