I Pray, I meditate
Our prayer gives us a peaceful life.
Our meditation gives us a beautiful heart.
I pray. Why do I pray? I pray because I need God. I meditate. Why do I meditate? I meditate because God needs me.
When I pray, I think that God is high above me, above my head. When I meditate, I feel that God is deep inside me, inside my heart.
Prayer says, "I am helpless, I am impure, I am weak. I need You, 0 Lord Supreme, to strengthen me, to purify me, to illumine me, to perfect me, to immortalise me. I need You, 0 Lord Supreme."
Meditation says, "Lord Supreme, out of Your infinite bounty You have chosen me to be Your instrument to manifest You here on earth in Your own way. You could have chosen somebody else to play the role, but You have granted me the golden opportunity. To You I offer my constant gratitude, my gratitude-heart."
Prayer is purity. It purifies the mind, which is always subject to doubt, fear, worry and anxiety, and is always assailed by wrong thoughts and wrong movements. When we pray, purification takes place in our minds, and purity increases our God-receptivity. In fact, purity is nothing short of God-receptivity. Each time we pray, our inner receptacle becomes large, larger, largest. Then purity, beauty, light and delight can enter into that receptacle and sport together in the inmost recesses of our heart.
Meditation is luminosity. It illumines our heart. When illumination takes place in our heart, insecurity and the sense of want disappear. At that time we sing the song of inseparable oneness with the Universal Consciousness and Transcendental Consciousness. When our heart is illumined, the finite in us enters into the Infinite and becomes the Infinite itself. The bondage of millennia leaves us, and the freedom of infinite Truth and Light welcomes us.
Prayer says to God, "Beloved Supreme, You are mine. I claim You as my own, very own. Do grant me Your divine qualities in boundless measure so that I can be Your perfect instrument here on earth."
Meditation says to God, "0 Beloved Supreme, I am Yours. You can utilise me at Your sweet Will at every moment, throughout Eternity. Through me fulfil Yourself here on earth and there in Heaven."
The best definition of prayer is to practise it daily. The best definition of meditation is to experience it soulfully.
The best definition of yoga is to live it sincerely.
The best definition of God is to love Him, and Him only, unconditionally.
Prayer is something absolutely intense and upward-soaring. When we pray, we feel that our existence is a one-pointed flame soaring upward. From the soles of our feet to the crown of our head, our whole being is invoking and calling upwards. The very nature of prayer is to reach God by going up.
Meditation is something wide and vast that ultimately expands into the Infinite. When we meditate, we throw ourselves into a vast expanse, into an infinite sea of peace and bliss, or we welcome the infinite Vast into us. Prayer rises; meditation spreads. Meditation is constantly growing and expanding into peace, light and delight. When we meditate, we gradually see, feel and grow into the entire universe of light and delight.
- by: Sri Chinmoy
