Stress
of Mannat
Mannat-Prayer to the
Lord to fulfill a wish and a pledge to pay Obeisance to the Lord after wish is
fulfilled – Thanks giving to the Lord.
"Always
remember. God will never take anything away from you without the intention of
replacing it with something much better." Unknown
Once while standing
in the “Banke Bihari” temple, at Vrindaban , along with my family, to pay
obeisance to the Lord, observed that many people were talking with the idol of
the Lord as if it were a living being, in fact, that is essence of all temples,
once the idol has been established after the ritual of “Paranpritishtha” it is
living the God for all purpose not a stone statue as thought by many and hence
a one to one talk is natural. If you don’t tell your problems to Omnipotent
then to whom will you tell.
A temple is a
gathering of the Gods and hence the reverence, decorum and discipline. In fact,
all religions of the world have personified the Lord in their own different
ways and thereafter it is a living being: that helps everybody to feel
existence of the Supreme Lord and to concentrate and meditate on the Supreme in
the effort to connect with Him: even the legal system gives a place of honour
and reverence to the Lord whenever a question of existence or assets of the
Lord are involved.
It all depends on
you, how you connect with the Lord. Some in the Banke Bihari Temple had tears
in their eyes, others were looking at Lord without a blink and there were many
who had kept their eyes shut and hands folded in reverence to the Lord, some
were sitting in a secluded corner unaware of the crowd in the temple, others
were “Dandvat” in reverence, and some busy with their chants and Japas, some
were loud in prayers and other silent, still there were others busy with their
prayer beads, but everybody was trying to have as clear view of the Lord as
possible.
Another wonderful
happening in the temple related to us. When I along with my wife and daughter turned
around after the prayer to the “Banke Bihari” in the Temple at Vrindaban, we
found our own son, who was standing just behind us, had his eyes full of tears,
perhaps he had found a real connection with the Lord, I did not disturb nor I
asked any question as I felt it must had given him lot of solace and
satisfaction. We also felt a wonderful feeling of richness and plenty. When we
reached home in the evening, we found a telegram lying in the court yard, from
one of classmates of my son, intimating that in the revaluation of the paper in
which he had been declared “not pass” he had secured more than the pass marks
and then my son told us that he had prayed to the Lord to get him a pass in
that subject as he had worked hard and his prayer had been accepted then and
there. Someone may say it was just a coincidence, yes it can be argued like
that: in fact, Albert Einstein rightly observed, “Coincidence is God’s way to
remain anonymous”.
Once while in a
Buddhist Temple at Manali, I saw a person doing push-ups in the temple
premises, when asked the Monk Priest,
told that the person concerned was confessing something to the Lord and
praying that he may be pardoned. In
fact, everybody has his own way of connecting with the Lord and the ways are as
different as the perceptions about the Lord by humans.
How to convey to the
Lord our wish: how to pray: what to say and what not to say. People adopt
different ways to have the satisfaction of having made a solid prayer that has
been heard by the Lord and would be answered: some make elaborate arrangements,
other perform rituals-all man-made, some know nothing about the Lord but still
have unshaken faith in him, others just believe the everything has to happen as
per the scheme of things already decided by the Lord and nothing is required to
be done, some sit in a lonely place to meditate and then make the prayer: some
seek mediation of a priest or Guru before making a wish: still some visit a
specific religious place to convey his wish to the Lord, some wait for specific
days in a year: some go through the agents also like many people speak in the
ears of Nandi - the ride of Lord Shiva to convey their wish to the Lord, in
fact as many men as many ways to make a prayer to the Lord Omnipresent and
Omnipotent, always present everywhere to listen the prayers made or not made
also.
Making a prayer to
the Lord is a privilege given by the Lord to humans, perhaps to all living
creatures also. How to make a prayer: is there any specified method: nothing
prescribed by the Lord Himself, everything is man-made. First understand, when
making a prayer we are talking to a living God so the conversation between the
two must have all the ingredients of an effective communication- ratio of said
and heard must be 1:1. How to ensure that ratio, this all depends on the person making the
prayer: he must ensure this is made the way most heard by the Lord as he is
always ready to listen provided you pray the way he wants: the way is talk to
Him as intimately as we talk to our
partner when in the act. Many in their day to day life, adopt Lord as their
brother, friend, or guru and talk to Him accordingly always calling Him explain
Him and seeking solution: the essence is how you connect with Him. Fact is when
one connects with Him it is a feeling supreme not to be explained but to be
felt not by the body but by the soul, by
the one who is sitting inside, in fact one to one same to same.
The medium of
communication-a language or a silence, gesture or intuition: since Lord is
Omnipotent any medium of communication is appropriate, even silence is good
enough: he knows even without saying what we want to say. Our actions, words,
manners, body language all must be polite and polished. Last but the most
important part of prayer is the intentions, feelings and emotions with which prayer
is made despite being not explicit and invisible they are most accurately
conveyed while we pray. Total surrender and immersion, heart devoted to Him,
has the power to invoke His blessings. Prayers made for others to the Lord always fructify
much earlier that is essence of ages and sages.
The Lord Himself
connects with us through intuition in the times of distress and guides us to
the safety and security. Intuition is something that comes from within, when
your souls a part of Almighty alerts you and it is time to recognize the
signals sent: too much of analysis is perhaps not required when He talks to you
through the signals it is the action that is needed and helps.
"Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be
feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not in the
one who says it, our prayers do make a difference."
- Max Lucado
“Call to me and I will
answer you.” (Jeremiah 33:3a Bible): "You will call on me and come and
pray to me, and I will listen to you." (Jeremiah 29:12 Bible). Every
religious scripture is full of incidents and accounts wherein He listened the
prayers and gave effective answers. Prayer should be part of one’s daily life
not an occasional act as rightly said by Brahmanand Swami in his Bhajan below:
जो भजे हरि को सदा, सोही परम पद पावेगा |
देह के माला, तिलक और छाप, नहीं किस काम के,
प्रेम भक्ति बिना नहीं नाथ के मन भावे |
दिल के दर्पण को सफा कर, दूर कर अभिमान को,
ख़ाक को गुरु के कदम की, तो प्रभु मिल जायेगा |
छोड़ दुनिए के मज़े सब, बैठ कर एकांत में,
ध्यान धर हरि का, चरण का, फिर जनम नही आयेगा |
द्रिड भरोसा मन मे करके,
जो जपे हरि नाम को,कहता है ब्रह्मानंद, बीच समाएगा |
"True prayer is a way of life, not just for use in
cases of emergency. Make it a habit, and when the need arises you will be in
practice."
- Billy Graham
"We
are to pray in times of adversity, lest we become faithless and unbelieving. We
are to pray in times of prosperity, lest we become boastful and proud. We are
to pray in times of danger, lest we become fearful and doubting. We are to pray
in times of security, lest we become self-sufficient."
- Billy Graham
Normally people make a Mannat:
Prayer to the Lord to fulfill a wish and a pledge to pay Obeisance to the Lord
after wish is fulfilled, by quantifying an offering like contribution to
community kitchen (Langer, Bhandara as popularly known in India), Prasad for a
specified amount, or by revisiting the place of the Lord, donation to religious
place, clothes (Chaddar) for the Lord, offering Flag to the Lord, community
reciting the scriptures etc. Are we really qualified to do that: absolutely not:
He is omnipotent: giver of everything to everybody: so Mannat is like give and
take which can’t be with the Lord. However, people still do; they take a pledge
to pay Obeisance in their own way, this is just for personal satisfaction; but
whenever you have made a pledge then it should be fulfilled as quickly as
possible otherwise this is source of nagging worry: anxiety and stress: and
whenever something goes wrong one is intend to think that this has happened as
he has not kept the promise with the Lord although there is nothing like this. In
fact: Mannat is thanks giving to the Lord.
Prayer to the Lord is most
important. Since we are talking to a living person we must be clear as to what
we really want the Lord to do for us although scripture say He knows even
without asking. When praying preferably do it alone; in a manner audible only
to the Lord and yourself; ignorant people are too quick to make it a joke. If
you to want follow a specific pattern for your satisfaction like lighting a
holy flame, candle or scented sticks, keeping a holy book or replica of the
Lord with you, or want to make a prayer in a place of worship or at a specific
time you must do. But above all is your respect, gratefulness, total surrender,
acceptance and connection with the Lord.
How to achieve a connection
with the Lord. The exact answer to this question has eluded mankind right from
the day man realized the existence of the Supreme and those who established
such a connection did not specify the way how they reached Him. However, a
connection with Him is always His blessing and His grace.
"Sometimes
the best thing you can do is not think, not wonder, not imagine, not obsess.
Just breathe and have faith that everything will work out for the best."
— Unknown 1859.
No comments:
Post a Comment