one has to be very choosy and realistic even in making prayers to God

yes, one has to be very choosy and realistic even in making prayers to God..

No one can really be sure whether prayers are answered..

Neither can anyone say prayers are not answered..

But if there is a communication gap between the one who prays and the object of prayer, the results can be quite strange..

Kumbhakarna the younger brother of Ravana also did penance to Brahma with a view to gain so much of power that he could annihilate all the Devas.. His aim was Nir Devatvam..

But when Brahma responded to his penance, the demon had a slip of tongue and he requested for Nidrevattwam.. that is very long sleep..

And even today when we refer to a person who is indulging in the ultimate nocturnal pleasures, we refer to him as Kumbhakarna and call his noble service as Kumbhakarna seva..

I am digressing..

When I was taught about God, and His relationship with me, I was told that He knows what is good for me and He knows when to produce the right results for me..

So I should just be respectful and acknowledge His supremacy.. and leave the rest to Him..

I was told my father that even when we make solemn sankalpam preceding every prayer or ritual, we need to mention only that the vow is being taken for Gods pleasure.. and when God is pleased, everything will be in its proper place..

My approach to God was just like that in my formative years..

I would do what I could and leave the rest to the decision of my Maker..

That worked fine as my wants and yearnings were too simple when I was just a boy or even a youth..

Then I was pushed into the world of breakneck competitions..

My self confidence received heavy beatings..

Somehow I convinced myself that if I could convince my God about my needs and aspirations, and pray hard, He would grant me my wishes..

I pursued such directed prayers for very long periods..

Of course most of my prayers and demands were granted..

But God is an impish customer..

When He grants something I demanded He would disturb some other things in life, perhaps by way of compensation..

This increased my demands to Him.. and the soaring demands and supplies continued for many years.

Ultimately, I realized that He just gave me what was just rightly my due, and my demands and entreaties had little benefit either for me or Him..

So I once again reverted to demand-less prayers..

In the meantime, somehow I got the idea that even if I did not pray for myself, I could include the wants of others..friends, relatives and so on in my prayers..

So, I made is a practice to include the names of some people close to me in my prayers..

There was nothing selfish in it.

But then I was faced with some sad issues..

The persons whom I thought were friends were not really good friends.

And their demands and prayers were not that genuine..

Often I was backing the wrong horses..

Often through my prayers, I was trying to provide weapons to help them to attack me and others, and even God..

And sometimes God answered my prayers positively but added some funny tag to the result.. and that took away the happiness out of it..

For example I prayed hard for the marriage of a person especially since there was mangalik dosham in the horoscope and it became a horror for me.. the marriage became a reality, but the selection was so bad that everything would have been much better had the matrimony never occurred..

And I found that when some dandies asked me to offer prayers on their behalf, they were using empty words..

They were actually celebrating their minor misfortunes and maladies, flaunting them before all to see..

Something like exhibiting openly the areas to underline an attack of piles or fistula ..

I was just an idiot when I was praying for them.

The final lesson for me was this..

Do not ask anything for yourself from God

Do not ask anything for others from God

He is the master in His profession..

He knows what is the best for this world..