What happens in Prayer ?

In prayer or meditation or in any spiritual practice in general, the main aim is to transcend the mind, to go beyond the mind. This happens in two stages, one is to make the mind stronger and the later step is not done by the devotee, but the mind will do it on its own, the mind breaks down on its own. The devote makes the mind so strong that after certain stage the mind breaks on its own, dissolves in the ‘god’ and there ends the matter, the complete blooming of the being happens at that point.

So, only the first step is the point of concern. Here the devotee mainly grows by means of two things. One is using the ‘sounds’ [names] and the other one using ‘images’ [forms]. The Hindu philosophy says – the universe is made up of two things, naama [names] and roopa [forms]. So, the devotee tries to reach the ‘god’ or his true nature by deliberately using these two things that are present in the universe. The ‘naama’ [names] is utilized in – prayer and the ‘iamge’ [roopa] is utilizes in meditation and of course the combination too is used.

In prayer – the devotee takes the name of his beloved deity. This choosing of ‘god’ will not happen accidentally but, the samskaras [inner tendencies] will guide the devotee here. The devotee will be continuously chanting [in the advanced stages of prayer] the name of his beloved ‘god’ [japa yoga]. Here, what happens is this: all the myriad thoughts in the mind are erased and only the naama, the name of the ‘god’ will fill the entire mind of the devotee. Still in the advanced stages this – will mature into ‘ajapa yaoga’, the japa or chanting will happen without the forceful effort of the devotee, otherwise the devotee will not chant rather will hear the ‘japa’ happening deep within. He is getting the detachment to hear the name of his ‘god’ from within, from the chidaakasa, the internal space. By now, the devotee is more advanced and detached – after this the next stage opens up, the manas or mind drops or ceases to be or dissolves in god - and the devotee becomes one with the whole, will not hear anything, will become the formless, the chaitanya, there ends the matter, the flower has bloomed in full.

The same things will happen in meditation as well but, here the ‘image of god’ plays the role instead of the ‘naama’ or the name of the ‘god’ but, both will lead to the same goal like ‘all the roads leading to Rome’.