The Power of Prayer - How my mother got cured!!

Dear devotees,

Because of your prayers my mother got cured and is getting discharged tomorrow from AIG hospital after 3 days. The doctors were surprised and so were we. What happened was that I requested devotees in ISKCON Seattle to pray for her.

"My mother Vasundhara devi is in AIG hospital, Hyderabad for a stroke treatment which occurred 6 hours ago. She likes Seattle devotees very much and inspired by you has started chanting a few years ago. The surgery- mechanical embolectomy is happening now, and mother’s condition is considered highly critical. Request all devotees to pray so that the surgery is successful."

And they did. Miracle of Miracles. She is actually to preparing to go home.

So how does a prayer really work. H.H. Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami writes.[1]

"Atheists think that a prayer to God is sheer imagination. But for centuries, thousands of sincere practitioners have accumulated definite evidence of the positive results of prayer. The serious doubt regarding prayer is not whether God can hear and respond, but whether the things people pray for are worthwhile. According to St. Teresa of Avila. “More tears are shed in this world from prayers that are answered than from those that go unanswered.” Those who pray, therefore, need more than the conviction that the Supreme can fulfill our desires. Before we approach God with our requests, we ought to become educated as to what to pray for. The pure devotees of the Lord can teach us this ultimate truth.

One form of popular prayer emphasizes the pragmatic results. These “prayers” are actually nontheistic. As advised by psychologists, a person who believes strongly in his prayer can awaken from within his own subconsciousness huge stores of confidence and power and thus achieve his desired goal. Dale Carnegie, in his books on positive thinking, likes to narrate stories of people like the unsuccessful salesman who in desperation resorted to prayer and the next day was able to convince many customers to buy his vacuum cleaners. In such “prayers” the Personality of Godhead is hardly even acknowledged.

Another shortsighted type of prayer comes from those who believe in God but who are interested not so much in Him as in getting a bit of His opulence. Most prayers fall into this category, as the supplicants request health, riches, family happiness, and so on from a God whom they ask to function as a supreme order supplier. In the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna declares that persons who come to Him asking for material (and therefore temporary) benefits are sukritina, or pious. They are certainly better than those who never approach the Supreme, for although prayers for material benefits are ultimately foolish requests, the sukritinas get into the habit of approaching the Supreme, and thus they may purify themselves for higher communion with God.

An example of a successful sukritina is Dhruva Maharaja, whose prayers are described in the Vedic scripture Srimad-Bhagavatam. Dhruva prayed to God in a spirit of revenge against his parents, and he requested the most opulent kingdom that had ever been awarded to a mortal being. After performing severe austerities. Dhruva gained the audience of Lord Vishnu (a form of Lord Krishna. the Supreme Personality of Godhead). But when the Lord asked Dhruva what he wanted, Dhruva said, “Now that I have seen You, my Lord, I am fully satisfied, and I do not want anything else.”

This should be the goal of all prayer to attain loving service of the Supreme Lord, with no other desire. Lord Caitanya prayed, “I do not want to enjoy beautiful women, nor do I want wealth or many followers. All I want is Your causeless devotional service in my life, birth after birth.”

On hearing a prayer of full surrender and devotion to God, we may think, “That is a beautiful sentiment, but it’s only for the rare pure devotee, the saint” Yet we are all eternal, pure souls, part of the Supreme Lord. Because of the influence of illusion, we have lost our original connection with God and are wandering in the material world, suffering repeated miseries and continuing in illusion. The sincere call to God to be reconciled with His will is not just the practice of a saint; it is indeed the need of all fallen living entities.

When we think that we are independent and don’t really need God, and don’t need to pray, then we are in the most dangerous illusion. Sometimes our illusion is smashed by bitter suffering, or the truth may be revealed to us by association with pure devotees. When this happens we may realize that we are actually tiny, helpless creatures striving to survive but doomed to bodily annihilation. When a conditioned soul realizes his dangerous and fallen position, he deeply wishes to reform. Since all of us, to different degrees, are in the category of “fallen,” we all need to pray to Lord Krishna. But we cannot become reconciled with the Lord unless we receive His special mercy. We may pray, therefore, “My dear Lord, although I am unworthy to receive your special mercy to be relieved of false ego, I beg You to please give me the qualities of love and surrender. Please give Your gift of mercy and relieve me of my impurities. Please reconcile my heart to Yours. If You do not give me Your mercy. I shall be lost.”

True prayer is not mechanical recitation but the sincere cry of the contrite heart. When through prayer one receives even the first inclination of his revived association with Krishna, one wants to call on Him constantly and remain in the soothing shelter of His protection. It is for this reason that Krishna conscious spiritual masters recommend that we chant the holy names of God, especially the Hare Krishna mantra, as often as possible. (Kirtaniya sada harih: “One should always chant the name of Lord Krishna.”) The Hare Krishna mantra is itself a prayer invoking good fortune and petitioning the Lord, “O energy of God, O Supreme Lord, please engage me in Your service.”

Prayers of spontaneous pure devotion may take different forms, such as prayers of petition, praise, adoration, and thanksgiving. Krishna is known as Uttamashloka. which means “one who is praised with beautiful prayers.” The Vedic scriptures contain many excellent prayers, which can be recited by devotees seeking union with the Supreme. At the end of one excellent prayer to Lord Krishna, which is offered in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (4.24.76) by Lord Siva, it is stated, “Although rendering devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and worshiping Him are very difficult, if one vibrates or simply reads this prayer, he will very easily be able to invoke the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” In his commentary to this verse, Srila Prabhupada states. “Any devotee of Lord Krishna can attain all perfection simply by offering prayers to Him.”

One should recite the excellent prayers given in the scriptures, and one should also call upon God with one’s own feelings, thoughts, and words. The child-devotee of Lord Krishna named Prahlada Maharaja realized that the Lord is actually interested only in our devotion. Therefore even if we are unqualified to compose uttamashloka prayers, we can please the Lord if we are sincere. Srila Prabhupada states, “Despite whatever limitations you have, if you express feelingly, ‘My God! My Lord!’ that will be accepted.”

The real purpose of prayer is not to gain material resources or even spiritual salvation for oneself. The power of prayer comes w hen we call to Krishna out of a desire to do His will. Such pure prayers are not means to the end but are themselves loving exchanges between the Lord and His pure devotees. Whether we call on Him from the darkness of our fallen state in the material world, or whether we praise Him in the midst of His liberated associates in the kingdom of God, the pure prayer is the same: “Please engage me in Your service”—Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna , Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare."

Stambha bhava das writes:

"For the duration of last year’s Srila Prabhupada’s book marathon I was traveling with Hriman Krishna in the South Island. When we stayed in Dunedin, Hriman Krishna suggested that I do a day trip to Oamaru which is roughly an hour and a half drive north of the city.

When I arrived in Oamaru I grabbed my book bag and enthusiastically jumped out on to the street. For the next 3 hours all I heard was “No!!, I don’t want to know!!” “Go away!!” “Your doing the work of the devil!!” By lunch time I’d had enough, I was thinking that I have driven all this way, a 3 hour round trip and no books are going out. The previous day I had watched a you tube Video of Kripa Moya prabhu explaining that when you are having a tough day on book distribution pray to Narada Muni, Srila Vyasadeva, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and the Parampara to please make me a suitable instrument to pass on this transcendental message to others.

By lunch time, I was definitely ready to offer a sincere prayer. So I begged for the mercy of the Parampara took some Prasad and tried again. It was amazing!! Everything changed! $20 bills were flying out of the wallets of the conditioned souls in to my bag and they were walking away with stacks of books. One exchange was particularly rememberable.

I was at the van reloading with books when I saw a camper van enter in to the car park. the car park was practically empty and of all the places it could have stopped, It parked right in front of me, as the drivers door flung open I raised my arms and shouted “Congratulations! Well done! You made it to Oamaru!”

The lady laughed, I walked over and I placed a ‘Science of Self-realisation’ in her hand and told her that it was a book on yoga and meditation.

Her jaw dropped and she exclaimed “I knew there was a reason why I parked here!”

Laura told me her story. She was from Oxford in England and was engaged to marry a multi millionaire, she had all the wealth and security that a young lady would want in life, but she realised that she wasn’t happy. After breaking off the engagement and selling all of her possessions she moved to New Zealand. It was her hearts desire to start an eco-village in New Zealand but when she found out about the mass carpet bombing of various chemicals throughout the land which had polluted the soil and water, it burst her bubble. That’s when she started seeking for genuine spiritual knowledge.

Extremely elated to have Srila Prabhupada’s books in her hand she happily gave $20 and took an ‘Hiding in Unnatural Happiness’ as well.

Srila Prabhupada’s transcendental book marathon Ki! Jai!" [2]

Giriraj dasa writes:

"The point I wish to emphasize here is that our prayers to Lord have huge potency. The power is not in us but it is in the prayer itself. So many times we hear devotees say ‘Prabhuji please pray for me’, the point is how much we are praying for our own self? We should not think that other devotee’s prayers have more power ( they have their own place) so let me request others where as Krishna will not hear my own prayers. This is not the case.

It doesn’t matter whether we are a neophyte or a senior devotee, initiated or not initiated, what matters is the sincerity of our prayer. Looking at my own self I would even dare add that even a contaminated heart is no disqualification, rather by the mercy of Gaura Nitai, this very disqualification has become our qualification to seek mercy from the Supreme Lord." [3]

Queen Kunti is known for her exhalted prayers.

"O my Lord... are You leaving us today, though we are completely dependent on Your mercy and have no one else to protect us, now when all kings are at enmity with us? (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.37)

From this supplication we should not mistakenly conclude that Kunti's prayers were self-serving. Although her sufferings were far greater than those any ordinary person could endure, she does not beg relief. On the contrary, she prays to suffer even more, for she reasons that her suffering will increase her devotion to the Lord and bring her ultimate liberation:

My dear Krsna, Your Lordship has protected us from the poisoned cake, from a great fire, from cannibals, from the vicious assembly, from sufferings during our exile in the forest, and from the battle where great generals fought.... I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we could see You again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and deaths. (SB. 1.8.24-25)

Kunti's words -- the simple and illuminating outpourings of the soul of a great and saintly woman devotee -- reveal both the deepest transcendental emotions of the heart and the most profound philosophical and theological penetrations of the intellect. Her words are words of glorification impelled by a divine love steeped in wisdom: O Lord of Madhu, as the Ganges forever flows to the sea without hindrance, let my attraction be constantly drawn unto You without being diverted to anyone else. (SB. 1.8.42)"[4]

Even in the Christian tradition this has great merit:

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit."

James 5:16-18 [5]

From Islamic tradition we see similar thoughts

“There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern…” [Qur’an: Chapter 33, Verse 21].

“Certainly will the believers have succeeded: They who are during their prayer humbly submissive…” (Qur’an: Chapter 23, Verses 1-2). [6]

So dear souls pray. Pray to God Almighty - Lord Krishna and his other names - Allah, Yehowah, Yehweh, Buddha, Mukunda, Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Aniruddha, Vishnu, Varaha, Matsya, NrSimha, and millions others.

References:

1. https://www.krishna.com/power-prayer
2. https://www.dandavats.com/?p=53242
3. https://www.forthepleasureoflordkrishna.com/2015/12/25/power-of-prayer-2/
4. Prayers of Queen Kunti
5. https://www.openbible.info/topics/the_power_of_prayer
6. https://productivemuslim.com/the-healing-power-of-prayer/