Childlike Helplessness – In Gita Verse 18.46 By worship of the Lord, who is the source of all beings and who is all-pervading, a man can attain perfection through performing his own work.
Krishna says become prayerful. And you will attain perfection through performing your work.
In my Bhagavad Gita Verse 9.15, blog I wrote – Prayer is a radiation of our beings suddenly set afire; it is an infinite and purposeless direction, a brutal accompaniment of our hopes, which travel the universe without reaching any destination.
Always remember one thing: there are things below you and there are things above you. Things that are below you, you can be exact about them. Things that are above you, you cannot be exact about them. They are bigger than you. When prayer exists, it is not that prayer exists in you – on the contrary, YOU EXIST IN PRAYER. Prayer is higher than you. You just vibrate in that enormous dimension, that plenitude.
But we have been taught, particularly in this century, to be exact about everything. That has destroyed many beautiful values in life, that constant desire to be exact. And if you cannot be exact about something, then the mind tries to deny it.
You cannot be exact about God, so the mind says, “Then God cannot be.” You cannot be exact about love; then the mind says, “Love is just dreaming and nothing else.” You cannot be exact about beauty; then the mind says, “Beauty is just fantasy. It is not the truth.” But then what is left? Then the world is no more beautiful, no more loving, no more good – because there is no more God. Then the world is empty of meaning. Not that the world is empty of meaning, but your mad desire to be exact about everything has made it empty of meaning.
Meaning is a delicate phenomenon. It is like the fragrance of a flower. You cannot catch hold of it in your hands – but it is there, still it is there, whether you can catch hold of it or not, whether you can keep it in a safe deposit or not. It is still there!
Still, a few things can be said about prayer – but they will not be exact, so it cannot fulfill your desire. The very nature of prayer prohibits it. And to try to do something against its nature is sacrilege.
So the first thing about prayer is: a feeling of immense gratitude, thankfulness. You are here, in this beautiful world, with these trees and rivers, mountains and stars. In this tremendous beauty you are pulsating, you are alive. This opportunity you have not earned. It is a gift. Prayer is a thankfulness for this gift of life. Just to breathe is such a joy, just to open your eyes and see the greenery. Just to listen to the chirping of the birds, or the sound of running water, or the silence of the night and the velvety darkness. Or the dawn and the sun rising… we have not earned it! It has been given to us, and we have not even thanked it.
Whether there is a God or not is irrelevant – thankfulness is a must. People think that “If there is a God, then we will thank him.” I tell you just the opposite: “If you start thanking, you will find him.” There is no other way. If you start feeling grateful, you will find him because he happens only in that dimension of gratitude.
Just as you cannot see from the ears and you cannot hear from the eyes – eyes can only see, ears can only hear – exactly like that, only gratitude can find God, can feel God. Gratitude is your sensitivity for God. Prayer is that sensitivity.
Second thing: prayer is a way of living. It is not just something that you do early in the morning like ritual. If it is a ritual, it is meaningless. If it is a ritual, it will not make you religious – it will make you a Hindu, it will make you a Mohammedan, but NOT religious. Prayer has to be something absolutely informal, of the heart, not a ritual. Not something that you finish some-how in the morning because you HAVE to do it and you have been taught to do it – it has become a duty. If you don’t do it, you feel a little guilty; otherwise, doing it, you don’t feel any joy out of it. When you don’t do it, only guilt arises. To avoid that guilt, you go on doing it. This is not prayer.
Prayer is a way of living. What do I mean? A man of prayer remains in prayer twenty-four hours away. He sleeps-in prayer; his sleep is a kind of prayer. He relaxes into sleep as if he is relaxing into the lap of God. When he is going to sleep, he sleeps in God. When he wakes up, he wakes up in God. He opens his eyes and the first thing that comes to his heart and to his being is gratefulness, utter gratefulness. He eats God, he drinks God. He walks in God. He breathes in God, he breathes God. His twenty-four hours are a continuum of prayer. It goes on running like background music. Whatsoever he is doing, that does not make any difference – the prayer continues.
And I am not saying that you should start repeating “Ram, Ram, Ram,” or “Allah, Allah, Allah.” It is not a question of repetition. If you start repeating, “Ram, and Ram and Ram,” then it will be an interference in your life. Then you will not be able to drive correctly on the road, because your mind will be divided. Then you will not be able to do ANY work totally. So I am not saying to repeat anything. It is not a question of verbal repetition. It is just a feeling, presence. Just as the mother sleeps in the night and her child is there by her side of her… and it may be the rainy season, with clouds and thunder in the sky, but she will not be awakened by the clouds and the thunder. But if the child just becomes a little uneasy, starts crying, she will be awakened immediately. Thunder was not enough to wake her, but her child…. Even in her sleep a part of herbing remembers the child. That’s how prayer is. You live in the marketplace, you work, but DEEP down at the very core of your being, you go on bowing to God – prayer continues, gratitude continues. Sometimes it surfaces when you have a silent moment; otherwise, it continues underground.
Prayed is a way of living, not having, but a way of asking. It is not compelling, not wanting to live from power and possession, but imploring to be allowed to be. Asking is the opposite of demanding. Asking is risky. It is entrusting yourself to the silence and the uncertainty of existence.
Krishna says prayer never demands. There is no possibility of any demand in prayer because we cannot claim anything. But we can ask, just like a small child asks his mother. There is no demand in him; he is helpless, he is dependent. He simply asks. When he is hungry, he cries – that’s what prayer is. It is childlike helplessness.
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