How to pray to God

Importance of Prayer

Prayer is a medium through which you connect to God and receive energy from Him.

Prayers are important for our overall upliftment, without which we may even slip. When you pray to God, you develop humility, which is one of the most essential ingredients for progressing in the right direction.

How to pray to God

1. Simply reciting prayers is better than not saying any prayers at all; but reciting prayers with understanding and intent will yield better results.
2. While praying, your focus should be on God and on the prayers. It should not roam around elsewhere.
3. Praying, when done sincerely and with a pure heart, brings together the right evidences in your favour.
4. Prayers should always be for a good cause. You should never pray for your own selfish interests or for something that could cause harm to others. Ultimately, it will harm you only. When you pray for the good of all, you are included in that.
5. Pray in a manner that results in deep, inner peace.
6. Including prayers in your daily routine is a good habit, provided it is done with enthusiasm and not as a mundane task.  

When and what to pray for:

As you know, prayers are done to serve a particular cause. So, it is your intentions that you present before God, and ask Him for strength so that you are able to fulfill that cause.

Here are some prayers that go a long way in building a beautiful character within us and securing our future:

Prayer every morning

When you wake up in the morning, pray with a pure intention that:

Oh God! I don’t want to hurt anybody in this world by my mind, my speech or my actions.

Saying this prayer heartily and sincerely will bring a sea of change within you! All the atoms of your body get transformed to a state so as not to hurt anybody. And a day will come when no one will actually get hurt by you.

Prayer when you hurt someone

If you hurt someone knowingly or accidentally, ask for forgiveness from the Soul within the person (God) whom you hurt, with true repentance in your heart.

Oh God! I hurt you by my thoughts / speech / action. I am sorry, please forgive me. I do not want to repeat this mistake again. Please give me the strength not to repeat it again.

Your repentance should be in direct proportion to the hurt or remorse caused to the person whom you hurt. If you maintain this practice regularly, you will soon realize that your relations patch up wherever they may have had the chance to spoil, and it will help foster healthy relations for the rest of your life.

Prayer to overcome your mistakes

Mistakes happen; it is natural since we are ordinary human beings. What is important is how to become free from them?

The enlightened One (Gnani Purush) shows us the immaculate way to become free from our mistakes!

Make a list of the mistakes that happened during the day. At night, before going to sleep, make it a point to ask God for forgiveness for each item on your list.

Oh God! I made this mistake. Please forgive me! And please grant me the strength not to repeat this mistake again.

The mistakes keep recurring because we have never prayed to God in the past to overcome them. Now, by saying the above prayers, the minor mistakes will start disappearing and the bigger mistakes shall start getting milder. There is nothing better than rising above our mistakes. So do this prayer regularly, but with a positive spirit and not depressive guilt, to help you rise above your mistakes.

Prayer for studying well (be it academic or spiritual)

Sit down in a calm place. Close your eyes and recite the following for 10 minutes, mentally visualising each letter that you recite.

"Dada Bhagwan na Aseem Jai Jai kar Ho!"

Dada Bhagwan is the Pure Soul residing within us. You can also take the name of the God you worship, if you wish to do so.  

You can find the audio of "Dada Bhagwan na Aseem Jai Jai kar Ho!" here.  

Prayer when someone is causing us trouble

When someone is harassing you and you feel hatred towards that person, this will make you restless and moreover that person will hold a grudge against you. Instead, heartily pray to the Pure Soul within that person:

Oh God! May he get the right knowledge so that he can see his mistakes and come out of it too.

Doing this will keep you in peace and with your prayers the other person too could gradually improve his behaviour towards you.

Prayer when someone is dying

Say this prayer with all your heart. Loved ones, if need be, can help the dying person do these prayers and ensure that they remain in continuous contemplation of God and makes the right intentions with a clear roadmap in their mind:

Oh God! I have no desire for anything temporary in this world. All I desire is liberation. Please be present at the final moment of my life. Be with me until my final liberation! May my next life be in the shelter of your holy feet!

Prayer for strength and spiritual development

We suffer in our life due to the burden of karmas that lie on our Soul. As the karmas reduce, we start becoming pure and our suffering reduces. Just reciting the following nine precious prayers, which contain the highest intentions, will slowly and steadily help you become pure in all aspects.

1. Oh God! Please give me supreme strength to not hurt, nor cause someone or encourage anyone to hurt, the slightest ego of any living being. Please give me the supreme strength to conduct my speech, thoughts, and actions in a manner such that no living being’s ego gets hurt at all. 

2. Oh God! Please give me supreme strength to not hurt, nor cause someone or encourage anyone to hurt, to the slightest extent, the foundation of any religion. Please give me the supreme strength to conduct my speech, thoughts, and actions in a manner such that the foundation of no religion is hurt at all. 

3. Oh God! Please give me supreme strength to not criticize, offend, or insult any preacher, monk, nun or religious head. 

4. Oh God! Please give me supreme strength to not dislike or hate, nor cause someone or encourage anyone to dislike or hate, any living being at all. 

5. Oh God! Please give me supreme to not speak nor cause someone or encourage anyone to speak the slightest of harsh or hurtful language towards any living being. If someone happens to speak harsh and hurtful language, please give me the strength to speak soft and kind language only. 

6. Oh God! Please give me supreme strength to not indulge into, nor cause someone or encourage anyone to indulge into, slightest of sexual sins, desires, gestures or thoughts for any living being, be it male, female, or of neutral gender. Please give me the supreme strength to remain free of sexual impulses and passions forever. 

7. Oh God! Please give me supreme strength to not get engrossed in any particular taste. Please give me the supreme strength to consume food that has a balanced taste. 

8. Oh God! Please give me supreme strength to never criticize, offend, or insult any being, who is present or absent, living or dead; nor cause someone or encourage anyone to criticize, offend, or insult such being, to the slightest extent. 

9. Oh God! Please give me the supreme strength to become an instrument for the salvation of the world. 
   

Prayer is always done through the heart, and not through the intellect. Whenever you are tense or worried, confused or in doubt, just relax and pray to God. You will soon find the way forward and arrive at a solution. That is the power of prayers!