Prayers

When one prays, what should one ask for?
Should one ask for anything at all?

Its an interesting question that popped up in my mind some time back. I don't think that I have an answer. Can one have it?

Because, if you ask for Moksh, even then there is desire. That desire will not let you reach the goal.
Also, does it make a difference what we are asking from "a" God. I mean, Hindu pantheon has thousands of representations of God. Who should you ask for one kind of thing? Who should you ask for - say justice - and who for forgiveness? Is it right to say that Shiv ji manifests the energy of guileless forgiveness and Kali ma represents the energy of fighting for justice and equality? Is it right to say that Hanuman ji represents the ability to respect and love someone - to serve someone - without any expectation of a return? So, if we are unable to muster enough courage or energy or selflessness to serve someone (be it our parents or our boss at office), would it be the right thing to pray to Hanuman ji.

As far as I understand, hundreds of different manifestations of God in the Hindu pantheon has essentially been done so that we (the devotees) find it easier to focus our attention on one kind of energy at a time - the one that helps us overcome the deficiencies that we ourselves have. So, when you don't have the spine to fight back injustice, pray to Kali ma to give you strength to fight it out and destroy the perpetrator or to Ram ji to help you follow the path of love and resort to violence as the last resort or to Krishan ji to give you tact and also skills to defeat all the different attempts of injustice on you.

So, does that mean that we don't have an Isht dev - a God who we should pray to at all times. I don't think that this interpretation of the above text is complete. I consider this as something like "crystal therapy". In crystal therapy, one is advised to wear crystals that will compensate for missing energy from your aura body. Like if you get angry often, you essentially are short of energy that brings in patience. So, you are advised to wear a pearl. So, continuing the same line of thought, it may happen that our intrinsic nature is say that of not being able to forgive someone who did something wrong with us. In this case, having Shiv ji as your Isht dev will help you get energies of forgiveness and guileless love.

However, as anyone would understand, it doesn't happen automatically - or mechanically. That you pray to Shiv ji and you start forgiving people. It is equally important that we understand why we are praying to Shiv ji. OR, what aspect of this energy conglomerate is the most critical for our success. Once we change our focus accordingly, the deficiency of that kind of energy will be compensated.

So, this essentially brings us down to the first question again. Should we ask for anything when we pray to God? The answer is tricky. If one aspires for "Godliness", then just remembering the desired Godly form should be good enough to bring in the Godliness in oneself. In this aspect, the meditating posture of any God ji - Krishan ji in Yogavtar roop, or Shiv ji - meditating or Guru Nanak ji meditating - will bring about that transformation (gradually) in whoever puts his/her thought on that manifestation of Godliness.

If someone associates Godliness with the ability to guile-lessly forgive one and all, then Shiv ji in Nilkanth roop will bring the ability to not get impacted by negativity of any person that we are dealing with - and therefore forgive that person.

So, the idea is, that one should not exactly ask for blessings, but meditate on that manifestation of the Divine force that will help us succeed in our goals. Success will follow.

Just a thought...