“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.”
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.
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 |
“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.”
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.
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 |