Prayer and worship to God are personal choices

 

Prayer and worship to God are personal choices.

Prayer is a matter between the one who prays and the One who receives and perhaps answers the prayer.

Of course, many innocent persons are having no clue as to how to pray.

In fact, there are no rules for prayer.

A child seeks for the breast of its mother for feeding and the mother in turn thrusts the nipple into the partly open mouth of the newborn.

There are no rulebooks prescribing this.

In addition, God-we can turn to Him in utter curiosity and supplication- and sure, He will thrust His love on us-perhaps even if we try to reject Him. We can always tell God what bothers us, what pleases us, what we want, and we can trust that He will respond favourably to our reasonable prayers.

God, our relation, and I is such a simple affair.

However, to make long list of rules and procedures for connecting with God, and posing as guides or gurus, seeking presents or Daksinas directly or indirectly for this purpose, using mild, moderate, or major threats to the effect that if the disciple does not follow the methods he prescribed, there will be punishment and that heaven will fall down. Such activities are all simply busines, exploitation, and patently full of lies too.

If we follow them eagerly and are even eager to expose ourselves to exploitation, even God cannot save us from these guides, gurus and quacks.

It is okay if we study with reverence, the way people with experience and empathy connect with god and it is not incorrect to follow the same methods. It is nice if we try to connect with God the way our parents, grandparents and relatives did.

However, connecting with God and God itself is a unique experience.

Not any rulebook, not any chant or litany, written or chanted, is the ultimate choice.

We should not mistake the straw we use as the sweet beverage we consume.

What triggered my thoughts is the proliferation of the so-called web gurus who prop up their publicity with new campaigns giving advice in the old ways of acharam, aaharam and so on.

It is just business. If one has spare money, he can indulge in such mass hysteria too.