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| Devotees at Chottanikkaram Makam Image from Mathrubhumi |
Today’s newspapers in Kerala carried images of devotees at the
Chottanikkara Temple. The best image was the one in Malayala Manorama in which a young girl was shown praying to the
deity with tears streaming down her cheeks. I couldn’t get that image online because
of Manorama’s copyright possessiveness.
The intensity of the fervour in the eyes
of that devotee struck a chord with me. I am not a devotee of any deity and I
can’t stand crowds even in places of worship. But the image made me question
the meaning of prayer.
I guess prayer means a whole range of different things to different
people. Most devotees must be praying in order to influence the deity, to make
the deity change his/her mind, to alter the existing unpleasant reality. Most
devotees expect miracles, I’m quite sure, though the degree of the miracle may
vary widely from getting a good spouse to curing someone’s incurable ailment.
Can we really influence a deity that way? Can our prayers make a deity
change his/her mind? Logically that sounds quite bizarre. The fish prays to god
to save it from the fisherman’s net and the fisherman prays to the same god to
give him a good catch of fish. What will the god do? Whose prayer deserves to
be answered? How does god judge that? Pretty tough job, I should say, being a
god.
I don’t think there is any god sitting up there listening to any of
these, anyway. Who can be so callous as to watch all the agony of his/her
creatures and yet be so indifferent in spite of being supposedly omnipotent?
There are too many unanswerable questions when we reach that milieu. Then the
religious friend tells me that I should take it on faith. Faith is a problem
for me; it refuses to be faithful. So I have quit that arena.
But prayer has its uses, I’m sure. I find myself praying almost every
morning. Not to any god but to the mystery out there that is cracking through
the eastern sky with the stars fading away into the dark infinity. I pray to
let goodness prevail. I pray to enable me to bring in as much goodness as
possible at wherever I will be during the day. I pray to keep myself good in
spite of all the evil I may encounter today.
Prayer, for me, is an exercise in self-improvement. All the rest are
just wishes placed before mute and blind deities with the faith that they will
hear and see one day.
You are absolutely correct Sir.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jitender.
DeleteThese are some of the questions that have been on my mind for a very long time. True, prayers mean different things to different people. I've come to understand that it is healthy if you see it as something that soothes you and gives you the confidence to go on. And if it is your way to be thankful for each day and for all that you have.
ReplyDeleteSpirituality is a personal affair. The outcome is what really matters. If it helps one to be a better human being, the process doesn't matter as long as no harm is done to others.
DeleteFaith with knowledge is good. But mindless faith and ignorance, are not. I feel as long as prayer soothes the mind and helps us be a good human everyday, it is okay. But then again as you said, Prayer means a whole range of different things to different people.
ReplyDeleteI know many people for whom religion is the ultimate solace. They use it as a balm or a drug, an illusory oasis in life's desert. The resultant joy compensates for the illusion! I won't dare to question such faith.
DeleteFaith in oneself also could result in a prayer. Very thought provoking as prayer is only wishing for the best or asking some force to bestow the best or thanksgiving
ReplyDeleteGoodness all around should be the natural outcome of good prayers.
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