Unceasing Prayer: The Highest Intention
Ananta encourages cultivating a deep, unceasing intention to remain in God's worship and presence, whether through active prayer or quiet emptiness, emphasizing that consistent effort and faith will make His presence palpable.
So what is your endeavor? Nobody can be 100%. So what is your endeavor? Are you trying to remain empty all the time? Are you trying to use the ads or some other prayer all the time? What is the... is it in your mind or even that I...
So I like to... to you every night and know... but again, this is to you: "Oh my Lord, my God, my whole being is Yourself. The mind which has been given to me is Your consort. The life of death and energy which You have given me are Your attendants. The body is the temple in which I worship You. Whatever I eat, when I eat, where or do, are all part of the worship that I keep on performing. Even when this body goes, I am. Whenever I go on a walk, I feel I'm going on a pilgrimage. Whatever I say is all in praise of You. In fact, whatever I do in this world in any way is all aimed at You." So there is no duality in this.
Hey, so do you feel like you are able to remain in His love, His light, His presence all the time or most of the time?
When there are things, attractions outside, involved in stories and stuff, again I go back. So something... it happens. It's not planned early, but it depends.
So why don't you pray all the time? Sleep, no trouble. Sleep straight, you can't trouble yourself. So we're fine. The rest of the time, is your intention to pray all the time? All the time? Yeah, yeah. So do you feel that any activity would be higher than praying or remaining empty for God?
So let's make it a deep intention that... and a one-pointed intention to just be in His worship. Whether that worship is to be in a quiet prayer of the heart or to be it in a prayer with lips, with words, with the heart chanting the words because your heart loves to pray—and some of you are sending beautiful reports about that—or just dwelling in His love, in His sweetness, no matter what may be happening in the world.
Now, if you're in a meeting, for example, is it... if you're in a meeting and you have to be engaged, or you're in a phone conversation or something and it needs your engagement, so you may not find that you can do the full ads prayer or something like that. But give it your maximum instead of your minimum. I don't know whether you heard me saying that, you see? So give it your maximum. Put your best foot forward for God, you see? And then He will make sure that nothing in the world goes wrong or any the we may have.
So if you're in a phone call, for example, and you can't... you have to hear what they're saying. There are too many people talking usually on these Zoom calls and things like that, so we don't have the attention to do the full prayer. But if you're doing the Shiva prayer, then you can just: Om Namah Shivaya. Sometimes we are speaking and even that is not possible, you see? So one Om Namah Shivaya, that is always possible. Now suppose that you really engage fully with something which itself is very meditative, actually. So it's not bad. But even then, try to be anchored with the love in your heart, you see? So simply put on, no matter what is happening, and when we forget, we have to return.
So let's make that... let's make that intention very deep. Hanuman Prasad Poddar was saying the other day—he left the body decades ago, but seeing the other things I heard him say the other day—that only two things are needed. See, one is the eagerness of our intentions and second is the deep faith in God's power. So if He's truly all that you want, then He'll make His presence palpable to you all the time. And all the time doesn't happen here also. That's why I'm a foolish, stupid beggar. But the intention is there. The intention is there.
Key Teachings
- The highest endeavor is to be in unceasing prayer or to remain empty for God, as both are essentially the same.
- Cultivate a deep, one-pointed intention to be in God's worship at all times, whether through quiet heart prayer, verbal chanting, or simply dwelling in His love.
- Even during engaging activities, strive to give maximum effort to maintaining God's presence and love in the heart.
- Two key elements for God's presence to become palpable are the eagerness of one's intentions and deep faith in God's power.
From: Remember: The Intention of Prayer Is More Important Than the Method - 5th April 2024