Efficacy of prayer

                          Efficacy of prayer





    The main forms of mental worship are prayer and meditation

   The fickle nature of the mind is compared to a monkey which becomes drunk with the wine of desire, while jealousy stings it like a scorpion and the demon of pride takes it over. The mind, when uncontrolled becomes a source of pain and when controlled and properly directed to good path, is the solution to all our problems .

Prayer is an effective means to control the mind for attaining peace. Prayers, psalms, and hymns are common in all religions. We find them to be a fundamental part of the religious literature of the world. With the idea of a personal God come devotion and worship, and prayers and hymns are but the natural outcome of one's conception of that personal God and one's relation with him. Prayer gives hope. It protects one from the main enemies of man namely fear, grief, and depression. Hope heals and helps mobilize a person's defences and promotes optimism.

Among the more profound accomplishments of modern science has been discovering that mind and body are not separate and independent, but rather the same entity seen from different angles. With mind's healing pain, physical problems are also healed . Modern medical science also admits the healing power of prayers. Great experts of ancient times like Hippocrates, the legendary Greek father of medicine, Avicenna , Charaka all advocated the prayers along with medivation for quick healing. Charaka recommends the recitation of Vishnu Sahasranama for the cure of fevers.

Prayers are done by common men for personal gains like wealth, health, progeny etc. In scriptures generally prayers for universal welfare are mostly given as standard for praying. For instance, the vedic prayer -
' May everyone be happy,
May everyone be healthy ,
May everyone witness only auspicious things  ,
May no one suffer from sorrows .'

Another famous universal prayer is,

' God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.'

This prayer attributed to Karl Paul Reinhold Neibuhr dating back to the 1930s has had a tremendous impact on people all over the world.
This serenity prayer cuts across all religions in its universal appeal. It is like a magiv wand that soothes agitated minds by providing an unfailing anchor

The great philosopher Shankara also poured out sweet devotional songs on all deities to guide the common man setting a model for the correct method of worship. The hymns were inspired poetical outpourings of Shankara and are not mere literary versifications. Such devotional pieces have sprung from him while visiting hallowed places of worship and places where his God's presence could be felt strongly. To clothe his immortal feelings, he chose the apt immortal divine language Sanskrit. The underlying strand running in all the hymns is vedanta or monism

Many of his hymns are considered to be efficacious in securing secular benefits. They are expressed at the last stanza of each hymn. But to Shankara, prayer was no beggary. His hymns invariably consist of the prayer to gramt one the true ligjt of knowledge and discrimination and to save one from the wheel of birth and death, thus setting forth the ideal to be pursued by the devotee or aspirant. Ultimately worship in the form of prayers leads to absorption in meditation.