how and why prayer works and right posture - must read

Abstract

In this article we provide an overview on how prayer works. There are two types of prayers – for worldly benefit and for spiritual growth. Accordingly the prayers are answered by a different aspect of God. Spiritual research has shown that even negative energies can answer prayers, to our detriment! One's spiritual level is the single most important factor in ensuring that one's prayers are answered. Praying for world peace, while a noble thought, is most likely not to be answered due to lack of spiritual level of the people praying. Paradoxically the people who can really effect change through a single prayer are Saints but They see the futility of praying as they are totally in alignment with God's will and don't see it separate from Theirs. Lastly the posture of prayer also contributes in the prayer being answered.

1. Introduction to the mechanism of prayer

When faced with difficult or insurmountable situations in day-to-day life like loss of a valuable, incurable illness, major financial problem, etc. people pray to God or to an aspect of Him, also known as a deity. These are prayers with material or worldly expectations.

Seekers of God whose main focus in life is spiritual growth also pray regularly to God, not only in difficult situations but even in day-to-day situations. The prayers however are not about worldly expectations but about their spiritual growth and are said as a part of their spiritual practice.

This article explains the mechanism of how both varieties of prayers are answered.

To understand this article better please read:

Definition of prayer
What is the difference between prayer with expectations and without expectations?

It is important to note that when there is any problem or difficulty in life, the root cause can be physical, mental or spiritual in nature. Research carried out by SSRF shows that up to 80% of problems in life have their root cause in the spiritual realm. Destiny and departed ancestors are two very important factors among the spiritual causes of problems in life.

2. How are prayers answered? What is the mechanism?

2.1 Who answers our prayers?

The following diagram shows who answers our prayers depending on the type of prayer. Generally the prayer differs as per the spiritual level of the person. For example a person who is at a 30% spiritual level will more often than not pray for worldly things. A person at the 50% spiritual level will more often than not pray for his spiritual progress. Accordingly the prayers are answered by various subtle energies in the Universe. What is interesting is that even negative energies answer prayers either where harm is requested and or to entrap a person under their influence by initially granting their wishes. For example, as shown in the diagram below, a person who prays for the death of another person will be helped by a negative subtle entity from the 4th Region of Hell. Prayers for worldly benefit are generally responded to by lower deities or lower positive energies. Prayers for spiritual growth are responded to by higher level deities and higher positive energies. .

When we make a prayer with expectation such as asking for a job or overcoming an illness, to God or a specific deity, our prayers as stated earlier are answered by lower level deities or lower positive energies. Let's take the example of a person who has prayed intensely for a job. If it is in the person's destiny to be without a job for 5 years, then the lower positive energy or the lower level deity can answer the prayer by pushing out this five year jobless period to somewhere later in the person's life. Thus the person still has to go through a phase of being jobless. (This is because regardless of anything one has to undergo one's destiny; it can only be overcome by one's spiritual practice.)
Sometimes higher level deities also help the worldly situation of a seeker if it is causing an obstacle in his spiritual growth.

2.2 How are prayers answered?

When a person prays, he remembers God intensely and has an intimate dialogue with Him about issues very close to his heart. By the law of reflex action, God also feels closer to him.
Prayers have the ability to activate the deity principles (aspects of God) in the Universe. The subtlest frequencies are generated when one pays gratitude along with the prayer. These frequencies have the ability to not only activate but also touch the deity; hence the deity principle is activated faster. This activation of deity principle (aspect of God) results in fulfilment of prayers. The deities bring about the fulfilment of prayers by the power of resolve. Refer to the article on who is a deity?
Example of prayers followed by gratitude:
- Lord please let me get this job, I really need it. Lord, my gratitude for giving me the thought to pray.
- Lord may I do all activities in this entire day as my spiritual practice. Lord, I express gratitude at your Holy Feet for having given me the thought and for having got this prayer done through me.
Prayers attract subtle divine frequencies towards the person and as a result the raja-tama covering around the person is destroyed. Thus the environment surrounding the person becomes comparatively more saattvik. As the subtle basic sattva component in the surrounding environment is increased, the thoughts of the person are reduced and they also become saattvik. This is because the mind is influenced by the external environment.
Prayer increases the particles of the subtle basic sattva component in the vital body sheath. When we pay gratitude the particles of the subtle basic sattva component in the mental body sheath increase. Thus prayer complemented with gratitude results in spiritual purification of the vital body and mental body sheaths.
For further information about the vital and mental body, refer to – "What are we comprised of?"
Because of spiritual purification of the vital body sheath and mental body sheath, the impressions in both the sheaths begin to be destroyed. As the impressions are reduced thoughts about oneself are minimised and attraction towards worldly things (Maayaa) decreases and this leads to increase in desire for God and a yearning to merge with Him. Also as both sheaths are purified negative energies cannot enter the body.

Refer to the article on – How chanting helps to purify the impressions in our mind.
When we pray we accept our inability to solve a problem ourselves and hence in seeing ourselves as lesser, our ego is reduced. With a reduction in ego there is a temporary rise in spiritual level. This causes a temporary increase in subtle basic sattva component. Further when we pay gratitude it generates humility in us which has an even greater positive effect on our spiritual level. Hence our communion with God increases. This rise in the subtle basic sattva component itself increases our capacity to overcome or bear the problem.

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3. When do our prayers work?

In our life, 65% of events happen as per destiny. Destined events are those events that we have no control over. Please refer to the article on destiny and wilful action.

Destined events good and bad are bound to happen in our lives. Bad destined events may be an illness or a bad marriage. The average person mainly prays to God when bad events happen in his life. He prays to God to relieve him of the bad event. However we find that our prayers are not always answered. Refer to the article - Destiny as a spiritual root cause of difficulties in life

So what is the law? When does prayer override a bad destined event; so that with the prayer the event itself does not happen or at least we are insulated from it?

The rule of thumb is

If the prayer is stronger than the intensity of the destined event then the prayer will be answered
If the intensity of the destiny is stronger than the prayer, then the prayer will be answered partially or not at all.

4. What decides the effectiveness of one's prayer?

The following factors add to the effectiveness of the prayer

Spiritual level of the person praying – the higher the spiritual level the more effective is one's prayer
Quality of prayer - whether the prayer is mechanical or heartfelt or with spiritual emotion (bhaava) of the seeker
For what is he praying (i.e. whether for himself or others) – When we pray for others the spiritual strength required is much more. The more the number of people in society intended to be affected by the event, the greater is the spiritual strength required to effect the desired result. Only Saints of a higher order can effect change in society.
Ego - Lower ego contributes to the effectiveness of prayer
What prayer posture (mudraa) is a person using? This becomes a major factor for the majority of people as the above factors are lesser in most people.

4.1 The spiritual level of a person and prayer

The spiritual level of a person praying is one of the main criteria in deciding the effectiveness of the prayer.

For seekers above the 60% spiritual level, prayer is not required. They act from the spiritual emotion/feeling that 'Let everything happen as per God's will.' They actually experience that everything in their live is happening and is provided for by God's grace. Their mind is constantly in a state of gratitude to God. Once this state is achieved prayer is not needed.
Prayers of people who are below the 30% spiritual level lack potency and at best they provide them with only psychological benefit. This is because the covering of ego is too great for their prayers to reach the deity principle.
Thus we can see that prayer works most effectively for people between the spiritual level of 30-60%.

Refer to article on 'Breakdown of world's population by spiritual level'.

From time to time we hear a call by some people to gather and pray for world peace or for a noble cause such as reduction in global warming. From the perspective of actual results, this is at best a psychological effort. This is so because major world events have a strong spiritual basis and can only be overcome by spiritual efforts of highly evolved beings such as Saints of a higher order. Even if millions of people (of average spiritual level) get together and make the same prayer for a major world happening, it is akin to many ants trying to lift a boulder.

Note: Some people may think that if Saints can effect global change, then why don't they orchestrate world peace or a reduction in global warming? The paradox is that while Saints have the spiritual strength to influence world events, they have the spiritual emotion that God only knows best. Also as they are in the 'observer state' (saakshibhaav) , they by their very nature do not interfere in God's plan and are in complete accordance with His plan. They have the complete awareness that as per God's plan everything happens according to individual and collective destiny. (Destined events are those events in our life which happen due to our past actions, either in this very birth or in our previous births.)

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5. What is the best posture for prayer?

Through spiritual research, SSRF has identified and recommends the following mudraa or posture that is most conducive to gain the maximum divine energy through prayer.

The following subtle diagrams show the two stages in this mudraa (posture) and what actually happens at a spiritual level when one prays

5.1 Explanation Stage 1 of prayer posture (mudraa)

The first stage in this mudraa is raising one's hands in prayer with the thumbs gently touching the mid-brow region or the Aadnyaa chakra (the spiritual energy centre at the mid-brow region). It is best to begin praying after we are in this position.

When we bow our head in this prayer position, it awakens the spiritual emotion of surrender in us. This in turn activates the appropriate subtle frequencies of deities from the Universe. These divine frequencies come in through our finger tips which act as receptors. These divine frequencies are then channelised into our body through the thumb to the Aadnyaa chakra (the spiritual energy centre at the mid-brow region). The result is an increase in the positive spiritual energy in us which makes us feel lighter or gives relief from symptoms of physical or mental distress.

5.2 Explanation Stage 2 of prayer posture (mudraa)

After one finishes his prayer, he should assume the second mudraa (posture) as shown in the diagram above. This means that instead of bringing his hands in prayer down immediately, they are to be placed in the mid-chest region in such a way that the wrists touch the chest. This facilitates the process of more completely imbibing the Divine Consciousness of the deity principle. So initially the Divine Consciousness of the deity principle that had entered the finger tips now also gets transmitted to the region of chest, the seat of the Anaahat chakra. Just like the Aadnyaa chakra, the Anaahat chakra also absorbs sattva frequencies. By touching the wrists to the chest, the Anaahat chakra is activated and it helps in absorbing more sattva frequencies. When activated, the Anaahat chakra awakens a seeker's spiritual emotion and devotion.

In this stage of the prayer mudraa, one should be introspective and contemplate upon the experience of being in God's presence.

5.2.1 Correct posture of the head while praying

Points to note:

Body should be bowed and not erect
Fingers should be parallel to the forehead. Fingers should not be stiff but relaxed.
Fingers should be touching each other – not spread apart
Thumb should be lightly touching the area of the Aadnyaa chakra
Hands need to be gently pressed together – slight space between the palms. In case of seekers above 50% spiritual level, no space is required between the palms.

5.3 When praying with spiritual emotion

The following subtle diagram shows what happens when a person at 50% spiritual level prays with spiritual emotion. The main thing to note is that the people in the vicinity also derive the benefit of the Divine Consciousness accessed by that person. (Refer to the part of the diagram which shows 5% of frequencies of Divine Consciousness (Chaitanya) transmitted outside the body.) This is why quite often it has been observed that when people pray with spiritual emotion, the spiritual emotion in others in the vicinity too gets activated.

5.4 Does it mean that every time we pray we should take this position?

If one is at a higher spiritual level (above 50%) divine subtle (intangible) frequencies begin to be received directly through the Brahmarandhra itself. The Brahmarandhra is a subtle opening above the Sahasraar Chakra (as per the spiritual science of Kundalini yoga) that has access to the Universal Mind and Intellect. This subtle opening is closed in people of a lower spiritual level. The primary factor that helps the opening of the Brahmarandhra is a lower level of ego. When in this phase of our spiritual growth the need for the prayer mudraa as explained above becomes less and less.

However if a person between the spiritual level of 50% - 80% complements his prayer with the recommended mudraa, then he gets the benefit of additional Divine Consciousness. This additional benefit is 30% more in the case of a person at the 50% spiritual level and it proportionately become less and less as the spiritual level increases.

Since most people are not of a high spiritual level they are unable to receive divine frequencies through the Brahmarandhra. Most people (level 30-60%) are however able to receive subtle frequencies through their finger tips (though to a much lesser extent) as our finger tips are very sensitive to receiving or sending out subtle energy. For this section of people it is best that they do utilise the prayer mudraa suggested above to make a prayer. All other factors remaining equal, by praying using the recommended mudraa a person will add 20% to the effectiveness of their prayer as opposed to not using this mudraa.

5.5 Comparative effectiveness of prayer positions

We are exposed to various hand actions when praying. When conducting spiritual research into the various hand postures (mudraas) related to prayer, the following were our findings in terms of efficacy.

Footnotes:

100% is getting full spiritual benefit which results in God realisation
Level of the manifest deity principle, i.e. higher, medium or lower level deity
Percentage of deity principle accessed
This shows the possibility of negative energy interfering with the prayer to reduce a seeker's faith. The negative energies interfere with the prayer so that the prayer is not answered thereby undermining the person's faith.

Do try a subtle experiment by yourself wherein you say the same prayer using each of the above mudraas separately.

In some cases people hold hands and pray. This is also a spiritually incorrect practice as if the person beside one is affected by negative energy it is more likely that the black energy be transferred to you.

Refer to the article on 'How much of the world's population is affected by negative energies?'

6. Key summary points on the mechanism of prayer

The spiritual level of a person generally defines whether a person prays for spiritual growth or for worldly benefit. Depending on the type of prayer higher level deities or lower level deities respectively answer a person's prayers.
The spiritual emotion with which one prays has a positive impact on the effectiveness of one's prayer.
Depending on what type of mudraa is used, the benefit that one gets through prayer can vary.
All other things being equal, using the recommended mudraa (posture) for prayer helps to improve the chances of one's prayer being answered by 20%.
Prayers by people of lower spiritual level for things that affect the wider population such as world peace or a reduction in global warming have no effect.
When one pays gratitude along with prayer it helps to increase the effectiveness of one's prayer.