The Concept of Prayer

What is prayer? Is it simply genuflecting before a supposed divine body and asking for favours?
And promising laddu or something in return? Or is it something very personal and intrinsic?

Who are atheists? And what are they exactly claiming? If they are claiming they do not believe
in God, then what are they referring to? Have they understood the concept of God? Or are they
saying they do not believe in definition of God as given by other people?

Let’s try to understand.

First, who is a prayer dedicated to? I.e. when a person prays, whom is it directed towards?

Contrary to popular beliefs (or my early notions), it is directed towards 'aatma' and 'brahm'.
Now, what are they?
Brahm is defined as the energy which had the capability to create something out of NOTHING
(Big bang theory someone?). Imagine a body like Sun, but many more times powerful bundle of
energy, which had the capability to create infinite number of Suns (or stars if you prefer). Now
this energy made possible creation of everything: right from suns, moons, stars to particles of
sand. And Life! (Then evolution happened in due course of time)

All the things have a part of that energy, which was called or defined 'Aatma'. So, this popular
concept among Hindus, 'har kan main bhagwaan hain'; which translates into, as every particle has
some part of the energy which in turn is part of super-energy, Brahm, every particle has Brahm.
As Krishna instructs in Geeta (not verbatim), 'Aatma, ajar hai, amar hai. Ise na pani se bhigoya jaa
sakta hai, na hi aag se jalaya jaa sakta hai, aur na hi talwar se kaata jaa sakta hai. Ye kabhi naash nahi
hota, bas roop badal leta hai' (Soul is immortal and wont age. It can neither be wetted, nor burnt or
cut. It is indestructible, it just changes forms).
This translates into famous Law of Conservation of Energy - The total amount of energy in a
closed system remains constant. A consequence of this law is that energy cannot be created or
destroyed. The only thing that can happen with energy in a closed system is that it can change
form.

Like every particle, we also have 'aatma' which is the core of existence. If that energy is no
longer with us, we are declared dead. This energy enables us to do anything we want with it.
This energy 'aatma', just like its daddy 'brahm', is nirgun (virtue-less, doesn't have quality of
doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong) and nirakar (formless, having no definite form
or distinct shape, or better yet no physical form).
It is left to us how we harness that energy, 'aatma'. As human being is a social animal, rules
were defined to define 'good' and bad'. (Understand that this is relative grading; what is good
for me, may be bad for you!)
Good was defined as something which will result in benefit of a large audience (society
restrictions) and bad vice-versa. So, say a village lives on looting and plundering. One can argue
that act is 'good' as it benefits whole village. But, ‘greater good for greater number’ argument is
the basic guideline here. They must be plundering larger number of people to sustain, and
hence the act can’t be defined 'good'.
When we do a good deed; we get compliments, thanks, blessings etc (and self glory too!) which
translates to positive energy and strengthens/replenishes our energy reservoir, 'aatma'. Fast is
supposed to contribute hugely, because it conserves that energy which would have been used
otherwise for digestion and excretion purposes. Increase in 'aatma' makes us relatively more
comparable with 'brahm' (the ultimate energy), hence it is said 'good deeds take us closer to
God.' (And make us appear shinier in front of other aatmas too!)
The opposite is also true. A bad deed attracts guilt feeling, curses etc. Energy is required or
spent to counter this. Hence, 'aatma' reduces which makes one less comparable with 'brahm'.
And it is said that 'bad deeds take us away from God'.

So, what is God? If talked in marketing terms, God is the brand name of 'Brahm'. I am referring
to the concept of God which is defined as nirgun, nirakaar, all-encompassing, omnipotent, and
omnipresent. A supreme energy.

Let us be clear that it is mind which controls this resident energy, 'aatma'. As said, 'aatma' is
nirgun (virtue-less); it requires mind to understand society rules and differentiate good from
bad. So a fast, which is simply a tool, without positive deeds will not contribute significantly.
And that is the reason why it has always been stressed the necessity to control mind, referred as
'mann' in Hindu culture. Meditation, yoga and other tools were devised to control 'chanchal
mann', because only then one can harness 'aatma' for the desired purposes.

Before we finally move to define prayer, let us understand one more concept namely 'Avatar'.
An Avtar was one who did better things than the rest of the society. Such a person would
definitely have an 'aatma' stronger compared with others around, and this 'aatma' will be
closer/comparable to 'brahm' than other weaker 'aatmas'. If the difference was many-folds, such
a person can definitely be said a better replica of 'brahm' compared to others. Avtar is brand
name of such a phenomenon. (As Shri Vishnu is designated as preserver, avtars were said to be
his reincarnation.)
Avtar obviously, are role models too and were called 'bhagwaan'. One wants to have the
qualities an avtar had. Or if said in language of this article, everyone wants to harness ones'
'aatma' as an avtar was able to do it. Several avtars were defined to suit everyone's needs and
types. Like Shri Hanuman for youngsters and abstainers; Shri Ram for married ones; Shri
Krishna for romantically inclined ones and so on. The avtars also served as moral code for
society, but that discussion is out of purview of current article.

So, Prayer is a process which allows one to channelize one's 'aatma', like an avtaar did, and to
reach closer to 'brahm'. The aim of prayer is to become ultimate energy. Now this energy can be
harnessed only by mind, so prayer can also be defined as process to gain control over ones'
mind. Yoga, meditation etc help in this process and hence are forms of prayers.
As everyone cannot be expected to be expert in these techniques, the routine of puja was
developed. A repeated chanting of say Hanuman Chalisa will also make your 'mann shaant' (by
concentrating your conscious mind on something mundane and in turn allowing subconscious
to relax and mind to rejuvenate; this is what meditation is about). And a relaxed mind in turn
allows you to harness 'aatma' better.

Frankly, every good deed is also a type of prayer as it increases aatma.

About me:

I am Aseem Sinha. I am an MBA (T.A.Pai Management Institute), and have been associated
with Education Sector for more than four and a half years. Am currently heading and running
my venture Abhyankar Institute for Management Studies with my partner.