Inner Truth: Purpose of Prayer

The purpose of prayer is to keep a good atmosphere, to bring in good energy to your home and to purify your mind and your heart. If you sit with your eyes closed and go into deep meditation -- that is the best thing one can do. There is a beautiful couplet in Kannada which says, 'When your breath is fragrant, what is the need for flowers?' When will the breath get fragrant? Only when you are meditating every day. When you are aggressive your breath is hot. When you are obsessed with desires, your breath is shaky. And when you have negative feeling and hatred towards something, your breath smells bad. When your mind is in deep love, very subtle, very peaceful, and contented, your breath has a fragrance. People go to Himalayas to find solitude. Why do you want to go there to find solitude! Everybody is part of you, you have become the world, the world is you. When you get this realization, then you see that there is no need of running away to Himalayas for solitude. Continue to meditate and you’ll see that these qualities are already present in you. Then every moment is living serenity. 

The author is a spiritual teacher and founder The Art of Living. www.artofliving.org 

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