What do you say to yourself or God image when you pray?

[a-TB]

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I am usually at a loss in temples. In North America temples have large number of deities. What am I supposed to say when standing in front of each deity?

I do not visit temples unless I go with someone because they want to go. I have no desire to ask God for anything. I think whatever eventually happens is outside of my control and wishes but I do what I can when I have a choice or have to make a decision. So I do not know what to pray for.

I once saw a man and his son do sit ups 10 times in front of every deity!. There are people that go around Navagrahas and do Namaskaram while someone told me to just walk away after going around 3 or 9 times .

My question to you is - what do you tell yourself or ask God when you pray ?
How do you pray? Why do you pray? Why do you go to temples when you have a puja room?

 

[prasad1]

This thread is in GD section, so I am presenting my personal opinion.
I do go to Temple, I have nothing material to to ask for, and I do not beg for any material objects. I go to temple for social, and sometimes as a tourists. I participate in the activity of the place as per the prescribed practice. For Instance in Gurudwara, or Church I follow their customs. Similarly in Temples I follow all practise as long as it does not hurt my Values. I refuse to go to a Temple like Kalibari where they practice Bali (Killing of Goats).
I do pray that I have the right intellect.
Being part of the Temple organization we help out financially and physically when ever we can.

 

[renuka]

My answer has to be right from childhood to the present.

When I was a child..I used to pray like this..I used salute the image of God in front of me like a soldier and say softly "Hello..How are You?"

Then my mother told me that is not how one should pray and one should pray asking God to bless us in studies..health etc.

I used to feel that no one asks God how He is..so I felt its better asking God how He is instead of asking Him to bless me.

When I was teen my dog went missing for a few days..God knows where he went...I cried and asked God to make my dog come home..My dog came home after some 3 days all covered with ash..dont know till today where he went.

Then adulthood..I was in college..I never prayed anything for myself but I liked to have my room wall full of pics of God.
My friends used to pin up pics of movie stars on their wall but I had every pic possible from Shiva to Vishnu and Everyone else in the God spectrum.

I never prayed to God to make me pass exams cos I studied well and I felt studying done right itself is a prayer.

Next when I was in my 30s..that is when my interest in religion deepened and that came with increased sensitivity to happenings around the world.

Yes..I prayed..again not for me..but for others..when Al Qaeda beheaded people I prayed to God to stop it.

I remember writing a long letter and placing it at my altar asking God why people were being killed and no one could stop this!

Then as I grew older..I realized that prayer is an anti depressant..an anti oxidant for the mind..it gives us personal relieve from stress.

Then I decided to experiment..to stop praying fully..boy it was stressful..cos I did not pray for others anymore..I had to face all fears myself..it was not easy..but I survived that phase of not praying.

For sometime I kept God out of the picture..just to test my life as how a person who does not know God would live like.

Then I decided to take the middle path..where I felt that God is everything and there is no need to keep Him out or keep Him in but finally I just cant define Him and all I can do is simply exists.

I recently prayed for a very sick relative but at the back of my mind I did not have a desire even in that prayer..I just left it to destiny and all I thought is may prayers have a healing effect..then I also stopped that sort of prayer finally cos I realized that person is alive still purely becos its his karma and no amount of anything can change destiny..but I can always still hope for the best.

What I like about the evolution of prayer is it does not have a final destination..everyday is different and the journey is interesting..I have no idea what mode I might choose to be in the distant future if I live to see it.

**** I used to have a pooja room but I shut it down last year cos I felt I prefer not limiting God to images and pictures and the whole world itself is Brahman.

 

[JR]

1. What do you tell yourself or ask God when you pray ?

- There are people in my close relations with chronic health problems. I routinely pray for them and ask for guidance, and healing.

2. How do you pray?
- I recite stotras and offer naivedyam.

3. Why do you pray?

- It is one of the ways that I can think of by which I can show my love to god as well as a means, by which I believe there will be spiritual growth if done for a very long time continuously.

4. Why do you go to temples when you have a puja room?

- I only go to temple once a week. It is mainly for satsang, to get motivated and inspired by routine pujas there. As well as to feel the spiritual vibrations and be inspired by it, in case of old and large temples.

 

[cmano1981]

Earlier, I have a set of agendas to ask when I goto temple. As they materialize, I replace it with new ones. Sometimes, somethings dont materialize for years.. and I blame God.. cycle continues.. I do thank God now and then when I think he is keeping me happy...

 

[Vaagmi]

I go to temple to just to reiterate my complete surrender to God--reiterating to myself and not to God.

I do this at home daily and at the temple whenever I go there.

I have no specific favors to ask from God. I have no more needs and i am blessed.

When I stand before deities in the Divyadesam temples I tell myself that this is perhaps the place where stood the great souls like Alwars and Acharyas singing the praise of God in beautiful Tamil poetry. As the lines come to my memory I feel enchanted.

When I go to the temple in my remote village I become keenly aware that it is this deity before which stood my ancestors and prayed and surrendered themselves to Him. And it is this deity before which long back I stood as a young boy studying in the 5th class in the local Board school and prayed for those additional five marks in my History exams to top the class.

But then I have come a long distance. Haven't I? LOL

 

[a-TB]

I am thankful to all the wonderful comments which now becomes food for thought for me.

Overall though I wonder why we think a almighty God, who gives the fruits with his or her laws that determines what we are, must listen to our pleas?

 

[zebra16]

I am usually at a loss in temples. In North America temples have large number of deities. What am I supposed to say when standing in front of each deity?

I do not visit temples unless I go with someone because they want to go. I have no desire to ask God for anything. I think whatever eventually happens is outside of my control and wishes but I do what I can when I have a choice or have to make a decision. So I do not know what to pray for.

I once saw a man and his son do sit ups 10 times in front of every deity!. There are people that go around Navagrahas and do Namaskaram while someone told me to just walk away after going around 3 or 9 times .

My question to you is - what do you tell yourself or ask God when you pray ?
How do you pray? Why do you pray? Why do you go to temples when you have a puja room?

As you have asked for a composite answer, I attempt to give one to the best of my knowledge and belief.

1. Prayer is defined as a reverent petition made to God or an object of worship, so it is in the form of earnest plea.

2. That said, in Hinduism, prayer is defined a bit differently. It is basically not a prayer, but participation in actual or symbolic worship. The recitations used in the **prayers** are "stotrams" or "stutis" (that is hymns of praise), or "mantras" (mystical compositions) of "japam" (repeated recitation of a portion of stotram or a slokam or a mantram to internalize it in the mind).

3. Having said point #2 above, some of the "stotrams" contain an appendage of what is known as phala-shrutii, that is what the Bhakta can expect to get in return for his participation. The phala shruthi is considered as **artha-vAdA** meaning that it is a sort of inducement or exhortion for the religious act. So there is no guarantee that the required phalam may materalize.

4. Why do people pray for, is summarized by yourselves in the second para of your post. So many things are outside the control of human beings, but those forces also affect the life and livelyhood of the person praying. So praying sort of asks the support of the Almighty to the person offering prayers.

5. The second way to look at it is, in Hinduism the Almighty is considered to be the father & mother of the person offering prayers and the Almighty is assumed to be the controller of the whole universe. Just as a child beseeches its parents for its wants and needs, people ask the Almighty to fulfill their wants.

6. I would consider it as an act of egoism when people say they have no wants to be fulfilled by the Almighty, but would still go to the temples to pray. If they have no wants why do they strive in their lives? and if they think that Almighty cant fulfill them their internalization doesnt make the God they pray to, an omnipotent entity. So many things in life, including birth itself is acquired through mere **chance** which are beyond the ability of an individual to acquire all the things he or she posses or come to posses by his/her meticulous planning. This would bring in the concept of namaH or na-mama, which is beyond the scope of this thread.

7. If you have missed a point, unlike other religions we go to temples more for **Darshanam** of the Lord or to make our eyes and mind to take in the beauty of the Lord, having attributes and physical facilities as described in our scriptures and reigious texts. That is why the **moorthis** or **vigrahams** are made or carved out so beautifully by the artists. In so many of the temples, it does give **Aanandam** to capture the majestic beauty of the Lord in the eyes, though one may be skeptical to think it is just an imagination of another person.

8. Doing sit ups or **thoppu-karaNams** is an act of contrition or seeking forgiveness for the wrongs committed by the person, so they are akin to the "confessions" made to the priests by christians. The underlying theme is that the body is made malleable to the will of the Lord just as mind is supposed to have already been made receptive to His suggestions by repetitions of stotrams, mantrams etc. and the like.

9. One another point which you appear to have missed out, is the act of taking **prasAdam** of the Lord after participation in his worship symbolically. Yes, when you visit a temple, you have symbolically participated in the **pooja** of the Lord conducted by the poojari. Thats why we go to the temple after having obtained the minimum cleanliness required of the body, like after bath etc.

 

[a-TB]

Thanks Mr Zebra and everyone.

I see a lot of alignment among people coming from varied backgrounds when it comes to the notion of prayers to God

 

[cmano1981]

As you have asked for a composite answer, I attempt to give one to the best of my knowledge and belief.

1. Prayer is defined as a reverent petition made to God or an object of worship, so it is in the form of earnest plea.

2. That said, in Hinduism, prayer is defined a bit differently. It is basically not a prayer, but participation in actual or symbolic worship. The recitations used in the **prayers** are "stotrams" or "stutis" (that is hymns of praise), or "mantras" (mystical compositions) of "japam" (repeated recitation of a portion of stotram or a slokam or a mantram to internalize it in the mind).

3. Having said point #2 above, some of the "stotrams" contain an appendage of what is known as phala-shrutii, that is what the Bhakta can expect to get in return for his participation. The phala shruthi is considered as **artha-vAdA** meaning that it is a sort of inducement or exhortion for the religious act. So there is no guarantee that the required phalam may materalize.

4. Why do people pray for, is summarized by yourselves in the second para of your post. So many things are outside the control of human beings, but those forces also affect the life and livelyhood of the person praying. So praying sort of asks the support of the Almighty to the person offering prayers.

5. The second way to look at it is, in Hinduism the Almighty is considered to be the father & mother of the person offering prayers and the Almighty is assumed to be the controller of the whole universe. Just as a child beseeches its parents for its wants and needs, people ask the Almighty to fulfill their wants.

6. I would consider it as an act of egoism when people say they have no wants to be fulfilled by the Almighty, but would still go to the temples to pray. If they have no wants why do they strive in their lives? and if they think that Almighty cant fulfill them their internalization doesnt make the God they pray to, an omnipotent entity. So many things in life, including birth itself is acquired through mere **chance** which are beyond the ability of an individual to acquire all the things he or she posses or come to posses by his/her meticulous planning. This would bring in the concept of namaH or na-mama, which is beyond the scope of this thread.

7. If you have missed a point, unlike other religions we go to temples more for **Darshanam** of the Lord or to make our eyes and mind to take in the beauty of the Lord, having attributes and physical facilities as described in our scriptures and reigious texts. That is why the **moorthis** or **vigrahams** are made or carved out so beautifully by the artists. In so many of the temples, it does give **Aanandam** to capture the majestic beauty of the Lord in the eyes, though one may be skeptical to think it is just an imagination of another person.

8. Doing sit ups or **thoppu-karaNams** is an act of contrition or seeking forgiveness for the wrongs committed by the person, so they are akin to the "confessions" made to the priests by christians. The underlying theme is that the body is made malleable to the will of the Lord just as mind is supposed to have already been made receptive to His suggestions by repetitions of stotrams, mantrams etc. and the like.

9. One another point which you appear to have missed out, is the act of taking **prasAdam** of the Lord after participation in his worship symbolically. Yes, when you visit a temple, you have symbolically participated in the **pooja** of the Lord conducted by the poojari. Thats why we go to the temple after having obtained the minimum cleanliness required of the body, like after bath etc.

Regarding point 2:
I would consider it as an act of egoism when people say they have no wants to be fulfilled by the Almighty, but would still go to the temples to pray. If they have no wants why do they strive in their lives?
Many may not agree.. when you listen to song "Kurai ondrum illai.." it just tells I am fulfilled and I will continue to meet and enjoy what is left for me.. Is it not an excellent stage to be....

 

[prasad1]

Regarding point 2:
I would consider it as an act of egoism when people say they have no wants to be fulfilled by the Almighty, but would still go to the temples to pray. If they have no wants why do they strive in their lives?
Many may not agree.. when you listen to song "Kurai ondrum illai.." it just tells I am fulfilled and I will continue to meet and enjoy what is left for me.. Is it not an excellent stage to be....

It is highly egoistic to judge others. It is even more when the person judging is not qualified. This is in GD section and people can give their opinion about their practices. That way others can get a better understanding. When someone pontificates about some deep subject without understanding the vastness of the subject they look like a fool.

None of us really knows GOD (or whatever we call it), so we all are guessing at this point.

 

[zebra16]

It is highly egoistic to judge others. It is even more when the person judging is not qualified. This is in GD section and people can give their opinion about their practices. That way others can get a better understanding. When someone pontificates about some deep subject without understanding the vastness of the subject they look like a fool.

None of us really knows GOD (or whatever we call it), so we all are guessing at this point.

Foolish post as expected from a foolish person.. So doesnt merit any response.

 

[zebra16]

Regarding point 2:
I would consider it as an act of egoism when people say they have no wants to be fulfilled by the Almighty, but would still go to the temples to pray. If they have no wants why do they strive in their lives?
Many may not agree.. when you listen to song "Kurai ondrum illai.." it just tells I am fulfilled and I will continue to meet and enjoy what is left for me.. Is it not an excellent stage to be....

Sure many may not agree.. I said I would consider it to be so, hence it comes in the form of opinion alone.

The post # 4 of Mrs. J R makes it very clear. That many persons themselves in their old age or infirmity or the chronic health problems of their near and dear ones would file mercy petition before the Almighty to give at least a bit of relief from pain and suffering is given. I am yet to come across a person who is chronically ill says he is blessed by the Lord healthwise, though he may be thanking the Almighty for his grace on all other factors.

I have seen persons taking Almighty's name repeatedly when death is near though through out their life they did not need anything from God. Mere fear of death makes man ask for God's guidance.

It is egoistical to consider today's position would remain status quo in this ever changing world. Only the already dead can vouch that he did not ask for anything from the Lord the whole of his life, but then he isnt alive to post in this forum.

 

[sadasivam.sridharan]

Asking and praying for materialistic pleasures in front of God is known as kaamya bhakti.Absolutely there is nothing wrong and it is not in any way against dharma sastras.But there are some spiritually advanced people known as mumukshus who practise nishkaamya bhakti pray for liberation from the cycle of birth and death and they don't pray for any worldly materialistic pleasures.

 

[Vaagmi]

As you have asked for...........
6. I would consider it as an act of egoism when people say they have no wants to be fulfilled by the Almighty, but would still go to the temples to pray. If they have no wants why do they strive in their lives? and if they think that Almighty cant fulfill them their internalization doesnt make the God they pray to, an omnipotent entity. So many things in life, including birth itself is acquired through mere **chance** which are beyond the ability of an individual to acquire all the things he or she posses or come to posses by his/her meticulous planning. This would bring in the concept of namaH or na-mama, which is beyond the scope of this thread. .............

Leaving the other points I would take this alone for a discussion:

When a person says truthfully (I am ruling out faking by this) that there is no wants to be fulfilled by the almighty for his worldly existence I do not know why it should be suspected. There are people who have completely effaced their ego by surrender to God and so have nothing to ask for from God. They would, if given a chance, leave this life and go to God but they stay until death comes even if it comes late because it is not in their hands. After making a complete surrender to God they request him to take care of their uttara krityam too (the karma after the surrender) to remain good. Such people do not ask for anything specifically from God when they stand before the murthy. At that stage it is just to reiterate to themselves the surrender they have made and to enjoy and express the immense love they have for the God. So striving in their lives is not a conscious choice of them. It is their God's will and they wait. The omnipotent God in his intelligence (?) and potency and what not has decided for some reason to leave them to live in this world for a few more days and they do not question Him.

They are either Artha prapannaAs or Thruptha prapannAs depending on their state. I did not want to confuse you with these Vaishnavite philosophical terms. But I deliberately give these two words here so that you can do a bit of research to understand the vaishnava philosophy if your interest is kindled.

To put it succinctly, for a vaishnavite living a life free from wants and going to temple just to reiterate to himself the fact of his surrender to God whom he loves immensely are just the natural things that he does. Even when he is in pain he just asks his God "Narayana, how many more days?".

 

[Vaagmi]

Zebraji said:

It is egoistical to consider today's position would remain status quo in this ever changing world. Only the already dead can vouch that he did not ask for anything from the Lord the whole of his life, but then he isnt alive to post in this forum.

I am an egoist, alive and kicking. LOL.

I am worried that my today's comfortable position in life may not remain a status quo because the world is ever-changing.

So what do I do?

I call my sales and marketing team and put fire under them to work on a new marketing strategy and insist that they give me a better result in a given time frame.

Or I invest my money in safe and high yielding investments and then go on a pilgimage to thank the various gods.

Or I devise strategies to cheat the citizens and make money in the sly and hoarde it somewhere to be taken out when needed later. It can be even a tax haven or Swiss bank.

I do not go to the temple and pray to God not to change the status quo.

I do not go to temple and pray to God to hold the price index at the current level for ever.

I do not go to temple to pray to God to shower the back yard of my house at intermittent intervals of say once in three months with gold coins (exclusively to me alone not even to my neighbour) so that I can make periodic adjustments in my balance sheet by setting of the loss due to opportunities lost by the "showered gold income".

Hope Zebraji see the point made. People go to temple not ask for favours of these sorts. They go to remind themselves of the surrender they have made to Him. To ask the God "Hi, there, how many more days?" and to say "thank you for everything".

 

[sangom]

I am usually at a loss in temples. In North America temples have large number of deities. What am I supposed to say when standing in front of each deity?

I do not visit temples unless I go with someone because they want to go. I have no desire to ask God for anything. I think whatever eventually happens is outside of my control and wishes but I do what I can when I have a choice or have to make a decision. So I do not know what to pray for.

I once saw a man and his son do sit ups 10 times in front of every deity!. There are people that go around Navagrahas and do Namaskaram while someone told me to just walk away after going around 3 or 9 times .

My question to you is - what do you tell yourself or ask God when you pray ?
How do you pray? Why do you pray? Why do you go to temples when you have a puja room?

God is everywhere and anywhere, at all times. Humans have been so designed by nature that it is not easy for them to realize this simple truth. So, in the primitive times, Man possibly imagined that there is a very mighty power, beyond him and distinct from him, which caused the lightning, thunder, earthquakes, (and, may be even tsunamis); this mighty power was named by Man as GOD. Since most parts of the world were male-oriented, this GOD was usually imagined to be of a masculine gender and worship of GOD got started in different methods in different civilizations, all according to the imaginations of the people there. Such places of God-worship were soon found to be potential sources for wealth accumulation and then religion/s took over from there.

There is no need, therefore, to visit temples unless one is interested. And, even when you visit any temple you can be as unaffected as when you may probably visit the holy places of another religion. Only thing is, as a civilized person one should not do anything which will hurt the sentiments of the so-called "believers". There is no need to pray for anything, to any deity or do namaskaram or sit-ups or anything.

These are my personal views.

 

[zebra16]

Zebraji said:



I am an egoist, alive and kicking. LOL.

I am worried that my today's comfortable position in life may not remain a status quo because the world is ever-changing.

So what do I do?

I call my sales and marketing team and put fire under them to work on a new marketing strategy and insist that they give me a better result in a given time frame.

Or I invest my money in safe and high yielding investments and then go on a pilgimage to thank the various gods.

Or I devise strategies to cheat the citizens and make money in the sly and hoarde it somewhere to be taken out when needed later. It can be even a tax haven or Swiss bank.

I do not go to the temple and pray to God not to change the status quo.

I do not go to temple and pray to God to hold the price index at the current level for ever.

I do not go to temple to pray to God to shower the back yard of my house at intermittent intervals of say once in three months with gold coins (exclusively to me alone not even to my neighbour) so that I can make periodic adjustments in my balance sheet by setting of the loss due to opportunities lost by the "showered gold income".

Hope Zebraji see the point made. People go to temple not ask for favours of these sorts. They go to remind themselves of the surrender they have made to Him. To ask the God "Hi, there, how many more days?" and to say "thank you for everything".

I sure see the point you make Vagmiji. I have emboldened underligned the "I" phrases appearing in your post. You can look at its frequency and the emphasis on "I" in your post and form your own judgement.

 

[zebra16]

They are either Artha prapannaAs or Thruptha prapannAs depending on their state. I did not want to confuse you with these Vaishnavite philosophical terms. But I deliberately give these two words here so that you can do a bit of research to understand the vaishnava philosophy if your interest is kindled.

I would try to understand the concept of artha prapanna and thruptha prapanna Vagmiji.

But where would you fit Dasharatha, who performed putra-kAmeshti to beget Sri Rama, and where would you fit Draupadi when she wailed for Lord Krishna during vastra-haraNam...?

 

[Vaagmi]

I sure see the point you make Vagmiji. I have emboldened underligned the "I" phrases appearing in your post. You can look at its frequency and the emphasis on "I" in your post and form your own judgement.

The person represented in my post starts his post admitting that he is a egoist and he never pretended to be anything else. He also said he was alive and kicking in order to distinguish himself from the dead person you had mentioned in your post. This being the case why try to prove that the person is an egoist all the way again? What is the idea? The post was about an egoist and how he deals with his problems. LOL. You have tried to wriggle out on a non existent point in the flimsy first person singular that too of an self admitted egoist. Let it be that I am an egoist and that is besides the point. But what about the egoist person who does not go to God and ask for solution to his day to day problems as mentioned in the post. Try to read again my earlier post and understand.

There is no point reinventing the wheel again and again.

 

[Vaagmi]

I would try to understand the concept of artha prapanna and thruptha prapanna Vagmiji.

But where would you fit Dasharatha, who performed putra-kAmeshti to beget Sri Rama, and where would you fit Draupadi when she wailed for Lord Krishna during vastra-haraNam...?

They were not prapannas. LOL.

 

[vijayam]

Interesting topic. Thank you for originating this. We should surrender ourselves to God. He will give what we require to live a happy life in the world, give sufferings to mould us, give punishments to make us realise our mistakes. We can ask for anything when we pray. Nothing wrong in it. If at all, to whom we have the liberty to ask. We should go to temple, have the beautiful darshans. We should practice ourselves in such a way that when we close our eyes, we should be able to see the deity with alangarams, pray inside . Feel it. It will be wonderful. There is nothing to get complicated.

 

[tks]

I do not make particular effort to go to a temple and I do not make it a point to avoid them either.

Isvara, when understood and not believed , is anywhere and everywhere. However it is possible to meditate on this Isvara for our personal peace of mind, if the ambience is right. Some temples do provide the right ambience.

I have found few temples in my life that provide the right ambience. If I were to visit them (or even any other temple of any denomination) I go through the following set of 'rituals'.

I take few deep breaths to shake my mind of the current thoughts. Then in the spirit of 'fake it and make it' I try to think of myself as just a devotee without identification of body and mind. Faking this because the mind is still participating in this thinking.

I try to think of Isvara as the representation of all beings that resides in my Hridayam as Purusha and is also cognized as external to my body as that deity.

I think or say the following.

sarve bhavantu sukhinah
sarve santu niramayah
sarve bhadrani pashyantu
ma kashchid
duhkhabhag bhavet


Meaning

May all people be happy.May all be free from illness.May all see what is blessed.May no one ever suffer.


Then say

asato ma sad gamaya
tamaso ma jyotir gamaya
mrityor mËaamritam gamaya
om shanti shanti shantihi

Meaning

Lead me from the unreal to the real,Lead me from darkness to light,Lead me from idea of death to immortality. Om - let there be peace!

 

[a-TB]

Zebraji said:



I am an egoist, alive and kicking. LOL.

I am worried that my today's comfortable position in life may not remain a status quo because the world is ever-changing.

So what do I do?

I call my sales and marketing team and put fire under them to work on a new marketing strategy and insist that they give me a better result in a given time frame.

Or I invest my money in safe and high yielding investments and then go on a pilgimage to thank the various gods.

Or I devise strategies to cheat the citizens and make money in the sly and hoarde it somewhere to be taken out when needed later. It can be even a tax haven or Swiss bank.

I do not go to the temple and pray to God not to change the status quo.

I do not go to temple and pray to God to hold the price index at the current level for ever.

I do not go to temple to pray to God to shower the back yard of my house at intermittent intervals of say once in three months with gold coins (exclusively to me alone not even to my neighbour) so that I can make periodic adjustments in my balance sheet by setting of the loss due to opportunities lost by the "showered gold income".

Hope Zebraji see the point made. People go to temple not ask for favours of these sorts. They go to remind themselves of the surrender they have made to Him. To ask the God "Hi, there, how many more days?" and to say "thank you for everything".

Dear Mr Vaagmi

Somehow this does not seem to be aligned with your comments in Post #6

I go to temple to just to reiterate my complete surrender to God--reiterating to myself and not to God.

I do this at home daily and at the temple whenever I go there.

It seems you never surrendered your ego! If ego is not surrendered then nothing is even in my naive understanding. LoL

 

[prasad1]

It is very easy to talk of ego of others. Everyone of us living with a physical body and sound body has an ego. We are in this site giving our opinions, we have ego. The egoless person is not here.
We are all seekers and some of us will achieve what we seek. It is really ignorance to call others egoistic, when we ourselves are full of it. And then to top it these egoistic person calls others names and other insults (showing immaturity and ignorance).

The original post asked for:

My question to you is - what do you tell yourself or ask God when you pray ?
How do you pray? Why do you pray? Why do you go to temples when you have a puja room?

We answered the points, there is no room to crib about others personal views. So there is no need to criticize others practice.

If the original post wanted a uniform practice that all of humanity should do, then the question was not framed properly. I do not pontificate and I do not have time to listen to some one else pontificating (that too without proper qualification).