Prayer Guide

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Item Code: IHL553
Author: Dayananda Saraswati
Publisher: Arsh Sahitya Prachar Trust
Language: English
Edition: 2023
ISBN: 9788190605915
Pages: 261
Cover: Paperback
Other Details 8.5 inch X 5.5 inch
Weight 370 gm
Fully insured
Fully insured
Shipped to 153 countries
Shipped to 153 countries
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More than 1M+ customers worldwide
100% Made in India
100% Made in India
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23 years in business
Book Description
Back of the Book

“A Prayer is an act, and prayerfulness is an attitude. The right attitude serves like a shock absorber against a sense of disappointment and failure. Seeing through the complexities of a situation to choose the right course of action is possible if one has adequate grace; and grace is earned by prayer. Mature, objective response to both pleasant and unpleasant situations comes from prayerful attitude. The act of prayer serve to make one prayerful.

Being prayerful, one’s response to varying situations would be effective without one being in anyway affected. This attitude also helps one to accept one’s past, as well as the present situation. The more prayerful one is, the freer one becomes from guilt, hurt, and from self-loath. In the wake of graceful acceptance, there is serenity.”

 

Preface

This is a very useful book consisting of independent topics under one title ‘Prayer Guide’. A given topic may be a discussion on a verse that one may be chanting daily, or a word that needs to be understood thoroughly.

Over a period of time I had talked on different occasions like Guru-purnima, Sankara-jayanti and so on, and they are all here; each is found strengthening a weak link in our total understanding. Therefore, I consider this book will be found useful to every reader. I enjoyed my reading and re-editing this book.

 

Contents

 

  Preface ix
  Key to Transliteration xi
  Understanding Prayer  
  Need for Prayer 1
  Action is mithya 2
  Control of hidden variables 4
  Our free will is not that ‘free’ 5
  Following dharma helps us ‘become’ free 7
  Prayer is the only ‘completely free’ action on the part of a kartr 11
  Primarily prayer is for adrsta-phala, unseen result 12
  The world is a manifestation of Isvara 15
  Conforming to dharma is being in harmony with Isvara 16
  Prayer produces punya 19
  Sastra reveals the existence of adrsta-phala 21
  Human life is a mixture of punya and papa 22
  Ritualistic Prayer  
  Srauta-karma 29
  Smarta-karma 30
  Ritualistic prayer produces the maximum punya 31
  Altars 32
  Oral Prayer  
  All names are Isvara’s names 34
  You can invoke Isvara in a particular name 36
  Mental Prayer  
  Meditation is mental activity focused on Isvara 40
  Japa 43
  Japa helps train our mind 45
  Mind is but an instrument 47
  Significance of 108 48
  Prayerfulness 49
  Devotion  
  Becoming a devotee 50
  The lord is the creator and I am the created 52
  Relationship with Isvara is crucial to one’s becoming a devotee 54
  Puja 54
  Altar of worship 57
  Meditation 58
  Love has to be discovered 59
  Puja helps us gain jnana 60
  Akhanda-nama-japa 60
  Three types of japa 61
  Akhanda-japa transforms you 61
  Mantra Initiation  
  Mantra initiation is also for girls 64
  Initiation before teenage years 65
  Make your vows public 66
  Father initiates son into the mantra in upanayana 67
  Japa becomes an inner guide for the initiated 67
  Initiation 69
  Count by time 69
  Every committed person is eligible for a mantra 69
  Forms of worship  
  Everything is sacred 73
  Worshipping a form is a blessing 74
  Lord Ganesa 74
  Lord Nataraja 75
  Sri Daksinamurti 77
  The Lord as the eight aspects 77
  The lord as the teacher 79
  Sivalinga 81
  Worship of the Five Elements 82
  Mantras and Stotras  
  Suklambaradharam 85
  Agajanana-padmarkam 87
  Ya kundendu 89
  Gayatri-mantra 91
  Om namo bhagavate daksinamurtaye 95
  Maunavyakhya 97
  Nidhaye sarvavidyanam 100
  Om namah pranavarthaya 101
  Isvaro gururatmeti 102
  Tatpurusaya vidmahe 103
  Rajadhirajaya 105
  Na tatra suryo bhati 108
  Srirama rama rameti 110
  Namaste astu bhagavan 111
  Sivamanasapuja 114
  Saha navavatu 127
  Om  
  Om as a word 131
  Om as a sound-symbol 133
  Pranava, om, is only for sannyasins 137
  Overview of Rudram and Camakam  
  In Camakam we ask the Lord to give us everything 138
  The Lord is the order that sustains everything 140
  Recognising the order helps reduce our subjectivity 141
  Our subjectivity is part of the order 142
  Chanting Rudram reduces our subjectivity 143
  The vision of oneness 144
  Rudram and Camakam are complementary 145
  In the Lord’s vision everything is in order 145
  The Gist of Purusa Suktam  
  Description of the purusa 148
  All beings are the purusa 150
  Chanting Purusa Suktam regularly neutralizes the sense of ownership 150
  The Lord can be recognized in the heart 154
  The Lord is everything 155
  He is the Lord of time and of all the worlds 156
  Introduction to Visnusahasranama  
  Why so many names? 157
  A stotra is meaninggul only when it comes from a wise person 159
  A word and its meaning are inseparable 161
  Three sets of words:  
  Svarupa names 162
  Guna names 163
  Lila names 165
  Invoke the Lord’s grace through prayer 166
  Seek help from one who does not beed help 167
  Purna-kumbha mantra 168
  Paramananda is attained by renunciation 171
  Ignorance veils the Lord’s presence in the intellect 172
  The sannyasins committed to knowledge ‘gain’ paramananda 174
  How do they gain this knowledge? 174
  Such sannyasins are totally liberated 177
  Kirtans  
  Vandeham saradam 183
  Daksinamurte amurte 189
  The world is like a tree 190
  The Lord as the guru 193
  Khelati mama hrdaye 195
  Religious Festivals  
  Sarasvati puja 199
  Everything is sacred 200
  Navaratri festival in Tamil Nadu 201
  Ramanavami 202
  Sivaratri 221
  Lord Siva is auspiciousness 221
  Lord Siva is the lord of time 222
  Gurupurnima 225
  Caturmasya-vrata 225
  A guru unfolds spiritual knowledge 226
  We invoke the Lord in the guru 228
  Knowing implies removal of inhibiting factors 231
  The teaching method 236
  Sri Sankara Jayanti 238
  Sri Sankaracarya as upadhi-visesa 240
  Sri Sankaracarya and the teaching tradition, sampradaya 245
Sample Pages


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