NOTES
--- TARGETS / TYPES
to remember (create space)
transformation of lower nature
any particular lower movements, swearing (in the mind),
to quit masturbation, reduce smoking, improve diet
see irritation (peace)
new years prayers
the prayer of silence
contemplative prayer
add buddhism prayers
--- MY EXPERIENCES WITH PRAYER
love for Sri Aurobindo
Savitri
Goddess Forms (compassion, wisdom)
30 days of prayer for 87 days of no-fap (I think)
source of Knowledge
finding Ken Wilber
--- UNSORTED
I am shocked and confused that there isnt a heap of text under Prayer or here. Anyways prayer is super damn powerful
and important, and reminds me also of the quote about "turning to the face of your Christ" there is something about
putting something before God whether it is my words, or my eyes.
--- PRAYER ANALYSIS 1; ROOTS
Hail to Thee, To Thee, Thee,
Thou, O Thou, And Thou, O Lord, who art all this made one and much more
O sovereign Master, extreme limit of our thought, who standest for us at the thrshold of the Unknown, make rise from
that Unpossibility of a loftier and more integral realisation, that Thy work may be accomplished and the universe ta
ke one step farther towards the sublime Identity, the supreme Manifestation.
And now my pen falls mute and I adore Thee in silence.*
O Thou who art the adjective noun of our self.
O adjective Name/Title/Power, requests ...
O Lord, O adjective Title
the adjective noun of the all
see also ::: difficulties
QUOTES
Remember that the Mother is always with you.
Address Her as follows and She will pull you out of all difficulties:
"O Mother Thou art the light of my intelligence, the purity of my soul,
the quiet strength of my vital, the endurance of my body.
I rely on Thee alone and want to be entirely Thine.
Make me surmount all obstacles on the way."
~ The Mother Words Of The Mother - III
MESSAGES FOR CENTRES AND ORGANISATIONS (Suggested programme for a study group)
1. Prayer (Sri Aurobindo, Mother - grant us your help in our endeavour to understand your teaching.)
2. Reading of Sri Aurobindo's book.
3. A moment of silence.
4. One question can be put by whoever wants to put a question on what has been read.
5. Answer to the question.
6. No general discussion. This is not the meeting of a group but simply a class for studying Sri Aurobindo's books. 31 October 1942 ~ The Mother
O Thou who art the sole reality of our being, O sublime Master of love, Redeemer of life, let me have no longer any other consciousness than of Thee at every instant and in each being. When I do not live solely with Thy life, I agonise, I sink slowly towards extinction; for Thou art my only reason for existence, my one goal, my single support. I am like a timid bird not yet sure of its wings and hesitating to take its flight; let me soar to reach definitive identity with Thee. ~ The Mother Prayers And Meditations
--- QUOTES 1
never vain ::: It is never in vain that an ardent and sincere prayer is addressed to the Divine's Grace. ~ The Mother Words Of The Mother - III
when life is heavy ::: When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions. Wait for hope to appear. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, (Lamentations 3:28-29 MSG)
3 ::: Our constant prayer is to understand the Divine's will and to live accordingly. ~ The Mother Words Of The Mother - II, Elements of Yoga, Surrender to the Divine Will, Surrender
forms of one thing ::: Aspiration, call, prayer are forms of one and the same thing and are all effective; you can take the form that comes to you or is easiest to you. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,
concentrate on your Presence ::: And when no subject is given, is it enough to concentrate on your Presence in the heart-centre? Should we avoid a formulated prayer? >>> Yes, concentration on the Presence is enough.
--- QUOTES 2
1 ::: If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough. ~ Meister Eckhart
every call is answered ::: All sincere prayers are granted, every call is answered. With my blessings, ~ The Mother Mantras Of The Mother
3 ::: Prayer indeed is good, but while calling on the gods a man should himself lend a hand. ~ Hippocrates, Regimen, IV, 87
prayers take time to realise ::: All sincere prayers are granted, but it may take some time to realise materially. ~ The Mother Words Of The Mother - III
5 ::: The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays. ~ Soren Kierkegaard
6 ::: I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it. ~ Voltaire
7 ::: Let us go to sleep with a prayer and wake with an aspiration for the New and Perfect Creation. ~ The Mother Words Of The Mother - II, Aspiration
8 ::: Have faith and complete trust in the ways of God. relentless prayers offered with a pure and devoted heart have the power to make the impossible possible. ~ Swami Avdheshanand
9 ::: Lord, the year is dying and our gratitude bows down to Thee. Lord, the year is reborn, our prayer rises up to Thee. Let it be for us also the dawn of a new life. ~ The Mother Words Of The Mother - III
10 ::: In the work of Transformation, who is the slowest to do his part, man or God? >>> I replied, - Man finds that God is too slow to answer his prayers. God finds that man is too slow to receive His influence. But for the Truth-Consciousness all is going on as it ought to go. ~ The Mother Words Of The Mother - III
11 ::: When you give us a subject for meditation, what should we do about it? Keep thinking of it? >>> Keep your thought focused upon it in a concentrated way.
And when no subject is given, is it enough to concentrate on your Presence in the heart-centre? Should we avoid a formulated prayer? >>> Yes, concentration on the Presence is enough. ~ The Mother Words Of The Mother - II,
12 ::: The methods advised by all these people have a startling resemblance to one another. They recommend virtue (of various kinds), solitude, absence of excitement, moderation in diet, and finally a practice which some call prayer and some call meditation. (The former four may turn out on examination to be merely conditions favourable to the last.) ~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA, Book 4, Magick, Part I, Preliminary Remarks
13 ::: Q: I wrote to the Mother a prayer in French. Her answer to it was: "Ouvre ton cur et tu me trouveras dj l." ("Open your heart and you will find me already there.") What exactly does this signify? >>> A: What the Mother meant was this that when there is a certain opening of the heart, you find that there was always the eternal union there (the same that you experience always in the Self above). ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Mother With Letters On The Mother 2-7-1935
14 ::: And Thou, O Lord, who art all this made one and much more, O sovereign Master, extreme limit of our thought, who standest for us at the threshold of the Unknown, make rise from that Unthinkable some new splendour, some possibility of a loftier and more integral realisation, that Thy work may be accomplished and the universe take one step farther towards the sublime Identity, the supreme Manifestation. And now my pen falls mute and I adore Thee in silence.* ~ The Mother Prayers And Meditations, 270
The most preposterous notion that H. Sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all of history. ~ Robert Heinlein, Notebooks Of Lazarus Long, from Time Enough for Love (1973).
The 'Intelligence of Will' denotes that this is the path where each individual 'created being' is 'prepared' for the spiritual quest by being made aware of the higher and divine 'will' of the creatoR By spiritual preparation (prayer, meditation, visualization, and aspiration), the student becomes aware of the higher will and ultimately attains oneness with the Divine Self-fully immersed in the knowledge of 'the existence of the Primordial Wisdom
.' ~ Israel Regardie, A Garden Of Pomegranates: Skrying On The Tree Of Life
... Poor sorrowful Earth, remember that I am present in thee and lose not hope; each effort, each grief, each joy and each pang, each call of thy heart, each aspiration of thy soul, each renewel of thy seasons, all, all without exception, what seems ugly and what seems to thee beautiful, all infallibly lead thee towards me, who am endless Peace, shadowless Light, perfect Harmony, Certitude, Rest and Supreme Blessedness.
Hearken, O Earth, to the sublime voice that arises,
Hearken and take new courage! ~ The Mother Prayers And Meditations, February 5th 1913
...to quiet the mind and get the spiritual experience it is necessary first to purify and prepare the nature. This sometimes takes many years. Work done with the right attitude is the easiest means for that - i.e. work done without desire or ego, rejecting all movements of desire, demand or ego when the come, done as an offering to the Divine Mother with the remembrance of her and prayer to her to manifest her force and take up the action so that there too and not only in inner silence you can feel her presence and working. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,
O Lord, O eternal Master, grant that all this may not be in vain, grant that the inexhaustible torrents of Thy divine Force may spread over the earth and penetrate its troubled atmosphere, the struggling energies, the violent chaos of battling elements; grant that the pure light of Thy Knowledge and the inexhaustible love of Thy Benediction may fill men's hearts, penetrate their souls, illumine their consciousness and, out of this obscurity, out of this sombre, terrible and potent darkness, bring forth the splendour of Thy majestic Presence! ~ The Mother Prayers And Meditations
O DIVINE Force, supreme Illuminator, hearken to our prayer, move not away from us, do not withdraw, help us to fight the good fight, make firm our strength for the struggle, give us the force to conquer!
O my sweet Master, Thou whom I adore without being able to know Thee, Thou who I am without being able to realise Thee, my entire conscious individuality prostrates itself before Thee and implores, in the name of the workers in their struggle, and of the earth in her agony, in the name of suffering humanity and of striving Nature;
O my sweet Master, O marvellous Unknowable, O Dispenser of all boons, Thou who makest light spring forth in the darkness and strength to arise out of weakness, support our effort, guide our steps, lead us to victory. ~ The Mother Prayers And Meditations, 211
Thou must teach us the path to be followed and Thou must give us the power to follow it to the very end. . . .
O Thou source of all love and all light,
Thou whom we cannot know in Thyself but can manifest ever more completely and perfectly, Thou whom we cannot conceive but can approach in profound silence, to complete Thy incommensurable boons Thou must come to our help until we have gained Thy victory. . . .
Let that true love be born which soothes all suffering; establish that immutable peace wherein resides true power; give us the sovereign knowledge which dispels all darkness. . . .
From the infinite depths to this most external body, in its smallest elements, Thou dost move and live and vibrate and set all in motion, and the whole being is now only a single block, infinitely multiple yet absolutely coherent, animated by one tremendous vibration: Thou. ~ The Mother Prayers And Meditations
The methods advised by all these people have a startling resemblance to one another. They recommend virtue (of various kinds), solitude, absence of excitement, moderation in diet, and finally a practice which some call prayer and some call meditation. (The former four may turn out on examination to be merely conditions favourable to the last.) ~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA, Book 4, Magick, Part I, Preliminary Remarks
The formula of the Cup is not so well suited for Evocations, and the magical Hierarchy is not involved in the same way; for the Cup being passive rather than active, it is not fitting for the magician to use it in respect of anything but the Highest. In practical working it consequently means little but prayer, and that prayer the 'prayer of silence.' ~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA, Book 4, Magick, Part 3, The Formuale of the Elemental Weapons [148]
Invoke often! Inflame thyself with prayer! ~ Aleister Crowley
Let us describe the magical method of identification. The symbolic form of the god is first studied with as much care as an artist would bestow upon his model, so that a perfectly clear and unshakeable mental picture of the god is presented to the mind. Similarly, the attributes of the god are enshrined in speech, and such speeches are committed perfectly to memory. The invocation will then begin with a prayer to the god, commemorating his physical attributes, always with profound understanding of their real meaning. In the second part of the invocation, the voice of the god is heard, and His characteristic utterance is recited. In the third portion of the invocation the Magician asserts the identity of himself with the god. In the fourth portion the god is again invoked, but as if by Himself, as if it were the utterance of the will of the god that He should manifest in the Magician. At the conclusion of this, the original object of the invocation is stated. ~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA, Book 4, Magick, Part 3, The Formuale of the Elemental Weapons, 149
Prayer helps to prepare this relation for us at first on the lower plane even while it is there consistent with much that is mere egoism and self-delusion; but afterwards we can draw towards the spiritual truth which is behind it. It is not then the giving of the thing asked for that matters, but the relation itself, the contact of mans life with God, the conscious interchange. In spiritual matters and in the seeking of spiritual gains, this conscious relation is a great power; it is a much greater power than our own entirely self-reliant struggle and effort and it brings a fuller spiritual growth and experience. Necessarily, in the end prayer either ceases in the greater thing for which it prepared us, -- in fact the form we call prayer is not itself essential so long as the faith, the will, the aspiration are there, -- or remains only for the joy of the relation. Also its objects, the artha or interest it seeks to realise, become higher and higher until we reach the highest motiveless devotion, which is that of divine love pure and simple without any other demand or longing.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Yoga of Divine Love
PRAYERS
--- PRAYERS 1
every morning ::: Every morning may our thoughts rise fervently towards Thee, asking Thee how we can manifest and serve Thee best. ~ The Mother Prayers And Meditations
show us ::: O Lord, eternal Master, enlighten us, guide our steps, show us the way towards the realisation of Thy law, towards the accomplishment of Thy work. ~ The Mother Prayers And Meditations
3 ::: Oh! let all tears be wiped away, all suffering relieved, all anguish dispelled, and let calm serenity dwell in every heart and powerful certitude streng then every mind. ~ The Mother Prayers And Meditations
--- PRAYERS 2
1 ::: O divine Master, let Thy light fall into this chaos and bring forth from it a new world. Accomplish what is now in preparation and create a new humanity which may be the perfect expression of Thy new and sublime Law. ~ The Mother Prayers And Meditations
2 ::: 8. O Fire, they have set thee here the Messenger, the Immortal in generation after generation, the Carrier of offerings, protector of man and the Godhead of his prayer. Gods alike and mortals sit with obeisance before the all-pervading Master of the peoples, the ever-wakeful Fire. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Hymns To The Mystic Fire
3 ::: Like a flame that burns in silence, like a perfume that rises straight upward without wavering, my love goes to Thee; and like the child who does not reason and has no care, I trust myself to Thee that Thy Will may be done, that Thy Light may manifest, Thy Peace radiate, Thy Love cover the world. ~ The Mother Prayers And Meditations
to Thee I entrust them ::: THOU whom we must know, understand, realise, absolute Consciousness, eternal Law, Thou who guidest and illuminest us, who movest and inspirest us, grant that these weak souls may be streng thened and those who fear be reassured. To Thee I entrust them, even as I entrust to Thee our entire destiny. ~ The Mother Prayers And Meditations, 127
5 ::: O Lord, my sweet Master, Thou whom I adore in silence and to whom I have entirely consecrated myself, Thou who governest my life, kindle in my heart the flame of Thy pure love that it may burn like a glowing brazier, consuming all imperfections and transforming into a comforting warmth and radiating light the dead wood of egoism and the black coals of ignorance. ~ The Mother Prayers And Meditations, 55
6 ::: But from time to time Thy sublime light shines in a being and radiates through him over the world, and then a little wisdom, a little knowledge, a little disinterested faith, heroism and compassion penetrates men's hearts, transforms their minds and sets free a few elements from that sorrowful and implacable wheel of existence to which their blind ignorance subjects them. ~ The Mother Prayers And Meditations
Thy glory and radiant Light ::: Errors have become stepping-stones, the blind gropings conquests. Thy glory transforms defeats into victories of eternity, and all the shadows have fled before Thy radiant light. It is Thou who wert the motive and the goal; Thou art the worker and the work. The personal existence is a canticle, perpetually renewed, which the universe offers up to Thy inconceivable Splendour. ~ The Mother Prayers And Meditations
--- POEM / PRAYER 1 _ Bride of the Fire
Bride of the Fire, clasp me now close, -
Bride of the Fire!
I have shed the bloom of the earthly rose,
I have slain desire.
Beauty of the Light, surround my life, -
Beauty of the Light!
I have sacrificed longing and parted from grief,
I can bear thy delight.
Image of Ecstasy, thrill and enlace, -
Image of Bliss!
I would see only thy marvellous face,
Feel only thy kiss.
Voice of Infinity, sound in my heart, -
Call of the One!
Stamp there thy radiance, never to part,
O living sun.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems,
OLD ENTRY FROM EVERNOTE
written prayers - life mantra
prayer preparation
morning prayer for strength, or clairity
night prayer for gratitude.
Gratitude, Asking, Silent contemplation, Vows, Offerings, For strength, For guidance
theory - February 14th 2015 - coffeeshop, auro, knowing, not knowing, prayer
in my or heart, outloud, written.
to God, to the soul, to Sri Aurobindo, to the Mother
fuse with Life Mantra?
- 30 days of prayer from pat from brix. worked really well for masturbation. prayed for 30 went for 87.
- from syndeys island, that loving guy recommended if you really want to change something prayer to God for help for 30 days. WOW.
- andrew also speaks very highly of prayer. there is something about truth, faith or asking perhaps.
make rhythm, make a thank you prayer.
---
I will bring courage to everything I do.
I approach every challenge with courage with the aid of the divine mothers strength and grace
I acknowledge that abstinence is a simple means to positive change.
I accept that everything out of my hands is a blessing from the universe.
I will be altruist towards all that are open to positive change.
I will feel appreciation towards every aspect of what I am and have.
I will be assertive in my
I dare you to wake up and have a cold shower. (courage)
Everything I do will be an accomplishment.
Every accomplishment will allow more accomplishments in the future.
I will feel the difference between wants and needs.
I will emit uncontainable energy, excitement and willpower with love and happiness to the entire world.
I will be gracious and thankful for the now and will discipline my life.
I will know what I want, and do what I need to do.
I will use all my resources to their maximum capability.
I will do, create, move, feel, decide, and smile.
I will remain focused and recognize the loss of that state.
I will say both yes and no.
I will constantly think, contemplate, and reflect.
I will not lose mindfulness.
I will not degrade others or myself.
I will not find a need to swear and I will express myself compassionately.
I will take time for myself each day.
I will honor my Father and Mother and respect everyone aswell.
I will not take the life of anyone or anything big or small.
I will not cheat the mind or heart of anyone I care or carenot for.
I will not cheat anyone of their work or supposed belongings.
I will not lie to myself or others.
I will astain from jealousy, I will only compare with myself.
I will follow the nobel eightfold path.
I will be curitous in speech, action, livelihood, effort/exercise, mindfulness/awareness, concentration/meditation, understanding, thoughts.
I will question everything as I live and learn like a child.
I will act on my own accord.
I will be open-minded and document my dreams, accomplishments and observations.
I will test everything anyone 'knows', believes and learns today persistently and be unbiased.
I hunger for mistakes as a means to growth.
I use fear as an excuse for a challenge.
I will tune in to each sense more then I am already right now.
I will walk, talk and brea the yoga.
I will be one with the sun and the moon.
I will visualize life before it occurs and recognize when it occurs.
I will enjoy silence, and will hear all that is not there.
Every brea the will be a brea the of fire.
I will not waste a single inhale.
I will see the world before I open my eyes and
With every blink I will see the world for the first time.
Every conversation will be directed.
I will be unreasonable.
I will especially love all of my friends and family and I feel they will no nothing but happiness and health.
I love you Karen, whenever I feel happy I will give you it all.
I will attract money, happiness, energy, goodwill, love, smiles, laughter, peace, and intelligence, open minds.
184 myriad angels to snatch away Moses’ prayer
26. Prayer of Joseph.
4. Truthfulness and unswerving faith in the law of Karma, independent of any power in nature that could interfere: a law whose course is not to be obstructed by any agency, not to be caused to deviate by prayer or propitiatory exoteric ceremonies;
abdest ::: n. --> Purification by washing the hands before prayer; -- a Mohammedan rite.
Adbhuta-Brahmana (Sanskrit) Adbhuta-brāhmaṇa [from adbhuta wonderful, marvelous + brāhmaṇa portion of the Vedas treating of ritual, prayer, sacrifices, and mantra] One of the eight Brahmanas belonging to the Sama-Veda, dealing with omens, auguries, and extraordinary wonders.
adhan (azan) ::: call to prayer
Adonai (Hebrew) ’Adonāi [from ’ādōn lord] My Lords; through usage, Lord, a plural of excellence. Originally a sort of appeal or prayer to the hierarchical spiritual powers of the earth planetary chain, and more particularly of the planetary spirit of the earth itself; later it became a mere substitute for the unutterable name of God, usually for Tetragrammaton (YHVH).
Adonai ::: Name for God used most frequently in prayers and the Torah. It means “Master of the universe”.
Agapae (Greek) [plural of agape brotherly love, loving kindness, charity] Love feasts; not only the love for God, but the love of Christians for each other as being members of a divinely inspired communion. The agapae were meetings for prayer, song, reading, exhortation, exchange of news, and ended with the brotherly kiss. With the lapse into worldliness, abuses crept into these love-feasts, which in time became so notorious that they were finally abolished.
agnus dei ::: --> A figure of a lamb bearing a cross or flag.
A cake of wax stamped with such a figure. It is made from the remains of the paschal candles and blessed by the Pope.
A triple prayer in the sacrifice of the Mass, beginning with the words "Agnus Dei."
Ajapa (Sanskrit) Ajapa [from a not + the verbal root jap to speak in a low voice] One who does not use orthodox prayers; a reciter of heterodox mantras or works. Ajapa is the form of mantra called hamsa, consisting of a series of inhalations and exhalations.
Aleinu ::: First of the closing prayers of prayer services.
"All prayer rightly offered brings us closer to the Divine and establishes a right relation with Him.” *Letters on Yoga
“All prayer rightly offered brings us closer to the Divine and establishes a right relation with Him.” Letters on Yoga
Al-Mujib ::: The One who unequivocally responds to all who turn towards Him (in prayer and invocation) and provides their needs.
Also a prayer in the Avesta.
Also a sacred wooden pole or image standing close to the massebah and altar in early Shemitic sanctuaries, part of the equipment of the temple of Jehovah in Jerusalem till the Deuteronomic reformation of Josiah (2 Kings 23:6). The plural, ’asherim, denotes statues, images, columns, or pillars; translated in the Bible by “groves.” Maachah, the grandmother of Asa, King of Jerusalem, is accused of having made for herself such an idol, which was a lingham — for centuries a religious rite in Judaea. Sometimes called the Assyrian Tree of Life, “the original Asherah was a pillar with seven branches on each side surmounted by a globular flower with three projecting rays, and no phallic stone, as the Jews made of it, but a metaphysical symbol. ‘Merciful One, who dead to life raises!’ was the prayer uttered before the Asherah, on the banks of the Euphrates. The ‘Merciful One,’ was . . . the higher triad in man symbolized by the globular flower with its three rays” (TG 37). See also ASTARTE.
altitude invoked in magical prayer, as set forth in
altitude invoked in magic prayer, as set forth in
Ambarvales, Ambarvalia (Latin) Italian festivals in honor of Ceres held at Rome on May 29, when the fields were blessed; in rural areas, the people walked three times round their fields following a hog, ram, and bull which were then sacrificed after a prayer for fruitfulness to Ceres (originally to Mars). Its rituals with cake, wine, water, and chalice were identical with and the origin of those of the Christian mass (BCW 11:100).
Amen ::: (Heb. acronym. El Melech Ne'eman) Traditional response to prayers or blessings. It literally stands for "God the true king".
Amen (Hebrew) ’Āmēn [from ’āman to be firm, faithful, trustworthy, sure] Firmness, permanency, durability, truth, fidelity; as an adverb truly, certainly, verily, so be it. The significance of amen is in many cases almost identic with that of the Sanskrit Aum (Om). For this reason in Christian prayers or church services it has been adopted as the final word closing a prayer — another usage closely similar to the way in which Om is used in Sanskrit writings. In later Gnostic times Amen was one of the angelic host.
amen ::: interj., adv., & n. --> An expression used at the end of prayers, and meaning, So be it. At the end of a creed, it is a solemn asseveration of belief. When it introduces a declaration, it is equivalent to truly, verily. ::: v. t. --> To say Amen to; to sanction fully.
Amen ::: "So Be It." A conclusionary utterance, even a mantra, in prayer and ritual that is common to both the Judeochristian and Islamic paradigms.
Amidah ::: (Heb. Standing). The main section of rabbinic Jewish prayers, recited in a standing posture; also known as tefillah or shemoneh esrei (eighteen benedictions).
Amidah (The &
and then transmits the prayers to the 7th Heaven
angel Jacob-Israel. See the pseudepigraphic Prayer
Angel of Prayer—in occult writings one finds
“Angel of Glory, Angel of Prayer,” Longfellow’s
angel of prayer and tears. See Longfellow’s poem
angel of prayer, love, joy, and light. Above all,
angels. In the Prayer of Joseph, an Alexandrian
angel who presided over prayers. [Cf. Akatriel;
Anjali (Sanskrit) Añjali [from the verbal root añj to smear with, anoint, honor] Salutation; a gesture of respect when the hands placed side by side and slightly hollowed are raised to the forehead. This salutation of reverence and benediction has been universally used by Hindus since ancient times, not only as a sign of reverence to gurus or those to whom it is desired to show special respect, but also frequently as a gesture of prayer directed to divinities.
Anshei K'nesset HaGedolah ::: Hebrew for “Men of the Great Assembly”. During the Second Temple era, this insitution of 120 men led the Jewish people. They composed many prayers, enacted ordinances to protect Torah observance, and established the Hebrew calendar.
apprecation ::: n. --> Earnest prayer; devout wish.
Arabonas—a spirit invoked in prayer by the
ARADHANA ::: Worship of the Divine, love, self-surrender, aspiration to the Divine, calling the name, prayer.
aradhana ::: worship of the Divine (love, self-surrender, aspiration to the Divine, calling the name, prayer).
archangels in Yezidic religion invoked in prayer
Arvit (&
Asac(h) —an angel invoked in magical prayer.
ascend.” If such prayers are found worthy,
"As for prayer, no hard and fast rule can be laid down. Some prayers are answered, all are not. You may ask, why should not then all prayers be answered? But why should they be? It is not a machinery: put a prayer in the slot and get your asking. Besides, considering all the contradictory things mankind is praying for at the same moment, God would be in a rather awkward hole if he had to grant all of them; it wouldn"t do.” *Letters on Yoga
“As for prayer, no hard and fast rule can be laid down. Some prayers are answered, all are not. You may ask, why should not then all prayers be answered? But why should they be? It is not a machinery: put a prayer in the slot and get your asking. Besides, considering all the contradictory things mankind is praying for at the same moment, God would be in a rather awkward hole if he had to grant all of them; it wouldn’t do.” Letters on Yoga
Ashrei (&
"Aspiration, call, prayer are forms of one and the same thing and are all effective; you can take the form that comes to you or is easiest to you.” Letters on Yoga
“Aspiration, call, prayer are forms of one and the same thing and are all effective; you can take the form that comes to you or is easiest to you.” Letters on Yoga
Atarpi or Atarpi-nisi (Chaldean) The man; in the Babylonian account of Genesis, a pious person who prayed to the god Hea to remove the evil of drought and other things before the deluge is sent. In answer to this prayer, “Hea announces his resolve to destroy the people he created, which he does by a deluge” (TG 41-2).
Atharva Veda (Sanskrit) Atharva Veda One of the principal Vedas, commonly known as the fourth; attributed to Atharvan or Atharva. The Rig-Veda states that he was the first to “draw forth fire” and institute its worship, as well as the offering of soma and prayers. Mythologically, Atharvan is represented as a prajapati, Brahma’s eldest son, instructed by his father in brahma-vidya: thus was he inspired to compose the Veda bearing his name. At a later period he is associated with Angiras and called the father of Agni. The Atharva-Veda, considered of later origin than the other three Vedas, comprises about 6000 verses, 760 being hymns, consisting of formulas and spells or incantations for counteracting diseases and calamities. The hymns are of slightly different character from those in the other Vedas: in addition to reverencing the gods, the worshiper himself is exalted and is supposed to receive benefits by reciting the mantras.
Atharva Veda: The latest of the four Vedas (q.v.), containing many magic charms and incantations, as well as hymns and prayers similar to those in the Rig Veda. (It is often referred to as the “Veda of Occult Powers.”)
ave mary ::: --> A salutation and prayer to the Virgin Mary, as mother of God; -- used in the Roman Catholic church.
A particular time (as in Italy, at the ringing of the bells about half an hour after sunset, and also at early dawn), when the people repeat the Ave Maria.
A verse in the Ormazd Yasht (prayer to Ahura-Mazda) hints at another aspect of the Amesha-Spentas connected with the afterdeath state. Each one is named, and the verse ends: these “are the reward of the holy ones, when freed from their bodies, my creatures” (v 25).
Avinu Malkenuh ::: A prayer recited on fast Days and Rosh HaShannah penned by Rabbi Akiva.
Ba'al Korai ::: (Heb.) Torah reader at public prayer service.
Ba'al Tefillah ::: Prayer leader also known as a chazzan.
Baptism: A rite of dedication and induction of an individual into a circle of social and religious privilege. The rite is usually of a ceremonious nature with pledges given (by proxy in the case of infants), prayers and accompanied by some visible sign (such as water, symbol of purification, or wine, honey, oil or blood) sealing the bond of fellowship. In its earliest form the rite probably symbolized not only an initiation but the magical removal of some tabu or demon possession (exorcism -- see Demonology), the legitimacy of birth, the inheritance of privilege, the assumption of a name and the expectancy of responsibility. In Christian circles the rite has assumed the status of a sacrament, the supernatural rebirth into the Divine Kingdom. Various forms include sprinkling with water, immersion, or the laying on of hands. In some Christian circles it is considered less a mystical rite and more a sign of a covenant of salvation and consecration to the higher life. -- V.F.
Baracata—a spirit invoked in prayer by the
Barechu ::: (Heb. Blessed is he) Opening (and sometimes closing) declaration traditionally recited during some prayer services.
Barsom: In the rituals of the ancient Parsis, a bunch of twigs cut from the trees amidst appropriate rites and incantations and presented to the temples; only the priests were permitted to carry it during prayers or magical ceremonies.
bead ::: n. --> A prayer.
A little perforated ball, to be strung on a thread, and worn for ornament; or used in a rosary for counting prayers, as by Roman Catholics and Mohammedans, whence the phrases to tell beads, to at one&
beadroll ::: n. --> A catalogue of persons, for the rest of whose souls a certain number of prayers are to be said or counted off on the beads of a chaplet; hence, a catalogue in general.
benedicite ::: n. --> A canticle (the Latin version of which begins with this word) which may be used in the order for morning prayer in the Church of England. It is taken from an apocryphal addition to the third chapter of Daniel.
An exclamation corresponding to Bless you !.
benediction ::: n. --> The act of blessing.
A blessing; an expression of blessing, prayer, or kind wishes in favor of any person or thing; a solemn or affectionate invocation of happiness.
The short prayer which closes public worship; as, to give the benediction.
The form of instituting an abbot, answering to the consecration of a bishop.
benedictory ::: a. --> Expressing wishes for good; as, a benedictory prayer.
bene ::: n. --> See Benne.
A prayer; boon.
Alt. of Ben
bestows sight. [Rf Drower, Canonical Prayerbook
between the prayers of Israel and the princes of
bhajan. ::: singing devotional songs in chorus; devotional practice, prayer
bhakti yoga. ::: the yoga of devotion chosen primarily by those of an emotional nature; the yoga motivated chiefly by seeing God as the embodiment of love; through prayer, worship and ritual one surrenders to God, channelling and transmuting one's emotions into unconditional love or devotion; one of the four paths of yoga
Bhur Bhuvah Svah (Sanskrit) Bhūr Bhuvaḥ Svaḥ The names of the first three of the seven lokas (worlds) of this kosmos, meaning literally earth, midworld or astral world, and heaven world; the three great vyahritis or mystical utterances pronounced after Om by every Brahmin in commencing his daily prayers.
bidding prayer ::: --> The prayer for the souls of benefactors, said before the sermon.
The prayer before the sermon, with petitions for various specified classes of persons.
Birkat Hamalshinim ::: (Heb. Benediction concerning heretics) A prayer that invoked divine wrath upon Christian Jews and other heterodox Jewish groups. Twelfth section of the shemoneh esreh.
Birkat Hamazon ::: (Heb. Grace after meals) Prayer traditionally recited after meals.
Birkat Kohanim [also spelled Cohanim] (&
blackmass ::: Black Mass The Black Mass was a way of lampooning the Catholic Mass, practiced occasionally by wealthy opponents of the Church in the 'Dark Ages'. 'Black Masses' used to be performed by priests to curse enemies, but this practice was condemned by the church. During the witch trials of the Spanish Inquisition, witches were accused of this practice, but it is considered highly unlikely that it was practiced by commoners. So, contrary to popular belief, it is not a standard practice in ancient or modern witchcraft. Similarly, traditional (as opposed to secular) Satanists have been accused of conducting rituals which are specifically aimed at attacking Christian beliefs and practices (particularly the Roman Catholic Church), rituals in which they recite the Lord's Prayer backwards, or desecrate and use the host and wine stolen from a cathedral! This is pure fiction which can be traced back to the Inquisition and to books written during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance periods. Examples of traditional Satanism are extremely rare, and testimonies of 'alleged former Satanists' and Satanic Ritual abuse have long since been discredited. Cleromancy, when all the dominoes have been turned face-down and shuffled, the collection/set of randomised tiles is referred to as the "boneyard". The sitter draws tiles from the boneyard to form his/her spread.
Blavatsky states that Sanskrit has never been known nor spoken in its true systematized form except by the initiated Brahmins. This form of Sanskrit was called — as well as by other names — Vach, the mystic speech, which resides in the sounds of the mantra. “The chanting of a Mantra is not a prayer, but rather a magical sentence in which the law of Occult causation connects itself with, and depends on, the will and acts of its singer. It is a succession of Sanskrit sounds, and when its strings of words and sentences is pronounced according to the magical formulae in the Atharva Veda, but understood by the few, some Mantras produce an instantaneous and very wonderful effect” (BCW 14:428n). This Vach, or the mystic self of Sanskrit, was the sacerdotal speech of the initiated Brahmins and was studied by initiates from all over the world.
blessing ::: 1. Something promoting or contributing to happiness, well-being, or prosperity; a boon. 2. A ceremonial prayer invoking divine protection, grace, etc.
bless ::: v. t. --> To make or pronounce holy; to consecrate
To make happy, blithesome, or joyous; to confer prosperity or happiness upon; to grant divine favor to.
To express a wish or prayer for the happiness of; to invoke a blessing upon; -- applied to persons.
To invoke or confer beneficial attributes or qualities upon; to invoke or confer a blessing on, -- as on food.
To make the sign of the cross upon; to cross (one&
boon ::: 1. A blessing; something to be thankful for. 2. A timely blessing or benefit received in response to a request or prayer. boons.
boon ::: n. --> A prayer or petition.
That which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present.
Good; prosperous; as, boon voyage.
Kind; bountiful; benign.
Gay; merry; jovial; convivial.
The woody portion flax, which is separated from the fiber as refuse matter by retting, braking, and scutching.
Prayer 361
Prayer ::: A general term used for addressing petitions (or praise) to the deity. See amida, birkat, kaddish, maariv, mincha, salat, shemoneh esreh. See also hymn, liturgy, siddur.
Prayer ::: An act of beseechment to a higher power or aspect of oneself. The reasons can vary and what is asked for can vary, but faith is often required to break through with a request unless there is foundational gnosis to fall back on.
Prayer As usually understood in the West, prayer implies the existence — whether actually so in nature or not — of a divine entity, such as God, Christ, an angel or saint, to whom petitions may be addressed and by whose favor benefits may be obtained, a view of prayer held in nearly all exoteric religious systems. Yet even among those who believe in personal divinities, some take a higher view of prayer than that of asking for special favors, rather looking upon it as an act of resignation to the divine will: “Not my will, but thine, be done.” Theosophy speaks of this as the endeavor of the aspiring human mind to establish individual communion between the personal man and his spiritual counterpart or inner god, the true meaning of the injunction to pray to our Father which is in secret. Thus prayer takes the form of aspiration combined with deep meditation, as has been the case with mystics, Eastern and Western. This involves a laying aside of personal wishes and a conscious desire for intuitive perception of the truth and for the power to follow it. If a personal wish is present, precisely because all personal wishes in the last analysis are restricted, and hence either physically or spiritually selfish, the act becomes one of black magic, for the person is seeking to evoke interior powers in furtherance of his own purposes, which in such cases are usually founded in self-seeking of some kind. Also, a well-intentioned person, praying on behalf of another, may unwittingly exercise on that other an interference with the latter’s will, similar in many respects to that of hypnotism.
Prayerbook of the Mandaeans, where Sauriel is
Prayer flag: Small pennants made of fabric strung by the hundreds across the entrance gates to larger Tibetan cities. Each flutter of the flags in the wind is believed to cause a prayer to be carried across the skies to Buddha.
Prayer of Joseph. A Jewish apocryphon cited in the works
Prayer
Prayer ::: The life of man is a life of wants and needs and th
refore of desires, not only in his physical and vital, but in his mental and spiritual being. When he becomes conscious of a greater Power governing the world, he approaches it through prayer for the fulfilment of his needs, for help in his rough journey, for protection and aid in his struggle. Whatever crudities there may be in the ordinary religious approach to God by prayer, and there are many, especially that attitude which imagines the Divine as if capable of being propitiated, bribed, flattered into acquiescence or indulgence by praise, entreaty and gifts and has often little regard to the spirit in which he is approached, still this way of turning to the Divine is an essential movement of our religious being and reposes on a universal truth. The efficacy of prayer is often doubted and prayer itself supposed to be a thing irrational and necessarily superfluous and ineffective. It is true that the universal will executes always its aim and cannot be deflected by egoistic propitiation and entreaty, it is true of the Transcendent who expresses himself in the universal order that being omniscient his larger knowledge must foresee the thing to be done and it does not need direction or stimulation by human thought and that the individual’s desires are not and cannot be in any world-order the true determining factor. But neither is that order or the execution of the universal will altogether effected by mechanical Law, but by powers and forces of which for human life at least human will, aspiration and faith are not among the least important. Prayer is only a particular form given to that will, aspiration and faith. Its forms are very often crude and not only childlike, which is in itself no defect, but childish; but still it has a real power and significance. Its power and sense is to put the will, aspiration and faith of man into touch with the divine Will as that of a conscious Being with whom we can enter into conscious and living relations. For our will and aspiration can act either by our own strength and endeavour, which can no doubt be made a thing great and effective whether for lower or higher purposes,—and there are plenty of disciplines which put it forward as the one force to be used,—or it can act in dependence upon and with subordination to the divine or the universal Will. And this latter way again may either look upon thatWill as responsive indeed to our aspiration, but almost mechanically, by a sort of law of energy, or at any rate quite impersonally, or else it may look upon it as responding consciously to the divine aspiration and faith of the human soul and consciously bringing to it the help, the guidance, the protection and fruition demanded. Prayer helps to prepare this relation for us at first on the lower plane even while it is there consistent with much that is mere egoism and self-delusion; but afterwards we can draw towards the spiritual truth which is behind it. It is not then the giving of the thing asked for that matters, but the relation itself, the contact of man’s life with God, the conscious interchange. In spiritual matters and in the seeking of spiritual gains, this conscious relation is a great power; it is a much greater power than our own entirely self-reliant struggle and effort and it brings a fuller spiritual growth and experience. Necessarily in the end prayer either ceases in the greater thing for which it prepared us, —in fact the form we call prayer is not itself essential so long as the faith, the will, the aspiration are there,—or remains only for the joy of the relation. Also its objects, the artha or interest it seeks to realise, become higher and higher until we reach the highest motiveless devotion, which is that of divine love pure and simple without any other demand or longing.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 23-24, Page: 566-67-68
Prayer wall: In Tibet, a stone roadside shrine, copiously inscribed, often stretching for a quarter of a mile or even more. Passers-by must go by it on the left, in conformity with the Oriental belief that respect is shown to things by keeping them always on the right side of oneself.
Prayer wheel: See: Wheel of prayer.
Brahmanaspati: (1) A deity in the Rig-Veda. Known in Vedic mythology as Brihaspati, signifying the power of prayer. (2) The Hindu name for the planet Jupiter.
Brahma-Vaivarta Purana (Sanskrit) Brahma-Vaivarta Purāṇa The metamorphosis of Brahma; one of the 18 principal Hindu Puranas, dealing with Brahma in the form of the avatara Krishna and containing prayers and invocations addressed to Krishna, with narratives about his love for Radha, the gopis, etc.
breviary ::: n. --> An abridgment; a compend; an epitome; a brief account or summary.
A book containing the daily public or canonical prayers of the Roman Catholic or of the Greek Church for the seven canonical hours, namely, matins and lauds, the first, third, sixth, and ninth hours, vespers, and compline; -- distinguished from the missal.
Brihaspati (Sanskrit) Bṛhaspati [from bṛh prayer + pati lord] Sometimes Vrihaspati. A Vedic deity, corresponding to the planet Jupiter, commonly translated lord of prayer, the personification of exoteric piety and religion, but mystically the name signifies lord of increase, of expansion, growth. He is frequently called Brahmanaspati, both names having a direct significance with the power of sound as uttered in mantras or prayer united with positive will. He is regarded in Hindu mythology as the chief offerer of prayers and sacrifices, thus representing the Brahmin or priestly caste, being the Purohita (family priest) of the gods, among other things interceding with them for mankind. He has many titles and attributes, being frequently designated as Jiva (the living), Didivis (the bright or golden-colored). In later times he became the god of exoteric knowledge and eloquence — Dhishana (the intelligent), Gish-pati (lord of invocations). In this aspect he is regarded as the son of the rishi Angiras, and hence bears the patronymic Angirasa, and the husband of Tara, who was carried off by Soma (the moon). Tara is
Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans, The. (tr.) E. S.
chantry ::: n. --> An endowment or foundation for the chanting of masses and offering of prayers, commonly for the founder.
A chapel or altar so endowed.
charge of the transmission of prayer. He is men¬
Chassidut ::: Movement in Judaism founded by the Baal Shem Tov in 1736. It emphasizes Kabbalah and prayer.
Chokti ::: A prayer rope used in a manner similar to a rosary.
collect ::: v. t. --> To gather into one body or place; to assemble or bring together; to obtain by gathering.
To demand and obtain payment of, as an account, or other indebtedness; as, to collect taxes.
To infer from observed facts; to conclude from premises.
A short, comprehensive prayer, adapted to a particular day, occasion, or condition, and forming part of a liturgy.
common ::: v. --> Belonging or relating equally, or similarly, to more than one; as, you and I have a common interest in the property.
Belonging to or shared by, affecting or serving, all the members of a class, considered together; general; public; as, properties common to all plants; the common schools; the Book of Common Prayer.
Often met with; usual; frequent; customary.
Not distinguished or exceptional; inconspicuous; ordinary;
companies prayers to the 2nd Heaven.
complin ::: n. --> The last division of the Roman Catholic breviary; the seventh and last of the canonical hours of the Western church; the last prayer of the day, to be said after sunset.
confiteor ::: n. --> A form of prayer in which public confession of sins is made.
Connected with one of the skandhas, Sakkayaditthi together with attavada, “both of which (in the case of the fifth principle the soul) lead to the maya of heresy and belief in the efficacy of vain rites and ceremonies; in prayers and intercession” (ML 111).
contemplative ::: a. --> Pertaining to contemplation; addicted to, or employed in, contemplation; meditative.
Having the power of contemplation; as, contemplative faculties. ::: n. --> A religious or either sex devoted to prayer and
Corael—an angel petitioned in magical prayer
Modeh Ani is the name of a thanksgiving prayer recited upon awakening each morning.
deprecate ::: v. t. --> To pray against, as an evil; to seek to avert by prayer; to desire the removal of; to seek deliverance from; to express deep regret for; to disapprove of strongly.
deprecation ::: n. --> The act of deprecating; a praying against evil; prayer that an evil may be removed or prevented; strong expression of disapprobation.
Entreaty for pardon; petitioning.
An imprecation or curse.
deprecatory ::: a. --> Serving to deprecate; tending to remove or avert evil by prayer; apologetic.
devotion ::: n. --> The act of devoting; consecration.
The state of being devoted; addiction; eager inclination; strong attachment love or affection; zeal; especially, feelings toward God appropriately expressed by acts of worship; devoutness.
Act of devotedness or devoutness; manifestation of strong attachment; act of worship; prayer.
Disposal; power of disposal.
A thing consecrated; an object of devotion.
directory ::: a. --> Containing directions; enjoining; instructing; directorial. ::: n. --> A collection or body of directions, rules, or ordinances; esp., a book of directions for the conduct of worship; as, the Directory used by the nonconformists instead of the Prayer Book.
dominical ::: a. --> Indicating, or pertaining to, the Lord&
Drower, E. S. (ed.). The Canonical Prayerbook of the
Drower, The Canonical Prayerbook of the Manda-
Drower, The Canonical Prayerhook of the Man-
dua ::: prayer; supplication; invocation of Allah’s favors
efficacy ::: n. --> Power to produce effects; operation or energy of an agent or force; production of the effect intended; as, the efficacy of medicine in counteracting disease; the efficacy of prayer.
ejaculate ::: v. t. --> To throw out suddenly and swiftly, as if a dart; to dart; to eject.
To throw out, as an exclamation; to utter by a brief and sudden impulse; as, to ejaculate a prayer. ::: v. i. --> To utter ejaculations; to make short and hasty
ejaculation ::: n. --> The act of throwing or darting out with a sudden force and rapid flight.
The uttering of a short, sudden exclamation or prayer, or the exclamation or prayer uttered.
The act of ejecting or suddenly throwing, as a fluid from a duct.
ejaculatory ::: a. --> Casting or throwing out; fitted to eject; as, ejaculatory vessels.
Suddenly darted out; uttered in short sentences; as, an ejaculatory prayer or petition.
Sudden; hasty.
entreat ::: v. t. --> To treat, or conduct toward; to deal with; to use.
To treat with, or in respect to, a thing desired; hence, to ask earnestly; to beseech; to petition or pray with urgency; to supplicate; to importune.
To beseech or supplicate successfully; to prevail upon by prayer or solicitation; to persuade.
To invite; to entertain.
entreaty ::: n. --> Treatment; reception; entertainment.
The act of entreating or beseeching; urgent prayer; earnest petition; pressing solicitation.
euchite ::: n. --> One who resolves religion into prayer.
euchology ::: n. --> A formulary of prayers; the book of offices in the Greek Church, containing the liturgy, sacraments, and forms of prayers.
folded ::: 1. Enclosed, wrapped, enveloped. 2. Clasped as in prayer. 3. Brought (the arms, hands, etc.) together in an intertwined or crossed manner; clasped, crossed.
for God) invoked in prayer at Vesting. [Rf. Waite,
formulary ::: a. --> Stated; prescribed; ritual. ::: n. --> A book containing stated and prescribed forms, as of oaths, declarations, prayers, medical formulaae, etc.; a book of precedents.
Prescribed form or model; formula.
fulfill ::: v. t. --> To fill up; to make full or complete.
To accomplish or carry into effect, as an intention, promise, or prophecy, a desire, prayer, or requirement, etc.; to complete by performance; to answer the requisitions of; to bring to pass, as a purpose or design; to effectuate.
Gah (Pahlavi-Persian) In Zoroastrian tradition, a day is broken into five periods or gahs: the period of daybreak, the period of midday, the period of afternoon, the period after sunset to midnight, and the period from midnight until the stars disappear. The second was the most celebrated gah because when the sun was at its meridian and there was no shadow, Ahura-Mazda performed the ceremony of prayer with the Amesha-Spantas in order to overcome the adversary.
Ganga (Sanskrit) Gaṅgā The Ganges, the sacred river of India. The Puranas and old tales of India represent the goddess Ganga transforming herself into a river and then flowing from the toe of Vishnu. She is said to have been brought from heaven by the prayers of Bhagiratha to purify the ashes of the 60,000 sons of King Sagara who had been consumed by the angry glance of the sage Kapila.
Geiger, Abraham (1810-1874) ::: Early Jewish reform advocate in Germany, noted for his scholarship, his modern prayer book, and his advocacy for Judaism as a universal religion.
gences, prayers, and paid masses. Jews have their Yiskor, which is a prayer for the repose of the dead and is recited
God or of an angel) called on in prayer at vesting
grant ::: v. t. --> To give over; to make conveyance of; to give the possession or title of; to convey; -- usually in answer to petition.
To bestow or confer, with or without compensation, particularly in answer to prayer or request; to give.
To admit as true what is not yet satisfactorily proved; to yield belief to; to allow; to yield; to concede.
The act of granting; a bestowing or conferring; concession; allowance; permission.
great angel, is also said to crown prayers for trans¬
great importance. The supreme angels of prayer
hallel: A prayer based on some of the Psalms.
Heaven, where he receives prayers. In Ozar
he stimulate our prayers.” [R/ - . Forlong, Encyclo¬
hornbook ::: n. --> The first book for children, or that from which in former times they learned their letters and rudiments; -- so called because a sheet of horn covered the small, thin board of oak, or the slip of paper, on which the alphabet, digits, and often the Lord&
hour ::: n. --> The twenty-fourth part of a day; sixty minutes.
The time of the day, as expressed in hours and minutes, and indicated by a timepiece; as, what is the hour? At what hour shall we meet?
Fixed or appointed time; conjuncture; a particular time or occasion; as, the hour of greatest peril; the man for the hour.
Certain prayers to be repeated at stated times of the day, as matins and vespers.
hymn: A song, prayer or speech in honour of God.
Hymn ::: (Gre. A Song of Praise) Style of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a god or other religiously significant figure. See also piyyutim, yigdal, liturgy, prayer.
IAO ::: A sequence of vowels used as both mantra and prayer that indicates the tripartite, non-deistic nature of Azoth and Source Consciousness.
illuminati ::: v. t. --> Literally, those who are enlightened
Persons in the early church who had received baptism; in which ceremony a lighted taper was given them, as a symbol of the spiritual illumination they has received by that sacrament.
Members of a sect which sprung up in Spain about the year 1575. Their principal doctrine was, that, by means of prayer, they had attained to so perfect a state as to have no need of ordinances, sacraments, good works, etc.; -- called also Alumbrados,
implore ::: to appeal to as in prayer or supplication; beseech.
imprecate ::: v. t. --> To call down by prayer, as something hurtful or calamitous.
To invoke evil upon; to curse; to swear at.
imprecation ::: n. --> The act of imprecating, or invoking evil upon any one; a prayer that a curse or calamity may fall on any one; a curse.
inexorable ::: a. --> Not to be persuaded or moved by entreaty or prayer; firm; determined; unyielding; unchangeable; inflexible; relentless; as, an inexorable prince or tyrant; an inexorable judge.
in magical prayer.
in prayer. For the names of all 7 of these “powers
in prayer. For the names of the other 6 Yezidic
intercession ::: n. --> The act of interceding; mediation; interposition between parties at variance, with a view to reconcilation; prayer, petition, or entreaty in favor of, or (less often) against, another or others.
intercessory ::: a. --> Pertaining to, of the nature of, or characterized by, intercession; interceding; as, intercessory prayer.
In The Mahatma Letters attavada is termed “the doctrine of Self,” and with sakkayaditthi leads “to the maya of heresy and belief in the efficacy of vain rites and ceremonies; in prayers and intercession” (ML 111).
invocation ::: n. --> The act or form of calling for the assistance or presence of some superior being; earnest and solemn entreaty; esp., prayer offered to a divine being.
A call or summons; especially, a judicial call, demand, or order; as, the invocation of papers or evidence into court.
invoked in magical prayer. [R/ The Almadel of
invoked in prayer and conjuration rites.
invoked in prayer by the Master of the Art. [Rf.
invoked in the prayer of the Master of the Art in
invoked to fulfill prayers. He governs the first rays
invoke ::: v. t. --> To call on for aid or protection; to invite earnestly or solemnly; to summon; to address in prayer; to solicit or demand by invocation; to implore; as, to invoke the Supreme Being, or to invoke His and blessing.
iqam al salat ::: the establishment of prayer and connection to Allah
I remembered reading somewhere of an angel called Uriel and that he was a “regent of the sun.” He seemed a likely candidate. I was confirmed in this feeling when I came upon Uriel in Paradise Lost (111, 648 seq.) and found the archfiend himself providing warrant: “him Satan thus accosts./Uriel, for thou of those seav’n spirits that stand/In sight of God’s high Throne, gloriously bright,” etc. Poe’s Israfel, “Whose heart-strings are a lute,” was (or is) an Islamic angel, 2 and I wondered if that fact might rule him out. Then there was Longfellow’s Sandalphon. In the poem by that name, Longfellow described Sandalphon as the “Angel of Glory, Angel of Prayer.” A great angel, certainly: but, again, was he of an eminence sufficiently exalted to entitle him to “enter before the glory of the Lord” ? That was the question. Vondel’s Lucifer, Hey wood’s The Hierarchy of the Blessed Angels, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Dryden’s State of Innocence, Klopstock’s The Messiah —all these works yielded a considerable quantity of the celestial spirits, some in the top echelons, like Abdiel, Ithuriel, Uzziel, Zephon; but I had no way of telling whether any of them qualified. Surely, I comforted myself, there must be some source where the answer could be found. Actually there were a number of such sources. I had only to reach out my hand for books in my own library. Instead, in my then state of pneumatic innocence, I looked far afield.
is not devil worship but a good Theist’s prayer.”
I was awestruck by this line many times even though Mother writes: “At every moment we must shake off the past like fading dust, that it may not soil the virgin path which, at every moment also, is opening before us.” Prayers and Meditations
jaculatory ::: a. --> Darting or throwing out suddenly; also, suddenly thrown out; uttered in short sentences; ejaculatory; as, jaculatory prayers.
Kabbalat Shabbat (&
Kaddish ::: A classical Jewish prayer (mostly in Aramaic) with eschatological focus extolling God's majesty and kingdom recited at the conclusion of each major section of each liturgical service; a long version (called rabbinic kaddish) follows an act of study; also a prayer by mourners during the first year of bereavement (see shiva, sheloshim) and on the anniversary of the death of next-of-kin.
Kaddish (pl. Kaddishim) :::The Kaddish is a prayer sanctifying G-d&
Kavanah ::: (Heb. intention). A mystical instrument of the Jewish kabbalists; a meditation that accompanies a ritual act, devotion, inner concentration during prayer.
Kavvanah: A Hebrew mystical term, meaning intention or devotion. (Plural: Kavvanoth.) “The intention directed towards God while performing a (religious) deed. In the Kabbalah, kavvanoth denote the permutations of the divine name that aim at overcoming the separation of forces in the Upper World.” (M. Buber.) The word means also a devoted prayer delivered with great concentration.
K&C ::: Knowledge and Conversation with the HGA. A breakthrough event that occurs when one beseeches their Higher Self and/or HGA. How this presents itself and what will be presented varies considerably but expect to be changed forever from the experience. A process like outlined in Liber Samekh or the Stele of Jeu of the P.G.M. is one of the better approaches to take, but the HGA can be appealed to through pure and wholehearted prayer as well.
Kedushah ::: (Heb. holiness). It is also the name for the section of Jewish prayers said standing and assuming the role of God's angels.
keeps such prayers until the time comes when he
Kevah ::: Fixed; a fixed time; fixed words or prayer (often contrasted with kavanah).
keys of the ethereal spaces. When prayers of
khutbah ::: n. --> An address or public prayer read from the steps of the pulpit in Mohammedan mosques, offering glory to God, praising Mohammed and his descendants, and the ruling princes.
kisses such prayers and accompanies them to a
kneel ::: to go down or rest on one or both knees as in prayer, etc. kneels, kneeled, knelt, kneeling.
Laylat Al Qadr ::: Night of Power, a holy night of special prayer during the month of Ramadan
litany ::: a form of prayer consisting of a series of invocations, each followed by an unvarying response.
liturgical ::: --> Pertaining to, of or the nature of, a liturgy; of or pertaining to public prayer and worship.
liturgy ::: a. --> An established formula for public worship, or the entire ritual for public worship in a church which uses prescribed forms; a formulary for public prayer or devotion. In the Roman Catholic Church it includes all forms and services in any language, in any part of the world, for the celebration of Mass.
Liturgy ::: (adj. liturgical). Rites of public worship, usually institutionalized in relation to temple, synagogue, church, kaba, or mosque locations and traditions, but also in other formalized observances (see, e.g., calendar). See also hymn, Passover, prayer, Shema, Sukkot, siddur.
Maariv ::: (from Heb., “evening”). Jewish synagogue evening prayer or service. See also liturgy.
Machzor ::: Jewish prayer Book used during the High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and on Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot.
magical prayer.
Mala ::: Buddhist prayer beads. Examples of use include counting iterations of a mantra or number of breaths.
mantis ::: n. --> Any one of numerous species of voracious orthopterous insects of the genus Mantis, and allied genera. They are remarkable for their slender grotesque forms, and for holding their stout anterior legs in a manner suggesting hands folded in prayer. The common American species is M. Carolina.
mantra ::: n. --> A prayer; an invocation; a religious formula; a charm.
Mantra: (Skr.) Pious thought couched in repeated prayerful utterances, for meditation or charm. Also the poetic portion of the Veda (q.v.). In Shaktism (q.v.) and elsewhere the holy syllables to which as manifestations of the eternal word or sound (cf. iabda, vac, aksara) is ascribed great mystic significance and power. -- K.F.L.
Mantra yoga: That school of Yoga which seeks union with the divine spirit by working not only on the etheric plane (cf. laya yoga) but reaching to the anterior places of creative sentiment and ideas. Recitation of prayers and praises of the Deity is the essential part of mantra yoga.
matin ::: n. --> Morning.
Morning worship or service; morning prayers or songs.
Time of morning service; the first canonical hour in the Roman Catholic Church. ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the morning, or to matins; used in the
“mediator between the prayers of Israel and the
Meditation The attempt to raise the self-conscious mind to the level of its spiritual counterpart, to unite manas with a ray from buddhi. It is a positive attitude of mind, a state of consciousness rather than a system or a time period of intensive thinking. It corresponds in its more perfect form to the ecstasy of Plotinus, which he defines as “the liberation of the mind from its finite consciousness, becoming one and identified with the Infinite.” It is silent prayer in one real sense, for the heart aspires upwards to become freed from all desire for personal benefit, and the mind frames no specific object, but both unite in the aspiration; not my will, but thine, be done. When engaged in at the outset of the day, or on retiring to sleep, it often takes the form of reflecting profoundly and impersonally on spiritual teachings, as well as self-examination, attuning of the mind and heart to calm and unselfish thought and feelings, as well as the endeavor to realize in consciousness one’s highest ideals of duty, purity, and truth, and inducing thereby a general harmonizing and one-pointed adjustment of the whole nature.
mihrab ::: niche in the wall which shows the direction of prayer
minaret ::: n. --> A slender, lofty tower attached to a mosque and surrounded by one or more projecting balconies, from which the summon to prayer is cried by the muezzin.
minaret (s) ::: a tall slender tower attached to a mosque, having one or more projecting balconies from which a muezzin summons the people to prayer.
Mincha(h) ::: (from Heb. for afternoon sacrifice). Afternoon prayers in Jewish synagogue.
Minchah (&
ministers 3 times a day; he bows to prayers as¬
Minyan (&
Mi Shebeirach ::: "The One who blessed"; prayer recited for those who have an aliyah and read the Torah.
missalled ::: with reference to the illumination of manuscripts and books of prayer; i.e. Savitri is likened to a beautifully illuminted book of prayer.
Mohammedanism: The commonly applied term in the Occident to the religion founded by Mohammed. It sought to restore the indigenous monotheism of Arabia, Abraham's uncorrupted religion. Its essential dogma is the belief in the absolute unity of Allah. Its chief commandments are: profession of faith, ritual prayer, the payment of the alms tax, fasting and the pilgrimage. It has no real clerical caste, no church organization, no liturgy, and rejects monasticism. Its ascetic attitude is expressed in warnings against woman, in prohibition of nudity and of construction of splendid buildings except the house of worship; condemns economic speculation; praises manual labor and poverty; prohibits music, wine and pork, and the portrayal of living beings. -- H.H.
Mohammedanism: The commonly applied term in the Occident to the religion founded by Mohammed. It sought to restore the indigenous monotheism of Arabia, Abraham’s uncorrupted religion. Its essential dogma is the belief in the absolute unity of Allah. Its chief commandments are: profession of faith, ritual prayer, the payment of the alms tax, fasting and the pilgrimage. It has no real clerical caste, no church organization, no liturgy, and rejects monasticism. Its ascetic attitude is expressed in warnings against woman, in prohibition of nudity and of construction of splendid buildings except the house of worship; condemns economic speculation; praises manual labor and poverty; prohibits music, wine and pork, and the portrayal of living beings.
Moses’ prayer was not to ascend to Heaven. [Rf
mu'adh dhin, muezzin ::: one who calls people to prayer
muezzin ::: n. --> A Mohammedan crier of the hour of prayer.
Musaf ::: An additional prayer service for Sabbaths and holidays.
Musaf (&
musbaha ::: string of prayer beads; rosary; also known as tasbih
Namas (Sanskrit) Namas [from nam to bow, make reverence; cf Pali namo] A reverence, consisting of an inclination of the body; both in act and in writing a reverential salutation. “The first word of a daily invocation among Buddhists, meaning ‘I humbly trust, or adore, or acknowledge’ the Lord, as: ‘Namo tasso Bhagavato Arahato’ etc., addressed to Lord Buddha. The priests are called ‘Masters of Namah’ [Namas] — both Buddhist and Taoist, because this word is used in liturgy and prayers, in the invocation of the Triratna, and with a slight change in the occult incantations to the Bodhisattvas and Nirmanakayas” (TG 224).
Neilah (&
neuvaines ::: n. pl. --> Prayers offered up for nine successive days.
Nigun ::: (pl. nigunim). Wordless prayer melody, usually repeated many times over to create a spiritual mood.
Norito: Japanese prayers recited by Shinto priests in religious ceremonies, and high state officials in state ceremonies. These stately, dignified prayers, standardized in form, give thanks to Shinto deities, invoke their blessings, and are believed to have magical effect.
Nyayis (Persian) Nyāyis, Nyayishn (Pahlavi) Nyāyishn. To worship, serve; the five prayers in the Avesta, addressed to the sun, Mithra, moon, waters, and fire. The Nyayises of the sun and of Mithra are recited three times a day by the followers of Zoroaster; that to the moon, three times a month — when the moon is new, full, and on the wan; that to water and fire are recited every day when one is in the proximity of these elements.
offer ::: v. t. --> To present, as an act of worship; to immolate; to sacrifice; to present in prayer or devotion; -- often with up.
To bring to or before; to hold out to; to present for acceptance or rejection; as, to offer a present, or a bribe; to offer one&
of prayer ascending from the 1st Heaven. It is
Om ::: A word considered very holy in the Brahmanical literature. It is a syllable of invocation, as well as ofbenediction and of affirmation, and its general usage (as elucidated in the literature treating of it, which israther voluminous, for this word Om has attained almost divine reverence on the part of vast numbers ofHindus) is that it should never be uttered aloud, or in the presence of an outsider, a foreigner, or anon-initiate, and it should be uttered in the silence of one's mind, in peace of heart, and in the intimacy ofone's "inner closet." There is strong reason to believe, however, that this syllable of invocation wasuttered, and uttered aloud in a monotone, by the disciples in the presence of their teacher. This word isalways placed at the beginning of any scripture or prayer that is considered of unusual sanctity.It is said that by prolonging the uttering of this word, both of the o and the m, with the mouth closed, thesound re-echoes in and arouses vibration in the skull, and affects, if the aspirations be pure, the differentnervous centers of the body for good.The Brahmanas say that it is an unholy thing to utter this word in any place which is unholy. It issometimes written Aum.
opening the doors through which the prayers of
oratory ::: a place for prayer, such as a small private chapel.
oratory ::: n. --> A place of orisons, or prayer; especially, a chapel or small room set apart for private devotions.
The art of an orator; the art of public speaking in an eloquent or effective manner; the exercise of rhetorical skill in oral discourse; eloquence.
orison ::: n. --> A prayer; a supplication.
Orphic Hymns ::: A collection of 87 religious poems from the late Greek and early Roman eras that are used as prayers to invoke the currents of the planets and of specific entities into one's reality.
outpray ::: v. t. --> To exceed or excel in prayer.
Pagiel—an angel petitioned in ritual prayer for
parathesis ::: n. --> The placing of two or more nouns in the same case; apposition.
A parenthetical notice, usually of matter to be afterward expanded.
The matter contained within brackets.
A commendatory prayer.
paternoster ::: n. --> The Lord&
patter ::: v. i. --> To strike with a quick succession of slight, sharp sounds; as, pattering rain or hail; pattering feet.
To mutter; to mumble; as, to patter with the lips.
To talk glibly; to chatter; to harangue.
To mutter; as prayers. ::: v. t.
petition ::: n. --> A prayer; a supplication; an imploration; an entreaty; especially, a request of a solemn or formal kind; a prayer to the Supreme Being, or to a person of superior power, rank, or authority; also, a single clause in such a prayer.
A formal written request addressed to an official person, or to an organized body, having power to grant it; specifically (Law), a supplication to government, in either of its branches, for the granting of a particular grace or right; -- in distinction from a
Philosophy of Religion: An inquiry into the general subject of religion from the philosophical point of view, i.e., an inquiry employing the accepted tools of critical analysis and evaluation without a predisposition to defend or reject the claims of any particular religion. Among the specific questions considered are the nature, function and value of religion; the validity of the claims of religious knowledge; the relation of religion and ethics; the character of ideal religion; the nature of evil; the problem of theodicy; revealed versus natural religion; the problem of the human spirit (soul) and its destiny; the relation of the human to the divine as to the freedom and responsibility of the individual and the character (if any) of a divine purpose; evaluation of the claims of prophecy, mystic intuitions, special revelations, inspired utterances; the value of prayers of petition; the human hope of immortality; evaluation of institutional forms of expressions, rituals, creeds, ceremonies, rites, missionary propaganda; the meaning of human existence, the character of value, its status in the world of reality, the existence and character of deity; the nature of belief and faith, etc.
phylactery ::: n. --> Any charm or amulet worn as a preservative from danger or disease.
A small square box, made either of parchment or of black calfskin, containing slips of parchment or vellum on which are written the scriptural passages Exodus xiii. 2-10, and 11-17, Deut. vi. 4-9, 13-22. They are worn by Jews on the head and left arm, on week-day mornings, during the time of prayer.
Among the primitive Christians, a case in which the
Piyyutim ::: Medieval Jewish synagogue hymns and poems added to standard prayers of the talmudic liturgy.
portass ::: n. --> A breviary; a prayer book.
postcomminion ::: n. --> The concluding portion of the communion service.
A prayer or prayers which the priest says at Mass, after the ablutions.
prayer at Vesting. [Rf. Malchus, The Secret
prayer ::: “Prayer is only a particular form given to that will, aspiration and faith. Its forms are very often crude and not only childlike, which is in itself no defect, but childish; but still it has a real power and significance. Its power and sense is to put the will, aspiration and faith of man into touch with the divine Will as that of a conscious Being with whom we can enter into conscious and living relations.” The Synthesis of Yoga
prayer by the Master of the Art in Solomonic
prayer by the Master of the Art. [Rf. Waite, The
prayerful ::: a. --> Given to prayer; praying much or often; devotional.
prayerless ::: a. --> Not using prayer; habitually neglecting prayer to God; without prayer.
prayer ::: n. --> One who prays; a supplicant. ::: v. i. --> The act of praying, or of asking a favor; earnest request or entreaty; hence, a petition or memorial addressed to a court or a legislative body.
The act of addressing supplication to a divinity,
prayers at Vestment. [Rf Mathers, The Greater
PRAYER
prayer.
prayers offered for deliverance from enemies
prayers of Israel and the princes of the 7 th
prayer ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Prayer is only a particular form given to that will, aspiration and faith. Its forms are very often crude and not only childlike, which is in itself no defect, but childish; but still it has a real power and significance. Its power and sense is to put the will, aspiration and faith of man into touch with the divine Will as that of a conscious Being with whom we can enter into conscious and living relations.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
prayers that ascend to Heaven from the earth,
prayers, then transmits them for further ascent.
PRAYER. ::: The life of man is a life of wants and needs and therefore of desires, not only in his physical and vital, but in his mental and spiritual being. When he becomes conscious of a greater Power governing the world, he approaches it through prayer for the fulfilment of his needs, for help in his rough journey, for protection and aid in his struggle. Whatever crudi- ties there may be in the ordinary religious approach to God by prayer, and there are many, especially that attitude which ima- gines the Divine as if capable of being propitiated, bribed, flat- tered into acquiescence or indulgence by praise, entreaty and gifts and has often little te^td to the spirit in which he is approached, still this way of turning to the Divine is an essen- tial movement of our religious being and reposes on a universal truth.
The efficacy of prayer is often doubted and prayer itself supposed to be a thing irrational and necessarily superfluous and ineffective. It is true that the universal will executes always its aim and cannot be deflected by egoistic propitiation and entreaty, it is true of the Transcendent who expresses himself in the universal order that, being omniscient, his larger knowledge must foresee the thing to be done and it does not need direction or stimulation by human thought and that the individual's desires are not and cannot be in any world-order the true determining factor. But neither is that order or the execution of the universal will altogether effected by mechanical Law, but by powers and forces of which for human life at least, human will, aspiration and faith are not among the least important. Prayer is only a particular form given to that will, aspiration and faith. Its forms are very often crude and not only childlike, which is in itself no defect, but childish; but still it has a real power and significance. Its power and sense is to put the will, aspiration and faith of man into touch with the divine Will as that of a conscious Being with whom we can enter into conscious and living relations. For our will and aspiration can act either by our own strength and endeavour, which can no doubt be made a thing great and effective whether for lower or higher purposes, -and there are plenty of disciplines which put it forward as the one force to be used, -- or it can act in dependence upon and with subordination to the divine or the universal Will. And this latter way, again, may either look upon that Will as responsive indeed to our aspiration, but almost mechanically, by a sort of law of energy, or at any rate quite impersonally, or else it may look upon it as responding consciously to the divine aspiration and faith of the human soul and consciously bringing to it the help, the guidance, the protection and fruition demanded, yogaksemam vahamyaham. ~ TSOY, SYN
Prayer helps to prepare this relation for us at first on the lower plane even while it is (here consistent with much that is mere egoism and self-delusion; but afterwards we can draw towards the spiritual truth which is behind it. It is not then the givinc of the thing asked for that matters, but the relation itself, the contact of man’s life with God, the conscious interchange.
In spiritual matters and in the seeking of spiritual gains, this conscious relation is a great power; it is a much greater power than our own entirely self-reliant struggle and effort and it brings a fuller spiritual growth and experience. Necessarily, in the end prayer either ceases in the greater thing for which it prepared us, -- in fact the form we call prayer is not itself essential so long as the faith, the will, the aspiration are there, -- or remains only for the joy of the relation. Also its objects, the artha or interest it seeks to realise, become higher and higher until we reach the highest motiveless devotion, which is that of divine love pure and simple without any other demand or longing.
Prayer for others ::: The fact of praying and the attitude it brings, especially unselfish prayer for others, itself opens you to the higher Power, even if there is no corresponding result in the person prayed for. 'Nothing can be positively said about that, for the result must necessarily depend on the persons, whe- ther they arc open or receptive or something in them can res- pond to any Force the prayer brings down.
Prayer must well up from the heart on a crest of emotion or aspiration.
Prayer {Ideal)'. Not prayer insisting on immediate fulfilment, but prayer that is itself a communion of the mind and heart with the Divine*and can have the joy and satisfaction of itself, trusting for fulfilment by the Divine in his own time.
pray ::: n. & v. --> See Pry. ::: v. i. --> To make request with earnestness or zeal, as for something desired; to make entreaty or supplication; to offer prayer to a deity or divine being as a religious act; specifically, to address the Supreme Being with adoration, confession, supplication, and
prefer ::: v. t. --> To carry or bring (something) forward, or before one; hence, to bring for consideration, acceptance, judgment, etc.; to offer; to present; to proffer; to address; -- said especially of a request, prayer, petition, claim, charge, etc.
To go before, or be before, in estimation; to outrank; to surpass.
To cause to go before; hence, to advance before others, as to an office or dignity; to raise; to exalt; to promote; as, to
priedieu ::: n. --> A kneeling desk for prayers.
primer ::: n. --> One who, or that which, primes
an instrument or device for priming; esp., a cap, tube, or water containing percussion powder or other compound for igniting a charge of gunpowder.
Originally, a small prayer book for church service, containing the little office of the Virgin Mary; also, a work of elementary religious instruction.
A small elementary book for teaching children to read; a
private ::: a. --> Belonging to, or concerning, an individual person, company, or interest; peculiar to one&
psalter ::: n. --> The Book of Psalms; -- often applied to a book containing the Psalms separately printed.
Specifically, the Book of Psalms as printed in the Book of Common Prayer; among the Roman Catholics, the part of the Breviary which contains the Psalms arranged for each day of the week.
A rosary, consisting of a hundred and fifty beads, corresponding to the number of the psalms.
Purgatory [from Latin purgare to purify] The place whither, according to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches, the souls of those who have died in grace, but with sins yet unexpiated, pass for purificatory suffering before entering heavenly bliss. They are supposed, somewhat superstitiously, to be helped by the prayers of the living and especially by religious ceremonials such as the celebration of the Mass. The doctrine of purgatory is one of the immemorial beliefs of the human race found the world over, although expressed in different fashions; it is frequently referred to in various passages in the Greek and Latin literatures.
Pygmalion (Greek) In Greek legend, a king of Cyprus and a sculptor who makes an ivory image of a maiden, Galatea, so lifelike that he can scarcely believe it to be inanimate, and so beautiful that he falls in love with it. Thereupon he prays Aphrodite to animate it and, his prayer being granted, they are wedded and live in happiness. This story probably originated in the teachings about the building up in the constitution and life of the aspirant of a self-conscious and cognizing soul, which finally becomes conjoined in perfect unity with its own creator, the spiritual soul.
qiblah ::: direction turned to during prayer, which is geographically towards the Ka’aba in Mecca
Quietists A type of religious mysticism which arose within the Roman Catholic Church in Italy and Spain during the latter half of the 17th century, especially in connection with a priest named Miguel de Molinos, who published his Spiritual Guide in Rome in 1675. The book of this apparently simple and pious man shows how to attain a state of inward peace by withdrawal of the thoughts and desires from all earthly matters and fixing them in contemplation of what the aspirant conceives to be the divine and in prayer. This he regarded as the only essential, doctrine and ritual being of no consequence. His views won great popularity and he received high favors from the Pope; but they did not at all suit the purposes of those then in power. Molinos was condemned and imprisoned and a persecution instituted against Quietists in general.
quoting from the Prayer of Joseph, a Jewish
rakat ::: A unit of ritual prayer including standing, bowing, sitting, and prostrating
reader ::: n. --> One who reads.
One whose distinctive office is to read prayers in a church.
One who reads lectures on scientific subjects.
A proof reader.
One who reads manuscripts offered for publication and advises regarding their merit.
One who reads much; one who is studious.
Recabustira —a prayer addressed to Recabus-
Records of ancient medicine in Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, etc., tell of the temples being used as hospitals, with priest-physicians supported by the state giving every care to the sick who came, both rich and poor. In addition to material means of treatment — many of which we have rediscovered — these devotees of the gods of healing used special incense, prayers, the “temple sleep,” invocations, music, astrology, etc., which we regard as harmless superstition of an earlier day. However, such conditions, intelligently adapted to each case, in making a pure, serene, uplifting atmosphere around the sick person, would invoke the influences of wholeness within and without him. By putting the inner man in tune with his body, his disordered nature-forces manifesting as disease would tend to flow freely in the currents of health. Natural magic is as practical as the unknown alchemy which transmutes our digested daily bread into molecules of our living body.
reject ::: v. t. --> To cast from one; to throw away; to discard.
To refuse to receive or to acknowledge; to decline haughtily or harshly; to repudiate.
To refuse to grant; as, to reject a prayer or request.
request ::: n. --> The act of asking for anything desired; expression of desire or demand; solicitation; prayer; petition; entreaty.
That which is asked for or requested.
A state of being desired or held in such estimation as to be sought after or asked for; demand. ::: v. t.
[Rf Drower, The Canonical Prayerbook of the
[Rf Drower, The Canonical Prayerhook of the
ritual ::: Ritual Any act or series of acts/movements performed on a regular basis is a ritual. Ceremonial magicians use rituals which may include preparing an area (normally a circle), donning robes, chanting, lighting candles, arranging amulets or talismans in a certain order on an altar and/or themselves, and saying prayers prior to performing the ceremony.
Rosary ::: Prayer beads in the form of a necklace used in many religious traditions. See also Mala.
rosary ::: n. --> A bed of roses, or place where roses grow.
A series of prayers (see Note below) arranged to be recited in order, on beads; also, a string of beads by which the prayers are counted.
A chapelet; a garland; a series or collection, as of beautiful thoughts or of literary selections.
A coin bearing the figure of a rose, fraudulently circulated in Ireland in the 13th century for a penny.
sacrifice ::: n. **1. The surrender to God or a deity, for the purpose of propitiation or homage, of some object of possession. Also applied fig. to the offering of prayer, thanksgiving, penitence, submission, or the like. 2. Forfeiture or surrender of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim. tree-of-sacrifice. v. 3.** To surrender or give up (something).
sadhyas. ::: deities who guard rites and prayers to the more important Gods
sajjada ::: prayer rug
salat al asr ::: afternoon prayer
salat al fajr ::: morning prayer
salat al isha ::: night prayer
salat al maghrib ::: sunset prayer
salat al zuhr ::: noontime prayer
salat ::: worship; prayer; formal Islamic worship that is observed five times daily; making connection to Allah; namaz
Salmia—an angel petitioned in ritual prayer,
Salun—an angel petitioned in ritual prayer.
...Samandiriel, keeper of prayers offertility [257]
Samoel (Samoy?)—a spirit invoked in prayer
Sandalphon (Hebrew) Sandalfōn Qabbalistic term alleged to be the name of the chief of angels: “the Kabbalistic Prince of Angels, emblematically represented by one of the Cherubim of the Ark” (TG 289). In the Zohar the name of the “supreme chief” of the seventh heaven who “introduces the prayer into the seven palaces, to wit, the Palaces of the King” (Sperling’s trans 4:185); again Sandalphon is described as the “angel in charge of the prayers of Israel,” who “takes up all those prayers and weaves out of them a crown for the Living One of the worlds” (ibid., 2:143).
Sandhyavandana or Samdhyabandana (Sanskrit) Saṃdhyāvandana [from saṃdhyā twilight, dawn + vandana salutation, worship, praise, prayer from the verbal root vand to greet, worship, praise] The morning and evening hymns and acts of worship.
sandhyavandana ::: [the morning, noon and evening prayers of a brahmana].
Sapphire Many ancient peoples knew how to avail themselves of the magical virtues of precious stones. The sapphire was especially valued because supposed to enshrine some of the influences of Venus as transmitted through other attributes to Luna or the higher aspect of the Moon, and so to be able to induce equanimity and banish evil thoughts. ” ‘The sapphire,’ say the Buddhists, ‘will open barred doors and dwellings (for the spirit of man); it produces a desire for prayer, and brings with it more peace than any other gem; but he who would wear it must lead a pure and holy life’ ” (IU 1:265). Modern authorities surmise that the sappheiros of the Greeks and the sappir of the Bible were our lapis lazuli, while our sapphire was called hyacinthus. The same qualities are attributed to the color blue.
Scarab [from Latin scarabaeus cf Greek karabos a beetle, Sanskrit śarabha a locust, Egyptian kheperȧ from kheper to become, come into being anew] The Egyptian symbol of the god Khepera — the urgent spiritual impulse of creation, or regenerative revolving and reimbodiment. In modern times applied to the beetle Scarabaeus sacer or aegyptorum — the sacred scarab. Orientalists generally regard the scarab as the symbol of resurrection because the beetle rolls a ball of dung containing its eggs, which it leaves to be hatched by the sun’s rays. This is said to represent in the small what was believed to take place in the great, that the sun was moving across the heavens holding within itself the germs which in course of stellar time evolve forth and remanifest in the solar cosmos. “Khem, ‘the sower of seed,’ is shown on a stele in a picture of Resurrection after physical death, as the creator and the sower of the grain of corn, which, after corruption, springs up afresh each time into a new ear, on which a scarabaeus beetle is seen poised; and Deveria shows very justly that ‘Ptah is the inert, material form of Osiris, who will become Sokari (the eternal Ego) to be reborn, and afterwards be Harmachus,’ or Horus in his transformation, the risen god. The prayer so often found in the tumular inscriptions, ‘the wish for the resurrection in one’s living soul’ or the Higher Ego, has ever a scarabaeus at the end, standing for the personal soul. The scarabaeus is the most honoured, as the most frequent and familiar, of all Egyptian symbols” (TG 293).
Selichot ::: (Heb. forgiveness) Reference to the prayers for forgiveness and the special service of penitence held at midnight on the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah.
Shabbatai Zvi ::: See Sabbatianism. ::: Shachrit ::: Morning; the morning prayer service.
Shacharit (&
Shema Yisrael (&
Shemoneh Esreh ::: (Heb.eighteen) The main section of Jewish prayers recited in a standing position (see amida) and containing 19 (yes!) "benedictions": praise to (1) God of the fathers/patriarchs, (2) God's power and (3) holiness; prayers for (4) knowledge, (5) repentance, (6) forgiveness, (7) redemption, (8) healing sick persons, (9) agricultural prosperity, (10) ingathering the diaspora, (11) righteous judgment, (12) punishment of the wicked and heretics (birkat haminim, (13) reward of the pious, (14) rebuilding Jerusalem, (15) restoration of the royal house of David, (16) acceptance of prayers, (17) thanks to God, (18) restoration of Temple worship, and (19) peace.
Shma Yisrael ::: (Heb. Hear, O Israel) Traditional prayer which declares the Oneness of God.
Siddur ::: (from Heb. to order) Jewish prayer book used for all days except special holidays (see seder, machzor). See also liturgy.
Skandhas (Sanskrit) Skandha-s Bundles, groups of various attributes forming the compound constitution of the human being. They are the manifested qualities and attributes forming the human being on all six planes of Being, beneath the spiritual monad or atma-buddhi, making up the totality of the subjective and objective person. They have to do with everything that is finite in the human being, and are therefore inapplicable to the relatively eternal and absolute. Every vibration of whatever kind, mental, emotional, or physical, that an individual has undergone or made, is derivative of and from one of the skandhas composing his constitution. Skandhas are the elements of limited existence. The five skandhas of every human being are: rupa (form), the material properties or attributes; vedana (sensations, perceptions); sanjna (consciousness, abstract ideas); sanskara (action), tendencies both physical and mental; vijnana (knowledge), mental and moral predispositions. Two further, unnamed skandhas “are connected with, and productive of Sakkayaditthi, the ‘heresy or delusion of individuality’ and of Attavada ‘the doctrine of Self,’ both of which (in the case of the fifth principle the soul) lead to the maya of heresy and belief in the efficacy of vain rites and ceremonies; in prayers and intercession”; “The ‘old being’ is the sole parent — father and mother at once — of the ‘new being.’ It is the former who is the creator and fashioner, of the latter, in reality; and far more so in plain truth, than any father in flesh. And once that you have well mastered the meaning of Skandhas you will see what I mean” (ML 111). The human skandhas are the causal activities which by their action and interaction attract the reincarnating ego back to earth-life. The exoteric skandhas have to do with objective man; the esoteric with inner and subjective man.
Solomonic prayer by the Master of the Art. [Rf.
spelling. [Rf. Drower, Canonical Prayerbook of
spell ::: Spell A magical rite directed towards the achievement of an objective. Sometimes this refers to the verbal part of the ritual, and is similar in ways to a Christian prayer, but besides vocalisation, herbs, candles and other assorted natural objects are used to strengthen and focus the 'prayer' or spell.
spirit of fertility who receives prayers; and who
spirits (angels). He crowns prayers, just as other
such prayers, and then “adjuring them to ascend as
Sumati (Sanskrit) Sumati Benevolent, kindness; devotion, prayer. As a proper noun, the name of many celebrated people, such as a son of Bharata who gave his name to Bharata-varsha (India).
supervisor of the east. Gazardiel “kisses the prayers
Synagog, Synagogue [from synagoge an assembly; translation of Hebrew khenesheth, Aramaic khenash a congregation] Originally a gathering of Jews for worship or religious instruction, but later applied to the building in which the gatherings were held. As a characteristic Jewish institution, the synagog rose to prominence after the reforms instituted by Ezra, for the gatherings were the means whereby the populace received instruction, especially in the reading of the law on every Sabbath. The rites on Sabbath morning as outlined in the Mishnah consisted of readings from the Old Testament (particularly from Deuteronomy and Numbers), followed by prayer, then the lessons from the law and the prophets, a sermon thereon, and finally the blessing.
tahajjud ::: special prayer during the night
taled ::: n. --> A kind of quadrangular piece of cloth put on by the Jews when repeating prayers in the synagogues.
Tallis(t) ::: A large, four-cornered shawl with fringes and special knots at the extremities, worn during Jewish morning prayers. The fringes, according to the Bible (Numbers 15.38-39), remind the worshiper of God's commandments. It is traditional for the male to be buried in his tallit, but without its fringes.
tasbih ::: glorification; repeating the Names of Allah with the help of prayer beads; prayer beads
Tauriel —in Mandaean prayer books, a spirit
Tefila ::: Jewish Prayer. ::: Tefillin ::: Usually translated as “phylacteries.” Box-like appurtenances that accompany prayer, worn by Jewish adult males at the weekday morning services. The boxes have leather thongs attached and contain scriptural excerpts. One box (with four sections) is placed on the head, the other (with one section) is placed (customarily) on the left arm, near the heart. The biblical passages emphasize the unity of God and the duty to love God and be mindful of him with "all one's heart and mind" (e.g., Exod. 13.1-10, 11-16; Deut. 6.4-9; 11.13-21). See also Shema.
Tefilin (&
tersanctus ::: n. --> An ancient ascription of praise (containing the word "Holy" -- in its Latin form, "Sanctus" -- thrice repeated), used in the Mass of the Roman Catholic Church and before the prayer of consecration in the communion service of the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church. Cf. Trisagion.
Tetra —an angel invoked in ritual magic prayer for the fulfilment of an invocant’s desires. Tetra is cited, along with other “great and glorious spirits,” in The Secret Grimoire of Turiel.
the 7 Yezidic archangels invoked in prayer by the
The absurdity of warring nations praying to the same God for victory over each other is often commented on; and the practice of many people combining together to pray for the conversion of people of another sect, or even for worse objects, is equally open to reprobation. This kind of prayer is merely a survival of one of the lower magic arts, where religious practice consists mainly in the invocation of tribal and local deities.
The ancient and oriental pantheons are in reality allegories or personifications of the hosts and hierarchies of cosmic powers, divine, intermediate, and terrestrial, in uninterrupted serial sequences. Where an ignorant devotee might address prayers to some of these personifications, the enlightened one, in invoking Jupiter or Siva, would merely seek to evoke in himself the human power corresponding with the cosmic power, and of which the human is a direct, albeit a feeble, reflection.
the angel of science, health, prayer, and love.
::: "The efficacy of prayer is often doubted and prayer itself supposed to be a thing irrational and necessarily superfluous and ineffective. It is true that the universal will executes always its aim and cannot be deflected by egoistic propitiation and entreaty, it is true of the Transcendent who expresses himself in the universal order that being omniscient his larger knowledge must foresee the thing to be done and it does not need direction or stimulation by human thought and that the individual"s desires are not and cannot be in any world-order the true determining factor. But neither is that order or the execution of the universal will altogether effected by mechanical Law, but by powers and forces of which for human life at least human will, aspiration and faith are not among the least important.
“The efficacy of prayer is often doubted and prayer itself supposed to be a thing irrational and necessarily superfluous and ineffective. It is true that the universal will executes always its aim and cannot be deflected by egoistic propitiation and entreaty, it is true of the Transcendent who expresses himself in the universal order that being omniscient his larger knowledge must foresee the thing to be done and it does not need direction or stimulation by human thought and that the individual’s desires are not and cannot be in any world-order the true determining factor. But neither is that order or the execution of the universal will altogether effected by mechanical Law, but by powers and forces of which for human life at least human will, aspiration and faith are not among the least important. The Synthesis of Yoga
Theism: (Gr. theos, god) Is in general that type of religion or religious philosophy (see Religion, Philosophy of) which incorporates a conception of God as a unitary being; thus may be considered equivalent to monotheism. The speculation as to the relation of God to world gave rise to three great forms: God identified with world in pantheism (rare with emphasis on God); God, once having created the world, relatively disinterested in it, in deism (mainly an 18th cent, phenomenon); God working in and through the world, in theism proper. Accordingly, God either coincides with the world, is external to it (deus ex machina), or is immanent. The more personal, human-like God, the more theological the theism, the more appealing to a personal adjustment in prayer, worship, etc., which presuppose either that God, being like man, may be swayed in his decision, has no definite plan, or subsists in the very stuff man is made of (humanistic theism). Immanence of God entails agency in the world, presence, revelation, involvement in the historic process, it has been justified by Hindu and Semitic thinkers, Christian apologetics, ancient and modern metaphysical idealists, and by natural science philosophers. Transcendency of God removes him from human affairs, renders fellowship and communication in Church ways ineffectual, yet preserves God's majesty and absoluteness such as is postulated by philosophies which introduce the concept of God for want of a terser term for the ultimate, principal reality. Like Descartes and Spinoza, they allow the personal in God to fade and approach the age-old Indian pantheism evident in much of Vedic and post-Vedic philosophy in which the personal pronoun may be the only distinguishing mark between metaphysical logic and theology, similarly as in Hegel. The endowment postulated of God lends character to a theistic system of philosophy. Much of Hindu and Greek philosophy stresses the knowledge and ration aspect of the deity, thus producing an epistemological theism; Aristotle, in conceiving him as the prime mover, started a teleological one; mysticism is psychologically oriented in its theism, God being a feeling reality approachable in appropriate emotional states. The theism of religious faith is unquestioning and pragmatic in its attitude toward God; theology has often felt the need of offering proofs for the existence of God (see God) thus tending toward an ontological theism; metaphysics incorporates occasionally the concept of God as a thought necessity, advocating a logical theism. Kant's critique showed the respective fields of pure philosophic enquiry and theistic speculations with their past in historic creeds. Theism is left a possibility in agnosticism (q.v.). -- K.F.L.
The Mother: "All sincere prayers are granted, but it may take some time to realise materially.” Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 15.
The Mother: “All sincere prayers are granted, but it may take some time to realise materially.” Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 15.**
The overmind is the region of the gods, the beings of divine origin who have been charged with supervising, directing and organising the evolution of the universe; and more specifically, since the formation of the earth they have served as messengers and intermediaries to bring to the earth the aid of the higher regions and to preside over the formation of the mind and its progressive ascension. It is usually to the gods of the overmind that the prayers of the various religions are addressed. These religions most often choose, for various reasons, one of these gods and transform him for their personal use into the supreme God.
the prayers of the faithful, making a garland of
the prayers of the saints.” According to Charles,
the prayers of the saints to God” (according to
There are several states leading to spiritual powers and perception. The eight stages of yoga usually enumerated are: 1) yama (restraint, forbearance); 2) niyama, religious observances such as fastings, prayer, penances; 3) asana, postures of various kinds; 4) pranayama, methods of regulating the breath; 5) pratyahara (withdrawal), withdrawal of the consciousness from external objects; 6) dharana (firmness, steadiness, resolution) mental concentration, holding the mind on an object of thought; 7) dhyana, abstract contemplation or meditation freed from exterior distractions; and 8) samadhi, complete collection of the consciousness and its faculties into union with the monadic essence.
The Vendidad (Pahlavi) or Vidaeva-data (Avestan) [from vi against + daeva evil + data law] has 22 fargards (chapters) of which the first two deal with the story of creation and the origin of civilization. The rest is the code of priesthood. The 21 Yashts are the epic of Yazatas or Izads (gods), composed in prose form. Their legends are often comparable with those of Shah-Nameh. Some hymns and prayers from other parts of the Avesta are found in shorter Yashts. There seems to be more profundity and originality of style in the longer Yashts. The Khorde Avesta (Avestan) or Khordak-Appestak (Pahlavi), meaning bits and pieces of Avesta, consists of different prayers taken from the other four parts of the Avesta, put together by Azarabad, the son of Mehrispand, during the reign of Shahpour II (310-379).
This”little hillock” divinely ordained for the manifestation of the Life Divine must be nourished, protected, felt and ultimately realized as a conscious being and through the sincerity, prayer and efforts of souls attuned to her infinite possiblity of perfection, saved from the destruction and devastation man has wreaked upon her.
through which a man’s prayers are let into
“Thus the Hindu soma is mystically, and in all respects the same that the Eucharist supper is to the Christian. The idea is similar. By means of the sacrificial prayers — the mantras — this liquor is supposed to be transformed on the spot into real soma — or the angel, and even into Brahma himself” (IU 1:xl-xli).
Tilath (Silat)—a spirit invoked in prayer by the
tion rites, Elohi is invoked in prayer by the Master
tonsure ::: n. --> The act of clipping the hair, or of shaving the crown of the head; also, the state of being shorn.
The first ceremony used for devoting a person to the service of God and the church; the first degree of the clericate, given by a bishop, abbot, or cardinal priest, consisting in cutting off the hair from a circular space at the back of the head, with prayers and benedictions; hence, entrance or admission into minor orders.
The shaven corona, or crown, which priests wear as a mark
to snatch away the prayer of Moses before it could
tron “when he shuts the doors of prayers (doors
tude invoked in magical prayer, as set forth in
tween the prayers of Israel and the princes of the
uktham ::: prayer.
uktha ::: the prayer, that which desirse or wills. [Ved.]
unbidden ::: a. --> Not bidden; not commanded.
Uninvited; as, unbidden guests.
Being without a prayer.
unprayable ::: a. --> Not to be influenced or moved by prayers; obdurate.
unpray ::: v. t. --> To revoke or annul by prayer, as something previously prayed for.
usually 5 or 6 named angels of prayer: Akatriel,
Vedas, dating from 1000 BC, consisting of spells, prayers, charms, and hymns &
Vedas, dating from 2000 BC or earlier, consisting of several mythological and poetical accounts of the origin of the world, hymns praising the gods, and ancient prayers for life and prosperity; "praise verse"
vigil ::: v. i. --> Abstinence from sleep, whether at a time when sleep is customary or not; the act of keeping awake, or the state of being awake, or the state of being awake; sleeplessness; wakefulness; watch.
Hence, devotional watching; waking for prayer, or other religious exercises.
Originally, the watch kept on the night before a feast.
Later, the day and the night preceding a feast.
A religious service performed in the evening preceding a
vocal ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the voice or speech; having voice; endowed with utterance; full of voice, or voices.
Uttered or modulated by the voice; oral; as, vocal melody; vocal prayer.
Of or pertaining to a vowel or voice sound; also, /poken with tone, intonation, and resonance; sonant; sonorous; -- said of certain articulate sounds.
Consisting of, or characterized by, voice, or tone produced
Voodoo or Voodooism [from Fongbe dialect vodunu from vodu moral and religious life of the Fons of Dahomey] A definite system of African black magic or sorcery, including various types of necromantic practice. It reached the Americas with the African slaves brought from the West Coast, and in and around the Caribbean various degrees of the cult persist and constitute a recognized if little understood social feature in the history and life of the people. Especially significant in the original Fon religion are the principal temples in the sacred forests, with symbolic hieroglyphics on the walls, depicting the exploits of their kings, voodoo legends, etc., and explaining their belief in the unknowable god Meru (Great Master); this unmanifest god, too far removed from men for them to give to him any form, dealt with them through lesser gods and nature spirit, i.e., voodoo; the priestesses serving the temple in a secret cult with four degrees of initiation, and having passwords unknown to laymen; the cult of the snake or adder as the most primitive form of the religion. Such findings in voodoo history, however degraded in course of time and overlaid by beliefs and customs of cruder native tribes, have the basic elements of a hierarchic religion so enveloped in mystery as to indicate an origin far beyond the creative imagination of any people. Rather, here in strange temples of dark mystery, were the lingering echoes of some ancient wisdom teaching of those who were truly “as wise as serpents.” The least altered of the original system is probably the voodoo music with its solemn, insistent rhythm in the mood of prayer or an invocation. This rhythm persists, even when the ritual songs in Haiti are composed entirely of Creole words, or of a series of unintelligible sounds.
vote ::: n. --> An ardent wish or desire; a vow; a prayer.
A wish, choice, or opinion, of a person or a body of persons, expressed in some received and authorized way; the expression of a wish, desire, will, preference, or choice, in regard to any measure proposed, in which the person voting has an interest in common with others, either in electing a person to office, or in passing laws, rules, regulations, etc.; suffrage.
That by means of which will or preference is expressed in
Vrihaspati —guardian of hymns and prayers
wake ::: n. --> The track left by a vessel in the water; by extension, any track; as, the wake of an army.
The act of waking, or being awaked; also, the state of being awake.
The state of forbearing sleep, especially for solemn or festive purposes; a vigil.
An annual parish festival formerly held in commemoration of the dedication of a church. Originally, prayers were said on the
wannabee /won'*-bee/ (Or, more plausibly, spelled "wannabe") [Madonna fans who dress, talk, and act like their idol; probably originally from biker slang] A would-be {hacker}. The connotations of this term differ sharply depending on the age and exposure of the subject. Used of a person who is in or might be entering {larval stage}, it is semi-approving; such wannabees can be annoying but most hackers remember that they, too, were once such creatures. When used of any professional programmer, CS academic, writer, or {suit}, it is derogatory, implying that said person is trying to cuddle up to the hacker mystique but doesn't, fundamentally, have a prayer of understanding what it is all about. Overuse of hacker terms is often an indication of the {wannabee} nature. Compare {newbie}. Historical note: The wannabee phenomenon has a slightly different flavour now (1993) than it did ten or fifteen years ago. When the people who are now hackerdom's tribal elders were in {larval stage}, the process of becoming a hacker was largely unconscious and unaffected by models known in popular culture - communities formed spontaneously around people who, *as individuals*, felt irresistibly drawn to do hackerly things, and what wannabees experienced was a fairly pure, skill-focussed desire to become similarly wizardly. Those days of innocence are gone forever; society's adaptation to the advent of the microcomputer after 1980 included the elevation of the hacker as a new kind of folk hero, and the result is that some people semi-consciously set out to *be hackers* and borrow hackish prestige by fitting the popular image of hackers. Fortunately, to do this really well, one has to actually become a wizard. Nevertheless, old-time hackers tend to share a poorly articulated disquiet about the change; among other things, it gives them mixed feelings about the effects of public compendia of lore like this one. [{Jargon File}]
wannabee ::: /won'*-bee/ (Or, more plausibly, spelled wannabe) [Madonna fans who dress, talk, and act like their idol; probably originally from biker slang] A would-be have a prayer of understanding what it is all about. Overuse of hacker terms is often an indication of the wannabee nature. Compare newbie.Historical note: The wannabee phenomenon has a slightly different flavour now (1993) than it did ten or fifteen years ago. When the people who are now the change; among other things, it gives them mixed feelings about the effects of public compendia of lore like this one.[Jargon File]
Wheel of prayer: A small barrel-shaped device, made of a metal (often silver) or wood, used in Tibet. Written prayers to Buddha are stuffed into the hollow of the device. Each turn of the wheel is believed to repeat all the prayers inserted to Buddha again and again. (Large wheels of prayer are used for community purposes.)
When a prayer ascends to Heaven, Gadriel crowns
Yahrzeit ::: (Yiddish, year-time) Anniversary of a death; a 24-hour candle lit to commemorate the death anniversary of a close relative, also lit on holy days when Yizkor (prayer of remembrance) is recited.
Yajna (Sanskrit) Yajña In Vedic literature, worship, devotion, prayer, praise; in post-Vedic literature, an act of worship or devotion, an oblation, sacrifice, also sacrifice personified or fire.
Yajus (Sanskrit) Yajus A sacrificial prayer or formula, also particular mantras muttered in a special manner at a sacrifice, distinguished from the rich and saman verses also recited at sacrifices.
Yigdol or Yigdal ::: (from Heb., to be great; thence “Great is he”). A hymn/chant/poem from the 11th century or earlier, frequently found at the beginning or end of the Jewish prayer book (siddur). Also found as an adopted Christian hymn.
Yizkor ::: (“Remembrance”) It is the name of the Memorial Service on Yom Kippur, and a prayer in that service in which Jews specify those whom they are remembering.
KEYS (10k)
20 The Mother
13 Sri Aurobindo
10 Sri Ramakrishna
8 Thomas Keating
5 Anonymous
5 Saint Teresa of Avila
4 Sri Ramana Maharshi
4 Aleister Crowley
3 Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
3 Saint John Chrysostom
3 Saint Basil the Great
3 Saint Thomas Aquinas
3 Saint Augustine of Hippo
3 Jalaluddin Rumi
2 The Mother
2 Sri Ramakrishna
2 Saint Therese of Lisieux
2 Saint Peter Chrysologus
2 Saint John of the Cross
2 Saint Ephrem of Syria
2 Peter J Carroll
2 Neville Goddard
2 Daie
2 C S Lewis
1 Voltaire
1 The Philokalia
1 The Bibles
1 Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
1 Swami Vijnanananda
1 Swami Sivananda Saraswati
1 Swami Brahmananda
1 Swami Akhandananda
1 Soren Kierkegaard
1 Seraphim of Sarov
1 Saint Thomas
1 Saint Teresa of Calcutta
1 Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
1 Saint Philip Neri
1 Saint Pedro Pio
1 Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcino
1 Saint Padre Pio
1 Saint Maximus of Turin
1 Saint Louis de Montfort
1 Saint Leo the Great
1 Saint Justin Martyr
1 Saint Julie Billiart
1 Saint Julian of Norwich
1 Saint John Chrysostom [PG 64
1 Saint John Cassian
1 Saint Jerome
1 Saint Isidore of Seville
1 Saint Ignatius of Antioch
1 Saint Gregory I
1 Saint Francis Xavier
1 Saint Francis of Assisi
1 Saint Francis de Sales
1 Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity
1 Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
1 Saint Benedict of Nursia
1 Saint Alphonsus Liguori
1 Saichō
1 Rowan Williams
1 Rabia al-Adawiyya
1 Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
1 Quran 2:186
1 Prayer to Tara
1 Prayer of St. Alphonsus Liguori
1 Pope Leo XIII
1 Philokalia
1 Our Lady to Fr. Stefano Gobbi
1 Our Lady to Father Stefano Gobbi
1 Origen
1 Neem Karoli Baba
1 Murali Sivaramakrishnan
1 Mother Teresa of Calcutta
1 Meister Eckhart
1 MATA AMRITANANDAMAYI
1 Manapurush Swami Shivananda
1 Mahatma Gandhi
1 Madeline Delbrêl
1 Lewis Carroll
1 Laozi
1 Justin Martyr
1 Joseph Campbell
1 John of the Ladder
1 James Joyce
1 Jalaluddin Rumi
1 Israel Regardie
1 Isaac of Nineveh
1 Hippocrates
1 Hazrat Inayat Khan
1 Gregory the Great
1 George Gordon Byron
1 Fyodor Dostoevsky
1 Father Thomas Keating
1 Evagrius Ponticus
1 Evagrius
1 Ernest Holmes
1 Eliphas Levi
1 Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
1 Digha Nikaya
1 Didache
1 Dalai Lama
1 Cyprian of Carthage
1 Cyprian
1 Catechism of the Catholic Church
1 Bulleh Shah
1 Bonaventure
1 Archibald Thomas Robertson
1 Swami Vivekananda
1 Ogawa
1 Nichiren
1 Meister Eckhart
1 Kobayashi Issa
1 Abu Hamid al-Ghazali
1 Abhishiktananda
1 2: 186)
NEW FULL DB (2.4M)
38 Mahatma Gandhi
38 Anonymous
37 Charles Spurgeon
22 Oswald Chambers
20 Timothy J Keller
19 Mother Teresa
17 Charles Haddon Spurgeon
15 Timothy Keller
15 Martin Luther
15 Leonard Ravenhill
14 Elizabeth George
12 Max Lucado
11 D A Carson
10 Matthew Henry
10 John Bunyan
10 Henri Nouwen
10 C S Lewis
10 Billy Graham
9 Rumi
9 Pope Francis
1:Prayer is the laying aside of thoughts. ~ The Philokalia, #KEYS
2:The root of prayer is interior silence. ~ Thomas Keating, #KEYS
3:To saints their very slumber is a prayer. ~ Saint Jerome, #KEYS
4:Be on guard and strengthen yourself by prayer. ~ Saint Pedro Pio, #KEYS
5:Prayer is the oxygen of the soul. ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcino, #KEYS
6:Prayer begins at the edge of emptiness. ~ Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, #KEYS
7:A coward cannot have any prayer answered. ~ Nichiren, #KEYS
8:My only prayer is to be firm in my determination in pursuing the truth. ~ Daie, #KEYS
9:My longing for truth was a single prayer. ~ Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, #KEYS
10:If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough. ~ Meister Eckhart , #KEYS
11:Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or names exist. ~ Rabia al-Adawiyya, #KEYS
12:No prayer is complete without prescence ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
13:Perhaps the shortest and most powerful prayer in human language is help. ~ Thomas Keating, #KEYS
14:Invoke often! Inflame thyself with prayer! ~ Aleister Crowley, #KEYS
15:Surrender itself is a mighty prayer. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
16:You shall confess your sins in the church and not go to your prayer with a bad conscience. ~ Didache, #KEYS
17:May my life be a continual prayer, a long act of love." ~ Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity, (1880-1906), #KEYS
18:There is nothing the devil fears so much, or so much tries to hinder, as prayer." ~ Saint Philip Neri, #KEYS
19:And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Matthew, 21:22, #KEYS
20:Prayer is the best weapon we possess, the key that opens the heart of God. ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
21:Prayer is the unfolding of our will to God ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, 3.21.1, #KEYS
22:Whatever good work you begin to do, beg of God with most earnest prayer to perfect it. ~ Saint Benedict of Nursia, #KEYS
23:Do not reduce your prayers to words, but rather make the totality of your life a prayer to God. ~ Isaac of Nineveh, #KEYS
24:If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.
~ Meister Eckhart,#KEYS
25:Prayer is the unfolding of our will to God ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.21.1)., #KEYS
26:When you have free moments, go faithfully to prayer. The good God is waiting for you there." ~ Saint Julie Billiart, #KEYS
27:It is impossible to find a saint who did not take the two P's" seriously: prayer and penance. ~ Saint Francis Xavier, #KEYS
28:When I am with you, everything is prayer.'' ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
29:Prayer indeed is good, but while calling on the gods a man should himself lend a hand. ~ Hippocrates, Regimen, IV, 87, #KEYS
30:The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.
~ Soren Kierkegaard,#KEYS
31:Having prayed as you should, stand on guard, ready to protect the fruits of your prayer. ~ Philokalia, Evagrios the Solitary, #KEYS
32:The whole of our life should be a prayer offered to the Divine. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III, #KEYS
33:Pray for knowledge and light, every other prayer is selfish. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. I. 146), #KEYS
34:I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.
~ Voltaire,#KEYS
35:If you practise meditation and prayer it will make me happy. I look on you as my own. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
36:When the mind and speech unite in earnest, asking for a thing, that prayer is answered. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
37:All action is prayer. All trees are desire-fulfilling. All water is the Ganga. All land is Varanasi. Love everything. ~ Neem Karoli Baba, #KEYS
38:Prayer is not a form of words but an aspiration. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - II, The Need of the Moment, #KEYS
39:My only prayer is to be firm in my determination in pursuing the truth. ~ Daie, @BashoSociety #KEYS
40:Seek in reading and thou shalt find in meditation; knock in prayer and it shall be opened in contemplation. ~ Saint John of the Cross, [T5], #KEYS
41:Unless you are completely detached from everything, your meditation and prayer, work and learning will be of no avail. ~ Swami Vijnanananda, #KEYS
42:... Hell into which innumerable souls are falling every day; the urgent necessity of prayer and penance." ~ Our Lady to Father Stefano Gobbi , #KEYS
43:No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ. ~ Saint Leo the Great, #KEYS
44:In centering prayer, the sacred word is not the object of the attention but rather the expression of the intention of the will. ~ Thomas Keating, #KEYS
45:In prayer, more is accomplished by listening than by talking. Let us leave to God the decisions as to what shall be said. ~ Saint Francis de Sales #KEYS
46:It is true that God's power triumphs over everything, but humble and suffering prayer prevails over God Himself. ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
47:For with God both of these of necessity match each other exactly: practice should be sustained by prayer and prayer by practice. ~ Saint Gregory I, #KEYS
48:It is true that God's power triumphs over everything, but humble and suffering prayer prevails over God Himself." ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
49:Bhakti Yoga reduces karma or work to a minimum. It teaches the necessity of prayer without ceasing. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
50:In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch. ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Psalms, 5:3, #KEYS
51:Prayer purifies us, reading instructs us. Both are good when both are possible. Otherwise, prayer is better than reading. ~ Saint Isidore of Seville, #KEYS
52:red leaves
perfectly silent
a temple of prayer
~ Ogawa, @BashoSociety#KEYS
53:The one who reckons himself one with everyone, because he seems to see himself unceasingly in each one, is a monk. ~ Evagrius Ponticus, On Prayer §125, #KEYS
54:It is never in vain that an ardent and sincere prayer is addressed to the Divine's Grace.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III,#KEYS
55:Prayer is not verbal. It is from the heart. To merge into the Heart is prayer. That is also Grace. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
56:He to whom the sanctuary of true prayer is revealed Deems it shameful to turn back to mere formal religion. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
57:He to whom the sanctuary of true prayer is revealed deems it shameful to turn back to mere formal religion. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
58: #KEYS
59:Seek to make your work a prayer, your believing an act, your living an art. It is then the object of your faith will be made visible to you." ~ Ernest Holmes, #KEYS
60:The prayer of faith is the only kind that is real prayer, and it is trust in God with full acknowledgment of God's power and love. ~ Archibald Thomas Robertson, #KEYS
61:He who fights even the smallest distractions faithfully, when he says even the smallest prayer, will also be faithful in great things. ~ Saint Louis de Montfort, #KEYS
62:The Lord's Prayer should be said to fight, not only venial sins, but also mortal sins ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1-2.74.8ad6)., #KEYS
63:Should the divine mother grant your prayer, for she is omnipotent, you will realize Her impersonal Self in samadhi. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
64:Heaven's wiser love rejects the mortal's prayer; ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain, #KEYS
65:the dragonfly too
folds his hands
in prayer
~ Kobayashi Issa, @BashoSociety#KEYS
66:Let us go to sleep with a prayer and wake with an aspiration for the New and Perfect Creation.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Aspiration,#KEYS
67:A soul which does not practise the exercise of prayer is very like a paralyzed body which, though possessing feet and hands, makes no use of them." ~ Saint Alphonsus Liguori, #KEYS
68:Mental prayer is nothing else but being on terms of friendship with God, frequently conversing in secret with Him. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #KEYS
69:The man who prays, the prayer, and the God to whom he prays all have reality only as manifestations of the Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, [T5], #KEYS
70:It is of great importance, when we begin to practise prayer, not to let ourselves be frightened by our own thoughts. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #KEYS
71:A prayer, a master act, a king idea
Can link man's strength to a transcendent Force. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Issue, [T5],#KEYS
72:For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy. ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux, #KEYS
73:A real prayer will never contain any suggestions, instructions or demands. In real prayer you bow down, surrender and declare your helplessness to the Lord. ~ MATA AMRITANANDAMAYI, #KEYS
74:For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy." ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux, #KEYS
75:Our hands imbibe like roots,
so I place them on what is beautiful in this world.
And I fold them in prayer, and they draw from the heavens, light. ~ Saint Francis of Assisi,#KEYS
76:God wills that our desire should be exercised in prayer, that we may be able to receive what he is prepared to give. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
77:If your prayer is sincere, my Mother will respond to it, if you will only wait. Pray to Her if you want to realize Her impersonal self. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
78:Pass slowly through that perilous space,
A prayer upon his lips and the great Name. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Descent into Night,#KEYS
79: Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. ~ The Bibles, James 5:16, #KEYS
80:When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions. Wait for hope to appear.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Lamentations, 3:28-29 MSG,#KEYS
81:Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #KEYS
82:It is possible to offer fervent prayer even while walking in public or strolling alone, or seated in your shop, . . . while buying or selling, . . . or even while cooking. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
83:Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Ephesians, 6:18, #KEYS
84:[The Lord] teaches us to make prayer in common for all our brethren. For he did not say my Father who art in heaven, but our Father, offering petitions for the common body. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
85:The goodness of God is the highest object of prayer, and it reaches down to our lowest need. It quickens our soul and gives it life, and makes it grow in grace and virtue." ~ Saint Julian of Norwich, #KEYS
86:Read the gospel attentively and you will see that Jesus sacrificed even charity for prayer. And do you know why? To teach us that, without God, we are too poor to help the poor. ~ Mother Teresa of Calcutta, #KEYS
87:The aim of prayer, of spiritual discipline, of chanting the name and glories of God, is to realize that everything is God. For that alone a devotee loves God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
88:We go on to say, May your name be hallowed. It is not that we think to make God holy by our prayers; rather we are asking God that his name may be made holy in us. ~ Cyprian of Carthage, On the Lord's Prayer, #KEYS
89:Our constant prayer is to understand the Divine's will and to live accordingly.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Elements of Yoga, Surrender to the Divine Will, Surrender, [T5],#KEYS
90:The discussion of prayer is so great that it requires the Father to reveal it, his firstborn Word to teach it, and the Spirit to enable us to think and speak rightly of so great a subject. ~ Origen, On Prayer, #KEYS
91:Do nothing at all without the beginning of prayer. Seal all your doings, my child, with the sign of the living cross. Do not go out the door of your house till you have signed the cross. ~ Saint Ephrem of Syria, #KEYS
92:If need be, a prayer addressed to the Divine:
I belong to You and I want to know You so that all that I do is nothing but what you want me to do. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
93:Do not abandon us in impotence and darkness; shatter all limits, break all chains, dispel all illusions.
Our aspiration rises towards Thee as an ardent prayer.
~ The Mother, Prayers and Meditations,#KEYS
94:The Guru's blessings help one in one's spiritual endeavor. By Mother's grace you have it already. Now dive deep into prayer, meditation, etc. Engage yourself in japa and meditation. ~ Manapurush Swami Shivananda, #KEYS
95:Aspiration, call, prayer are forms of one and the same thing and are all effective; you can take the form that comes to you or is easiest to you.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,#KEYS
96:The food that has been made the Eucharist by the prayer of His word, and which nourishes our flesh and blood by assimilation, is both the flesh and the blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. ~ Saint Justin Martyr, #KEYS
97:It is necessary that the Holy Spirit enter our heart. Everything good that we do, that we do for Christ, is given to us by the Holy Spirit, but prayer most of all, which is always available to us. ~ Seraphim of Sarov, #KEYS
98:We have been taught that the food consecrated by the Word of prayer which comes from him, from which our flesh and blood are nourished by transformation, is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus. ~ Justin Martyr, #KEYS
99:Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy. Prayer draws into the soul the Holy Spirit, and raises man to Heaven. ~ Saint Ephrem of Syria, #KEYS
100:Lord, the year is dying and our gratitude bows down to Thee. Lord, the year is reborn, our prayer rises up to Thee. Let it be for us also the dawn of a new life.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III,#KEYS
101:Never give up prayer, and should you find dryness and difficulty, persevere in it for this very reason. God often desires to see what love your soul has, and love is not tried by ease and satisfaction." ~ Saint John of the Cross, #KEYS
102:There are three main parts to the actual practice of Guru Yoga: first there is the visualization, next the fervent prayer to the guru, and lastly the receiving of the four empowerments.
~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Guru Yoga, [T2],#KEYS
103:When you emerge from the hour of prayer you must do so conscious of being and possessing that which your heretofore desired." ~ Neville Goddard, (1905-1972), American mystic. Quote from "Neville Goddard The Complete Reader,", (2013)., #KEYS
104:A certain pride, a certain awe, withheld him from offering to God even one prayer at night, though he knew it was in God's power to take away his life while he slept and hurl his soul hellward ere he could beg for mercy. ~ James Joyce, #KEYS
105:Go and preach the necessity of penance and conversion, of return to the Lord along the way of prayer and repentance, of renunciation of Satan and all his wiles, of evil and the tyranny of the passions." ~ Our Lady to Fr. Stefano Gobbi, #KEYS
106:Nothing is equal to prayer; for what is impossible it makes possible, what is difficult, easy.... For it is impossible, utterly impossible, for the man who prays eagerly and invokes God ceaselessly ever to sin. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
107:Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God. It lauds God for his own sake and gives him glory, quite beyond what he does, but simply because He Is. ~ Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2639, #KEYS
108:Seek the answer in God's grace, not in doctrine; in the longing of the will, not in the understanding; in the sighs of prayer, not in research; seek the bridegroom not the teacher; God and not man; darkness not daylight. ~ Bonaventure, #KEYS
109:Chanting is no more holy than listening to the murmur of a stream, counting prayer beads no more sacred than simply breathing. . . . If you wish to attain oneness with the Tao, don't get caught up in spiritual superficialities. ~ Laozi, #KEYS
110:Run through all the words of the holy prayers [in Scripture], and I do not think that you will find anything in them that is not contained and included in the Lord's Prayer. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
111:Intense, one-pointed, monumental, lone,
Patient he sat like an incarnate hope
Motionless on a pedestal of prayer. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The House of the Spirit and the New Creation,#KEYS
112:[The prayer is accomplished] by the contemplation of God alone, and by the warmth of love, through which the soul, molded and directed to love him, speaks very familiarly to God as to its own Father with special devotion. ~ Saint John Cassian, #KEYS
113:Divide the time of night between sleep and prayer. Nay, let thy slumbers be themselves experiences in piety; for it is only natural that our sleeping dreams should be for the most part echoes of the anxieties of the day. ~ Saint Basil the Great, #KEYS
114:O Holy Spirit grant me the gift of prayer. Come into my heart, and [grant] me the strength not to abandon it because I sometimes grow weary of it; And give me the spirit of prayer, the grace to pray continually. ~ Prayer of St. Alphonsus Liguori, #KEYS
115:People count with self-satisfaction the number of times they have recited the name of God on their prayer beads, but they keep no beads for reckoning the number of idle words they speak. ~ Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, #KEYS
116:They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again. ~ Saint Ignatius of Antioch, #KEYS
117:Just by the very nature of our birth, we are on the spiritual journey." ~ Thomas Keating, (1923 - 2018) American Catholic monk known as one of the principal developers of Centering Prayer, a contemporary method of contemplative prayer, Wikipedia., #KEYS
118:To live in the presence of God on a continuous basis can become a kind of fourth dimension to our three-dimensional world, forming an invisible but real background to everything that we do or that happens in our lives. ~ Thomas Keating, On Prayer, #KEYS
119:Is the day done? Give thanks to Him Who has given us the sun for our daily work, and has provided for us a fire to light up the night, and to serve the rest of the needs of life. Let night give the other occasion of prayer. ~ Saint Basil the Great, #KEYS
120:And when no subject is given, is it enough to concentrate on your Presence in the heart-centre? Should we avoid a formulated prayer?
Yes, concentration on the Presence is enough.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
121:My brothers, each of us ought surely to rejoice on this holy day. Let no one, conscious of his sinfulness, withdraw from our common celebration, nor let anyone be kept away from our public prayer by the burden of his guilt. ~ Saint Maximus of Turin, #KEYS
122:I keep men's own ideals intact. But this also I say to them 'Never feel that your path alone is right and that the paths of others a wrong and full of errors. A man can realize God by following his own path if his prayer is sincere. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
123:He is a stranger to the magical arts and divination and necromancy, to exorcisms and other analogous practices. He takes no part in the accomplishment of any prayer or religious ceremony. ~ Digha Nikaya, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
124:Be not forgetful of prayer. Every time you pray, if your prayer is sincere, there will be new feeling and new meaning in it, which will give you fresh courage, and you will understand that prayer is an education. ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, #KEYS
125:Prayer is the light of the spirit, true knowledge of God, mediating between God and man.... I speak of prayer, not words. It is the longing for God, love too deep for words, a gift not given by man but by God's grace. ~ Saint John Chrysostom [PG 64, 462-466], #KEYS
126:Leave as one leaveth a dream, the love of this world and of sweetness; cast away thy cares, strip thyself of vain thoughts, renounce thy body; for prayer is naught else save only to be a stranger in the visible world and in the invisible. ~ John of the Ladder, #KEYS
127:For human beings, the most daunting challenge is to become fully human. For to become fully human is to become fully divine." ~ Father Thomas Keating, (1923 - 2018) American Catholic monk, known as one of the principal developers of Centering Prayer, Wikipedia., #KEYS
128:Gregory the Great (sixth century), summarizing the Christian contemplative tradition, expressed it as "resting in God." This was the classical meaning of Contemplative Prayer in the Christian tradition for the first sixteen centuries. ~ Thomas Keating, On Prayer, #KEYS
129:Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy. ~ Saint Peter Chrysologus, #KEYS
130:There are three things by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one. ~ Saint Peter Chrysologus, #KEYS
131:Let me assure you that a man can realize his Inner Self through sincere prayer. But to the extent that he has the desire to 'enjoy worldly objects,his vision of the Self becomes obstructed. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
132:As have been our conduct and pursuits, so will be our dreams. Thus will thou pray without ceasing; if thou pray not only in words, but unite thyself to God through all the course of life and so thy life be made one ceaseless and uninterrupted prayer. ~ Saint Basil the Great, #KEYS
133:When we pray we pray not for one but for all people, because we are all one people together. The God of peace and master of concord, who taught that we should be united, wanted one to pray in this manner for all, as he himself bore all in one. ~ Cyprian, On the Lord's Prayer, #KEYS
134:The life of prayer and contemplation is simply to realize God's presence in the depth of our being, in the depth of every being, and at the same time beyond all beings, beyond all that is within and all that is without. ~ Abhishiktananda, Prayer (Eveil à soi, éveil à Dieu), #KEYS
135:When the mind has put off the old self & put on the one born of grace, it will see its own state in the time of prayer resembling sapphire or the color of heaven; this state scripture calls the place of God that was seen by the elders on Mount Sinai. ~ Evagrius, On Thoughts 39, #KEYS
136:Keep your mind always in communion with God; then all depravity of the mind will vanish. Select a room for daily worship; every morning and evening retire there and sit on your Asanam; then perform Japam and Meditation and prayer regularly as long as you can. ~ Swami Brahmananda, #KEYS
137:I am smashed by waves of affairs and afflicted by storms of a life of tumults, so I may rightly say: I am come into deep waters where the floods overflow me. And so, you who stand on the shore of virtues, stretch out the hand of your prayer to me in my danger. ~ Gregory the Great, #KEYS
138:The darkness of prayer is not the result of a gap between what we can know as creatures and the unknowable depths of God...It is our assimilation into the infinite's self-unveiling in the dark places of the finite world, in the wordless helplessness of the cross. ~ Rowan Williams, #KEYS
139:Because we find that love is work enough for us, we don't take the time to categorize what we are doing as either "contemplation" or "action." We find that prayer is action and that action is prayer. It seems to us that truly loving action is filled with light. ~ Madeline Delbrêl, #KEYS
140:The Lord's Prayer is the most perfect of prayers.... In it we ask, not only for all the things we can rightly desire, but also in the sequence that they should be desired. This prayer not only teaches us to ask for things, but also in what order we should desire them. ~ Saint Thomas, #KEYS
141:Aspiration is a turning upward of the inner being with a call, yearning, prayer for the Divine, for the Truth, for the Consciousness, Peace, Ananda, Knowledge, descent of Divine Force or whatever else is the aim of one's endeavour.
~ The Mother, [T2],#KEYS
142:Prayer does not demand high intelligence or eloquence. God wants your heart when you pray. Even a few words from a pure, humble soul, though illiterate, appeals to God more than the eloquent, flowing words of an orator. Pray to God freely like a little child ~ Swami Sivananda Saraswati, #KEYS
143:Just cry for one night, saying: 'O Lord, I am a fool, without any intelligence. I do not know anything. I do not understand anything. You show me everything. You please give me understanding. You appear before me.' One such earnest prayer will change things overnight ~ Swami Akhandananda, #KEYS
144:When My servants ask you [O Prophet] about Me: I am truly near. I respond to one's prayer when they call upon Me. So let them respond with obedience to Me and believe in Me, perhaps they will be guided to the Right Way. ~ Quran 2:186, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
145:Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Philippians, 4:6-7, #KEYS
146:When My servants ask you concerning Me, I am indeed (close to them), I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calls on me. Let them also, with a will, listen to My call, and believe in Me. That they may walk in the right way. ~ 2: 186), @Sufi_Path #KEYS
147:HAZRA: "Does God listen to our prayer for bhakti?"
BHAGAVAN SRI RAMAKRISHNA: "Surely. I can assure you of that a hundred times. But the prayer must be genuine and earnest. Do worldly-minded people weep for God as they do for wife and children? Who feels that way for God?" ~ Sri Ramakrishna,#KEYS
148:The members of the Brahmo Samaj sing the name of Hari. That is very good. Through earnest prayer one receives the grace of God and realizes Him. God can be realized by means of all paths. The same God is invoked by different names. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, The Gospel of Ramakrishna, #KEYS
149:As St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) taught, whatever we say about God is more unlike God than saying nothing. If we do say something, it can only be a pointer toward the Mystery that can never be articulated in words. All that words can do is point in the direction of the Mystery. ~ Thomas Keating, On Prayer, #KEYS
150:In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with Himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence. ~ Saint Teresa of Calcutta, #KEYS
151:Pray to God with a longing heart. He will surely listen to your prayer if it is sincere. Perhaps He will direct you to holy men with whom you can keep company; and that will help you on your spiritual path. Perhaps someone will tell you, 'Do this and you will attain God.' ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
152:If you study every word of the petitions of Scripture, you will find, I think, nothing that is not contained and included in the Lord's Prayer. When we pray, then, we may use different words to say the same things, but we may not say different things. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, Letter to Proba, #KEYS
153:8. O Fire, they have set thee here the Messenger, the Immortal in generation after generation, the Carrier of offerings, protector of man and the Godhead of his prayer. Gods alike and mortals sit with obeisance before the all-pervading Master of the peoples, the ever-wakeful Fire.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Hymns To The Mystic Fire,#KEYS
154:Almost certainly God is not in time. His life does not consist of moments one following another...Ten-thirty-- and every other moment from the beginning of the world--is always Present for Him. If you like to put it this way, He has all eternity in which to listen to the split second of prayer put up by a pilot as his plane crashes in flames. ~ C S Lewis, #KEYS
155:It is only by aspiration and prayer that ego can be overcome; a constant and sincere aspiration is always answered by the Divine. Feb 3rd
Ignorance is a human general illness and nobody can escape it until one is united with the Divine. Feb 9th
Let the aspiration and love for the Divine conquer in you all desires and difficulties. Feb 14
~ The Mother#KEYS
156:When the imagination is not controlled and the attention not steadied on the feeling of the wish fulfilled, then no amount of prayer or piety or invocation will produce the desired effect. When you can call up at will whatsoever image you please, when the forms of your imagination are as vivid to you as the forms of nature, you are master of your fate. ~ Neville Goddard, #KEYS
157:A beginner must look on himself as one setting out to make a garden for his Lord's pleasure, on most unfruitful soil which abounds in weeds. His Majesty roots up the weeds and will put in good plants instead. Let us reckon that this is already done when the soul decides to practice prayer and has begun to do so. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #KEYS
158:Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen. ~ Pope Leo XIII, Leonine Prayers, Prayer to Saint Michael, #KEYS
159:A compassionate community will not be achieved only through prayer; I pray myself, but I accept its limitations. We need to take action to develop compassion, to create inner peace within ourselves and to share that inner peace with our family and friends. Peace and warm-heartedness can then spread through the community just as ripples radiate out across the water when you drop a pebble into a pond. ~ Dalai Lama, #KEYS
160:When you give us a subject for meditation, what should we do about it? Keep thinking of it?
Keep your thought focused upon it in a concentrated way.
And when no subject is given, is it enough to concentrate on your Presence in the heart-centre? Should we avoid a formulated prayer?
Yes, concentration on the Presence is enough.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
161:The soul of man is the spark of God. Though this spark is limited on the earth, still God is all-powerful; and by teaching the prayer 'Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven', the Master has given a key to every soul who repeats this prayer; a key to open that door behind which is the secret of that almighty power and perfect wisdom which raises the soul above all limitations. ~ Hazrat Inayat Khan, #KEYS
162:Turn Your Face Toward Me
Turn your face toward me, my dear one,
Turn your face toward me!
It is you who inserted the hook in me,
It is you who pulls the cord.
Turn your face toward me!
The call to prayer came from your throne in heaven,
The sound reverberated in Mecca.
Turn your face toward me!
Says Bulla, I will not die,
Though someone else may.
Turn your face toward me!
~ Bulleh Shah,#KEYS
163:Before prayer, endeavour to realise Whose Presence you are approaching and to Whom you are about to speak, keeping in mind Whom you are addressing. If our lives were a thousand times as long as they are we should never fully understand how we ought to behave towards God, before Whom the very Angels tremble, Who can do all He wills, and with Whom to wish is to accomplish. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, [T7], #KEYS
164:Some dislike prayer; if they entered deep into their heart, they would find it was pride — worse than that, vanity. And then there are those who have no aspiration, they try and they cannot aspire; it is because they do not have the flame of the will, it is because they do not have the flame of humility. Both are needed. There must be a very great humility and a very great will to change one's Karma. ~ The Mother, #KEYS
165:The methods advised by all these people have a startling resemblance to one another. They recommend virtue (of various kinds), solitude, absence of excitement, moderation in diet, and finally a practice which some call prayer and some call meditation. (The former four may turn out on examination to be merely conditions favourable to the last.)
~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA, Book 4, Magick, Part I, Preliminary Remarks,#KEYS
166:MASTER (to Atul): "What is worrying you? Is it that you haven't that grit, that intense restlessness for God?"
ATUL: "How can we keep our minds on God?"
MASTER: "Abhyasayoga, the yoga of practice. You should practise calling on God every day. It is not possible to succeed in one day; through daily prayer you will come to long for God.
"How can you feel that restlessness if you are immersed in worldliness day and night?" ~ Sri Ramakrishna,#KEYS
167:St. Teresa of Avila wrote: 'All difficulties in prayer can be traced to one cause: praying as if God were absent.' This is the conviction that we bring with us from early childhood and apply to everyday life and to our lives in general. It gets stronger as we grow up, unless we are touched by the Gospel and begin the spiritual journey. This journey is a process of dismantling the monumental illusion that God is distant or absent. ~ Thomas Keating, Fruits & Gifts of the Spirit, #KEYS
168:The formula of the Cup is not so well suited for Evocations, and the magical Hierarchy is not involved in the same way; for the Cup being passive rather than active, it is not fitting for the magician to use it in respect of anything but the Highest. In practical working it consequently means little but prayer, and that prayer the 'prayer of silence.'
~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA, Book 4, Magick, Part 3, The Formuale of the Elemental Weapons [148],#KEYS
169:Sadhana is the practice of Yoga.
Tapasya is the concentration of the will to get the results of sadhana and to conquer the lower nature.
Aradhana is worship of the Divine, love, self-surrender, aspiration to the Divine, calling the name, prayer.
Dhyana is inner concentration of the consciousness, meditation, going inside in Samadhi.
Dhyana, tapasya and aradhana are all parts of sadhana. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II, 215 [sadhana is:],#KEYS
170:Q: I wrote to the Mother a prayer in French. Her answer to it was: "Ouvre ton cæur et tu me trouveras déjà là." ("Open your heart and you will find me already there.") What exactly does this signify?
A: What the Mother meant was this that when there is a certain opening of the heart, you find that there was always the eternal union there (the same that you experience always in the Self above).
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Mother With Letters On The Mother, 2-7-1935,#KEYS
171:The 'Intelligence of Will' denotes that this is the path where each individual 'created being' is 'prepared' for the spiritual quest by being made aware of the higher and divine 'will' of the creatoR By spiritual preparation (prayer, meditation, visualization, and aspiration), the student becomes aware of the higher will and ultimately attains oneness with the Divine Self-fully immersed in the knowledge of 'the existence of the Primordial Wisdom.'
~ Israel Regardie, A Garden Of Pomegranates: Skrying On The Tree Of Life,#KEYS
172:Help yourself during this troubled period by reading holy books. This reading provides excellent food for the soul and conduces to great progress along the path of perfection. By no means is it inferior to what we obtain through prayer and holy meditation. In prayer and meditation it is ourselves who speak to the Lord, while in holy reading it is God who speaks to us. Before beginning to read, raise your mind to the Lord and implore Him to guide your mind Himself, to speak to your heart and move your will. ~ Saint Padre Pio, #KEYS
173:MESSAGES FOR CENTRES AND ORGANISATIONS (Suggested programme for a study group)
1. Prayer (Sri Aurobindo, Mother - grant us your help in our endeavour to understand your teaching.)
2. Reading of Sri Aurobindo's book.
3. A moment of silence.
4. One question can be put by whoever wants to put a question on what has been read.
5. Answer to the question.
6. No general discussion. This is not the meeting of a group but simply a class for studying Sri Aurobindo's books. 31 October 1942
~ The Mother,#KEYS
174:To read Savitri is to witness a tremendous adventure in the interior realms; to witness and participate in a multidimensional quest. Because Savitri is cast in the mould of epic poetry or mahakavya, the requisite state of mind is one of openness and humility, similar to that of prayer. Each word and each phrase should ring in a 'solitude and an immensity', be heard in the 'listening spaces of the soul' and the 'inner acoustic space', and be seized by the deeper self when the mantric evocations come into effect. ~ Murali Sivaramakrishnan, #KEYS
175:...to quiet the mind and get the spiritual experience it is necessary first to purify and prepare the nature. This sometimes takes many years. Work done with the right attitude is the easiest means for that - i.e. work done without desire or ego, rejecting all movements of desire, demand or ego when the come, done as an offering to the Divine Mother, with the remembrance of her and prayer to her to manifest her force and take up the action so that there too and not only in inner silence you can feel her presence and working.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,#KEYS
176:In dangers, in doubts, in difficulties, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let not her name depart from your lips, never suffer it to leave your heart. And that you may obtain the assistance of her prayer, neglect not to walk in her footsteps. With her for guide, you shall never go astray; while invoking her, you shall never lose heart; so long as she is in your mind, you are safe from deception; while she holds your hand, you cannot fall; under her protection you have nothing to fear; if she walks before you, you shall not grow weary; if she shows you favor, you shall reach the goal. ~ Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, #KEYS
177:Saichō's Prayer
So long as I have not attained the stage where my six faculties are pure, I will not venture out into the world.
So long as I have not realized the absolute, I will not acquire any special skills or arts (e.g. medicine, divination, calligraphy, etc.)
So long as I have not kept all the precepts purely, I will not participate in any lay donor's Buddhist meetings.
So long as I have not attained wisdom (lit. hannya 般若), I will not participate in worldly affairs unless it be to benefit others.
May any merit from my practice in the past, present and future be given not to me, but to all sentient beings so that they may attain supreme enlightenment. ~ Saichō,#KEYS
178:O DIVINE Force, supreme Illuminator, hearken to our prayer, move not away from us, do not withdraw, help us to fight the good fight, make firm our strength for the struggle, give us the force to conquer!
O my sweet Master, Thou whom I adore without being able to know Thee, Thou who I am without being able to realise Thee, my entire conscious individuality prostrates itself before Thee and implores, in the name of the workers in their struggle, and of the earth in her agony, in the name of suffering humanity and of striving Nature;
O my sweet Master, O marvellous Unknowable, O Dispenser of all boons, Thou who makest light spring forth in the darkness and strength to arise out of weakness, support our effort, guide our steps, lead us to victory.
~ The Mother, Prayers And Meditations, 211,#KEYS
179:It is no good asking for a simple religion. After all, real things are not simple. They look simple, but they are not. The table I am sitting at looks simple: but ask a scientist to tell you what it is really made of-all about the atoms and how the light waves rebound from them and hit my eye and what they do to the optic nerve and what it does to my brain-and, of course, you find that what we call "seeing a table" lands you in mysteries and complications which you can hardly get to the end of. A child saying a child's prayer looks simple. And if you are content to stop there, well and good. But if you are not--and the modern world usually is not--if you want to go on and ask what is really happening, then you must be prepared for something difficult. If we ask for something more than simplicity, it is silly then to complain that the something more is not simple. ~ C S Lewis, Mere Christianity, #KEYS
180:10.: I do not know whether I have put this clearly; self-knowledge is of such consequence that I would not have you careless of it, though you may be lifted to heaven in prayer, because while on earth nothing is more needful than humility. Therefore, I repeat, not only a good way, but the best of all ways, is to endeavour to enter first by the room where humility is practised, which is far better than at once rushing on to the others. This is the right road;-if we know how easy and safe it is to walk by it, why ask for wings with which to fly? Let us rather try to learn how to advance quickly. I believe we shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavouring to know God, for, beholding His greatness we are struck by our own baseness, His purity shows our foulness, and by meditating on His humility we find how very far we are from being humble. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle, 1.02, #KEYS
181:[invocation] Let us describe the magical method of identification. The symbolic form of the god is first studied with as much care as an artist would bestow upon his model, so that a perfectly clear and unshakeable mental picture of the god is presented to the mind. Similarly, the attributes of the god are enshrined in speech, and such speeches are committed perfectly to memory. The invocation will then begin with a prayer to the god, commemorating his physical attributes, always with profound understanding of their real meaning. In the second part of the invocation, the voice of the god is heard, and His characteristic utterance is recited. In the third portion of the invocation the Magician asserts the identity of himself with the god. In the fourth portion the god is again invoked, but as if by Himself, as if it were the utterance of the will of the god that He should manifest in the Magician. At the conclusion of this, the original object of the invocation is stated.
~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA, Book 4, Magick, Part 3, The Formuale of the Elemental Weapons [149] [T4],#KEYS
182:Prayer helps to prepare this relation for us at first on the lower plane even while it is there consistent with much that is mere egoism and self-delusion; but afterwards we can draw towards the spiritual truth which is behind it. It is not then the giving of the thing asked for that matters, but the relation itself, the contact of mans life with God, the conscious interchange. In spiritual matters and in the seeking of spiritual gains, this conscious relation is a great power; it is a much greater power than our own entirely self-reliant struggle and effort and it brings a fuller spiritual growth and experience. Necessarily, in the end prayer either ceases in the greater thing for which it prepared us, -- in fact the form we call prayer is not itself essential so long as the faith, the will, the aspiration are there, -- or remains only for the joy of the relation. Also its objects, the artha or interest it seeks to realise, become higher and higher until we reach the highest motiveless devotion, which is that of divine love pure and simple without any other demand or longing.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Yoga of Divine Love,#KEYS
183:ཨོཾ། འཇིགས་པ་བརྒྱད་སྐྱོབ་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། །
OM, JIK PA GYÉ KYOB MA LA CHAK TSAL LO
"Om! Homage to you, who protects from the eight fears!
བཀྲ་ཤིས་དཔལ་འབར་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། །
TASHI PAL BAR MA LA CHAK TSAL LO
Homage to you, who shines as a beacon of goodness!
ངན་སོང་སྒོ་འགེགས་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། །
NGEN SONG GO GEK MA LA CHAK TSAL LO
Homage to you, who closes the gates to the lower realms!
མཐོ་རིས་ལམ་འདྲེན་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། །
TORI LAM DREN MA LA CHAK TSAL LO
Homage to you, who leads the way to the higher realms!
རྟག་ཏུ་ཁྱེད་ཀྱིས་སྟོངས་པར་མཛད། །
TAK TU KYÉ KYI TONG PAR DZÉ
You are my constant companion.
ད་དུང་ཐུགས་རྗེས་བསྐྱབ་ཏུ་གསོལ། །
DA DUNG TUK JÉ KYAB TU SOL
Always protect me with compassion! ~ Prayer to Tara, H E Garchen Rinpoche?#KEYS
184:Find That Something :::
We can, simply by a sincere aspiration, open a sealed door in us and find... that Something which will change the whole significance of life, reply to all our questions, solve all our problems and lead us to the perfection we aspire for without knowing it, to that Reality which alone can satisfy us and give us lasting joy, equilibrium, strength, life.
All have heard it - Oh! there are even some here who are so used to it that for them it seems to be the same thing as drinking a glass of water or opening a window to let in the sunlight....
We have tried a little, but now we are going to try seriously!
The starting-point: to want it, truly want it, to need it. The next step: to think, above all, of that. A day comes, very quickly, when one is unable to think of anything else.
That is the one thing which counts. And then... One formulates one's aspiration, lets the true prayer spring up from one's heart, the prayer which expresses the sincerity of the need. And then... well, one will see what happens.
Something will happen. Surely something will happen. For each one it will take a different form.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1957-1958,#KEYS
185:The key one and threefold, even as universal science. The division of the work is sevenfold, and through these sections are distributed the seven degrees of initiation into is transcendental philosophy.
The text is a mystical commentary on the oracles of Solomon, ^ and the work ends with a series of synoptic schedules which are the synthesis of Magic and the occult Kabalah so far as concerns that which can be made public in writing. The rest, being the esoteric and inexpressible part of the science, is formulated in magnificent pantacles carefully designed and engraved. These are nine in number, as follows
(1) The dogma of Hermes;
(2) Magical realisation;
(3) The path of wisdom and the initial procedure in the work
(4) The Gate of the Sanctuary enlightened by seven mystic rays;
(5) A Rose of Light, in the centre of which a human figure is extending its arms in the form of a cross;
(6) The magical laboratory of Khunrath, demonstrating the necessary union of prayer and work
(7) The absolute synthesis of science;
(8) Universal equilibrium ;
(9) A summary of Khunrath's personal embodying an energetic protest against all his detractors. ~ Eliphas Levi, The History Of Magic,#KEYS
186:Directly on awakening, preferably at dawn, the initiate goes to the place of invocation. Figuring to himself as he goes that being born anew each day brings with it the chance of greater rebirth, first he banishes the temple of his mind by ritual or by some magical trance. Then he unveils some token or symbol or sigil which represents to him the Holy Guardian Angel. This symbol he will likely have to change during the great work as the inspiration begins to move him. Next he invokes an image of the Angel into his minds eye. It may be considered as a luminous duplicate of ones own form standing in front of or behind one, or simply as a ball of brilliant light above ones head. Then he formulates his aspirations in what manner he will, humbling himself in prayer or exalting himself in loud proclamation as his need be. The best form of this invocation is spoken spontaneously from the heart, and if halting at first, will prove itself in time. He is aiming to establish a set of ideas and images which correspond to the nature of his genius, and at the same time receive inspiration from that source. As the magician begins to manifest more of his true will, the Augoeides will reveal images, names, and spiritual principles by which it can be drawn into greater manifestation.
~ Peter J Carroll, Liber Null,#KEYS
187:A certain inertia, tendency to sleep, indolence, unwillingness or inability to be strong for work or spiritual effort for long at a time, is in the nature of the human physical consciousness. When one goes down into the physical for its change (that has been the general condition here for a long time), this tends to increase. Even sometimes when the pressure of the sadhana on the physical increases or when one has to go much inside, this temporarily increases - the body either needing more rest or turning the inward movement into a tendency to sleep or be at rest. You need not, however, be anxious about that. After a time this rights itself; the physical consciousness gets the true peace and calm in the cells and feels at rest even in full work or in the most concentrated condition and this tendency of inertia goes out of the nature. Even for those who have never been in trance, it is good to repeat a mantra, a word, a prayer before going into sleep. But there must be a life in the words; I do not mean an intellectual significance, nothing of that kind, but a vibration. And its effect on the body is extraordinary: it begins to vibrate, vibrate, vibrate... and quietly you let yourself go, as though you wanted to go to sleep. The body vibrates more and more, more and more, more and more, and away you go. That is the cure for tamas.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III,#KEYS
188:How can faith be increased?
Through aspiration, I suppose. Some have it spontaneously... You see, it is difficult to pray if one doesn't have faith, but if one can make prayer a means of increasing one's faith, or aspiring, having an aspiration, having an aspiration to have faith... Most of these qualities require an effort. If one does not have a thing and wants to have it, well, it needs great, great, great sustained efforts, a constant aspiration, an unflagging will, a sincerity at each moment; then one is sure, it will come one day - it can come in a second. There are people who have it, and then they have contrary movements which come and attack. These people, if their will is sincere, can shield their faith, repel the attacks. There are others who cultivate doubt because it is a kind of dilettantism - that, there's nothing more dangerous than that. It is as though one were letting the worm into the fruit: it eventually eats it up completely. This means that when a movement of this sort comes - it usually comes first into the mind - the first thing to do is to be very determined and refuse it. Surely one must not enjoy looking on just to see what is going to happen; that kind of curiosity is terribly dangerous.
It is perhaps more difficult for intellectuals to have faith than for those who are simple, sincere, who are straightforward, without intellectual complications. But I think that if an intellectual person has faith, then that becomes very powerful, a very powerful thing which can truly work miracles. ~ The Mother, Question and Answers, Volume-6, page no.121),#KEYS
189:... The first opening is effected by a concentration in the heart, a call to the Divine to manifest within us and through the psychic to take up and lead the whole nature. Aspiration, prayer, bhakti, love, surrender are the main supports of this part of the sadhana - accompanied by a rejection of all that stands in the way of what we aspire for. The second opening is effected by a concentration of the consciousness in the head (afterwards, above it) and an aspiration and call and a sustained will for the descent of the divine Peace, Power, Light, Knowledge, Ananda into the being - the Peace first or the Peace and Force together. Some indeed receive Light first or Ananda first or some sudden pouring down of knowledge. With some there is first an opening which reveals to them a vast infinite Silence, Force, Light or Bliss above them and afterwards either they ascend to that or these things begin to descend into the lower nature. With others there is either the descent, first into the head, then down to the heart level, then to the navel and below and through the whole body, or else an inexplicable opening - without any sense of descent - of peace, light, wideness or power or else a horizontal opening into the cosmic consciousness or, in a suddenly widened mind, an outburst of knowledge. Whatever comes has to be welcomed - for there is no absolute rule for all, - but if the peace has not come first, care must be taken not to swell oneself in exultation or lose the balance. The capital movement however is when the Divine Force or Shakti, the power of the Mother comes down and takes hold, for then the organisation of the consciousness begins and the larger foundation of the Yoga.
The result of the concentration is not usually immediate - though to some there comes a swift and sudden outflowering; but with most there is a time longer or shorter of adaptation or preparation, especially if the nature has not been prepared already to some extent by aspiration and tapasya. ... ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Mother With Letters On The Mother,#KEYS
190:In the Indian spiritual tradition, a heart's devotion to God, called Bhakti, is regarded as the easiest path to the Divine. What is Bhakti? Is it some extravagant religious sentimentalism? Is it inferior to the path of Knowledge? What is the nature of pure and complete spiritual devotion to God and how to realise it?
What Is Devotion?
...bhakti in its fullness is nothing but an entire self-giving. But then all meditation, all tapasya, all means of prayer or mantra must have that as its end... [SABCL, 23:799]
Devotion Is a State of the Heart and Soul
Bhakti is not an experience, it is a state of the heart and soul. It is a state which comes when the psychic being is awake and prominent. [SABCL, 23:776]
...Worship is only the first step on the path of devotion. Where external worship changes into the inner adoration, real Bhakti begins; that deepens into the intensity of divine love; that love leads to the joy of closeness in our relations with the Divine; the joy of closeness passes into the bliss of union. [SABCL, 21:525]
Devotion without Gratitude Is Incomplete
...there is another movement which should constantly accompany devotion. ... That kind of sense of gratitude that the Divine exists; that feeling of a marvelling thankfulness which truly fills you with a sublime joy at the fact that the Divine exists, that there is something in the universe which is the Divine, that it is not just the monstrosity we see, that there is the Divine, the Divine exists. And each time that the least thing puts you either directly or indirectly in contactwith this sublime Reality of divine existence, the heart is filled with so intense, so marvellous a joy, such a gratitude as of all things has the most delightful taste.
There is nothing which gives you a joy equal to that of gratitude. One hears a bird sing, sees a lovely flower, looks at a little child, observes an act of generosity, reads a beautiful sentence, looks at the setting sun, no matter what, suddenly this comes upon you, this kind of emotion-indeed so deep, so intense-that the world manifests the Divine, that there is something behind the world which is the Divine.
So I find that devotion without gratitude is quite incomplete, gratitude must come with devotion. ~ The Mother,#KEYS
191:
"Without conscious occult powers, is it possible to help or protect from a distance somebody in difficulty or danger? If so, what is the practical procedure?"
Then a sub-question:
"What can thought do?"
We are not going to speak of occult processes at all; although, to tell the truth, everything that happens in the invisible world is occult, by definition. But still, practically, there are two processes which do not exclude but complete each other, but which may be used separately according to one's preference.
It is obvious that thought forms a part of one of the methods, quite an important part. I have already told you several times that if one thinks clearly and powerfully, one makes a mental formation, and that every mental formation is an entity independent of its fashioner, having its own life and tending to realise itself in the mental world - I don't mean that you see your formation with your physical eyes, but it exists in the mental world, it has its own particular independent existence. If you have made a formation with a definite aim, its whole life will tend to the realisation of this aim. Therefore, if you want to help someone at a distance, you have only to formulate very clearly, very precisely and strongly the kind of help you want to give and the result you wish to obtain. That will have its effect. I cannot say that it will be all-powerful, for the mental world is full of innumerable formations of this kind and naturally they clash and contradict one another; hence the strongest and the most persistent will have the best of it.
Now, what is it that gives strength and persistence to mental formations? - It is emotion and will. If you know how to add to your mental formation an emotion, affection, tenderness, love, and an intensity of will, a dynamism, it will have a much greater chance of success. That is the first method. It is within the scope of all those who know how to think, and even more of those who know how to love. But as I said, the power is limited and there is great competition in that world.
Therefore, even if one has no knowledge at all but has trust in the divine Grace, if one has the faith that there is something in the world like the divine Grace, and that this something can answer a prayer, an aspiration, an invocation, then, after making one's mental formation, if one offers it to the Grace and puts one's trust in it, asks it to intervene and has the faith that it will intervene, then indeed one has a chance of success.
Try, and you will surely see the result.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1956, 253,#KEYS
192:Sweet Mother, there's a flower you have named "The Creative Word".
Yes.
What does that mean?
It is the word which creates.
There are all kinds of old traditions, old Hindu traditions, old Chaldean traditions in which the Divine, in the form of the Creator, that is, in His aspect as Creator, pronounces a word which has the power to create. So it is this... And it is the origin of the mantra. The mantra is the spoken word which has a creative power. An invocation is made and there is an answer to the invocation; or one makes a prayer and the prayer is granted. This is the Word, the Word which, in its sound... it is not only the idea, it is in the sound that there's a power of creation. It is the origin, you see, of the mantra.
In Indian mythology the creator God is Brahma, and I think that it was precisely his power which has been symbolised by this flower, "The Creative Word". And when one is in contact with it, the words spoken have a power of evocation or creation or formation or transformation; the words... sound always has a power; it has much more power than men think. It may be a good power and it may be a bad power. It creates vibrations which have an undeniable effect. It is not so much the idea as the sound; the idea too has its own power, but in its own domain - whereas the sound has a power in the material world.
I think I have explained this to you once; I told you, for example, that words spoken casually, usually without any re- flection and without attaching any importance to them, can be used to do something very good. I think I spoke to you about "Bonjour", "Good Day", didn't I? When people meet and say "Bonjour", they do so mechanically and without thinking. But if you put a will into it, an aspiration to indeed wish someone a good day, well, there is a way of saying "Good Day" which is very effective, much more effective than if simply meeting someone you thought: "Ah! I hope he has a good day", without saying anything. If with this hope in your thought you say to him in a certain way, "Good Day", you make it more concrete and more effective.
It's the same thing, by the way, with curses, or when one gets angry and says bad things to people. This can do them as much harm - more harm sometimes - than if you were to give them a slap. With very sensitive people it can put their stomach out of order or give them palpitation, because you put into it an evil force which has a power of destruction.
It is not at all ineffective to speak. Naturally it depends a great deal on each one's inner power. People who have no strength and no consciousness can't do very much - unless they employ material means. But to the extent that you are strong, especially when you have a powerful vital, you must have a great control on what you say, otherwise you can do much harm. Without wanting to, without knowing it; through ignorance.
Anything? No? Nothing?
Another question?... Everything's over? ~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1955, 347-349,#KEYS
193:Apotheosis ::: One of the most powerful and beloved of the Bodhisattvas of the Mahayana Buddhism of Tibet, China, and Japan is the Lotus Bearer, Avalokiteshvara, "The Lord Looking Down in Pity," so called because he regards with compassion all sentient creatures suffering the evils of existence. To him goes the millionfold repeated prayer of the prayer wheels and temple gongs of Tibet: Om mani padme hum, "The jewel is in the lotus." To him go perhaps more prayers per minute than to any single divinity known to man; for when, during his final life on earth as a human being, he shattered for himself the bounds of the last threshold (which moment opened to him the timelessness of the void beyond the frustrating mirage-enigmas of the named and bounded cosmos), he paused: he made a vow that before entering the void he would bring all creatures without exception to enlightenment; and since then he has permeated the whole texture of existence with the divine grace of his assisting presence, so that the least prayer addressed to him, throughout the vast spiritual empire of the Buddha, is graciously heard. Under differing forms he traverses the ten thousand worlds, and appears in the hour of need and prayer. He reveals himself in human form with two arms, in superhuman forms with four arms, or with six, or twelve, or a thousand, and he holds in one of his left hands the lotus of the world.
Like the Buddha himself, this godlike being is a pattern of the divine state to which the human hero attains who has gone beyond the last terrors of ignorance. "When the envelopment of consciousness has been annihilated, then he becomes free of all fear, beyond the reach of change." This is the release potential within us all, and which anyone can attain-through herohood; for, as we read: "All things are Buddha-things"; or again (and this is the other way of making the same statement) : "All beings are without self."
The world is filled and illumined by, but does not hold, the Bodhisattva ("he whose being is enlightenment"); rather, it is he who holds the world, the lotus. Pain and pleasure do not enclose him, he encloses them-and with profound repose. And since he is what all of us may be, his presence, his image, the mere naming of him, helps. "He wears a garland of eight thousand rays, in which is seen fully reflected a state of perfect beauty.
The color of his body is purple gold. His palms have the mixed color of five hundred lotuses, while each finger tip has eighty-four thousand signet-marks, and each mark eighty-four thousand colors; each color has eighty-four thousand rays which are soft and mild and shine over all things that exist. With these jewel hands he draws and embraces all beings. The halo surrounding his head is studded with five hundred Buddhas, miraculously transformed, each attended by five hundred Bodhisattvas, who are attended, in turn, by numberless gods. And when he puts his feet down to the ground, the flowers of diamonds and jewels that are scattered cover everything in all directions. The color of his face is gold. While in his towering crown of gems stands a Buddha, two hundred and fifty miles high." - Amitayur-Dhyana Sutra, 19; ibid., pp. 182-183. ~ Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Apotheosis,#KEYS
194:Darkness
I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came and went-and came, and brought no day,
And men forgot their passions in the dread
Of this their desolation; and all hearts
Were chill'd into a selfish prayer for light:
And they did live by watchfires-and the thrones,
The palaces of crowned kings-the huts,
The habitations of all things which dwell,
Were burnt for beacons; cities were consum'd,
And men were gather'd round their blazing homes
To look once more into each other's face;
Happy were those who dwelt within the eye
Of the volcanos, and their mountain-torch:
A fearful hope was all the world contain'd;
Forests were set on fire-but hour by hour
They fell and faded-and the crackling trunks
Extinguish'd with a crash-and all was black.
The brows of men by the despairing light
Wore an unearthly aspect, as by fits
The flashes fell upon them; some lay down
And hid their eyes and wept; and some did rest
Their chins upon their clenched hands, and smil'd;
And others hurried to and fro, and fed
Their funeral piles with fuel, and look'd up
With mad disquietude on the dull sky,
The pall of a past world; and then again
With curses cast them down upon the dust,
And gnash'd their teeth and howl'd: the wild birds shriek'd
And, terrified, did flutter on the ground,
And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes
Came tame and tremulous; and vipers crawl'd
And twin'd themselves among the multitude,
Hissing, but stingless-they were slain for food.
And War, which for a moment was no more,
Did glut himself again: a meal was bought
With blood, and each sate sullenly apart
Gorging himself in gloom: no love was left;
All earth was but one thought-and that was death
Immediate and inglorious; and the pang
Of famine fed upon all entrails-men
Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh;
The meagre by the meagre were devour'd,
Even dogs assail'd their masters, all save one,
And he was faithful to a corse, and kept
The birds and beasts and famish'd men at bay,
Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead
Lur'd their lank jaws; himself sought out no food,
But with a piteous and perpetual moan,
And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand
Which answer'd not with a caress-he died.
The crowd was famish'd by degrees; but two
Of an enormous city did survive,
And they were enemies: they met beside
The dying embers of an altar-place
Where had been heap'd a mass of holy things
For an unholy usage; they rak'd up,
And shivering scrap'd with their cold skeleton hands
The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath
Blew for a little life, and made a flame
Which was a mockery; then they lifted up
Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld
Each other's aspects-saw, and shriek'd, and died-
Even of their mutual hideousness they died,
Unknowing who he was upon whose brow
Famine had written Fiend. The world was void,
The populous and the powerful was a lump,
Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless-
A lump of death-a chaos of hard clay.
The rivers, lakes and ocean all stood still,
And nothing stirr'd within their silent depths;
Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea,
And their masts fell down piecemeal: as they dropp'd
They slept on the abyss without a surge-
The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,
The moon, their mistress, had expir'd before;
The winds were wither'd in the stagnant air,
And the clouds perish'd; Darkness had no need
Of aid from them-She was the Universe.
~ George Gordon Byron,#KEYS
195:The true Mantra must come from within OR it must be given by a Guru
Nobody can give you the true mantra. It's not something that is given; it's something that wells up from within. It must spring from within all of a sudden, spontaneously, like a profound, intense need of your being - then it has power, because it's not something that comes from outside, it's your very own cry.
I saw, in my case, that my mantra has the power of immortality; whatever happens, if it is uttered, it's the Supreme that has the upper hand, it's no longer the lower law. And the words are irrelevant, they may not have any meaning - to someone else, my mantra is meaningless, but to me it's full, packed with meaning. And effective, because it's my cry, the intense aspiration of my whole being.
A mantra given by a guru is only the power to realize the experience of the discoverer of the mantra. The power is automatically there, because the sound contains the experience. I saw that once in Paris, at a time when I knew nothing of India, absolutely nothing, only the usual nonsense. I didn't even know what a mantra was. I had gone to a lecture given by some fellow who was supposed to have practiced "yoga" for a year in the Himalayas and recounted his experience (none too interesting, either). All at once, in the course of his lecture, he uttered the sound OM. And I saw the entire room suddenly fill with light, a golden, vibrating light.... I was probably the only one to notice it. I said to myself, "Well!" Then I didn't give it any more thought, I forgot about the story. But as it happened, the experience recurred in two or three different countries, with different people, and every time there was the sound OM, I would suddenly see the place fill with that same light. So I understood. That sound contains the vibration of thousands and thousands of years of spiritual aspiration - there is in it the entire aspiration of men towards the Supreme. And the power is automatically there, because the experience is there.
It's the same with my mantra. When I wanted to translate the end of my mantra, "Glory to You, O Lord," into Sanskrit, I asked for Nolini's help. He brought his Sanskrit translation, and when he read it to me, I immediately saw that the power was there - not because Nolini put his power into it (!), God knows he had no intention of "giving" me a mantra! But the power was there because my experience was there. We made a few adjustments and modifications, and that's the japa I do now - I do it all the time, while sleeping, while walking, while eating, while working, all the time.[[Mother later clarified: "'Glory to You, O Lord' isn't MY mantra, it's something I ADDED to it - my mantra is something else altogether, that's not it. When I say that my mantra has the power of immortality, I mean the other, the one I don't speak of! I have never given the words.... You see, at the end of my walk, a kind of enthusiasm rises, and with that enthusiasm, the 'Glory to You' came to me, but it's part of the prayer I had written in Prayers and Meditations: 'Glory to You, O Lord, all-triumphant Supreme' etc. (it's a long prayer). It came back suddenly, and as it came back spontaneously, I kept it. Moreover, when Sri Aurobindo read this prayer in Prayers and Meditations, he told me it was very strong. So I added this phrase as a kind of tail to my japa. But 'Glory to You, O Lord' isn't my spontaneous mantra - it came spontaneously, but it was something written very long ago. The two things are different."
And that's how a mantra has life: when it wells up all the time, spontaneously, like the cry of your being - there is no need of effort or concentration: it's your natural cry. Then it has full power, it is alive. It must well up from within.... No guru can give you that. ~ The Mother, Agenda, May 11 1963,#KEYS
196:All Yoga is a turning of the human mind and the human soul, not yet divine in realisation, but feeling the divine impulse and attraction in it, towards that by which it finds its greater being. Emotionally, the first form which this turning takes must be that of adoration. In ordinary religion this adoration wears the form of external worship and that again develops a most external form of ceremonial worship. This element is ordinarily necessary because the mass of men live in their physical minds, cannot realise anything except by the force of a physical symbol and cannot feel that they are living anything except by the force of a physical action. We might apply here the Tantric gradation of sadhana, which makes the way of the pasu, the herd, the animal or physical being, the lowest stage of its discipline, and say that the purely or predominantly ceremonial adoration is the first step of this lowest part of the way. It is evident that even real religion, - and Yoga is something more than religion, - only begins when this quite outward worship corresponds to something really felt within the mind, some genuine submission, awe or spiritual aspiration, to which it becomes an aid, an outward expression and also a sort of periodical or constant reminder helping to draw back the mind to it from the preoccupations of ordinary life. But so long as it is only an idea of the Godhead to which one renders reverence or homage, we have not yet got to the beginning of Yoga. The aim of Yoga being union, its beginning must always be a seeking after the Divine, a longing after some kind of touch, closeness or possession. When this comes on us, the adoration becomes always primarily an inner worship; we begin to make ourselves a temple of the Divine, our thoughts and feelings a constant prayer of aspiration and seeking, our whole life an external service and worship. It is as this change, this new soul-tendency grows, that the religion of the devotee becomes a Yoga, a growing contact and union. It does not follow that the outward worship will necessarily be dispensed with, but it will increasingly become only a physical expression or outflowing of the inner devotion and adoration, the wave of the soul throwing itself out in speech and symbolic act.
Adoration, before it turns into an element of the deeper Yoga of devotion, a petal of the flower of love, its homage and self-uplifting to its sun, must bring with it, if it is profound, an increasing consecration of the being to the Divine who is adored. And one element of this consecration must be a self-purifying so as to become fit for the divine contact, or for the entrance of the Divine into the temple of our inner being, or for his selfrevelation in the shrine of the heart. This purifying may be ethical in its character, but it will not be merely the moralist's seeking for the right and blameless action or even, when once we reach the stage of Yoga, an obedience to the law of God as revealed in formal religion; but it will be a throwing away, katharsis, of all that conflicts whether with the idea of the Divine in himself or of the Divine in ourselves. In the former case it becomes in habit of feeling and outer act an imitation of the Divine, in the latter a growing into his likeness in our nature. What inner adoration is to ceremonial worship, this growing into the divine likeness is to the outward ethical life. It culminates in a sort of liberation by likeness to the Divine,1 a liberation from our lower nature and a change into the divine nature.
Consecration becomes in its fullness a devoting of all our being to the Divine; therefore also of all our thoughts and our works. Here the Yoga takes into itself the essential elements of the Yoga of works and the Yoga of knowledge, but in its own manner and with its own peculiar spirit. It is a sacrifice of life and works to the Divine, but a sacrifice of love more than a tuning of the will to the divine Will. The bhakta offers up his life and all that he is and all that he has and all that he does to the Divine. This surrender may take the ascetic form, as when he leaves the ordinary life of men and devotes his days solely to prayer ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Way of Devotion, 571 [T1],#KEYS
197:GURU YOGA
Guru yoga is an essential practice in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism and Bon. This is true in sutra, tantra, and Dzogchen. It develops the heart connection with the masteR By continually strengthening our devotion, we come to the place of pure devotion in ourselves, which is the unshakeable, powerful base of the practice. The essence of guru yoga is to merge the practitioner's mind with the mind of the master.
What is the true master? It is the formless, fundamental nature of mind, the primordial awareness of the base of everything, but because we exist in dualism, it is helpful for us to visualize this in a form. Doing so makes skillful use of the dualisms of the conceptual mind, to further strengthen devotion and help us stay directed toward practice and the generation of positive qualities.
In the Bon tradition, we often visualize either Tapihritsa* as the master, or the Buddha ShenlaOdker*, who represents the union of all the masters. If you are already a practitioner, you may have another deity to visualize, like Guru Rinpoche or a yidam or dakini. While it is important to work with a lineage with which you have a connection, you should understand that the master you visualize is the embodiment of all the masters with whom you are connected, all the teachers with whom you have studied, all the deities to whom you have commitments. The master in guru yoga is not just one individual, but the essence of enlightenment, the primordial awareness that is your true nature.
The master is also the teacher from whom you receive the teachings. In the Tibetan tradition, we say the master is more important than the Buddha. Why? Because the master is the immediate messenger of the teachings, the one who brings the Buddha's wisdom to the student. Without the master we could not find our way to the Buddha. So we should feel as much devotion to the master as we would to the Buddha if the Buddha suddenly appeared in front of us.
Guru yoga is not just about generating some feeling toward a visualized image. It is done to find the fundamental mind in yourself that is the same as the fundamental mind of all your teachers, and of all the Buddhas and realized beings that have ever lived. When you merge with the guru, you merge with your pristine true nature, which is the real guide and masteR But this should not be an abstract practice. When you do guru yoga, try to feel such intense devotion that the hair stands upon your neck, tears start down your face, and your heart opens and fills with great love. Let yourself merge in union with the guru's mind, which is your enlightened Buddha-nature. This is the way to practice guru yoga.
The Practice
After the nine breaths, still seated in meditation posture, visualize the master above and in front of you. This should not be a flat, two dimensional picture-let a real being exist there, in three dimensions, made of light, pure, and with a strong presence that affects the feeling in your body,your energy, and your mind. Generate strong devotion and reflect on the great gift of the teachings and the tremendous good fortune you enjoy in having made a connection to them. Offer a sincere prayer, asking that your negativities and obscurations be removed, that your positive qualities develop, and that you accomplish dream yoga.
Then imagine receiving blessings from the master in the form of three colored lights that stream from his or her three wisdom doors- of body, speech, and mind-into yours. The lights should be transmitted in the following sequence: White light streams from the master's brow chakra into yours, purifying and relaxing your entire body and physical dimension. Then red light streams from the master's throat chakra into yours, purifying and relaxing your energetic dimension. Finally, blue light streams from the master's heart chakra into yours, purifying and relaxing your mind.
When the lights enter your body, feel them. Let your body, energy, and mind relax, suffused inwisdom light. Use your imagination to make the blessing real in your full experience, in your body and energy as well as in the images in your mind.
After receiving the blessing, imagine the master dissolving into light that enters your heart and resides there as your innermost essence. Imagine that you dissolve into that light, and remain inpure awareness, rigpa.
There are more elaborate instructions for guru yoga that can involve prostrations, offerings, gestures, mantras, and more complicated visualizations, but the essence of the practice is mingling your mind with the mind of the master, which is pure, non-dual awareness. Guru yoga can be done any time during the day; the more often the better. Many masters say that of all the practices it is guru yoga that is the most important. It confers the blessings of the lineage and can open and soften the heart and quiet the unruly mind. To completely accomplish guru yoga is to accomplish the path.
~ Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Yogas Of Dream And Sleep, [T3],#KEYS
198:AUGOEIDES:
The magicians most important invocation is that of his Genius, Daemon, True Will, or Augoeides. This operation is traditionally known as attaining the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. It is sometimes known as the Magnum Opus or Great Work.
The Augoeides may be defined as the most perfect vehicle of Kia on the plane of duality. As the avatar of Kia on earth, the Augoeides represents the true will, the raison detre of the magician, his purpose in existing. The discovery of ones true will or real nature may be difficult and fraught with danger, since a false identification leads to obsession and madness. The operation of obtaining the knowledge and conversation is usually a lengthy one. The magician is attempting a progressive metamorphosis, a complete overhaul of his entire existence. Yet he has to seek the blueprint for his reborn self as he goes along. Life is less the meaningless accident it seems. Kia has incarnated in these particular conditions of duality for some purpose. The inertia of previous existences propels Kia into new forms of manifestation. Each incarnation represents a task, or a puzzle to be solved, on the way to some greater form of completion.
The key to this puzzle is in the phenomena of the plane of duality in which we find ourselves. We are, as it were, trapped in a labyrinth or maze. The only thing to do is move about and keep a close watch on the way the walls turn. In a completely chaotic universe such as this one, there are no accidents. Everything is signifcant. Move a single grain of sand on a distant shore and the entire future history of the world will eventually be changed. A person doing his true will is assisted by the momentum of the universe and seems possessed of amazing good luck. In beginning the great work of obtaining the knowledge and conversation, the magician vows to interpret every manifestation of existence as a direct message from the infinite Chaos to himself personally.
To do this is to enter the magical world view in its totality. He takes complete responsibility for his present incarnation and must consider every experience, thing, or piece of information which assails him from any source, as a reflection of the way he is conducting his existence. The idea that things happen to one that may or may not be related to the way one acts is an illusion created by our shallow awareness.
Keeping a close eye on the walls of the labyrinth, the conditions of his existence, the magician may then begin his invocation. The genius is not something added to oneself. Rather it is a stripping away of excess to reveal the god within.
Directly on awakening, preferably at dawn, the initiate goes to the place of invocation. Figuring to himself as he goes that being born anew each day brings with it the chance of greater rebirth, first he banishes the temple of his mind by ritual or by some magical trance. Then he unveils some token or symbol or sigil which represents to him the Holy Guardian Angel. This symbol he will likely have to change during the great work as the inspiration begins to move him. Next he invokes an image of the Angel into his minds eye. It may be considered as a luminous duplicate of ones own form standing in front of or behind one, or simply as a ball of brilliant light above ones head. Then he formulates his aspirations in what manner he will, humbling himself in prayer or exalting himself in loud proclamation as his need be. The best form of this invocation is spoken spontaneously from the heart, and if halting at first, will prove itself in time. He is aiming to establish a set of ideas and images which correspond to the nature of his genius, and at the same time receive inspiration from that source. As the magician begins to manifest more of his true will, the Augoeides will reveal images, names, and spiritual principles by which it can be drawn into greater manifestation. Having communicated with the invoked form, the magician should draw it into himself and go forth to live in the way he hath willed.
The ritual may be concluded with an aspiration to the wisdom of silence by a brief concentration on the sigil of the Augoeides, but never by banishing. Periodically more elaborate forms of ritual, using more powerful forms of gnosis, may be employed. At the end of the day, there should be an accounting and fresh resolution made. Though every day be a catalog of failure, there should be no sense of sin or guilt. Magic is the raising of the whole individual in perfect balance to the power of Infinity, and such feelings are symptomatic of imbalance. If any unnecessary or imbalanced scraps of ego become identified with the genius by mistake, then disaster awaits. The life force flows directly into these complexes and bloats them into grotesque monsters variously known as the demon Choronzon. Some magicians attempting to go too fast with this invocation have failed to banish this demon, and have gone spectacularly insane as a result.
~ Peter J Carroll, Liber Null,#KEYS
199:
In the lower planes can't one say what will happen at a particular moment?
That depends. On certain planes there are consciousnesses that form, that make formations and try to send them down to earth and manifest them. These are planes where the great forces are at play, forces struggling with each other to organise things in one way or another. On these planes all the possibilities are there, all the possibilities that present themselves but have not yet come to a decision as to which will come down.... Suppose a plane full of the imaginations of people who want certain things to be realised upon earth - they invent a novel, narrate stories, produce all kinds of phenomena; it amuses them very much. It is a plane of form-makers and they are there imagining all kinds of circumstances and events; they play with the forces; they are like the authors of a drama and they prepare everything there and see what is going to happen. All these formations are facing each other; and it is those which are the strongest, the most successful or the most persistent or those that have the advantage of a favourable set of circumstances which dominate. They meet and out of the conflict yet another thing results: you lose one thing and take up another, you make a new combination; and then all of a sudden, you find, pluff! it is coming down. Now, if it comes down with a sufficient force, it sets moving the earth atmosphere and things combine; as for instance, when with your fist you thump the saw-dust, you know surely what happens, don't you? You lift your hand, give a formidable blow: all the dust gets organised around your fist. Well, it is like that. These formations come down into matter with that force, and everything organises itself automatically, mechanically as around the striking fist. And there's your wished object about to be realised, sometimes with small deformations because of the resistance, but it will be realised finally, even as the person narrating the story up above wanted it more or less to be realised. If then you are for some reason or other in the secret of the person who has constructed the story and if you follow the way in which he creates his path to reach down to the earth and if you see how a blow with the fist acts on earthly matter, then you are able to tell what is going to happen, because you have seen it in the world above, and as it takes some time to make the whole journey, you see in advance. And the higher you rise, the more you foresee in advance what is going to happen. And if you pass far beyond, go still farther, then everything is possible.
It is an unfolding that follows a wide road which is for you unknowable; for all will be unfolded in the universe, but in what order and in what way? There are decisions that are taken up there which escape our ordinary consciousness, and so it is very difficult to foresee. But there also, if you enter consciously and if you can be present up there... How shall I explain that to you? All is there, absolute, static, eternal: but all that will be unfolded in the material world, naturally more or less one thing after another; for in the static existence all can be there, but in the becoming all becomes in time, that is, one thing after another. Well, what path will the unfolding follow? Up there is the domain of absolute freedom.... Who says that a sufficiently sincere aspiration, a sufficiently intense prayer is not capable of changing the path of the unfolding?
This means that all is possible.
Now, one must have a sufficient aspiration and a prayer that's sufficiently intense. But that has been given to human nature. It is one of the marvellous gifts of grace given to human nature; only, one does not know how to make use of it. This comes to saying that in spite of the most absolute determinisms in the horizontal line, if one knows how to cross all these horizontal lines and reach the highest Point of consciousness, one is able to make things change, things apparently absolutely determined. So you may call it by any name you like, but it is a kind of combination of an absolute determinism with an absolute freedom. You may pull yourself out of it in any way you like, but it is like that.
I forgot to say in that book (perhaps I did not forget but just felt that it was useless to say it) that all these theories are only theories, that is, mental conceptions which are merely more or less imaged representations of the reality; but it is not the reality at all. When you say "determinism" and when you say "freedom", you say only words and all that is only a very incomplete, very approximate and very weak description of what is in reality within you, around you and everywhere; and to be able to begin to understand what the universe is, you must come out of your mental formulas, otherwise you will never understand anything.
To tell the truth, if you live only a moment, just a tiny moment, of this absolutely sincere aspiration or this sufficiently intense prayer, you will know more things than by meditating for hours.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1953,#KEYS
200:One little picture in this book, the Magic Locket, was drawn by 'Miss Alice Havers.' I did not state this on the title-page, since it seemed only due, to the artist of all these (to my mind) wonderful pictures, that his name should stand there alone.
The descriptions, of Sunday as spent by children of the last generation, are quoted verbatim from a speech made to me by a child-friend and a letter written to me by a lady-friend.
The Chapters, headed 'Fairy Sylvie' and 'Bruno's Revenge,' are a reprint, with a few alterations, of a little fairy-tale which I wrote in the year 1867, at the request of the late Mrs. Gatty, for 'Aunt Judy's Magazine,' which she was then editing.
It was in 1874, I believe, that the idea first occurred to me of making it the nucleus of a longer story.
As the years went on, I jotted down, at odd moments, all sorts of odd ideas, and fragments of dialogue, that occurred to me--who knows how?--with a transitory suddenness that left me no choice but either to record them then and there, or to abandon them to oblivion. Sometimes one could trace to their source these random flashes of thought--as being suggested by the book one was reading, or struck out from the 'flint' of one's own mind by the 'steel' of a friend's chance remark but they had also a way of their own, of occurring, a propos of nothing --specimens of that hopelessly illogical phenomenon, 'an effect without a cause.' Such, for example, was the last line of 'The Hunting of the Snark,' which came into my head (as I have already related in 'The Theatre' for April, 1887) quite suddenly, during a solitary walk: and such, again, have been passages which occurred in dreams, and which I cannot trace to any antecedent cause whatever. There are at least two instances of such dream-suggestions in this book--one, my Lady's remark, 'it often runs in families, just as a love for pastry does', the other, Eric Lindon's badinage about having been in domestic service.
And thus it came to pass that I found myself at last in possession of a huge unwieldy mass of litterature--if the reader will kindly excuse the spelling --which only needed stringing together, upon the thread of a consecutive story, to constitute the book I hoped to write. Only! The task, at first, seemed absolutely hopeless, and gave me a far clearer idea, than I ever had before, of the meaning of the word 'chaos': and I think it must have been ten years, or more, before I had succeeded in classifying these odds-and-ends sufficiently to see what sort of a story they indicated: for the story had to grow out of the incidents, not the incidents out of the story I am telling all this, in no spirit of egoism, but because I really believe that some of my readers will be interested in these details of the 'genesis' of a book, which looks so simple and straight-forward a matter, when completed, that they might suppose it to have been written straight off, page by page, as one would write a letter, beginning at the beginning; and ending at the end.
It is, no doubt, possible to write a story in that way: and, if it be not vanity to say so, I believe that I could, myself,--if I were in the unfortunate position (for I do hold it to be a real misfortune) of being obliged to produce a given amount of fiction in a given time,--that I could 'fulfil my task,' and produce my 'tale of bricks,' as other slaves have done. One thing, at any rate, I could guarantee as to the story so produced--that it should be utterly commonplace, should contain no new ideas whatever, and should be very very weary reading!
This species of literature has received the very appropriate name of 'padding' which might fitly be defined as 'that which all can write and none can read.' That the present volume contains no such writing I dare not avow: sometimes, in order to bring a picture into its proper place, it has been necessary to eke out a page with two or three extra lines : but I can honestly say I have put in no more than I was absolutely compelled to do.
My readers may perhaps like to amuse themselves by trying to detect, in a given passage, the one piece of 'padding' it contains. While arranging the 'slips' into pages, I found that the passage was 3 lines too short. I supplied the deficiency, not by interpolating a word here and a word there, but by writing in 3 consecutive lines. Now can my readers guess which they are?
A harder puzzle if a harder be desired would be to determine, as to the Gardener's Song, in which cases (if any) the stanza was adapted to the surrounding text, and in which (if any) the text was adapted to the stanza.
Perhaps the hardest thing in all literature--at least I have found it so: by no voluntary effort can I accomplish it: I have to take it as it come's is to write anything original. And perhaps the easiest is, when once an original line has been struck out, to follow it up, and to write any amount more to the same tune. I do not know if 'Alice in Wonderland' was an original story--I was, at least, no conscious imitator in writing it--but I do know that, since it came out, something like a dozen storybooks have appeared, on identically the same pattern. The path I timidly explored believing myself to be 'the first that ever burst into that silent sea'--is now a beaten high-road: all the way-side flowers have long ago been trampled into the dust: and it would be courting disaster for me to attempt that style again.
Hence it is that, in 'Sylvie and Bruno,' I have striven with I know not what success to strike out yet another new path: be it bad or good, it is the best I can do. It is written, not for money, and not for fame, but in the hope of supplying, for the children whom I love, some thoughts that may suit those hours of innocent merriment which are the very life of Childhood; and also in the hope of suggesting, to them and to others, some thoughts that may prove, I would fain hope, not wholly out of harmony with the graver cadences of Life.
If I have not already exhausted the patience of my readers, I would like to seize this opportunity perhaps the last I shall have of addressing so many friends at once of putting on record some ideas that have occurred to me, as to books desirable to be written--which I should much like to attempt, but may not ever have the time or power to carry through--in the hope that, if I should fail (and the years are gliding away very fast) to finish the task I have set myself, other hands may take it up.
First, a Child's Bible. The only real essentials of this would be, carefully selected passages, suitable for a child's reading, and pictures. One principle of selection, which I would adopt, would be that Religion should be put before a child as a revelation of love--no need to pain and puzzle the young mind with the history of crime and punishment. (On such a principle I should, for example, omit the history of the Flood.) The supplying of the pictures would involve no great difficulty: no new ones would be needed : hundreds of excellent pictures already exist, the copyright of which has long ago expired, and which simply need photo-zincography, or some similar process, for their successful reproduction. The book should be handy in size with a pretty attractive looking cover--in a clear legible type--and, above all, with abundance of pictures, pictures, pictures!
Secondly, a book of pieces selected from the Bible--not single texts, but passages of from 10 to 20 verses each--to be committed to memory. Such passages would be found useful, to repeat to one's self and to ponder over, on many occasions when reading is difficult, if not impossible: for instance, when lying awake at night--on a railway-journey --when taking a solitary walk-in old age, when eyesight is failing or wholly lost--and, best of all, when illness, while incapacitating us for reading or any other occupation, condemns us to lie awake through many weary silent hours: at such a time how keenly one may realise the truth of David's rapturous cry "O how sweet are thy words unto my throat: yea, sweeter than honey unto my mouth!"
I have said 'passages,' rather than single texts, because we have no means of recalling single texts: memory needs links, and here are none: one may have a hundred texts stored in the memory, and not be able to recall, at will, more than half-a-dozen--and those by mere chance: whereas, once get hold of any portion of a chapter that has been committed to memory, and the whole can be recovered: all hangs together.
Thirdly, a collection of passages, both prose and verse, from books other than the Bible. There is not perhaps much, in what is called 'un-inspired' literature (a misnomer, I hold: if Shakespeare was not inspired, one may well doubt if any man ever was), that will bear the process of being pondered over, a hundred times: still there are such passages--enough, I think, to make a goodly store for the memory.
These two books of sacred, and secular, passages for memory--will serve other good purposes besides merely occupying vacant hours: they will help to keep at bay many anxious thoughts, worrying thoughts, uncharitable thoughts, unholy thoughts. Let me say this, in better words than my own, by copying a passage from that most interesting book, Robertson's Lectures on the Epistles to the Corinthians, Lecture XLIX. "If a man finds himself haunted by evil desires and unholy images, which will generally be at periodical hours, let him commit to memory passages of Scripture, or passages from the best writers in verse or prose. Let him store his mind with these, as safeguards to repeat when he lies awake in some restless night, or when despairing imaginations, or gloomy, suicidal thoughts, beset him. Let these be to him the sword, turning everywhere to keep the way of the Garden of Life from the intrusion of profaner footsteps."
Fourthly, a "Shakespeare" for girls: that is, an edition in which everything, not suitable for the perusal of girls of (say) from 10 to 17, should be omitted. Few children under 10 would be likely to understand or enjoy the greatest of poets: and those, who have passed out of girlhood, may safely be left to read Shakespeare, in any edition, 'expurgated' or not, that they may prefer: but it seems a pity that so many children, in the intermediate stage, should be debarred from a great pleasure for want of an edition suitable to them. Neither Bowdler's, Chambers's, Brandram's, nor Cundell's 'Boudoir' Shakespeare, seems to me to meet the want: they are not sufficiently 'expurgated.' Bowdler's is the most extraordinary of all: looking through it, I am filled with a deep sense of wonder, considering what he has left in, that he should have cut anything out! Besides relentlessly erasing all that is unsuitable on the score of reverence or decency, I should be inclined to omit also all that seems too difficult, or not likely to interest young readers. The resulting book might be slightly fragmentary: but it would be a real treasure to all British maidens who have any taste for poetry.
If it be needful to apologize to any one for the new departure I have taken in this story--by introducing, along with what will, I hope, prove to be acceptable nonsense for children, some of the graver thoughts of human life--it must be to one who has learned the Art of keeping such thoughts wholly at a distance in hours of mirth and careless ease. To him such a mixture will seem, no doubt, ill-judged and repulsive. And that such an Art exists I do not dispute: with youth, good health, and sufficient money, it seems quite possible to lead, for years together, a life of unmixed gaiety--with the exception of one solemn fact, with which we are liable to be confronted at any moment, even in the midst of the most brilliant company or the most sparkling entertainment. A man may fix his own times for admitting serious thought, for attending public worship, for prayer, for reading the Bible: all such matters he can defer to that 'convenient season', which is so apt never to occur at all: but he cannot defer, for one single moment, the necessity of attending to a message, which may come before he has finished reading this page,' this night shalt thy soul be required of thee.'
The ever-present sense of this grim possibility has been, in all ages, 1 an incubus that men have striven to shake off. Few more interesting subjects of enquiry could be found, by a student of history, than the various weapons that have been used against this shadowy foe. Saddest of all must have been the thoughts of those who saw indeed an existence beyond the grave, but an existence far more terrible than annihilation--an existence as filmy, impalpable, all but invisible spectres, drifting about, through endless ages, in a world of shadows, with nothing to do, nothing to hope for, nothing to love! In the midst of the gay verses of that genial 'bon vivant' Horace, there stands one dreary word whose utter sadness goes to one's heart. It is the word 'exilium' in the well-known passage
Omnes eodem cogimur, omnium
Versatur urna serius ocius
Sors exitura et nos in aeternum
Exilium impositura cymbae.
Yes, to him this present life--spite of all its weariness and all its sorrow--was the only life worth having: all else was 'exile'! Does it not seem almost incredible that one, holding such a creed, should ever have smiled?
And many in this day, I fear, even though believing in an existence beyond the grave far more real than Horace ever dreamed of, yet regard it as a sort of 'exile' from all the joys of life, and so adopt Horace's theory, and say 'let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.'
We go to entertainments, such as the theatre--I say 'we', for I also go to the play, whenever I get a chance of seeing a really good one and keep at arm's length, if possible, the thought that we may not return alive. Yet how do you know--dear friend, whose patience has carried you through this garrulous preface that it may not be your lot, when mirth is fastest and most furious, to feel the sharp pang, or the deadly faintness, which heralds the final crisis--to see, with vague wonder, anxious friends bending over you to hear their troubled whispers perhaps yourself to shape the question, with trembling lips, "Is it serious?", and to be told "Yes: the end is near" (and oh, how different all Life will look when those words are said!)--how do you know, I say, that all this may not happen to you, this night?
And dare you, knowing this, say to yourself "Well, perhaps it is an immoral play: perhaps the situations are a little too 'risky', the dialogue a little too strong, the 'business' a little too suggestive.
I don't say that conscience is quite easy: but the piece is so clever, I must see it this once! I'll begin a stricter life to-morrow." To-morrow, and to-morrow, and tomorrow!
"Who sins in hope, who, sinning, says,
'Sorrow for sin God's judgement stays!'
Against God's Spirit he lies; quite stops Mercy with insult; dares, and drops,
Like a scorch'd fly, that spins in vain
Upon the axis of its pain,
Then takes its doom, to limp and crawl,
Blind and forgot, from fall to fall."
Let me pause for a moment to say that I believe this thought, of the possibility of death--if calmly realised, and steadily faced would be one of the best possible tests as to our going to any scene of amusement being right or wrong. If the thought of sudden death acquires, for you, a special horror when imagined as happening in a theatre, then be very sure the theatre is harmful for you, however harmless it may be for others; and that you are incurring a deadly peril in going. Be sure the safest rule is that we should not dare to live in any scene in which we dare not die.
But, once realise what the true object is in life--that it is not pleasure, not knowledge, not even fame itself, 'that last infirmity of noble minds'--but that it is the development of character, the rising to a higher, nobler, purer standard, the building-up of the perfect Man--and then, so long as we feel that this is going on, and will (we trust) go on for evermore, death has for us no terror; it is not a shadow, but a light; not an end, but a beginning!
One other matter may perhaps seem to call for apology--that I should have treated with such entire want of sympathy the British passion for 'Sport', which no doubt has been in by-gone days, and is still, in some forms of it, an excellent school for hardihood and for coolness in moments of danger.
But I am not entirely without sympathy for genuine 'Sport': I can heartily admire the courage of the man who, with severe bodily toil, and at the risk of his life, hunts down some 'man-eating' tiger: and I can heartily sympathize with him when he exults in the glorious excitement of the chase and the hand-to-hand struggle with the monster brought to bay. But I can but look with deep wonder and sorrow on the hunter who, at his ease and in safety, can find pleasure in what involves, for some defenceless creature, wild terror and a death of agony: deeper, if the hunter be one who has pledged himself to preach to men the Religion of universal Love: deepest of all, if it be one of those 'tender and delicate' beings, whose very name serves as a symbol of Love--'thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women'--whose mission here is surely to help and comfort all that are in pain or sorrow!
'Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.' ~ Lewis Carroll, Sylvie and Bruno,#KEYS
1:The greatest prayer is patience. ~ buddha, @wisdomtrove 2:Writing is a form of prayer. ~ franz-kafka, @wisdomtrove 3:All writing is a form of prayer. ~ john-keats, @wisdomtrove 4:God's solution is a prayer away! ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 5:Purity is the fruit of prayer. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 6:Real prayer is union with God. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 7:The fruit of Silence is Prayer. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 8:Prayer can never be in excess. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 9:Prayer is man's greatest power! ~ w-clement-stone, @wisdomtrove 10:The beginning of prayer is silence. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 11:Complaint is a prayer to the devil. ~ michael-beckwith, @wisdomtrove 12:Prayer does not change God; it changes me. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 13:Prayer is an august avowal of ignorance. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 14:Prayer is the thermometer of grace. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 15:The goal of prayer is the ear of God. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 16:The root of prayer is interior silence. ~ thomas-keating, @wisdomtrove 17:I cannot neglect prayer for a single day. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 18:Prayer is in all things, in all gestures. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 19:Prayer is the best response to hatred. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 20:The key to prayer is simply praying. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 21:Souls of prayer are souls of great silence ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 22:Prayer, study, and suffering make a pastor. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 23:The fewer the words, the better the prayer. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 24:A prayer less soul is a Christ less soul. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 25:Prayer is climbing up into the heart of God. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 26:It is impossible to have a prayer without power. ~ gary-zukav, @wisdomtrove 27:Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 28:Prayer moves the arm that moves the world. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 29:Worry increases pressure; prayer releases peace. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 30:meditation vs prayer = listening vs talking ~ elizabeth-gilbert, @wisdomtrove 31:Prayer is a concentration of positive thoughts. ~ peace-pilgrim, @wisdomtrove 32:Before prayer changes others, it first changes us. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 33:Prayer is an act of love. Words are not needed. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 34:Brief let me be. The fewer words the better prayer. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 35:Man's greatest power lies in the power of prayer. ~ w-clement-stone, @wisdomtrove 36:Prayer is the mortar that holds our house together. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 37:True prayer is measured by weight, not by length ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 38:A day hemmed in prayer is less likely to unravel. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 39:By prayer, community is created as well as expressed. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 40:Prayer in action is love, love in action is service. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 41:True prayer is the trading of the heart with God. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 42:It's good to have a prayer on your lips wherever you go. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 43:Prayer is the most concrete way to make our home in God. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 44:The seeker's silence is the loudest form of prayer. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 45:Every wish Is like a prayer& 46:All our perils are nothing, so long as we have prayer. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 47:Coffee is good for talent, but genius wants prayer. ~ ralph-waldo-emerson, @wisdomtrove 48:Mighty prayer has often been produced by mighty trial. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 49:Prayer is a silent surrendering of everything to God. ~ soren-kierkegaard, @wisdomtrove 50:& 51:For all prayer is answered. Don't tell God how to answer it. ~ edgar-cayce, @wisdomtrove 52:Prayer gives us a pure heart and a pure heart can do much. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 53:[Prayer] takes no time, but it occupies all our time. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 54:The church converteth the whole world by blood and prayer. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 55:Prayer is simply a two-way conversation between you and God. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 56:Prayer should not be merely an act, but an attitude of life. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 57:All good is born in prayer, and all good springs from it. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 58:It is God’s passionate pursuit of us that calls us to prayer. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 59:You're never without hope, because you're never without prayer. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 60:Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays. ~ soren-kierkegaard, @wisdomtrove 61:Prayer meetings are the throbbing machinery of the church. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 62:Prayer is an invisible tool which is wielded in a visible world. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 63:Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening. ~ mahatma-gandhi, @wisdomtrove 64:Through prayer we speak to God. In meditation, God speaks to us. ~ edgar-cayce, @wisdomtrove 65:a spiritual life without prayer is like the gospel without Christ. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 66:Even the straws under my knees shout to distract me from prayer ~ saint-augustine, @wisdomtrove 67:No amount of prayer or meditation can do what helping others can do. ~ meher-baba, @wisdomtrove 68:You can delegate many things, but prayer is not one of them. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 69:Prayer is a friendly conversation with the One we know loves us. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 70:It is to this silence [contemplative prayer] that we all are called. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 71:More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. ~ alfred-lord-tennyson, @wisdomtrove 72:Prayer is the most sacred occupation a person could engage in. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 73:Prayer is more than a wish; it is the voice of faith directed to God. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 74:Prayer is the autograph of the Holy Ghost upon the renewed heart. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 75:Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscle of omnipotence. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 76:True prayer is a way of life, not just for use in cases of emergency. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 77:Only the prayer which comes from our heart can get to God's heart. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 78:The sexual embrace can only be compared with music and with prayer. ~ marcus-aurelius, @wisdomtrove 79:Prayer never brought in no side-meat. Takes a shoat to bring in pork. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 80:For a successful season of prayer, the best beginning is confession. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 81:Humor is a prelude to faith and laughter is the beginning of prayer. ~ reinhold-niebuhr, @wisdomtrove 82:I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention... ~ mary-oliver, @wisdomtrove 83:Lord, lord, lord. Protect me from the consequences of the above prayer. ~ douglas-adams, @wisdomtrove 84:For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 85:God's first line of defense - and offense - for every situation is prayer. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 86:I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 87:It is well said that neglected prayer is the birth-place of all evil. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 88:Prayer enables us to transform the world because it transforms us. ~ marianne-williamson, @wisdomtrove 89:Prayer is one of the necessary wheels of the machinery of providence. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 90:Prayer sweeps the battlefield, slays the enemy, and buries the bones. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 91:The most eloquent prayer is the prayer through hands that heal and bless. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 92:When joy and prayer are married, their first born child is gratitude. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 93:Prayer is a powerful thing; for God has bound and tied himself thereunto. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 94:The essential thing is to work in a state of mind that approaches prayer. ~ henri-matisse, @wisdomtrove 95:Do you wish to find out the really sublime? Repeat the Lord's Prayer. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 96:How beautiful to look at When my prayer Lights a candle of hope In my heart. ~ sri-chinmoy, @wisdomtrove 97:Prayer is not a pious decoration of life but the breath of human existence. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 98:Prayer is the breath of life to our soul; holiness is impossible without it ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 99:He is thinking quietly: I should not have got out of the habit of prayer. ~ william-faulkner, @wisdomtrove 100:Prayer is doubts destroyer, ruin's remedy, the antidote to all anxieties. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 101:We can change the course of events if we go to our knees in believing prayer. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 102:God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 103:Souls who do not practice prayer are like people whose limbs are paralyzed. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 104:As we are involved in unceasing thinking, so we are called to unceasing prayer. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 105:Prayer is and remains always a native and deepest impulse of the soul of man. ~ thomas-carlyle, @wisdomtrove 106:Reading the morning newspaper is the realist's morning prayer. ~ georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel, @wisdomtrove 107:A prayer couched in the words of the soul, is far more powerful than any ritual. ~ paulo-coelho, @wisdomtrove 108:If you give your life as a prayer, you intensify the prayer beyond all measure. ~ peace-pilgrim, @wisdomtrove 109:I would never want any prayer that would not make the virtues grow within me. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 110:When we become too glib in prayer we are most surely talking to ourselves. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 111:I deepen my experience of God through prayer, meditation, and forgiveness. ~ marianne-williamson, @wisdomtrove 112:Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 113:The life of prayer is just love to God, and the custom of being ever with Him. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 114:Prayer is the hand of faith on the door knob of your heart, inviting Jesus to enter. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 115:Group chanting and prayer is very powerful. It can bring important changes. ~ mata-amritanandamayi, @wisdomtrove 116:I refuse the oration of all churches. I ask a prayer of all souls. I believe in God. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 117:Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God's gift of Himself. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 118:Prayer is not what is done by us, but rather what is done by the Holy Spirit in us. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 119:Real prayer is union with God, a union as vital as that of the vine to the branch. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 120:For most of us the prayer in Gethsemane is the only model. Removing mountains can wait. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 121:It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart. ~ mahatma-gandhi, @wisdomtrove 122:Live and die without prayer, and you will pray long enough when you get to hell. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 123:The best style of prayer is that which cannot be called anything else but a cry. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 124:The more we can give in our silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 125:There is only one prayer and that is prayer for light, for purity, for perfection. ~ frederick-lenz, @wisdomtrove 126:If He has said much about prayer, it is because He knows we have much need of it. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 127:Neglect of private prayer is the locust which devours the strength of the church. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 128:Prayer is a strong wall and fortress of the church; it is a goodly Christian weapon. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 129:Prayer is the sign of your weakness. Rely on your inner strength. You will be the winner. ~ amit-ray, @wisdomtrove 130:The first requirement for prayer is silence. People of prayer are people of silence. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 131:True prayer is an approach of the soul by the Spirit of God to the throne of God. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 132:Prayer must not be our chance work but our daily business, our habit and vocation. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 133:Nine times out of ten, declension from God begins in the neglect of private prayer. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 134:Prayer is an art which only the Spirit can teach us. He is the giver of all prayer. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 135:Prayer will become effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 136:I've got so much work to do today, I'd better spend two hours in prayer instead of one. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 137:Prayer is the little implement through which men reach; where presence is denied them. ~ emily-dickinson, @wisdomtrove 138:Prayer should be soundless words coming forth from the center of your heart filled with love. ~ amit-ray, @wisdomtrove 139:This is the role of writers: to turn their tears into a story - and perhaps into a prayer. ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove 140:To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 141:Hear our humble prayer, O God. Make us, ourselves, to be true friends to the animals. ~ albert-schweitzer, @wisdomtrove 142:Prayer must never be answered: if it is, it ceases to be prayer and becomes correspondence. ~ oscar-wilde, @wisdomtrove 143:True meditation has no direction or goal. It is pure wordless surrender, pure silent prayer. ~ adyashanti, @wisdomtrove 144:He that knows how to overcome the Lord in prayer, has heaven and earth at his disposal. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 145:Prayer to be fruitful must come from the heart and must be able to touch the heart of God. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 146:The world was made partly that there may be prayer; partly that our prayers might be answered. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 147:Prayer is simply talking to God like a friend and should be the easiest thing we do each day. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 148:Why God has instituted Prayer:‚Äî To communicate to his creatures the dignity of causation. ~ blaise-pascal, @wisdomtrove 149:Prayer is the breath, the watchword, the comfort, the strength, the honor of a Christian. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 150:The 3 most powerful resources you have available to you : love, prayer and forgiveness. ~ h-jackson-brown-jr, @wisdomtrove 151:If I should neglect prayer but a single day, I should lose a great deal of the fire of faith. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 152:may I be I is the only prayer& 153:The people's prayer, the glad diviner's theme, The young men's vision, and the old men's dream! ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 154:I don't pray because it doesn't work. Prayer doesn't fix anything. Bad things happen anyway. ~ nicholas-sparks, @wisdomtrove 155:HELPED are those whose every act is a prayer for peace; on them depends the future of the world. ~ alice-walker, @wisdomtrove 156:I can say a prayer while washing my teeth, but that does not mean I should wash my teeth in church. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 157:Prayer, among sane people, has never superseded practical efforts to secure the desired end. ~ george-santayana, @wisdomtrove 158:Take prayer with you wherever you go. Say it anytime, and then focus your mind and heart on God. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 159:The people's prayer, the glad diviner's theme, / The young men's vision, and the old men's dream! ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 160:Intercessory prayer is an act of communion with Christ, for Jesus pleads for the sons of men. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 161:Souls without prayer are like bodies, palsied and lame, having hands and feet they cannot use. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 162:There is no harder shield for the devil to pierce with temptation than singing with prayer. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove 163:These are only hints an guesses... the rest is prayer, observance, discipline, thought, and action. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 164:How often I failed in my duty to God, because I was not leaning on the strong pillar of prayer. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 165:I don't know what heavy penance I would not have gladly undertaken rather than practice prayer. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 166:Oh, grant me my prayer, that I may never lose the touch of the one in the play of the many. ~ rabindranath-tagore, @wisdomtrove 167:Prayer bends omnipotence of heaven to your desire. Prayer moves the hand that moves the world. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 168:It is a good thing to let prayer be the first business of the morning and the last of the evening. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 169:Our minds can be kept free of anxiety as we dump the load of our cares on the Lord in prayer. ~ charles-r-swindoll, @wisdomtrove 170:I still say the Lord's Prayer every day. It covers a lot of ground in our relation to the world. ~ rupert-sheldrake, @wisdomtrove 171:The Christian's heart must be soaked in prayer before the true spiritual fruits begin to grow. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 172:But from the good health of the mind comes that which is dear to all and the object of prayer-happiness. ~ aeschylus, @wisdomtrove 173:Christians fight best on their knees. Whatever good may be done is done and brought about by prayer. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 174:I pray without ceasing now. My personal prayer is: Make me an instrument which only truth can speak. ~ peace-pilgrim, @wisdomtrove 175:Unless you have forgiven others you read your own death warrant when you repeat the Lord's Prayer ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 176:Deliberate in their thoughts and behaviors through prayer, meditation, or simply by setting intentions; ~ brene-brown, @wisdomtrove 177:Prayer for revival will prevail when it is accompanied by radical amendment of life; not before. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 178:To cry out to Him is never in vain. So long as no response is received, the prayer must be continued. ~ anandamayi-ma, @wisdomtrove 179:A concentrated mind and a sitting body make for better prayer than a kneeling body and a mind half asleep. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 180:Prayer is a very precious medicine, one that certainly helps and never fails, if you will only use it. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 181:Prayer is not so much a way to find God as a way of resting in him... who loves us, who is near to us. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 182:To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer. ~ mahatma-gandhi, @wisdomtrove 183:Prayer does not demand that we interrupt our work, but that we continue working as if it were a prayer. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 184:The flower-girl's prayer to buy roses and pinks, held out in the smoke, like stars by day. ~ elizabeth-barrett-browning, @wisdomtrove 185:The purpose of daily prayer is the cultivation of a sense of the sacred. Sacred energy renews us. ~ marianne-williamson, @wisdomtrove 186:If our bones were not sending whispers of doubt to our hearts, there would be no need for prayer at all. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 187:Prayer irrigates the fields of life with the waters which are stored up in the reservoirs of promise. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 188:From my mother I learned the value of prayer, how to have dreams and believe I could make them come true. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 189:I am so busy now that if I did not spend three hours each day in prayer, I could not get through the day. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 190:I believe in religion against the religious; in the pitifulness of orisons, and in the sublimity of prayer. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 191:Prayer and love are learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible and the heart has turned to stone. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 192:Prayer feeds the soul - as blood is to the body, prayer is to the soul - and it brings you closer to God. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 193:Prayer is not so much a way to find God as a way of resting in him... who loves us, who is near to us... ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 194:Prayer is speaking to God - but sometimes He uses our times of prayerful silence to speak to us in return. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 195:That no Flake of [snow] fall on you or them - is a wish that would be a Prayer, were Emily not a Pagan. ~ emily-dickinson, @wisdomtrove 196:The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays. ~ soren-kierkegaard, @wisdomtrove 197:The sky is my prayer, the birds are my prayer, the wind in the trees is my prayer, for God is all in all. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 198:Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that thou wilt keep the United States in thy holy protection. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 199:I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us, and we change things. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 200:The real & 201:We ought not to tolerate for a minute the ghastly and grievous thought that God will not answer prayer. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 202:Any sermon that is not birthed in prayer is not a message from God no matter how learned the preacher. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 203:Prayer is first of all listening to God. It's openness. God is always speaking; he's always doing something. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 204:Prayer never works for me on the golf course. That may have something to do with my being a terrible putter. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 205:To pray without expectation is to misunderstand the whole concept of prayer and relationship with God. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 206:For prayer is request. The essence of request, as distinct from compulsion, is that it may or may not be granted. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 207:In vocal prayer we speak to God; in mental prayer he speaks to us. It is then that God pours Himself into us. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 208:The Simple Path Silence is Prayer Prayer is Faith Faith is Love Love is Service The Fruit of Service is Peace ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 209:Prayer is the rope that pulls God and man together. But, it doesn't pull God down to us: It pulls us up to Him. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 210:To gather with God's people in united adoration of the Father is as necessary to the Christian life as prayer. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 211:About all I can say for the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 212:Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness. ~ h-jackson-brown-jr, @wisdomtrove 213:Perfect prayer does not consist in many words, but in the fervor of the desire which raises the heart to Jesus. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 214:Prayer is the center of the Christian life. It is the only necessary thing. It is living with God, here and now. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 215:A soul which gives itself to prayer, either much or little, should on no account be kept within narrow bounds. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 216:The prayer preceding all prayers is & 217:Faithful servants have a way of knowing answered prayer when they see it, and a way of not giving up when they don't. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 218:Prayer and praise are the oars by which a man may row his boat into the deep waters of the knowledge of Christ. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 219:We all need God's power in our lives, and prayer is the dynamic that releases His power, sometimes in dramatic ways. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 220:I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: & 221:I think one thing is that prayer has become more useful, interesting, fruitful, and... almost involuntary in my life. ~ mary-oliver, @wisdomtrove 222:Mental prayer is nothing else but being on terms of friendship with God, frequently conversing in secret with Him. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 223:None can believe how powerful prayer is, and what it is able to effect, but those who have learned it by experience. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 224:The crisis of our prayer life is that our minds may be filled with ideas of God while our hearts remain far from him. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 225:A dull, dark, depressing day in Winter: the whole world looks like a Methodist church at Wednesday night prayer meeting. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 226:It is of great importance, when we begin to practise prayer, not to let ourselves be frightened by our own thoughts. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 227:It's not my business to try and make God think like me... but to try, in prayer and penitence, to think like God. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 228:Perfect prayer does not consist in many words, silent remembering and pure intention raises the heart to that supreme Power. ~ amit-ray, @wisdomtrove 229:Spending time with God through prayer and His Word is a prerequisite for having a great life and fulfilling your purpose. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 230:The happy heart runs with the river, floats on the air, lifts to the music, soars with the eagle, hopes with the prayer. ~ maya-angelou, @wisdomtrove 231:I know of no better thermometer to your spiritual temperature than this, the measure of the intensity of your prayer. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 232:The torpid artist seeks inspiration at any cost, by virtue or by vice, by friend or by fiend, by prayer or by wine. ~ ralph-waldo-emerson, @wisdomtrove 233:I myself am part of the weather and part of the climate and part of the place … It is certainly part of my life of prayer. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 234:Prayer is not a substitute for work; it is an effort to work further and be efficient beyond the range of one's powers. ~ george-santayana, @wisdomtrove 235:To desire revival... and at the same time to neglect(personal) prayer and devotion is to wish one way and walk another. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 236:All things come through desire and every sincere prayer is answered. We become like that on which our hearts are fixed. Many ~ elbert-hubbard, @wisdomtrove 237:Prayer is always in danger of degenerating into a glorified gold rush. How to get things from God occupies most [books]. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 238:When you recognize the festive and the still moments as moments of prayer, then you gradually realize that to pray is to live. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 239:Prayer doesn't just change things - it changes us. If we are diligent in seeking God, slowly and surely we become better people. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 240:What shall we do with... the Jews?... I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings... are to be taken from them. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 241:Prayer is an expression of who we are... We are a living incompleteness. We are a gap, an emptiness that calls for fulfillment. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 242:[The notion of separating church and state with such policies as disallowing prayer in public schools] is a deception from Satan. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 243:I have now concentrated all my prayers into one, and that one prayer is this, that I may die to self, and live wholly to Him. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 244:In certain trying circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer. ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove 245:When the opposite of your prayer occurs, your prayer hasn't been ignored; it's been considered & refused for your ultimate good. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 246:Prayer is as necessary as the air, as the blood in our bodies, as anything to keep us alive-to keep us alive to the grace of God. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 247:Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action. ~ mahatma-gandhi, @wisdomtrove 248:A true prayer is an inventory of needs, a catalog of necessities, an exposure of secret wounds, a revelation of hidden poverty. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 249:Prayer is the beginning and the end, the source and the fruit, the core and the content, the basis and the goal of all peacemaking. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 250:There should be a parallel between our supplications and our thanksgivings. We ought not to leap in prayer, and limp in praise. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 251:At the heart of silence is prayer. At the heart of prayer is faith. At the heart of faith is life. At the heart of life is service. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 252:Farewell! if ever fondest prayer For other's weal avail'd on high, Mine will not all be lost in air, But waft thy name beyond the sky. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 253:One night alone in prayer might make us new men, changed from poverty of soul to spiritual wealth, from trembling to triumphing. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 254:Prayer is an act of love; words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 255:When I was crossing into Gaza, I was asked at the checkpost whether I was carrying any weapons. I replied: Oh yes, my prayer books. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 256:My prayer for you is that you come to understand and have the courage to answer Jesus' call to you with the simple word & 257:Saints of the early church reaped great harvests in the field of prayer and found the mercy seat to be a mine of untold treasures. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 258:The whole play of existence is so beautiful that laughter can be the only response to it. Only laughter can be the real prayer, gratitude. ~ rajneesh, @wisdomtrove 259:Prayer is either a sheer illusion or a personal contact between embryonic, incomplete persons (ourselves) and the utterly concrete Person. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 260:As you read or listen to God's Word and spend time talking to Him in prayer, your spirit will eventually become stronger than your flesh. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 261:To give thanks in solitude is enough. Thanksgiving has wings and goes where it must go. Your prayer knows much more about it than you do. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 262:The granting of prayer, when offered in the name of Jesus, reveals the Father's love to him, and the honor which he has put upon him. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 263:Appreciation is the highest form of prayer, for it acknowledges the presence of good wherever you shine the light of your thankful thoughts. ~ alan-cohen, @wisdomtrove 264:Leadership requires vision, and whence will vision come except from hours spent in the presence of God in humble and fervent prayer? ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 265:Nothing is more important than honesty in prayer. There are no pretensions in prayer, so the best place to begin is wherever you are. ~ robert-h-schuller, @wisdomtrove 266:If God be near a church, it must pray. And if he be not there, one of the first tokens of his absence will be a slothfulness in prayer. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 267:There's no trouble in this world so serious that it can't be cured with a hot bath, a glass of whiskey, and the Book of Common Prayer. ~ elizabeth-gilbert, @wisdomtrove 268:True prayer is neither a mere mental exercise nor a vocal performance. It is a spiritual commerce with the Creator of heaven and earth. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 269:Prayer is innocence's friend; and willingly flieth incessant & 270:Prayer lets God do what he does best. Take a pebble & kill a Goliath. Take the common, make it spectacular! Pray & see what He can do. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 271:Prayer shouldn't be casual or sporadic, dictated only by the needs of the moment. Prayer should be as much a part of our lives as breathing. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 272:We do not want to be beginners [at prayer]. but let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be anything but beginners, all our life! ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 273:Is not prayer a study of truth, a sally of the soul into the unfound infinite? No man ever prayed heartily without learning something. ~ ralph-waldo-emerson, @wisdomtrove 274:Make the most of prayer. ... Prayer is the master-weapon. We should be wise if we used it more, and did so with a more specific purpose. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 275:I'm healthy as can be - not an ache or a pain. A lot of my prayer is thanking the Lord that I am healthy. I pray for long life and good health. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 276:Prayer is the lisping of the believing infant, the shout of the fighting believer, the requiem of the dying saint falling asleep in Jesus. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 277:The simple power of prayer can save us all kinds of time and trouble if we will ask God to give us wisdom and discernment in our relationships. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 278:Petting, scratching, and cuddling a dog could be as soothing to the mind and heart as deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as prayer. ~ dean-koontz, @wisdomtrove 279:The joy of Jesus will be my strength - it will be in my heart. Every person I meet will see it in my work; my walk, my prayer - in everything. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 280:I believe that ultimately it all comes down to whether we seek conscious contact with God on a daily basis through prayer and meditation. ~ marianne-williamson, @wisdomtrove 281:Most people consider the course of events as natural and inevitable. They little know what radical changes are possible through prayer. ~ paramahansa-yogananda, @wisdomtrove 282:Prayer gives a channel to the pent-up sorrows of the soul, they flow away, and in their stead streams of sacred delight pour into the heart. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 283:Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 284:& 285:My debts are large, my failures great, my shame secret and heavy; yet I come to ask for my good, I quake in fear lest my prayer be granted. ~ rabindranath-tagore, @wisdomtrove 286:God delights in our temptations and yet hates them. He delights in them when they drive us to prayer; he hates them when they drive us to despair. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 287:Father of Light! great God of Heaven! Hear'st thou the accents of despair? Can guilt like man's be e'er forgiven? Can vice atone for crimes by prayer. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 288:Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good. ~ maya-angelou, @wisdomtrove 289:Meditation and prayer have withstood the test of time. They work today as perfectly as they did for those who first practised and perfected them. ~ michael-beckwith, @wisdomtrove 290:Noise and crowds have a way of siphoning our energy and distracting our attention, making prayer an added chore rather than a comforting relief ~ charles-r-swindoll, @wisdomtrove 291:I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right; but it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation may be on the Lord's side. ~ abraham-lincoln, @wisdomtrove 292:Prayer pushes us through life's slumps, propels us over the humps and pulls us out of the dumps. Prayer is the oomph we need to get the answers we seek. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 293:We don't pray to win. We pray to play the best we can, and to keep us free from injury. And the prayer we say after the game is one of thanksgiving. ~ vince-lombardi, @wisdomtrove 294:A man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realized prayer is listening. ~ soren-kierkegaard, @wisdomtrove 295:God has created us to love and to be loved, and this is the beginning of prayer-to know that He loves me, that I have been created for greater things. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 296:We ought not to criticize, explain, or judge the Scriptures by our mere reason, but diligently, with prayer, meditate thereon, and seek their meaning. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 297:Faith induces one to pray.Prayer purifies the heart.In the purified heart is reflected the light of Lord.When the Light sighns the mortal becomes immortal. ~ sivananda, @wisdomtrove 298:We seek a constitutional amendment to permit voluntary school prayer. God should never have been expelled from America's classrooms in the first place. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 299:We shall never see much change for the better in our churches in general till the prayer meeting occupies a higher place in the esteem of Christians. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 300:Humour is, in fact, a prelude to faith; and laughter is the beginning of prayer … Laughter is swallowed up in prayer and humour is fulfilled by faith. ~ reinhold-niebuhr, @wisdomtrove 301:If you want that splendid power in prayer, you must remain in loving, living, lasting, conscious, practical, abiding union with the Lord Jesus Christ. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 302:Your prayer causes you to focus, and the Law of Attraction causes everything in the Universe that's in vibrational harmony with your focus to come to you. ~ esther-hicks, @wisdomtrove 303:There are many things that are essential to arriving at true peace of mind, and one of the most important is faith, which cannot be acquired without prayer. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 304:Be careful before leaving someone in a sorrowing situation. Say a word of prayer with them and share even a brief word of encouragement from the Scriptures. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 305:By ceaseless prayer He Who is Akhands (whole) is found. One's own Self, the Life of one's life, the Beloved of One's heart is the One to be eagerly sought. ~ anandamayi-ma, @wisdomtrove 306:My prayer today is that we will feel the loving arms of God wrapped around us, and will know in our hearts that He will never forsake us as we trust in Him. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 307:Prayer is not a hard requirement - it is the natural duty of a creature to its creator, the simplest homage that human need can pay to divine liberality. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 308:Prayer is the breath of your life which gives you the freedom to go and stay where you wish and to find the many signs which point out the way to a new land. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 309:Sometimes I'm asked to list the most important steps in preparing for an evangelistic mission, and my reply is always the same: prayer... prayer... prayer. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 310:When the past has taught us that we have more within us than we have ever used, our prayer is a cry to the divine to come to us and fill us with its power. ~ rudolf-steiner, @wisdomtrove 311:Warlords of sorrow and queens of tomorrow will offer their heads for a prayer. You can't find no salvation, you have no expectations anytime, anyplace, anywhere. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 312:What causes us to think of prayer as the last option rather than the first? I can think of two reasons: feelings of independence and feelings of insignificance. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 313:Joy is prayer. Joy is strength. Joy is love. Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. God loves a cheerful giver. She gives most who gives with joy. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 314:... True prayer is measured by weight, not by length. A single groan before God may have more fullness of prayer in it than a fine oration of great length. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 315:Meditation is not a technique to master; it is the highest form of prayer, a naked act of love and effortless surrender into the silent abyss beyond all knowing" ~ adyashanti, @wisdomtrove 316:What is the use of praying if at the very moment of prayer, we have so little confidence in God that we are busy planning our own kind of answer to our prayer? ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 317:Prayer is like a secret garden made up of silence and rest and inwardness. But there are a thousand and one doors into this garden and we all have to find our own. ~ jean-vanier, @wisdomtrove 318:To one who has been long in city pent, ’Tis very sweet to look into the fair And open face of heaven, — to breathe a prayer Full in the smile of the blue firmament. ~ john-keats, @wisdomtrove 319:You are the answer to every prayer I've offered. You are a song, a dream, a whisper, and I don't know how I could have lived without you for as long as I have. ~ nicholas-sparks, @wisdomtrove 320:A generous prayer is never presented in vain; the petition may be refused, but the petitioner is always, I believe, rewarded by some gracious visitation. ~ robert-louis-stevenson, @wisdomtrove 321:That's prayer to let God's Word speak deep within you and tell you, "You are my beloved. You don't have to take an eye for an eye. No, no you're too rich for that." ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 322:I don't know what heavy penance could have come to mind that frequently I would not have gladly undertaken rather than recollect myself in the practice of prayer. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 323:Prayer is the forerunner of mercy. Turn to sacred history, and you will find that scarecely ever did a great mercy come to this world unheralded by supplication. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 324:As we regularly spend time reading God's Word and talking to Him in prayer, we put ourselves in position for Him to do things in our lives we could never do on our own. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 325:Joy is prayer; joy is strength, joy is love. God loves a cheerful giver. The best way we can show our gratitude to God and the people is to accept everything with joy. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 326:Don't imagine that, if you had a great deal of time, you would spend more of it in prayer. Get rid of that idea; it is no hindrance to prayer to spend your time well. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 327:Him I call a Mahatma (great soul) whose heart bleeds for the poor, otherwise he is a Duratma (wicked soul). Let us unite our wills in continued prayer for their good. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 328:No conventional therapy can release us from a deep and abiding psychic pain. Through prayer we find what we cannot find elsewhere: a peace that is not of this world. ~ marianne-williamson, @wisdomtrove 329:Prayer girds human weakness with divine strength, turns human folly into heavenly wisdom, and gives to troubled mortals the peace of God. We know not what prayer can do. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 330:Work for god, love god alone, and be wise with god. When an ordinary man puts the necessary rime and enthusiasm into meditation and prayer, he becomes a divine man. ~ paramahansa-yogananda, @wisdomtrove 331:I have always been a firm believer in God and the power of prayer, though to be honest, my faith has made for alist of questions I definitely want answered after I'm gone. ~ nicholas-sparks, @wisdomtrove 332:Whoever has not begun the practice of prayer, I beg for the love of the Lord not to go without so great a good. There is nothing here to fear but only something to desire. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 333:Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart. ~ mahatma-gandhi, @wisdomtrove 334:We cannot all ARGUE, but we can all PRAY; We cannot all be LEADERS, but we can all be PLEADERS; We cannot all be mighty in RHETORIC, but we can all be prevalent in PRAYER. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 335:Much more is accomplished by a single word of the Our Father said, now and then, from our heart, than by the whole prayer repeated many times in haste and without attention. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 336:Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the One who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 337:Meditation is a sort of prayer and prayer is meditation. The highest meditation is to think of nothing. If you can remain one moment without thought, great power will come. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 338:Prayer is addressed to the personal God, not because he is personal indeed, I know for certain that he is not personal, because personality is limitation, while God is unlimited. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 339:Selfishness is never so exquisitely selfish as when it is on its knees. ... Self turns what would otherwise be a pure and powerful prayer into a weak and ineffective one. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 340:The important thing is not the finding, it is the seeking, it is the devotion with which one spins the wheel of prayer and scripture, discovering the truth little by little. ~ ursula-k-le-guin, @wisdomtrove 341:You have to listen to the one who calls you beloved. That has to be affirmed over and over again. That is prayer - listening to the voice of the one who calls you "the beloved." ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 342:Our vows are heard betimes! and Heaven takes care To grant, before we can conclude the prayer: Preventing angels met it half the way, And sent us back to praise, who came to pray. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 343:Prayer makes your heart bigger, until it is capable of containing the gift of God himself. Prayer begets faith, faith begets love, and love begets service on behalf of the poor. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 344:Prayer power is real. By putting it into action, we will be able to stay more constantly in higher awareness than ever before. If we can do that, the world will quickly change. ~ james-redfield, @wisdomtrove 345:You will always receive help within a second of a prayer. To recognize the help, you must see everything in your life from that second on as a part of the answer to your prayer. ~ caroline-myss, @wisdomtrove 346:I prefer a kind of sweet, deep, rich prayer in which a person goes in and says, Take me down deep into the reason you gave me life. Take me down deep. It silences the chaos in me. ~ caroline-myss, @wisdomtrove 347:What manner of men should ministers be? They should thunder in preaching, and lighten in conversation; they should be flaming in prayer, shining in life, and burning in spirit. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 348:You should not take prayer too seriously. There is something playful about God. You only have to look at a penguin... to realize that He likes to play little jokes on creatures. ~ thomas-keating, @wisdomtrove 349:I know that some believe that voluntary prayer in schools should be restricted to a moment of silence. We already have the right to remain silent - we can take our Fifth Amendment. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 350:Obedience unites us so closely to God that it in a way transforms us into Him, so that we have no other will but His. If obedience is lacking, even prayer cannot be pleasing to God. ~ denis-diderot, @wisdomtrove 351:Contemplative prayer [oración mental] in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 352:If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 353:I say to myself, if the text was good enough for my father and grandfather, it must be good enough for me. I admit, that is a rather personal way of approaching the text - or a prayer. ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove 354:I so detached my heart from the world and cut short my hopes that for thirty years now I have performed each prayer as though it were my last and I were praying the prayer of farewell. ~ rabia-basri, @wisdomtrove 355:Let him never cease from prayer who has once begun it, be his life ever so wicked; for prayer is the way to amend it, and without prayer such amendment will be much more difficult. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 356:Let your cares drive you to God. I shall not mind if you have many of them if each one leads you to prayer. If every fret makes you lean more on the Beloved, it will be a benefit. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 357:Obedience unites us so closely to God that it in a way transforms us into Him, so that we have no other will but His. If obedience is lacking, even prayer cannot be pleasing to God. ~ thomas-aquinas, @wisdomtrove 358:Every nerve in my body is so vacant and numb/I can't even remember what it was I came here to get away from/Don't even hear a murmur of a prayer/It's not dark yet, but it's getting there. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 359:I would like to emphasize again that right prayer leads to right action, that faith without works is dead. An excellent way to put thoughts into action is to write a letter for peace. ~ peace-pilgrim, @wisdomtrove 360:Put up at the moment of greatest suffering a prayer, not for thy own escape, but for the enfranchisement of some being dear to thee, and the sovereign spirit will accept thy ransom. ~ margaret-fuller, @wisdomtrove 361:I don't know whether I believe in God or not. I think, really, I'm some sort of Buddhist. But the essential thing is to put oneself in a frame of mind which is close to that of prayer. ~ henri-matisse, @wisdomtrove 362:Lord Jesus, cause me to know in my daily experience the glory and sweetness of Thy name, and then teach me how to use it in my prayer, so that I may be a prince prevailing with God. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 363:You will always receive help within a second of a prayer. To recognize the help, you must see everything in your life from that second on as a part of the answer to your prayer. ~ norman-vincent-peale, @wisdomtrove 364:If you pray for a thing, but have fear as you pray, that you may not receive it, or that your prayer will not be acted upon by Infinite Intelligence, your prayer will have been in vain. ~ napoleon-hill, @wisdomtrove 365:I prefer a kind of sweet, deep, rich prayer in which a person goes in and says, Take me down deep into the reason you gave me life. Take me down deep. It silences the chaos in me. ~ norman-vincent-peale, @wisdomtrove 366:Just as you wouldn't leave the house without taking a shower, you shouldn't start the day without at least 10 minutes of sacred practice: prayer, meditation, inspirational reading. ~ marianne-williamson, @wisdomtrove 367:What can be more excellent than prayer; what is more profitable to our life; what sweeter to our souls; what more sublime, in the course of our whole life, than the practice of prayer! ~ saint-augustine, @wisdomtrove 368:To be alone by being part of the universe-fitting in completely to an environment of woods and silence and peace. Everything you do becomes a unity and a prayer. Unity within and without. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 369:We may expect answers to prayer, and should not be easy without them any more than we should be if we had written a letter to a friend upon important business, and had received no reply. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 370:The purpose of prayer is not to change God's mind, which always knows your wholeness and your deservingness. The purpose of prayer is to change your mind so you can see through the eyes of God. ~ alan-cohen, @wisdomtrove 371:Whether we like it or not, asking is the rule of the Kingdom. If you may have everything by asking in His Name, and nothing without asking, I beg you to see how absolutely vital prayer is. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 372:Methinks every true Christian should be exceedingly earnest in prayer concerning the souls of the ungodly; and when they are so, how abundantly God blesses them and how the church prospers! ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 373:The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, & 374:The relationship to one's fellow man is the relationship of prayer, the relationship to oneself is the relationship of striving; it is from prayer that one draws the strength for one's striving. ~ franz-kafka, @wisdomtrove 375:Along with my spiritual practices of meditation, affirmative prayer, and visioning, what catalyzes my sense of aliveness is putting those practices into action by being of service to others. ~ michael-beckwith, @wisdomtrove 376:Our lives laid down in war and peace may not Be found acceptable in Heaven's sight. And that they may be is the only prayer Worth praying. May my sacrifice Be found acceptable in Heaven's sight. ~ robert-frost, @wisdomtrove 377:To learn to concentrate we must choose a prayer or meditation and follow this path with commitment and steadiness, a willingness to work with our practice day after day, no matter what arises. ~ jack-kornfield, @wisdomtrove 378:A satisfying prayer life elevates and purifies every act of body and mind and integrates the entire personality into a single spiritual unit. In the long pull we pray only as well as we live. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 379:God speaks in the silence of the heart, and we listen. And then we speak to God from the fullness of our heart, and God listens. And this listening and this speaking is what prayer is meant to be. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 380:Delayed answers to prayer are not only trials of faith; they also give us opportunities to honor God through our steadfast confidence in Him, even when facing the apparent denial of our request. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 381:In order to profit from this path [of prayer] and ascend to the dwelling places we desire, the important thing is not to think much but to love much; and so, do that which best stirs you to love. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 382:In meditative prayer, one thinks and speaks not only with the mind and lips, but in a certain sense with one's whole being... All good meditative prayer is a conversation of our entire self to God. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 383:The true contemplative is one who has discovered the art of finding leisure even in the midst of his work, by working with such a spirit of detachment and recollection that even his work is a prayer ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 384:If any of you should ask me for an epitome of the Christian religion, I should say that it is in one word - prayer. Live and die without prayer, and you will pray long enough when you get to hell. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 385:Prayer and action... can never be seen as contradictory or mutually exclusive. Prayer without action grows into powerless pietism, and action without prayer degenerates into questionable manipulation. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 386:Getting stress out of your life takes more than prayer alone. You must take action to make changes and stop doing whatever is causing the stress. You can learn to calm down in the way you handle things. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 387:Our prayer is not simply, ‚ÄòDear God, please send me a better job,’ but, ‚ÄòDear God, enable me to see this situation differently, that this area of apparent lack might be healed inside my mind. ~ marianne-williamson, @wisdomtrove 388:The 1928 Republican Convention opened with a prayer. If the Lord can see His way clear to bless the Republican Party the way it's been carrying on, then the rest of us ought to get it without even asking. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 389:My constant prayer, these days, as I start my backswing is, & 390:Everybody around us was weeping. Someone began to recite Kaddish, the prayer for the dead. I don't know whether, during the history of the Jewish people, men have ever before recited Kaddish for themselves. ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove 391:If you ever feel distressed during your day - call upon our Lady - just say this simple prayer: & 392:In reality, there is only one true prayer, only one substantial prayer: Christ himself. There is only one voice which rises above the face of the earth, the voice of Christ. Prayer is oneness with Christ. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 393:Prayer in the sense of petition, asking for things, is a small part of it; confession and penitence are its threshold, adoration its sanctuary, the presence and vision and enjoyment of God its bread and wine. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 394:Half at least of all morality is negative and consists in keeping out of mischief. The lords prayer is less than 50 words long, and 6 of those words are devoted to asking god not to lead us into temptation. ~ aldous-huxley, @wisdomtrove 395:I am deeply convince that the necessity of prayer, and to pray unceasingly, is not as much based on our desire for God as on God's desire for us. It is God's passionate pursuit of us that calls us to prayer. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 396:You have no time for the prayer meeting, but you have time enough to be brushing your hair to all eternity; you have no time to bend your knee, but plenty of time to make yourselves look smart and grand. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 397:I choose gentleness... Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle. If I raise my voice may it be only in praise. If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 398:It is the habit of faith, when she is praying, to use pleas. Mere prayer sayers, who do not pray at all, forget to argue with God; but those who prevail bring forth their reasons and their strong arguments ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 399:Look to it that you do not try to do all of it, do not try to do too much, lest your spirit grow weary. Besides, a good prayer mustn't be too long. Do not draw it out. Prayer ought to be frequent and fervent. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 400:A growing community must integrate three elements: a life of silent prayer, a life of service and above all of listening to the poor, and a community life through which all its members can grow in their own gift. ~ jean-vanier, @wisdomtrove 401:I am a man of prayer and meditation. I feel inspiration is of paramount importance. If I can inspire someone, and if that person also can inspire me, then we can do many good things for the betterment of this world. ~ sri-chinmoy, @wisdomtrove 402:True prayer is the trading of the heart with God, and the heart never comes into spiritual commerce with the ports of heaven until God the Holy Ghost puts wind into the sails and speeds the ship into its haven. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 403:We must love prayer. It widens the heart to the point of making it capable of containing the gift that God makes of himself. Ask and seek, and your heart will be widened to welcome him and to keep him within itself. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 404:Be not forgetful of prayer. Every time you pray, if your prayer is sincere, there will be new feeling and new meaning in it, which will give you fresh courage, and you will understand that prayer is an education. ~ fyodor-dostoevsky, @wisdomtrove 405:We complicate prayer as we complicate many things. It is to love Jesus with undivided love-for you, for me, for all of us. And that undivided love is put into action when we do as Jesus said, love as I have loved you ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 406:Joy is the characteristic by which God uses us to re-make the distressing into the desired, the discarded into the creative. Joy is prayer-Joy is strength-Joy is love-Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 407:The most critical need of the church at this moment is men, bold men, free men. The church must seek, in prayer and much humility, the coming again of men made of the stuff of which prophets and martyrs are made. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 408:Oh, without prayer what are the church's agencies, but the stretching out of a dead man's arm, or the lifting up of the lid of a blind man's eye? Only when the Holy Spirit comes is there any life and force and power. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 409:A prayer, it seems to me, implies a promise as well as a request; at the highest level, prayer not only is a supplication for strength and guidance, but also becomes an affirmation of life and thus a reverent praise of God. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 410:Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand. Anyone may gather it and no limit is set. Everyone can reach this love through meditation, spirit of prayer, and sacrifice, by an intense inner life. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 411:I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence-we need to listen to God because it's not what we say but what He says to us and through us that matters. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 412:Oh, for five hundred Elijahs, each one upon his Carmel , crying unto God, and we should soon have the clouds bursting into showers. Oh, for more prayer, more constant, incessant prayer! Then the blessing would rain upon us. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 413:To me, today, at age sixty-one, all prayer, by the humble or highly placed, has one thing in common: supplication for strength and inspiration to carry on the best human impulses which should bind us together for a better world. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 414:All is summed up in the prayer which a young female human is said to have uttered recently: "O God, make me a normal twentieth-century girl!" Thanks to our labors, this will mean increasingly: "Make me a minx, a moron, and a parasite. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 415:Houses of Congress have . . . requested me to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the many signal favors of Almighty God. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 416:Remember: He WANTS your fellowship, and He has done everything possible to make it a reality. He has forgiven your sins, at the cost of His own dear Son. He has given you His Word, and the priceless privilege of prayer and worship. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 417:Vocal prayer . . . must be accompanied by reflection. A prayer in which a person is not aware of Whom he is speaking to, what he is asking, who it is who is asking and of Whom, I don't call prayer-however much the lips may move. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 418:... the power of prayer can never be overrated. They who cannot serve God by preaching need not regret. If a man can but pray he can do anything. He who knows how to overcome with God in prayer has Heaven and earth at his disposal. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 419:You will never be able to have perfect interior peace and recollection unless you are detached even from the desire of peace and recollection. You will never be able to pray perfectly until you are detached from the pleasures of prayer. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 420:It is the burning lava of the soul that has a furnace within& 421:Prayer plumes the wings of God's young eaglets so that they may learn to mount above the clouds. Prayer brings inner strength to God's warriors and sends them forth to spiritual battle with their muscles firm and their armor in place. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 422:Prayer is crucial in evangelism: Only God can change the heart of someone who is in rebellion against Him. No matter how logical our arguments or how fervent our appeals, our words will accomplish nothing unless God's Spirit prepares the way. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 423:I think half the troubles for which men go slouching in prayer to God are caused by their intolerable pride. Many of our cares are but a morbid way of looking at our privileges. We let our blessings get mouldy, and then call them curses. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove 424:I was almost persuaded to be a Christian. I thought I never again could be thoughtless and worldly. But I soon forgot my morning prayer or else it was irksome to me. One by one my old habits returned and I cared less for religion than ever. ~ emily-dickinson, @wisdomtrove 425:The Christian church, in its attitude toward science, shows the mind of a more or less enlightened man of the Thirteenth Century. It no longer believes that the earth is flat, but it is still convinced that prayer can cure after medicine fails. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 426:You will feel restless for God when your heart becomes pure and your mind free from attachment to the things of the world. Then alone will your prayer reach God. A telegraph wire cannot carry messages if it has a break or some other defect. ~ sri-ramakrishna, @wisdomtrove 427:Joys and sorrows are time born and cannot last. Therefore, do not be perturbed by them. The greater the difficulties and obstructions, the more intense will be your endeavor to cling to His feet and the more will your prayer increase from within. ~ anandamayi-ma, @wisdomtrove 428:Prayer covers the whole of man's life. There is no thought, feeling, yearning, or desire, however low, trifling, or vulgar we may deem it, which if it affects our real interest or happiness, we may not lay before God and be sure of sympathy. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove 429:Just as in earthly life lovers long for the moment when they are able to breathe forth their love for each other, to let their souls blend in a soft whisper, so the mystic longs for the moment when in prayer he can, as it were, creep into God. ~ soren-kierkegaard, @wisdomtrove 430:HELPED are those whose ever act is a prayer for harmony in the Universe, for they are the restorers of balance to our planet. To them will be given the insight that every good act done anywhere in the cosmos welcomes the life of an animal or a child. ~ alice-walker, @wisdomtrove 431:A family that prays together stays together. As we are united at this moment, let us join also the prayer of all and everyone. What you can do I cannot do. And what I can do you cannot do. But all of us together are doing something beautiful for God. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 432:No one can believe how powerful prayer is and what it can effect, except those who have learned it by experience. Whenever I have prayed earnestly, I have been heard and have obtained more than I prayed for. God sometimes delays, but He always comes. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 433:It seems to me that the prayers of the Bible can be distilled into one. The result is a simple, easy-to-remember, pocket-sized prayer: Father, you are good. I need help. They need help. Thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. Let this prayer punctuate your day. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 434:The delightful study of the Psalms has yielded me boundless profit and ever-growing pleasure; common gratitude constrains me to communicate to others a portion of the benefit, with the prayer that it may induce them to search further for themselves. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 435:The joy of the presence of Jesus, you must be able to give wherever you go. But you cannot give what you don't have. That's why you need a pure heart, a pure heart that you will receive as a fruit of your prayer, as a fruit of your oneness with Christ. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 436:With enough of us connecting heart with heart, center with center, innovation with innovation, prayer with prayer, through the internet and the noosphere, we can have a major impact on a more gentle transition toward the next stage of evolution. ~ barbara-marx-hubbard, @wisdomtrove 437:You can pray while you work. Work doesn't stop prayer and prayer doesn't stop work. It requires only that small raising of the mind to him: I love you God, I trust you, I believe in you, I need you now. Small things like that. They are wonderful prayers. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 438:Prayer is request. The essence of request, as distinct from compulsion, is that it may or may not be granted. And if an infinitely wise Being listens to the requests of finite and foolish creatures, of course He will sometimes grant and sometimes refuse them. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 439:Prayer is such a basic foundation of a Christian's relationship with God. It's how we communicate and fellowship with Him. But a surprising number of people, young and old, new and even long-time Christians, say they're not satisfied with their prayer life. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 440:The bells themselves are the best of preachers, Their brazen lips are learned teachers, From their pulpits of stone, in the upper air, Sounding aloft, without crack or flaw, Shriller than trumpets under the Law, Now a sermon and now a prayer. ~ henry-wadsworth-longfellow, @wisdomtrove 441:It is clear that he does not pray, who, far from uplifting himself to God, requires that God shall lower Himself to him, and who resorts to prayer not to stir the man in us to will what God wills, but only to persuade God to will what the man in us wills. ~ thomas-aquinas, @wisdomtrove 442:If we traverse the world, it is possible to find cities without walls, without letters, without kings, without wealth, without coin, without schools and theatres; but a city without a temple, or that practiseth not worship, prayer, and the like, no one ever saw. ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 443:The easiest way to get touch with this universal power is through silent Prayer. Shut your eyes, shut your mouth, and open your heart. This is the golden rule of prayer. Prayer should be soundless words coming forth from the centre of your heart filled with love. ~ amit-ray, @wisdomtrove 444:The only thing to seek in contemplative prayer is God; and we seek Him successfully when we realize that we cannot find Him unless He shows Himself to us, and yet at the same time that He would not have inspired us to seek Him unless we had already found Him. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 445:A church should be a camp of soldiers, not an hospital of invalids. But there is exceedingly much difference between what ought be and what is, and consequently many of God's people are in so sad a state that the very fittest prayer for them is for revival. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 446:the real "work" of prayer is to become silent and listen to the voice that says good things about me. To gently push aside and silence the many voices that question my goodness and to trust that I will hear the voice of blessing& 447:FAITH is the head chemist of the mind. When FAITH is blended with the vibration of thought, the subconscious mind instantly picks up the vibration, translates it into its spiritual equivalent, and transmits it to Infinite Intelligence, as in the case of prayer. ~ napoleon-hill, @wisdomtrove 448:Through prayer we can carry in our heart all human pain and sorrow, all conflicts and agonies, all torture and war, all hunger, loneliness and misery, not because of some great psychological or emotional capacity, but because God's heart has become one with ours. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 449:It's said that prayer can move mountains. Well, it's certainly moved the hearts and minds of Americans in their times of trial and helped them to achieve a society that, for all its imperfections, is still the envy of the world and the last, best hope of mankind. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 450:Prayer is asking for rain. Faith is carrying an umbrella. Faith is the inner sense of knowing that with divine order working on your side, all things will come together for your good. Faith is knowing that there is a divine plan and purpose for everything in life ~ lyania-vanzant, @wisdomtrove 451:Prayer is the way to both the heart of God and the heart of the world - precisely because they have been joined through the suffering of Jesus Christ Praying is letting one's own heart become the place where the tears of God's children merge and become tears of hope. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 452:Prayer is the window that God has placed in the walls of our world. Leave it shut and the world is a cold, dark house. But throw back the curtains and see His light. Open the window and hear His voice. Open the window of prayer and invoke the presence of God in your world. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 453:The Christian leaders of the future have to be theologians, persons who know the heart of God and are trained - through prayer, study, and careful analysis - to manifest the divine event of God's saving work in the midst of the many seemingly random events of their time. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 454:As my prayer became more attentive and inward, I had less and less to say. I finally became completely silent... This is how it is. To pray does not mean to listen to oneself speaking. Prayer involves becoming silent, and being silent, and waiting until God is heard. ~ soren-kierkegaard, @wisdomtrove 455:Prayer is spiritual communication between man and God, a two-way relationship in which man should not only talk to God but also listen to Him. Prayer to God is like a child's conversation with his father. It is natural for a child to ask his father for the things he needs. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 456:We must love one another as God loves each one of us. To be able to love, we need a clean heart. Prayer is what gives us a clean heart. The fruit of prayer is a deepening of faith and the fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service, which is compassion in action. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 457:It would be very difficult to draw a line between holy wonder and real worship; for when the soul is overwhelmed with the majesty of God's glory, though it may not express itself in song, or even utter its voice with bowed head and humble prayer, yet it silently adores. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 458:Prayer is an investment. The time you dedicate to prayer isn't lost; it will return dividends far greater than what a few moments spent on a task ever could. If we fail to cultivate this discipline, prayer winds up being our last resort rather than our first response. ~ charles-r-swindoll, @wisdomtrove 459:Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips. ~ viktor-frankl, @wisdomtrove 460:We need prayer to understand God's love for us. If we really mean to pray and want to pray we must be ready to do it now. These are only the first steps towards prayer but if we never make the first step with determination, we will not reach the last one: the presence of God ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 461:I always give all the glory to God, but I do not forget that He gave me the privilege of ministering from the first to a praying people. We had prayer meetings that moved our very souls, each one appeared determined to storm the Celestial City by the might of intercession. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 462:Prayer changes things. Prayer changes us. Prayer changes life. Sometimes an event has been manifested that needs to be stopped, midair. Don't pray just when you're in trouble. Pray every day. Surround yourself with prayer. You never know when you might need an extra miracle. ~ melody-beattie, @wisdomtrove 463:Perpetual Adoration, Eucharistic Adoration offers to our people the opportunity to join those in religious life to pray for the salvation of the world, souls everywhere and peace on earth. We cannot underestimate the power of prayer and the difference it will make in our world ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 464:Intercessory prayer is exceedingly prevalent. What wonders it has wrought! The Word of God teems with its marvelous deeds. Believer, thou hast a mighty engine in thy hand, use it well, use it constantly, use it with faith, and thou shalt surely be a benefactor to thy brethren. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 465:One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying. He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 466:It's two things: it's totally impersonal and it's totally personal, simultaneously. That's the nature of the mystical experience of life. Everything about life is impersonal, but you have a personal experience. And the bridge between the personal and the impersonal is called prayer. ~ caroline-myss, @wisdomtrove 467:The most potent and acceptable prayer is the prayer that leaves the best effects. I don't mean it must immediately fill the soul with desire . . . The best effects are those that are followed up by actions-when the soul not only desires the honor of God, but really strives for it. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 468:If you've got the power to raise prices without losing business to a competitor, you've got a very good business. And if you have to have a prayer session before raising the price by a tenth of a cent, then you've got a terrible business. I've been in both, and I know the difference. ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove 469:In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with Himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 470:Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow-citizens of the United States at large. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 471:February 1997 - National Prayer Breakfast in Washington attended by the President and the First Lady. "What is taking place in America," she said, "is a war against the child. And if we accept that the mother can kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another." ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 472:To continue to condemn only brings condemnation, then, for self. This does not mean that self's activity should be passive, but rather being constant in prayer-knowing and taking, knowing and understanding that he that is faithful is not given a burden beyond that he is able to bear . . . ~ edgar-cayce, @wisdomtrove 473:The simplicity that all this presupposes is not easy to attain. I find that my life constantly threatens to become complex and divisive. A life of prayer is basically a very simple life. This simplicity, however, is the result of asceticism and effort: it is not a spontaneous simplicity. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 474:Prayer and meditation are my inner secret and my outer secret. My muscles are next to nothing compared to the muscles of the professional bodybuilders and weightlifters. It is because of the strength of my prayer-life and meditation-life that I am able to accomplish these feats of strength. ~ sri-chinmoy, @wisdomtrove 475:The whole function of the life of prayer is, then, to enlighten and strengthen our conscience so that it not only knows and perceives the outward, written precepts of the moral and divine laws, but above all lives God's law in concrete reality by perfect and continual union with His will. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 476:It's two things: it's totally impersonal and it's totally personal, simultaneously. That's the nature of the mystical experience of life. Everything about life is impersonal, but you have a personal experience. And the bridge between the personal and the impersonal is called prayer. ~ norman-vincent-peale, @wisdomtrove 477:The establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive which induced me to the Field - the object is attained - and it now remains to be my earnest wish & prayer, that the Citizens of the United States could make a wise and virtuous use of the blessings placed before them. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 478:Temples and churches have become social centers. They have lost their original purpose because the minds of the people are more attracted to worldly things than to prayer. The lips repeat the prayer mechanically like a phonograph record, but the mind wanders to other places. ~ swami-satchidananda-saraswati, @wisdomtrove 479:All right prayer has good effect, but if you give your whole life to the prayer you multiply its power... No one really knows the full power of prayer. Of course, there is a relationship between prayer and action. Receptive prayer result in an inner receiving, which motivates to right action. ~ peace-pilgrim, @wisdomtrove 480:Nobody ever got anything from God on the grounds that he deserved it. Haven fallen, man deserves only punishment and death. So if God answers prayer it's because God is good. From His goodness, His lovingkindness, His good-natured benevolence, God does it! That's the source of everything. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 481:This doctrine of prenatal influence is now slowly being recognized, and science as well as religion calls out: & 482:may i be i is the only prayer& 483:Obedience, fasting, and prayer are laughed at, yet only through them lies the way to real true freedom. I cut off my superfluous and unnecessary desires, I subdue my proud and wanton will and chastise it with obedience, and with God's help I attain freedom of spirit and with it spiritual joy. ~ fyodor-dostoevsky, @wisdomtrove 484:Prayer pulls the rope below and the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly. Others give but an occasional pluck at the rope. But he who wins with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously, with all his might. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 485:I am constantly thankful. The world is so beautiful, I am thankful. I have endless energy, I am thankful. I am plugged into the source of Universal Supply, I am thankful. I am plugged into the source of Universal Truth, I am thankful. I have this constant feeling of thankfulness, which is a prayer. ~ peace-pilgrim, @wisdomtrove 486:I used to think the Lord's Prayer was a short prayer; but as I live longer, and see more of life, I begin to believe there is no such thing as getting through it. If a man, in praying that prayer, were to be stopped by every word until he had thoroughly prayed it, it would take him a lifetime. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove 487:Prayer requires that we stand in God's presence with open hands, naked and vulnerable, proclaiming to ourselves and to others that without God we can do nothing. As disciples, we find not some but all of our strength, hope, courage, and confidence in God. Therefore, prayer must be our first concern. ~ henri-nouwen, @wisdomtrove 488:..should never have been expelled from America's schools. As we struggle to teach our children... we dare not forget that our civilization was built by men and women who placed their faith in a loving God. If Congress can begin each day with a moment of prayer... so then can our sons and daughters. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 489:Everything starts from prayer. Without asking God for love, we cannot possess love and still less are we able to give it to others. Just as people today are speaking so much about the poor but they do not know or talk to the poor, we too cannot talk so much about prayer and yet not know how to pray. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 490:I am told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day; for that I am deeply grateful. We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each inaugural day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 491:If our prayer is ‚ÄúDear God, please use me to be of service,‚Äù then that is what we will be. And it is not for us to judge either the size or value of our gifts. Our job is to try to get out of the way, to defer to the spirit moving within us and become open channels for the flow of God’s love. ~ marianne-williamson, @wisdomtrove 492:A prayerless church member is a hindrance. He is in the body like a rotting bone or a decayed tooth. Before long, since he does not contribute to the benefit of his brethren, he will become a danger and a sorrow to them. Neglect of private prayer is the locust which devours the strength of the church. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 493:I am alone, I am all alone, I am completely alone. Grasping this reality, I let go of my bag, drop to my knees and press my forehead against the floor. There, I offer up to the universe a fervent prayer of thanks. First in English. Then in Italian. And then - just to get the point across - in Sanskrit. ~ elizabeth-gilbert, @wisdomtrove 494:In order for us to be able to love, we need to have faith, because faith is love in action and love in action is service. In order for us to be able to love, we have to see and touch. Faith in action through prayer, faith in action through service: each is the same thing, the same love, the same compassion. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 495:Those who give themselves to prayer should in a special manner have always a devotion to St. Joseph; for I know not how any man can think of the Queen of the angels, during the time that she suffered so much with the Infant Jesus, without giving thanks to St. Joseph for the services he rendered them then. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 496:It is not possible to engage in the direct apostolate without being a soul of prayer. We must be aware of oneness with Christ, as he was aware of oneness with his Father. Our activity is truly apostolic only insofar as we permit him to work in us and through us with his power, with his desire, with his love. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 497:Prayerless souls are Christless souls, Christless souls are Graceless souls and Graceless souls shall soon be damned souls. See your peril, you that neglect altogether the blessed privilege of prayer! You are in the bonds of iniquity, you are in the gall of bitterness. God deliver you, for Hisname's sake! ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 498:In human affairs we accomplish everything through prayer. What has been properly arranged we keep in order, what has gone amiss we change and improve, what cannot be changed and improved we bear, overcoming all the trouble and sustaining all the good by prayer. Against force there is no help but prayer alone. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 499:The custom of speaking to God Almighty as freely as with a slave - caring nothing whether the words are suitable or not, but simply saying the first thing that comes to mind from being learnt by rote by frequent repetition - cannot be called prayer: God grant that no Christian may address Him in this manner. ~ teresa-of-avila, @wisdomtrove 500:All systems of morality are fine. The gospel alone has exhibited a complete assemblage of the principles of morality, divested of all absurdity. It is not composed, like your creed, of a few common-place sentences put into bad verse. Do you wish to see that which is really sublime? Repeat the Lord's Prayer. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove *** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***
1:A Prayer ~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes, #NFDB
2:Prayer is a groan. ~ Jeff Wheeler, #NFDB
3:Poetry to me is prayer. ~ Anne Sexton, #NFDB
4:Prayer changes us. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
5:Prayer after Communion Let ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
6:Prayer does change things. ~ Emmet Fox, #NFDB
7:Desire is prayer. ~ Orison Swett Marden, #NFDB
8:Prayer keeps me centered. ~ Alicia Keys, #NFDB
9:Prayer is listening. ~ S ren Kierkegaard, #NFDB
10:stand sentry in prayer ~ Karen Kingsbury, #NFDB
11:We can always try prayer. ~ Dakota Krout, #NFDB
12:I'm for prayer in schools. ~ Charles Evers, #NFDB
13:There's no prayer like desire. ~ Tom Waits, #NFDB
14:I prefer a story to a prayer. ~ Hannah Kent, #NFDB
15:Labor, you know, is prayer. ~ Bayard Taylor, #NFDB
16:Music is a form of prayer. ~ Toru Takemitsu, #NFDB
17:PRAYER IS A SHIELD TO THE SOUL, ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
18:World Peace Prayer movement. ~ Ervin Laszlo, #NFDB
19:Your desire is your prayer. ~ Joseph Murphy, #NFDB
20:A picture is like a prayer. ~ Harry Callahan, #NFDB
21:A prayer is a chat with thy God. ~ Toba Beta, #NFDB
22:may I be I is the only prayer ~ E E Cummings, #NFDB
23:Prayer is an education. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, #NFDB
24:Prayer is a shield to the soul ~ John Bunyan, #NFDB
25:Prayer is where the action is. ~ John Wesley, #NFDB
26:Prayer makes a difference. ~ Karen Kingsbury, #NFDB
27:Writing [is] a form of prayer. ~ Franz Kafka, #NFDB
28:All writing is a form of prayer. ~ John Keats, #NFDB
29:Buddhism in one long prayer. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
30:God hears a mother's prayer. ~ Victoria Gotti, #NFDB
31:God loves a prayer of action. ~ Bryant McGill, #NFDB
32:God's solution is a prayer away! ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
33:Prayer isn't an excuse to sin. ~ Tessa Bailey, #NFDB
34:True prayer has no set form ~ Morihei Ueshiba, #NFDB
35:Being Who You Are is a Prayer ~ Grazyna Wolska, #NFDB
36:No prayer is complete without prescence ~ Rumi, #NFDB
37:No prayer is complete without presence. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
38:ora et labora, prayer and work. ~ Peter Kreeft, #NFDB
39:Prayer is an effort of will. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
40:Prayer really can change things. ~ Tyler Perry, #NFDB
41:Purity is the fruit of prayer. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
42:Real prayer is union with God. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
43:True prayer has no set form. ~ Morihei Ueshiba, #NFDB
44:Hurry is the death of Prayer. ~ Samuel Chadwick, #NFDB
45:Prayer ain't weakened by distance. ~ Vicki Lane, #NFDB
46:The fruit of Silence is Prayer. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
47:Perhaps thought really is prayer. ~ Ellis Peters, #NFDB
48:Prayer is the little implement ~ Emily Dickinson, #NFDB
49:When I am with you, everything is prayer. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
50:Worry is a prayer to chaos ~ Gabrielle Bernstein, #NFDB
51:Desperation leads to prayer. ~ R Albert Mohler Jr, #NFDB
52:Prayer can never be in excess. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
53:Praying doesn't mean repeating a prayer. ~ Juanes, #NFDB
54:Say a prayer at the stones of home ~ Markus Zusak, #NFDB
55:The greatest prayer is patience. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
56:. Cooking was a relief, like prayer. ~ Rumaan Alam, #NFDB
57:Doubtful prayer is no prayer at all. ~ John Calvin, #NFDB
58:If faith fails, prayer perishes. ~ Saint Augustine, #NFDB
59:I'm not a prayer, I just wish a lot. ~ Kevin Young, #NFDB
60:Prayer changes the person who prays. ~ Chris Fabry, #NFDB
61:Prayer is an attitude of the heart. ~ Larry Dossey, #NFDB
62:prayer is faith become audible. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
63:Prayer is helplessness plus faith. ~ Bill Thrasher, #NFDB
64:Prayer unites the soul to God. ~ Julian of Norwich, #NFDB
65:Attentiveness is the heart of prayer. ~ Simone Weil, #NFDB
66:Make no decision without prayer! ~ Elizabeth George, #NFDB
67:My greatest weapon is mute prayer. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
68:No prayer fully expresses our faith. ~ Oscar Romero, #NFDB
69:Prayer is the preview of God's action. ~ Mark Dever, #NFDB
70:The beginning of prayer is silence. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
71:True prayer is a lonely business. ~ Samuel Chadwick, #NFDB
72:Whole prayer is nothing but love. ~ Saint Augustine, #NFDB
73:A coward cannot have any prayer answered. ~ Nichiren, #NFDB
74:Does prayer change God or change me? ~ Philip Yancey, #NFDB
75:Genocide is as human as art or prayer. ~ John N Gray, #NFDB
76:Prayer is the chief exercise of faith. ~ John Calvin, #NFDB
77:Wherever God erects a house of prayer ~ Daniel Defoe, #NFDB
78:Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer. ~ Simone Weil, #NFDB
79:A coward cannot have any prayer answered. ~ Nichiren, #NFDB
80:I you're in prayer, take care of your heart. ~ Luqman, #NFDB
81:Not a hope, a prayer; a fuckin' song. ~ Amanda Boyden, #NFDB
82:Poetry and prayer are very similar. ~ Carol Ann Duffy, #NFDB
83:Prayer doesn't change God, it changes me. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
84:Prayer is a nourishing friendship. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
85:Prayer never changes the laws of nature. ~ Dan Barker, #NFDB
86:The Rosary is my favorite prayer. ~ Pope John Paul II, #NFDB
87:Complaint is a prayer to the devil. ~ Michael Beckwith, #NFDB
88:essential prayer is conversational. It ~ John Eldredge, #NFDB
89:Prayer allows us to wait without worry. ~ John Ortberg, #NFDB
90:Prayer does not change God; it changes me. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
91:Prayer is an august avowal of ignorance. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
92:Prayer is the acid test of devotion. ~ Samuel Chadwick, #NFDB
93:Prayer is the oxygen of the soul. ~ Pio of Pietrelcina, #NFDB
94:Prayer is the thermometer of grace. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
95:Prayer never brought in no side-meat. ~ John Steinbeck, #NFDB
96:Cursing again, he said a silent prayer ~ Samantha Chase, #NFDB
97:Days of trouble must be days of prayer. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
98:Fear drives the wretched to prayer ~ Seneca the Younger, #NFDB
99:Laughter is the highest form of prayer. ~ Martha N Beck, #NFDB
100:Love is the only prayer I know. ~ Marion Zimmer Bradley, #NFDB
101:Make sickness itself a prayer. ~ Saint Francis de Sales, #NFDB
102:My longing for truth was a single prayer. ~ Edith Stein, #NFDB
103:Prayer turns theology into experience. ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
104:Reserve me a room . . . say me a prayer. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
105:The sovereign cure for worry is prayer. ~ William James, #NFDB
106:A good deed is the best prayer. ~ Robert Green Ingersoll, #NFDB
107:Be specific in your prayer requests of GOD. ~ Benny Hinn, #NFDB
108:Each day begins with a prayer of thank you. ~ Wayne Dyer, #NFDB
109:God's favorite type of prayer is action. ~ Bryant McGill, #NFDB
110:I am in prayer for his kids and the family. ~ Diana Ross, #NFDB
111:I do believe in the power of prayer. ~ Geraldine Ferraro, #NFDB
112:Prayer draws us near to our own souls. ~ Herman Melville, #NFDB
113:Prayer is futility when compared to belief. ~ James Cook, #NFDB
114:Prayer is where the cross changes shoulders. ~ Mark Hart, #NFDB
115:Praying solves the problems of prayer. ~ Samuel Chadwick, #NFDB
116:The goal of prayer is the ear of God. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
117:The love ofChrist is my prayer-book ~ Gerhard Tersteegen, #NFDB
118:The root of prayer is interior silence. ~ Thomas Keating, #NFDB
119:Time spent in prayer is never wasted. ~ Francois Fenelon, #NFDB
120:To saints their very slumber is a prayer. ~ Saint Jerome, #NFDB
121:You cannot petition the lord with prayer! ~ Jim Morrison, #NFDB
122:'Help' is a prayer that is always answered. ~ Anne Lamott, #NFDB
123:His hand fell like a prayer on her temple. ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
124:I cannot neglect prayer for a single day. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
125:I can say the Lord's prayer in 10 seconds. ~ Evel Knievel, #NFDB
126:Love and prayer are intimately related. ~ Diana Abu Jaber, #NFDB
127:Prayer does nothing to alleviate suffering. ~ Sh saku End, #NFDB
128:Prayer is happy company with God. ~ Clement of Alexandria, #NFDB
129:Prayer is in all things, in all gestures. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
130:Prayer is the best response to hatred. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
131:Prayer is the one thing that can conquer God ~ Tertullian, #NFDB
132:Prayer turns theology into experience. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
133:The root of prayer is interior silence. ~ Thomas Keating, #NFDB
134:The words sounded like a desperate prayer. ~ Nora Sakavic, #NFDB
135:things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, ~ Joseph Murphy, #NFDB
136:To saints their very slumber is a prayer. ~ Saint Jerome, #NFDB
137:Without prayer there is no inward peace. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
138:...anxiety was, for her, a form of prayer. ~ Peter Ackroyd, #NFDB
139:Battles are won and lost through prayer. ~ Karen Kingsbury, #NFDB
140:God will do nothing but in answer to prayer. ~ John Wesley, #NFDB
141:Make your life a prayer. Live your mediation. ~ Reba Riley, #NFDB
142:Mature prayer always breaks into gratitude. ~ Richard Rohr, #NFDB
143:My love for prayer was an answer to prayer. ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
144:Prayer begins where human capacity ends. ~ Marian Anderson, #NFDB
145:Prayer is a state of continual gratitude. ~ Kallistos Ware, #NFDB
146:Short prayer pierceth heaven. ~ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, #NFDB
147:Souls of prayer are souls of great silence ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
148:The prayer that is faithless is fruitless. ~ Thomas Watson, #NFDB
149:The wish to pray is a prayer in itself. ~ Georges Bernanos, #NFDB
150:True prayer is asking God what He wants. ~ William Barclay, #NFDB
151:True prayer is not a prelude to inaction. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
152:When worse may yet befall, there's room for prayer, ~ Ovid, #NFDB
153:A good prayer is master of anothers purse. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
154:Feeding the birds is also a form of prayer. ~ Pope Pius XII, #NFDB
155:Lack of prayer is the cause of lack of time. ~ Peter Kreeft, #NFDB
156:Make your life a prayer. Live your meditation. ~ Reba Riley, #NFDB
157:No man is greater than his prayer life. ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
158:One should not pray if that prayer is vanity. ~ Idries Shah, #NFDB
159:Prayer gets us in on what God is doing. ~ Eugene H Peterson, #NFDB
160:Prayer is the laying aside of thoughts. ~ Evagrius Ponticus, #NFDB
161:Prayer, study, and suffering make a pastor. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
162:Reading is the last act of secular prayer. ~ Richard Powers, #NFDB
163:The fewer the words, the better the prayer. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
164:The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer. ~ Pope Paul VI, #NFDB
165:With a hope and a prayer, you can get there. ~ Heather Wolf, #NFDB
166:A prayer less soul is a Christ less soul. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
167:Prayer begins where our power ends. ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel, #NFDB
168:Prayer is climbing up into the heart of God. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
169:Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
170:Prayer is the forerunner of mercy. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
171:Prayer to God as Father is for Christians only. ~ J I Packer, #NFDB
172:Today I offer a prayer of forgiveness: ~ Mary Anne Radmacher, #NFDB
173:Daily, every moment, prayer is necessary to men. ~ Tertullian, #NFDB
174:God answers prayer in His own way, not ours. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
175:God's promises are to be our pleas in prayer. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
176:If weak in prayer we are weak everywhere. ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
177:If you only say one prayer in a day make it Thank You. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
178:Invoke often! Inflame thyself with prayer! ~ Aleister Crowley, #NFDB
179:It is impossible to have a prayer without power. ~ Gary Zukav, #NFDB
180:Prayer is first and foremost an act of love ~ Brennan Manning, #NFDB
181:Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
182:Prayer moves the arm that moves the world. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
183:Prayer Releases All Your Eternal Resources ~ Priscilla Shirer, #NFDB
184:Were in prayer, as indeed you ought to be. ~ Francois Fenelon, #NFDB
185:Worrying is one of my few forms of prayer. ~ Joanne Greenberg, #NFDB
186:A prayer makes sense only if it is lived. ~ Anthony of Sourozh, #NFDB
187:Centering prayer is a training in letting go. ~ Thomas Keating, #NFDB
188:Consistent prayer is the desire to do right. ~ Mary Baker Eddy, #NFDB
189:Do I pray? Yes. Prayer is very important to me. ~ Vera Farmiga, #NFDB
190:In certain ways writing is a form of prayer. ~ Denise Levertov, #NFDB
191:Invoke often! Inflame thyself with prayer! ~ Aleister Crowley, #NFDB
192:Love is worth as much as prayer. Sometimes more. ~ Elie Wiesel, #NFDB
193:Meditation is a huge part of my life. And prayer. ~ A J McLean, #NFDB
194:Seen better fights than this at a prayer meeting. ~ John Wayne, #NFDB
195:That was my prayer: Fuckthemfuckthemfuckthem. ~ Cheryl Strayed, #NFDB
196:The freshness of my eyes is given to me in prayer. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
197:The prayer of Ajax was for light. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, #NFDB
198:Every prayer is an agreement with yourself. ~ Miguel Angel Ruiz, #NFDB
199:meditation vs prayer = listening vs talking ~ Elizabeth Gilbert, #NFDB
200:Now are the days, of humblest prayer, ~ Frederick William Faber, #NFDB
201:Prayer is a declaration of dependence upon God. ~ Philip Yancey, #NFDB
202:Prayer is an earnest and familiar talking with God. ~ John Knox, #NFDB
203:Prayer is a refusal to settle for what is. ~ Walter Brueggemann, #NFDB
204:prayer takes us well beyond human possibilities. ~ Andy Stanley, #NFDB
205:Prayer without heart is a waste to time. ~ Harbhajan Singh Yogi, #NFDB
206:Sincere prayer is answered by unfailing grace. ~ Shri Radhe Maa, #NFDB
207:A spiritual prayer is a humble prayer. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
208:Nehemiah i is a blend of prayer and action. ~ Charles R Swindoll, #NFDB
209:Prayer and comfortable living are incompatible. ~ Teresa of vila, #NFDB
210:Prayer begins at the edge of emptiness. ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel, #NFDB
211:Prayer clears the mist and brings back peace to the Soul. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
212:Prayer is the fruit of joy and thankfulness. ~ Evagrius Ponticus, #NFDB
213:Surely revival delays because prayer decays. ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
214:The life of a good man is a continual prayer. ~ Charlotte Lennox, #NFDB
215:The Psalter is the great school of prayer. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
216:Before prayer changes others, it first changes us. ~ Billy Graham, #NFDB
217:He that leaves off prayer leaves off to fear God. ~ Thomas Watson, #NFDB
218:My life is a blunt to the head, a prayer for the dead, ~ Styles P, #NFDB
219:My mom taught us the Serenity Prayer at a young age. ~ Toby Keith, #NFDB
220:Prayer imparts the power to walk and not faint. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
221:Prayer is a long rope with a strong hold. ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe, #NFDB
222:Prayer is the answer to every problem there is. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
223:Prayer is the way the life of God is nourished. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
224:Prayer time must be kept up as duly as meal-time. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
225:prayer-time must be kept up as duly as meat-time. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
226:Silence was the first prayer I learned to trust. ~ Patricia Hampl, #NFDB
227:The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
228:The most fervent prayer meetings are in hell. ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
229:The OTHER Serenity Prayer 🌿 Eleanor Brownn ~ Amen! ~ #Inspiration, #NFDB
230:Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that ~ George Washington, #NFDB
231:Anything you say from your heart to God is a prayer. ~ Anne Lamott, #NFDB
232:A prayer for the wild at heart kept in cages. ~ Tennessee Williams, #NFDB
233:How much more of the mosque, of prayer and fasting? ~ Omar Khayyam, #NFDB
234:Let every step you take upon the earth be as a prayer. ~ Black Elk, #NFDB
235:Nothing is so at odds with prayer as vanity. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
236:not some thing we have. . . . Prayer has nothing to ~ Ernest Kurtz, #NFDB
237:Now I am past all comforts here, but prayer. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
238:Prayer for me is an updward leap of the heart ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux, #NFDB
239:Prayer is - a means of uniting us unto Himself. ~ Richard J Foster, #NFDB
240:Prayer is prayer, regardless of where you are. ~ Lisa Tawn Bergren, #NFDB
241:the first road to God is prayer, the second is joy. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
242:The greatest encouragement is conveyed in prayer. ~ David Jeremiah, #NFDB
243:The key that opens the door to the faith is prayer. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
244:Today, see each problem as an invitation to prayer. ~ John Ortberg, #NFDB
245:Brief let me be. The fewer words the better prayer. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
246:Every wish Is like a prayer--with God. ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, #NFDB
247:I'll tell you right now. I'm for prayer in school. ~ Kinky Friedman, #NFDB
248:Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire? ~ Corrie ten Boom, #NFDB
249:Just like a prayer, your voice can take me there. ~ Madonna Ciccone, #NFDB
250:Prayer in private results in boldness in public. ~ Edwin Louis Cole, #NFDB
251:Prayer is a relationship; half the job is mine. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert, #NFDB
252:Prayer is earthly license for heavenly interference. ~ Myles Munroe, #NFDB
253:Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
254:Prayer is the mortar that holds our house together. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
255:Prayer is the spirit speaking truth to Truth. ~ Philip James Bailey, #NFDB
256:Prayer requires more of the heart than of the tongue. ~ Adam Clarke, #NFDB
257:Prayer turns problems into promises and possibilities. ~ Lori Nawyn, #NFDB
258:Tenacious prayer is a lifestyle that produces results. ~ Tony Evans, #NFDB
259:True prayer is measured by weight, not by length ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
260:writing is the most personal form of prayer. ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach, #NFDB
261:A day hemmed in prayer is less likely to unravel. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
262:A spontaneous prayer makes differences and does changes. ~ Toba Beta, #NFDB
263:A strong drink can numb the soul as good as any prayer ~ Erin Bowman, #NFDB
264:By prayer, community is created as well as expressed. ~ Henri Nouwen, #NFDB
265:Fervent prayer keeps your true identity in focus. ~ Priscilla Shirer, #NFDB
266:Frequently, only silence can express my prayer. ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux, #NFDB
267:I have but one prayer: 'Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
268:Over Emily’s grave, Peach said the Lord’s Prayer in a ~ John Sweeney, #NFDB
269:Prayer in action is love, love in action is service. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
270:Prayer is both conversation and encounter with God. ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
271:'Thank you' is the best prayer that anyone could say. ~ Alice Walker, #NFDB
272:There's no Biblical definition of contemplative prayer ~ Mike Bickle, #NFDB
273:True prayer is the trading of the heart with God. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
274:You might say a prayer or two while you're waiting. ~ James Reasoner, #NFDB
275:A good laugh is as good as a prayer sometimes. ~ Lucy Maud Montgomery, #NFDB
276:All my discoveries have been made in answer to prayer. ~ Isaac Newton, #NFDB
277:God does nothing but by prayer, and everything with it. ~ John Wesley, #NFDB
278:I am in the House of Mercy, and my heart is a place of prayer. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
279:Love is the story and the prayer that matters the most. ~ Brian Doyle, #NFDB
280:meditation must follow hearing and precede prayer. ~ Donald S Whitney, #NFDB
281:prayer and persistence, the good Lord will provide. ~ Teresa Medeiros, #NFDB
282:Prayer is a recognition of the greatness of our God. ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
283:Prayer: the key of the day and the lock of the night. ~ Thomas Fuller, #NFDB
284:The neglect of prayer is a grand hindrance to holiness. ~ John Wesley, #NFDB
285:You’re the answer to a prayer I didn’t even know I had. ~ Lauren Rowe, #NFDB
286:all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
287:Attentiveness is the natural prayer of the Soul. ~ Nicolas Malebranche, #NFDB
288:Every wish, every prayer has to go somewhere, right? ~ Zoraida C rdova, #NFDB
289:God does nothing except in response to believing prayer. ~ John Wesley, #NFDB
290:If we do not abide in prayer, we will abide in temptation. ~ John Owen, #NFDB
291:Labor is the only prayer that Nature answers. ~ Robert Green Ingersoll, #NFDB
292:Meditation If prayer is speaking, meditating is listening. ~ Kyle Gray, #NFDB
293:PRAISE should always follow answered prayer; ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
294:Prayer ardent opens heaven. ~ Edward Young, Night-Thoughts (1742–1745), #NFDB
295:Prayer is not optional for the Christian; it is required. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
296:Prayer, then, begins by an intellectual adjustment. ~ Evelyn Underhill, #NFDB
297:Prayer unaccompanied by perseverance leads to no result. ~ John Calvin, #NFDB
298:The sweetest sound I know is the Muslim call to prayer. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
299:The whole meaning of prayer is that we may know God. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
300:We do not prescribe any prayer; we welcome all prayer. ~ George W Bush, #NFDB
301:Worrying is just a prayer for the worst possible scenario. ~ Daphne Oz, #NFDB
302:Great morning prayer is like marinating in the Holy Spirit. ~ Mark Hart, #NFDB
303:He squeezed his eyes shut and sent up a silent prayer. ~ Carly Phillips, #NFDB
304:Intercessor in Heaven, is besought with prayer and ~ Henry Steel Olcott, #NFDB
305:In these times of suffering prayer is of even more help. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
306:I read a poem every night, as others read a prayer. ~ Tahar Ben Jelloun, #NFDB
307:It's good to have a prayer on your lips wherever you go. ~ Henri Nouwen, #NFDB
308:Never waste a prayer on something that isn't important. ~ Oscar Goodman, #NFDB
309:Prayer begins at the edge of emptiness. ~ Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, #NFDB
310:Prayer in its highest form is agonizing soul sweat. ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
311:Prayer is an act of love. Words are not needed. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #NFDB
312:Prayer is the most concrete way to make our home in God. ~ Henri Nouwen, #NFDB
313:Prayer is the most tangible expression of trust in God. ~ Jerry Bridges, #NFDB
314:Sniffing glue is a homeless nonbeliever's prayer. ~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana, #NFDB
315:The government ought to stay out of the prayer business. ~ Jimmy Carter, #NFDB
316:The seeker's silence is the loudest form of prayer. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
317:The world knows little of the works wrought by prayer. ~ Dwight L Moody, #NFDB
318:This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” [5] ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
319:When the problem is worry, the prescription is prayer. ~ David Jeremiah, #NFDB
320:You are my priest. You are my prayer. You are my release. ~ Sabaa Tahir, #NFDB
321:You cussed. Sooner or later, every curse is a prayer. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
322:By prayer, community is created as well as expressed. ~ Henri J M Nouwen, #NFDB
323:I'm a true believer in prayer, a big believer in prayer. ~ Janet Jackson, #NFDB
324:I pray a prayer of protection for you every single night. ~ Tayari Jones, #NFDB
325:Prayer for me is an updward leap of the heart ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux, #NFDB
326:Prayer is a discipline in truthfulness, in honesty. ~ Marilynne Robinson, #NFDB
327:Prayer is aligning ourselves with the purposes of God. ~ E Stanley Jones, #NFDB
328:Prayer is “Gods breath in man returning to his birth. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
329:Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
330:Proceed with much prayer, and your way will be made plain. ~ John Wesley, #NFDB
331:The only power that God yields to is that of prayer. ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
332:The scent of these arm-pits is aroma finer than prayer... ~ Walt Whitman, #NFDB
333:The transcendental face of art is always a form of prayer. ~ John Berger, #NFDB
334:Whatever opposes prayer opposes the whole work of ministry. ~ John Piper, #NFDB
335:Whatever prayer is not according to God’s will is utterly ~ Watchman Nee, #NFDB
336:All our perils are nothing, so long as we have prayer. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
337:A man is his tallest when he is down on his knees in prayer. ~ Beth Moore, #NFDB
338:Coffee is good for talent, but genius wants prayer. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
339:I have heard your prayer and seen your tears, I will heal you ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
340:Just a thank you is a mighty powerful prayer. Says it all. ~ Rosanne Cash, #NFDB
341:Mighty prayer has often been produced by mighty trial. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
342:Prayer is a serious thing. We may be taken at our words. ~ Dwight L Moody, #NFDB
343:Prayer is a silent surrendering of everything to God. ~ Soren Kierkegaard, #NFDB
344:Prayer was and is both a spontaneous act and a recitative ~ Scot McKnight, #NFDB
345:..."She'll be a'ight." It's a prayer more than a prophecy. ~ Angie Thomas, #NFDB
346:Time spent in prayer is not time wasted but time invested. ~ Myles Munroe, #NFDB
347:Worry is the facade of taking action when prayer really is. ~ Ann Voskamp, #NFDB
348:A lake. A prayer. It's so lovely to be lovely in Private. ~ Jennifer Niven, #NFDB
349:Fasting and prayer are common injunctions in my religion. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
350:For all prayer is answered. Don't tell God how to answer it. ~ Edgar Cayce, #NFDB
351:for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
352:Frequently, only silence can express my prayer. ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux, #NFDB
353:I have heard your prayer and seen your tears, I will heal you. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
354:My favorite prayer is, ‘Dear God. I’ll pedal if You’ll steer. ~ Robyn Carr, #NFDB
355:Prayer gives us a pure heart and a pure heart can do much. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
356:Prayer is not ever thing, but everything is by prayer. ~ Fred A Hartley Jr, #NFDB
357:Quiet, deep breath after any prayer is another form of Amen. ~ Anne Lamott, #NFDB
358:The church converteth the whole world by blood and prayer. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
359:Who rises from prayer a better man, his prayer is answered ~ Joseph Murphy, #NFDB
360:A poem is a hand, a hook, a prayer. It is a soul in action. ~ Edward Hirsch, #NFDB
361:As you walk upon the sacred earth, treat each step as a prayer. ~ Black Elk, #NFDB
362:Before I put on my make up, I say a little prayer for you. ~ Dionne Warwick, #NFDB
363:...every vertebrae on his back was a prayer bead under my hands. ~ Amy Lane, #NFDB
364:God doesn't answer prayer, He answers desperate prayer! ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
365:I liked a @YouTube video youtu.be/QPsoc0M9V6M?a Radha's Prayer ~ The Mother, #NFDB
366:One of the biggest enemies to prayer is nervous tension. ~ Anthony de Mello, #NFDB
367:Prayer can be simple, but it's not easy. Nothing great is. ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
368:prayer is at the very heart of what it means to believe. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
369:Prayer is awe, intimacy, struggle-yet, the way to reality. ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
370:Prayer is simply a two-way conversation between you and God. ~ Billy Graham, #NFDB
371:prayer is to religion what original research is to science, ~ Thomas Merton, #NFDB
372:Prayer may just be the most powerful tool mankind has.” ~Blink ~ Ted Dekker, #NFDB
373:Prayer should not be merely an act, but an attitude of life. ~ Billy Graham, #NFDB
374:shade of a wall, listlessly fingering their prayer beads, ~ Khaled Hosseini, #NFDB
375:The gift of prayer is not always at our command. ~ Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, #NFDB
376:The prayer that is heard is not of many words, but of Oneness ~ Vivian Amis, #NFDB
377:You will never have time for prayer; you must make time. ~ Richard J Foster, #NFDB
378:All good is born in prayer, and all good springs from it. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
379:Any act can be a prayer, if done as well as we are able. ~ George R R Martin, #NFDB
380:I believe in prayer. I believe in gratitude and serving people. ~ Kiran Bedi, #NFDB
381:I'm the type to say a prayer and then go get what I just prayed for. ~ Drake, #NFDB
382:It is God’s passionate pursuit of us that calls us to prayer. ~ Henri Nouwen, #NFDB
383:Prayer and sacrifice can touch souls better than words. ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux, #NFDB
384:Praying the sinners prayer does not heal you. It saves you ~ Christine Caine, #NFDB
385:Remember, the first road to God is prayer, the second is joy. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
386:Scream silently in your prayer; remember the pain of others. ~ Megan McKenna, #NFDB
387:Sholeh Wolpé poetry proves to be rumination, prayer, song. ~ Nathalie Handal, #NFDB
388:Sometimes the blessing is in the prayer not being answered. ~ Andrena Sawyer, #NFDB
389:The Ego is a veil between humans and God’.” “In prayer all are equal. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
390:Thou Great First Cause, least understood. ~ Alexander Pope, Universal Prayer, #NFDB
391:Transform your sex into love, and transform your love into prayer ~ Rajneesh, #NFDB
392:We all have a tendency to use prayer to dictate to God. ~ Jen Pollock Michel, #NFDB
393:Where is the church persevering in the priority of prayer? ~ James MacDonald, #NFDB
394:You're never without hope, because you're never without prayer. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
395:18†praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
396:Banning prayer in school in effect made God unconstitutional. ~ Rush Limbaugh, #NFDB
397:But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core. ~ Paul Laurence Dunbar, #NFDB
398:Every single emotion you have should be processed in prayer. ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
399:God may want you to be the answer to your own prayer. ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh, #NFDB
400:Her hands were folded just below her breasts, as if in prayer. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
401:I couldn't really jet off to the States on a whim and a prayer. ~ David Platt, #NFDB
402:It was no true prayer to beg forgiveness while choosing to sin. ~ Brent Weeks, #NFDB
403:Laziness in prayer is like handing the devil a key to your house. ~ Mark Hart, #NFDB
404:Nobody matures past his or her need for prayer and meditation. ~ Andy Stanley, #NFDB
405:Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays. ~ Soren Kierkegaard, #NFDB
406:Prayer is the act of seeing reality from God’s point of view. ~ Philip Yancey, #NFDB
407:Prayer is the midwife of mercy, that helps to bring it forth. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
408:Prayer means keeping company with God who is already present. ~ Philip Yancey, #NFDB
409:Prayer meetings are the throbbing machinery of the church. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
410:The prayer that is heard is not of many words....but of Oneness ~ Vivian Amis, #NFDB
411:Who rises from prayer a better man, his prayer is answered. ~ George Meredith, #NFDB
412:With every prayer and every thought of love, we release ~ Marianne Williamson, #NFDB
413:Either worrying drives out prayer, or prayer drives out worrying. ~ D A Carson, #NFDB
414:Every church should meet for prayer. Without prayer, churches die. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
415:God does nothing apart from prayer, but he does everything by it. ~ John Welch, #NFDB
416:I always carry prayer cards to St. Jude and St. Martha with me. ~ Patsy Kensit, #NFDB
417:More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. ~ Alfred Tennyson, #NFDB
418:Passion produced out of prayer and praise pushes you to extremes. ~ Carl Lentz, #NFDB
419:Persistence in prayer brings results that casual prayer does not. ~ Max Anders, #NFDB
420:Prayer is an invisible tool which is wielded in a visible world. ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
421:Prayer is simply saying "thank you, bless you, praise you." ~ Richard J Foster, #NFDB
422:Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
423:Their love was like a perfect prayer.
Even God could not deny it. ~ Unknown,#NFDB
424:The Jesus Prayer is not only Christ-centered but Trinitarian. ~ Kallistos Ware, #NFDB
425:Through prayer we speak to God. In meditation, God speaks to us. ~ Edgar Cayce, #NFDB
426:We cannot know what prayer is for until we know that life is war. ~ John Piper, #NFDB
427:What I dislike least in my former self are the moments of prayer. ~ Andre Gide, #NFDB
428:Work is prayer. Work is also stink. Therefore stink is prayer. ~ Aldous Huxley, #NFDB
429:A legalistic commitment to duration can kill one's prayer life. ~ R Kent Hughes, #NFDB
430:Battering the gates of heaven with the storms of prayer. ~ Alfred Lord Tennyson, #NFDB
431:effective prayer is linked to a dedicated and obedient life. ~ Warren W Wiersbe, #NFDB
432:Everything we do, our entire interior monologue, is prayer. ~ Madeleine L Engle, #NFDB
433:For many people, there is an almost power to be found in prayer. ~ Mohsin Hamid, #NFDB
434:Fundamentally, [prayer] is a position, a placement of oneself. ~ Patricia Hampl, #NFDB
435:God is using my struggle. My struggle is the answer to the prayer. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
436:I believe that those who die for Ireland have no need for prayer ~ Liam Mellows, #NFDB
437:If I had a rain prayer or a rain dance I could do, I would do it. ~ Tom Vilsack, #NFDB
438:I smoke crack. I get all my dancers together and we do a prayer. ~ Jim Gaffigan, #NFDB
439:Prayer is a confession of one's own unworthiness and weakness. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
440:Prayer is a cry of distress, a demand for help, a hymn of love. ~ Alexis Carrel, #NFDB
441:Prayer is asking for guidance. Meditation is listening to it. ~ Sonia Choquette, #NFDB
442:Prayer is asking for rain and faith is carrying the umbrella. ~ Barbara Johnson, #NFDB
443:Prayer is a wine which makes glad the heart of man ~ Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, #NFDB
444:Prayer is not about asking what you want, but what God wants. ~ Shannon L Alder, #NFDB
445:Prayer is the key discipline whereby all spiritual work is done. ~ Chuck Pierce, #NFDB
446:Prayer is the secret weapon that restores your trust in God. ~ Elizabeth George, #NFDB
447:Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
448:Preface for Eucharistic Prayer II Preface for Eucharistic Prayer IV ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
449:The only limit to prayer is how limited it is in our lives. ~ Jentezen Franklin, #NFDB
450:The Prayer that is answered is not of many words, but of Oneness. ~ Vivian Amis, #NFDB
451:There is nothing a natural man hates more than prayer. ~ Robert Murray M Cheyne, #NFDB
452:The Song of Prayer pamphlet All page numbers are for the second ~ Gary R Renard, #NFDB
453:They have a form of prayer for atheists. It’s called worrying. ~ Mishka Shubaly, #NFDB
454:we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
455:What if the drive to survive was a form of faith, a form of prayer? ~ Anne Rice, #NFDB
456:Words are not the essence but the garments of prayer. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
457:Conversion is not a single prayer. Conversion is pilgrimage. ~ Diana Butler Bass, #NFDB
458:If I make one last prayer I ask that your god grant me an enemy. ~ Louis L Amour, #NFDB
459:My prayer is, let me be a blessing to someone or something today. ~ Jean Houston, #NFDB
460:Of all duties, prayer certainly is the sweetest and most easy. ~ Laurence Sterne, #NFDB
461:Pray anyway. Who knows what God can do through your prayer? ~ Frederick Buechner, #NFDB
462:Prayer is indeed the Christian’s vital breath and native air. ~ J Oswald Sanders, #NFDB
463:Prayer is our way of entering into the happiness of God himself ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
464:Pray for knowledge and light, every other prayer is selfish. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
465:The best we can say to God in prayer, is what He has said to us. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
466:The Cinderella of the church of today is the prayer meeting. ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
467:the essence of prayer is not to think a lot, but to love a lot. ~ Danielle Steel, #NFDB
468:The firmament of the Bible is ablaze with answers to prayer. ~ Theodore L Cuyler, #NFDB
469:There are more battles won through prayer than by any other means. ~ Chuck Smith, #NFDB
470:The true church lives and moves and has its being in prayer. ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
471:We lie to God in prayer if we do not rely on him afterwards. ~ Robert B Leighton, #NFDB
472:Where there is prayer, the fallen spirits have no power. ~ Thaddeus of Vitovnica, #NFDB
473:And prayer? How could you pray to a God you wanted to hit? ~ Benjamin Alire S enz, #NFDB
474:a spiritual life without prayer is like the gospel without Christ. ~ Henri Nouwen, #NFDB
475:Even the straws under my knees shout to distract me from prayer ~ Saint Augustine, #NFDB
476:I believe above the storm the smallest prayer will still be heard. ~ Dolly Parton, #NFDB
477:I’m convinced my place is one of prayer. God can do what man cannot. ~ Nancy Mehl, #NFDB
478:In our prayer and meditation we hope for fulfilling ordinary life. ~ Thomas Moore, #NFDB
479:in prayer as in other areas of life, God wants us to trust and obey. ~ D A Carson, #NFDB
480:No amount of prayer or meditation can do what helping others can do. ~ Meher Baba, #NFDB
481:Offer a prayer when you hear an ambulance’s or police car’s siren. ~ Wayne W Dyer, #NFDB
482:Prayer is not a preparation for the battle; it is the battle! ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
483:Sir 3:4 He that loveth God, shall obtain pardon for his sins by prayer, ~ Various, #NFDB
484:The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
485:The Rosary is a school of Prayer. The Rosary is a school of Faith. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
486:Unless I had the spirit of prayer, I could do nothing. ~ Charles Grandison Finney, #NFDB
487:We have control over our prayer life, our relationship with Jesus. ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
488:We often think of prayer as a means to an end. Prayer is the goal. ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
489:You cannot know what prayer is for, until you know that life is war. ~ John Piper, #NFDB
490:A culture that does not teach prayer soon runs mad with desire. ~ Laurence Freeman, #NFDB
491:Art and prayer are the only decent ejaculations of the soul. ~ Joris Karl Huysmans, #NFDB
492:As for methods of prayer, all are good, as long as they are sincere. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
493:Each moment spent in prayer is like a coin put into a bank account ~ Doreen Virtue, #NFDB
494:God answers prayer in three ways: yes, no, and wait awhile. ~ Norman Vincent Peale, #NFDB
495:God comes down to us by his Spirit, and we go up to him by prayer. ~ Thomas Watson, #NFDB
496:God will not violate another’s free will in response to my prayer. ~ Adam Hamilton, #NFDB
497:If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough. ~ Meister Eckhart, #NFDB
498:In the late hours of the night, befriend the prayer mat. ~ Muhammad Tahir ul Qadri, #NFDB
499:Next to prayer, Fishing is the most personal relationship of man. ~ Herbert Hoover, #NFDB
500:Prayer and sacrifice can touch souls better than words. ~ Saint Therese of Lisieux, #NFDB
501:Prayer is a sign of repentance, a desire to become better, purer. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
502:Prayer is seeing His greatness to the extent we can receive it. ~ Richard J Foster, #NFDB
503:Reader, is prayer your element or your weariness? Which? ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
504:Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. 13 ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
505:The bigger your problems, the bigger your prayer should be. ~ Norman Vincent Peale, #NFDB
506:The decision was too important to make lightly without more prayer. ~ Jody Hedlund, #NFDB
507:The history of missions is the history of answered prayer. ~ Samuel Marinus Zwemer, #NFDB
508:The stillness in art characterizes prayer, and the eye of the storm. ~ Saul Bellow, #NFDB
509:The true prayer is only of thankfulness; just a simple thank you is enough. ~ Osho, #NFDB
510:We should seek not so much to pray but to become prayer. ~ Saint Francis of Assisi, #NFDB
511:An hour of study, for the modern apostle, is an hour of prayer. ~ Josemaria Escriva, #NFDB
512:Being a person of prayer is the most important calling in one’s life. ~ Mike Bickle, #NFDB
513:Each moment spent in prayer is like a coin put into a bank account. ~ Doreen Virtue, #NFDB
514:He who avoids prayer is avoiding everything that is good. ~ Saint John of the Cross, #NFDB
515:If prayer is you talking to God, then intuition is God talking to you. ~ Wayne Dyer, #NFDB
516:It is to this silence [contemplative prayer] that we all are called. ~ Henri Nouwen, #NFDB
517:Kane stood ready, his sword forged of love, hope and prayer, in hand. ~ Steve Perry, #NFDB
518:More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. ~ Alfred Lord Tennyson, #NFDB
519:my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
520:No matter how softly you whisper a prayer, God hears and understands. ~ Tonto Dikeh, #NFDB
521:Peace does not come through prayer, we human beings must create peace. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
522:prayer is nothing more than thought. It is a yearning of the heart. ~ Sophy Burnham, #NFDB
523:Prayer is our way of entering into the happiness of God himself. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
524:Prayer is the evidence that I am spiritually concentrated on God. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
525:Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself. ~ John Vianney, #NFDB
526:The armament varies, from prayer to wealth to herbs to stem cells. ~ Paul Kalanithi, #NFDB
527:The best prayer I ever prayed had enough sin to damn the whole world. ~ John Bunyan, #NFDB
528:The Ego is a veil between humans and God’.”
“In prayer all are equal. ~ Rumi,#NFDB
529:The grace to be a beginner is always the best prayer for an artist. ~ Julia Cameron, #NFDB
530:The Holy Guide reminded him that in Islam labor was a form of prayer. ~ Orhan Pamuk, #NFDB
531:There can be no prevailing in prayer without travailing in prayer. ~ Oswald J Smith, #NFDB
532:We do not see that prayer is the asking of God to fulfill His needs. ~ Watchman Nee, #NFDB
533:2†Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it †with thanksgiving; ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
534:Faith Works’ only tools were prayer, bible study and church attendance, ~ Dan Barker, #NFDB
535:I am a song bird, I am a meek song bird, I offer my prayer to the Lord. ~ Guru Nanak, #NFDB
536:I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention. ~ Mary Oliver, #NFDB
537:I used a lot of pancake makeup and a prayer, and a Buddhist chant. ~ Steven Cojocaru, #NFDB
538:No prayer is ever complete without the words "...if it is your will. ~ Danny L Deaub, #NFDB
539:Not all prayer is in words, because not all conversation is in words. ~ Peter Kreeft, #NFDB
540:Prayer causes things to happen that wouldn't happen if you didn't pray. ~ John Piper, #NFDB
541:Prayer doesn't change things - God changes things in answer to prayer. ~ John Calvin, #NFDB
542:Prayer immediately turns us into something greater than ourselves. ~ Timothy M Dolan, #NFDB
543:Prayer is more than a wish; it is the voice of faith directed to God. ~ Billy Graham, #NFDB
544:Prayer is the autograph of the Holy Ghost upon the renewed heart. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
545:Prayer is the bridge over which the Kingdom of God comes to the earth. ~ Rich Nathan, #NFDB
546:Prayer is the key to unlocking God's prevailing power in your life. ~ David Jeremiah, #NFDB
547:Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscle of omnipotence. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
548:Prayer wasn't a familiar practice in my life. --Titus Ray, Chapter 2 ~ Luana Ehrlich, #NFDB
549:Prayer without ceasing is only possible in a life of continual thanks. ~ Ann Voskamp, #NFDB
550:Service is the highest form of prayer as far as I am concerned. ~ John Henrik Clarke, #NFDB
551:Simply defined, prayer is earthly permission for heavenly interference. ~ Tony Evans, #NFDB
552:Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious ~ Alcoholics Anonymous, #NFDB
553:There is enough sin in my best prayer to send the whole world to Hell. ~ John Bunyan, #NFDB
554:There is no greater distance than that between a man in prayer and God ~ Ivan Illich, #NFDB
555:True prayer is a way of life, not just for use in cases of emergency. ~ Billy Graham, #NFDB
556:You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. That's how prayer works. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
557:All good meditative prayer is a conversion of our entire self to God. ~ Thomas Merton, #NFDB
558:And it came to me then that every plan is a tiny prayer to father time. ~ Ben Gibbard, #NFDB
559:a spiritual life without prayer is like the gospel without Christ. ~ Henri J M Nouwen, #NFDB
560:Embark on no enterprise which you cannot submit to the test of prayer. ~ Hosea Ballou, #NFDB
561:God, why have you done this to me? My little prayer goes unanswered. ~ Katherine Owen, #NFDB
562:If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.
~ Meister Eckhart,#NFDB
563:I liked a @YouTube video youtu.be/xMDgVVHbPUQ?a Radha's Prayer ~ The Mother இராதையின், #NFDB
564:I’ve heard people using your songs as prayer, begging god in falsetto. ~ Warsan Shire, #NFDB
565:I went from a D all the way to an A plus, I tell you prayer changes things. ~ R Kelly, #NFDB
566:Only the prayer which comes from our heart can get to God's heart. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
567:Prayer always forsakes the kingdom of self for the kingdom of God, ~ Paul David Tripp, #NFDB
568:Prayer and meditation help us affirm that our Higher Power cares for ~ Melody Beattie, #NFDB
569:Prayer is more than words. It's listening, seeing and feeling. ~ Norman Vincent Peale, #NFDB
570:Prayer is the key to each new day and the lock for every night. ~ Wanda E Brunstetter, #NFDB
571:reflects as only the Irish can in five parts curse and five parts prayer. ~ Morrissey, #NFDB
572:Remember, a daily prayer to God is not an option in the day! ~ Ernest Agyemang Yeboah, #NFDB
573:Teaching
One hour's teaching is better than a whole night of prayer. ~ Idries Shah,#NFDB
574:The door is closed to prayer unless it is opened with the key of trust. ~ John Calvin, #NFDB
575:The LORD has heard my supplication; the LORD accepts my prayer. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
576:The Lord's prayer contains the sum total of religion and morals. ~ Duke of Wellington, #NFDB
577:The sexual embrace can only be compared with music and with prayer. ~ Marcus Aurelius, #NFDB
578:We talk to God--that is prayer; God talks to us--that is inspiration. ~ H Emilie Cady, #NFDB
579:Against the persecution of a tyrant the godly have no remedy but prayer. ~ John Calvin, #NFDB
580:A ton of prayer will never produce what an ounce of obedience will. ~ Edwin Louis Cole, #NFDB
581:Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it d with thanksgiving. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
582:Every positive thought is a silent prayer which will change your life. ~ Bryant McGill, #NFDB
583:fervently—because fervent prayer keeps your true identity in focus. ~ Priscilla Shirer, #NFDB
584:I hoped until it hurt. I hoped so hard I felt it finally turn to prayer. ~ Jan Ellison, #NFDB
585:In souls filled with love, the desire to please God is continual prayer. ~ John Wesley, #NFDB
586:In the prayer time, the battle of the spiritual life is lost or won. ~ E Stanley Jones, #NFDB
587:Living your life constructs your soul, not a few seconds of daily prayer. ~ James Cook, #NFDB
588:Poetry and prayer put ideas in people’s heads that got them killed, ~ Colson Whitehead, #NFDB
589:Prayer as a means to effect a private end is theft and meanness. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
590:Prayer from the heart can achieve what nothing else can in the world. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
591:Prayer is ecstatic communication with your innernavigational computer. ~ Timothy Leary, #NFDB
592:Prayer is either petitional or, in its wider sense, inward communion. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
593:Prayer is the safest method of replying to a word of hatred. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
594:Prayer, like radium, is a luminous and self-generating form of energy. ~ Alexis Carrel, #NFDB
595:Prayer never brought in no side-meat. Takes a shoat to bring in pork. ~ John Steinbeck, #NFDB
596:Prayer without study would be empty. Study without prayer would be blind. ~ Karl Barth, #NFDB
597:Satyagraha is itself an unmistakable mute prayer of an agonized soul. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
598:There is no need to get to a place of prayer; pray wherever you are. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
599:The romantic embrace can only be compared with music and with prayer. ~ Havelock Ellis, #NFDB
600:The sexual embrace can only be compared with music and with prayer. ~ H Havelock Ellis, #NFDB
601:The spirit of prayer is more precious than treasures of gold and silver. ~ John Bunyan, #NFDB
602:Again we see prayer is simply a recognition of the greatness of God. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
603:As long as algebra is taught in school, there will be prayer in school. ~ Cokie Roberts, #NFDB
604:Change only takes place through action, not through meditation and prayer. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
605:For a successful season of prayer, the best beginning is confession. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
606:For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God. ~ Teresa of vila, #NFDB
607:Gratitude is the greatest prayer. Thank you is the greatest mantra. ~ Swami Nithyananda, #NFDB
608:Holy desire can be learned. All prayer is part work and part rest. ~ Jen Pollock Michel, #NFDB
609:Humor is a prelude to faith and laughter is the beginning of prayer. ~ Reinhold Niebuhr, #NFDB
610:In our home there was always prayer - aloud, proud and unapologetic. ~ Lyndon B Johnson, #NFDB
611:In prayer, more is accomplished by listening than by talking. ~ Jane Frances de Chantal, #NFDB
612:I pray for miracles. I have always found prayer to bring quick results. ~ Martha Reeves, #NFDB
613:perhaps there's no sharper spur to meditation than answered prayer. ~ Hortense Calisher, #NFDB
614:Prayer gives us relief from the melancholy burden of self-absorption . ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
615:Prayer is as natural an expression of faith as breathing is of life. ~ Jonathan Edwards, #NFDB
616:Prayer is as natural an expression of faith as breathing is to life. ~ Jonathan Edwards, #NFDB
617:Prayer is the opening of the soul to God so that he can speak to us. ~ Georgia Harkness, #NFDB
618:Prayer. That was what people did when there was nothing else left to do. ~ Magnus Flyte, #NFDB
619:The issue of prayer is not prayer; the issue of prayer is God. ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel, #NFDB
620:The meaning of prayer is that I want to evoke that Divinity within me. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
621:When the fire of prayer goes out, the barrenness of busyness takes over. ~ George Carey, #NFDB
622:A simple grateful thought turned heavenwards is the most perfect prayer. ~ Doris Lessing, #NFDB
623:Every positive thought is a silent prayer which will change your life. ~ Bryant H McGill, #NFDB
624:For what is prayer but the expansion of your self into the living ether? ~ Khalil Gibran, #NFDB
625:God answers prayer on the ground of Redemption and on no other ground. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
626:God's prayer-line is not a wheel of fortune or lottery for the indolent. ~ Bryant McGill, #NFDB
627:Humor is a prelude to faith, and laughter is the beginning of prayer. ~ Reinhold Niebuhr, #NFDB
628:If love were only spiritual, the practices of fasting and prayer would not exist. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
629:I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
630:I like the Kardashians, but I do keep them on the top of my prayer list. ~ Tamar Braxton, #NFDB
631:It is well said that neglected prayer is the birth-place of all evil. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
632:Lord, lord, lord. Protect me from the consequences of the above prayer. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
633:Prayer and hard work are a pretty good one-two punch to get things done. ~ Rick Santorum, #NFDB
634:Prayer enables us to transform the world because it transforms us. ~ Marianne Williamson, #NFDB
635:Prayer has not been a part of my life in the sense that truth has been. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
636:Prayer is a friendly conversation with the One we know loves us. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #NFDB
637:Prayer is a virtue that prevaileth against all temptations. ~ Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, #NFDB
638:Prayer is not about changing God, but being willing to let God change us. ~ Richard Rohr, #NFDB
639:Prayer is one of the necessary wheels of the machinery of providence. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
640:Prayer sweeps the battlefield, slays the enemy, and buries the bones. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
641:PSA6.9 The LORD hath heard my supplication; the LORD will receive my prayer. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
642:Sometimes the best answers to prayer are the ones God doesn't answer. ~ Robin Jones Gunn, #NFDB
643:The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, buy unoffered prayer. ~ F B Meyer, #NFDB
644:The most eloquent prayer is the prayer through hands that heal and bless. ~ Billy Graham, #NFDB
645:the neglect of prayer is a major cause of stagnation in the Christian life. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
646:The real business of your life as a saved soul is intercessory prayer. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
647:When joy and prayer are married, their first born child is gratitude. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
648:Worrying paralyzes progress; prayer, preparation and persistence ensures it. ~ T F Hodge, #NFDB
649:As for methods of prayer, all of them are good as long as they are sincere. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
650:Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. —ROMANS 12:12 ~ Sarah Young, #NFDB
651:Fingers interlocked like a beautiful accordion of flesh or a zipper of prayer ~ Sarah Kay, #NFDB
652:He who rises from his prayer a better man, his prayer has been granted. ~ Neville Goddard, #NFDB
653:I added a video to a @YouTube playlist youtu.be/QPsoc0M9V6M?a Radha's Prayer ~ The Mother, #NFDB
654:I closed my eyes tightly and offered a short but sincere prayer of thanks. ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
655:If the answers to prayer are merely what God wills all along, then why pray? ~ Dan Barker, #NFDB
656:Intercessory prayer might be defined as loving our neighbour on our knees. ~ Charles Bent, #NFDB
657:I repeated his name, over and over again. A plea. A prayer. A solemn vow. ~ Chance Carter, #NFDB
658:It is my humble prayer that I may be of some use in my day and generation. ~ Hosea Ballou, #NFDB
659:Music is the child of prayer, the companion of religion. ~ Francois Rene de Chateaubriand, #NFDB
660:My little secret before I do every scene is I say a short little prayer. ~ Justin Baldoni, #NFDB
661:My prayer today is that God would make me an extraordinary Christian. ~ George Whitefield, #NFDB
662:Perhaps the shortest and most powerful prayer in human language is help. ~ Thomas Keating, #NFDB
663:Prayer and meditation help us affirm that our Higher Power cares for us. ~ Melody Beattie, #NFDB
664:Prayer, in many ways, is the supreme expression of our faith in God. ~ Martyn Lloyd Jones, #NFDB
665:Prayer is a powerful thing; for God has bound and tied himself thereunto. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
666:Prayer is a refusal to live as an outsider to my God and my own soul. ~ Eugene H Peterson, #NFDB
667:Prayer is life passionately wanting, wishing, desiring God's triumph. ~ G Campbell Morgan, #NFDB
668:Prayer is the very highest energy of which the mind is capable. ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge, #NFDB
669:Prayer may just be the most powerful tool mankind has.” ~ Ted DekkerBlink ~ Ted Dekker, #NFDB
670:The essential thing is to work in a state of mind that approaches prayer. ~ Henri Matisse, #NFDB
671:The primary purpose of prayer is not to get something, but to know Someone. ~ David Platt, #NFDB
672:The single most important piece of advice about prayer is one word: Begin! ~ Peter Kreeft, #NFDB
673:Do you wish to find out the really sublime? Repeat the Lord's Prayer. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte, #NFDB
674:Even the straws under my knees shout to distract me from prayer ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #NFDB
675:Faith furnishes prayer with wings, without which it cannot soar to Heaven. ~ John Climacus, #NFDB
676:How beautiful to look at When my prayer Lights a candle of hope In my heart. ~ Sri Chinmoy, #NFDB
677:It’s a mystery how you know what to do, what to say, how to frame a prayer. ~ Ruth Rendell, #NFDB
678:Much more prayer is called for, clearly, but first I will take a nap. ~ Marilynne Robinson, #NFDB
679:My prayer is that when I die, all of hell rejoices that I am out of the fight. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
680:Perhaps the shortest and most powerful prayer in human language is help. ~ Thomas Keating, #NFDB
681:Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
682:Prayer is less about changing the world than it is about changing ourselves. ~ David Wolpe, #NFDB
683:Prayer is not a pious decoration of life but the breath of human existence. ~ Henri Nouwen, #NFDB
684:Prayer is the only way to maintain a constant state of dependence on God. ~ David Jeremiah, #NFDB
685:Prayer mixed with worry and a negative conversation doesn't bring an answer. ~ Joyce Meyer, #NFDB
686:Prayer was of little help when your executable was stuck in an infinite loop ~ Shulem Deen, #NFDB
687:Real prayer comes not from gritting our teeth but from falling in love. ~ Richard J Foster, #NFDB
688:Sometimes we don't appreciate Prayer until we have to go through something! ~ Steve Harvey, #NFDB
689:That's the way prayer do. It's like electricity, it keeps things going. ~ Kathryn Stockett, #NFDB
690:That's what I'm hoping we can all do, is come together in a spirit of prayer. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
691:The heart of true prayer is vertical confession, not horizontal desire. ~ Paul David Tripp, #NFDB
692:The man of prayer will be at peace with himself and with the whole world. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
693:The prayer of faith is a prayer of trust. The very essence of faith is trust. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
694:You are my temple. You are my priest. You are my prayer. You are my release. ~ Sabaa Tahir, #NFDB
695:you remain faithful to your mental attitude, your prayer will be answered. ~ Joseph Murphy, #NFDB
696:Your positive thoughts are both the prayer, and the answer to your prayer. ~ Bryant McGill, #NFDB
697:God instituted prayer to communicate to creatures the dignity of causality. ~ Blaise Pascal, #NFDB
698:I began to murmur the Lord's Prayer in thanks.
"Shit," Mrs. Parsall said. ~ Laura Bickle,#NFDB
699:I believe the best way to get an answer to prayer is to work for it, ~ Gene Stratton Porter, #NFDB
700:If you are too busy for prayer, you are too busy for a relationship with God. ~ Mike Bickle, #NFDB
701:If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. Matthew 21:22 ~ Beth Moore, #NFDB
702:It was as if God had answered a prayer she'd never been bold enough to pray. ~ Melissa Tagg, #NFDB
703:Long, long time ago, I declared that all my works are a form of a prayer/a wish. ~ Yoko Ono, #NFDB
704:Prayer brings new perspective because it puts God back into the picture. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
705:Prayer is my chief work, and it is by means of it that I carry on the rest. ~ Thomas Hooker, #NFDB
706:Prayer is the breath of life to our soul; holiness is impossible without it ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
707:Prayer is the highest form,
the supreme act of the Creative Imagination. ~ Henry Corbin,#NFDB
708:Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscle of omnipotence. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
709:Prayer is the way to die to our own wishes and surrender everything to God. ~ Scot McKnight, #NFDB
710:Prayer needs no speech. It is itself independent of any sensuous effort. I ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
711:The correct prayer is never one of supplication but one of gratitude. ~ Neale Donald Walsch, #NFDB
712:The Muslim call to prayer is one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
713:The world is my church. My actions are my prayer. My behavior is my creed. ~ Steve Maraboli, #NFDB
714:We should all without shame enrol in the school of contemplative prayer. ~ Richard J Foster, #NFDB
715:What Simone Weil said: Attention without object is a supreme form of prayer. ~ Jenny Offill, #NFDB
716:29. The Lord is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
717:Amen is not the end of a prayer, it just gets us ready to go to the next level. ~ Gary Busey, #NFDB
718:Answered prayer is the interchange of love between the Father and His child. ~ Andrew Murray, #NFDB
719:Be patient in trials, watchful in prayer, and never cease working. ~ Saint Francis of Assisi, #NFDB
720:Constant prayer interrupts our ego trips and disrupts our toxic trajectories. ~ Jen Hatmaker, #NFDB
721:He is thinking quietly: I should not have got out of the habit of prayer. ~ William Faulkner, #NFDB
722:IF EVERYONE TURNED GOSSIP INTO PRAYER, THERE WOULD BE NO MORE REASON FOR GOSSIP. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
723:My constant prayer for myself is to be used in service for the greater good. ~ Oprah Winfrey, #NFDB
724:People on sinking ships do not complain of distractions during their prayer. ~ Philip Yancey, #NFDB
725:Prayer is doubts destroyer, ruin's remedy, the antidote to all anxieties. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
726:Prayer is not just something on our to-do list; it's the breath of our soul. ~ Kimberly Hahn, #NFDB
727:Prayer is to religion what thinking is to philosophy. To pray is to make religion. ~ Novalis, #NFDB
728:Students in the school of prayer never graduate from the school of the Gospel. ~ C J Mahaney, #NFDB
729:The Bible is a letter God has sent to us; prayer is a letter we send to him. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
730:The ease and immediacy of twitter is no match for the patient labor of prayer. ~ Tony Reinke, #NFDB
731:The Prayer that precedes all other prayer is, may the real me meet the real you. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
732:The third preventive for callousness is the life of prayer (Heb. 4:14–16). ~ Charles C Ryrie, #NFDB
733:Those blessings are sweetest that are won with prayer and worn with thanks. ~ Thomas Goodwin, #NFDB
734:Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
735:Waiting is a sustained effort to stay focused on God through prayer and belief. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
736:We can change the course of events if we go to our knees in believing prayer. ~ Billy Graham, #NFDB
737:We must pray for more prayer, for it is the world's mightiest healing force. ~ Frank Laubach, #NFDB
738:Whatever man prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer reduces itself. ~ Ivan Turgenev, #NFDB
739:When there is little awareness of real need, there is little real prayer. ~ Donald S Whitney, #NFDB
740:Worship or prayer is not to be performed with the lips, but with the heart. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
741:17He has regarded the prayer of the destitute, And has not despised their prayer. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
742:All religion is founded on prayer, and in prayer it has its test and measure. ~ Peter Forsyth, #NFDB
743:Anything big enough to occupy our minds is big enough to hang a prayer on. ~ George MacDonald, #NFDB
744:Do make this your first prayer every day: “Lord, bless thy saints everywhere. ~ Andrew Murray, #NFDB
745:God answers the prayer we ought to have made rather than the prayer we did make. ~ J I Packer, #NFDB
746:God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
747:I do not believe that God answers the prayer of any unredeemed Gentile or Jew ~ Jerry Falwell, #NFDB
748:If I've learned anything about prayer, it's that desperation drives discipline. ~ Bill Hybels, #NFDB
749:I’ve had enough, this is my prayer, that I’ll die living just as free as my hair. ~ Lady Gaga, #NFDB
750:Let not the spirit wander while the words of prayer run on out of our mouth. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
751:Let us work as we pray, for indeed work is the body’s best prayer to the Divine. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
752:Lord, lord, lord. Protect me from the consequences of the above prayer. Amen. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
753:Mediation centred upon divine realities is the very essence and soul of prayer. ~ James Allen, #NFDB
754:One who prays ceaselessly is one who combines prayer with work and work with prayer. ~ Origen, #NFDB
755:Prayer brings you into God’s presence, where our shortcomings are exposed. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
756:Prayer is not logical, it is a mysterious moral working of the Holy Spirit. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
757:Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living. ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel, #NFDB
758:Prayer is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #NFDB
759:Prayer is thus a means ordained to receive what God has planned to bestow.[22] ~ Joel R Beeke, #NFDB
760:Prayer may not change things for you, but it for sure changes you for things. ~ Sam Shoemaker, #NFDB
761:The answer to our prayer may be the echo of our resolve. ~ Herbert Samuel 1st Viscount Samuel, #NFDB
762:The only certainties that don't break down are those acquired in prayer. ~ Reinhold Schneider, #NFDB
763:The prayer of the saints is never self-important, but always God-important. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
764:Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Matthew 21:22 ~ Rhonda Byrne, #NFDB
765:A single grateful thought toward heaven is the most perfect prayer. ~ Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, #NFDB
766:Asking in prayer helps you to see your problem in the light of God's power. ~ Elizabeth George, #NFDB
767:Asking in prayer helps you to see your problem in the light of God’s power. ~ Elizabeth George, #NFDB
768:Assume the attitude of prayer, and in time, the attitude will become prayer. ~ Mercedes Lackey, #NFDB
769:As we are involved in unceasing thinking, so we are called to unceasing prayer. ~ Henri Nouwen, #NFDB
770:For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #NFDB
771:Healing the earth is not a liberal or conservative idea— it is a form of prayer. ~ Mary Pipher, #NFDB
772:I believe in prayer. It's the best way we have to draw strength from heaven. ~ Josephine Baker, #NFDB
773:In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. ~ John Bunyan, #NFDB
774:It is impossible to overstate the need for prayer in the fabric of family life. ~ James Dobson, #NFDB
775:Meaningful prayer is a matter of the heart, not the eloquence of the words. ~ Elizabeth George, #NFDB
776:Prayer is and remains always a native and deepest impulse of the soul of man. ~ Thomas Carlyle, #NFDB
777:Prayer is as mighty as God, because He has committed Himself to answer it. ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
778:Prayer is simple, as simple as a child making known its wants to it parents. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
779:Prayer is talking to God. Meditation is letting God talk to you.” —Yogi Bhajan ~ Maria Shriver, #NFDB
780:Prayer is the expression of your heart’s sincere desires poured out to God. ~ Elizabeth George, #NFDB
781:Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body and prayer is to the soul. ~ Matthew Kelly, #NFDB
782:Reading the morning newspaper is the realist's morning prayer. ~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, #NFDB
783:The Bible does not present an art of prayer; it presents the God of prayer. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
784:There is nothing the devil fears so much, or so much tries to hinder, as prayer. ~ Philip Neri, #NFDB
785:This is our Lord's will... that our prayer and our trust be, alike, large. ~ Julian of Norwich, #NFDB
786:Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. Matthew 21:22. ~ Joseph Murphy, #NFDB
787:All poetry, as discriminated from the various paradigms of prosody, is prayer. ~ Samuel Beckett, #NFDB
788:A prayer couched in the words of the soul, is far more powerful than any ritual. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
789:Every time I have had a breakthrough in my life, it has been because of Prayer ~ John C Maxwell, #NFDB
790:Fasting detaches you from this world. Prayer reattaches you to the next world. ~ Fulton J Sheen, #NFDB
791:If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough. MEISTER ECKHART ~ Guy Kawasaki, #NFDB
792:Know that we win the war when we pray in power because prayer is the battle. ~ Stormie Omartian, #NFDB
793:Patience, prayer and silence-these are what give strength to the soul. ~ Mary Faustina Kowalska, #NFDB
794:Prayer alone will not make a happy life. A happy life must be built. You must act. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
795:Prayer is spiritual exercise and every act of prayer stretches the soul. ~ James Dillet Freeman, #NFDB
796:Prayer is the hard-work business of Christianity, and it nets amazing results. ~ David Jeremiah, #NFDB
797:Souvenez vous," she tells me. "One must make a little prayer from time to time. ~ James Baldwin, #NFDB
798:The first step in faith is to stop thinking about God at the time of prayer.- ~ Brennan Manning, #NFDB
799:Things happen which would not happen without prayer. Let us not forget that. ~ Elisabeth Elliot, #NFDB
800:Today is the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. Let us work and pray. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
801:What wings are to a bird, and sails to a ship, so is prayer to the soul.
~ Corrie ten Boom,#NFDB
802:You are biological. Like a cow. Prayer for you is like the opiate of the people. ~ David Brooks, #NFDB
803:A personal selfish prayer is bad whether made before an image or an unseen God. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
804:Cause that's the way prayer do. It's like electricity, it keeps things going. ~ Kathryn Stockett, #NFDB
805:Cause that’s the way prayer do. It’s like electricity, it keeps things going. ~ Kathryn Stockett, #NFDB
806:Even when she was speaking, her soul was in prayer reposing on an unseen support. ~ George Eliot, #NFDB
807:he e regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
808:His every breath was a prayer. For peace. Protection. Truth.
Thy will be done. ~ Laura Frantz,#NFDB
809:I deepen my experience of God through prayer, meditation, and forgiveness. ~ Marianne Williamson, #NFDB
810:Know that your heart can be deployed to wherever the Lord sends you in prayer ~ Stormie Omartian, #NFDB
811:Persistence with patience and prayer pays with profits, prosperity and peace of mind. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
812:Prayer begins and ends not with the needs of man but with the glory of God ~ John F MacArthur Jr, #NFDB
813:Prayer is designed to adjust you to God's will, not to adjust God to your will. ~ Henry Blackaby, #NFDB
814:Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
815:Prayer is speaking to God. Meditation is listening to God. Trust tranquility. ~ Shirley MacLaine, #NFDB
816:Prayer keeps the burden fresh. It keeps our eyes and hearts in an expectant mode. ~ Andy Stanley, #NFDB
817:Thank God he killed the guy. Oh, now, wait a minute. What kind of a prayer was that! ~ Anne Rice, #NFDB
818:The goal of prayer is not just the sharing of our ideas, but also of ourselves. ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
819:There is nothing that torments Satan more than the sight of a faithful in prayer. ~ Nadeem Aslam, #NFDB
820:Watch your motive before God; have no other motive in prayer than to know Him. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
821:Your prayer for someone may or may not change them, but it always changes YOU. ~ Craig Groeschel, #NFDB
822:An investor doesn’t have a prayer of picking a manager that can deliver true alpha. ~ Eugene Fama, #NFDB
823:Blessed are those who believe when there is no evidence of an answer to prayer. ~ David Wilkerson, #NFDB
824:Every prayer - every thought, every statement, every feeling - is creative. ~ Neale Donald Walsch, #NFDB
825:Folks keep forgetting that wishing don't make nothing so, but prayer sometimes do. ~ Bette Greene, #NFDB
826:Grace works that way. It’s a kind word from a gentle person with an impossible prayer. ~ Bob Goff, #NFDB
827:He only said the one word. A prayer. A supplication. A breath from his heart to mine. ~ C D Reiss, #NFDB
828:His worst fault is, he's given to prayer; he is something peevish that way. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
829:I am, I think, finally learning what a prayer is. It is just a thank-you. ~ Nora McInerny Purmort, #NFDB
830:I did pray. I kept on Praying. But prayer did nothing to alleviate their suffering. ~ Sh saku End, #NFDB
831:If you don’t become them, even for a second, a prayer is nothing but words. That’s ~ Brit Bennett, #NFDB
832:I have found, however, that I sense more power in prayer when I speak them out loud. ~ Beth Moore, #NFDB
833:In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
834:It's exactly at these moments, when all hope has vanished, that prayer has dominion. ~ Junot D az, #NFDB
835:It's exactly at these moments, when all hope has vanished, that prayer has dominion. ~ Junot Diaz, #NFDB
836:My love for you is a prayer, she thought. Love is the only prayer I know. ~ Marion Zimmer Bradley, #NFDB
837:Prayer for the Day Higher Power, help me find You in the people and events of my day. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
838:Prayer is an impossibility without a living faith in the presence of God within. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
839:Prayer is the hand of faith on the door knob of your heart, inviting Jesus to enter. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
840:Prayer is you speaking to God. Meditation is allowing the spirit to speak to you. ~ Deepak Chopra, #NFDB
841:Prayer presupposes faith. No prayer is in vain. Prayer is like any other action. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
842:Speak, move, act in peace, as if you were in prayer. In truth, this is prayer. ~ Francois Fenelon, #NFDB
843:The primary means-of-reviva l that everyone agrees upon is extraordinary prayer. ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
844:Unless we fix certain hours in the day for prayer, it easily slips from our memory. ~ John Calvin, #NFDB
845:You cannot pray a prayer I cannot hear. There is no wrong way to reach out to me. ~ Julia Cameron, #NFDB
846:God is much in the difficult home problems as in the times of quiet and prayer. ~ Evelyn Underhill, #NFDB
847:Group chanting and prayer is very powerful. It can bring important changes. ~ Mata Amritanandamayi, #NFDB
848:I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it. ~ John Wesley, #NFDB
849:I refuse the oration of all churches. I ask a prayer of all souls. I believe in God. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
850:I was a sinner, and she was my only prayer. A deity. The only goddess I worshipped. ~ Belle Aurora, #NFDB
851:Lord, with so much violence in Iraq, may we persevere in our prayer and generosity. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
852:Most priests and religious equate prayer with thinking. That is their downfall. ~ Anthony de Mello, #NFDB
853:No one finds time for prayer. You either take time for it or you don't get it. ~ Joan D Chittister, #NFDB
854:Prayer does not change the purpose of God. But prayer does change the action of God. ~ Chuck Smith, #NFDB
855:Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God's gift of Himself. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
856:Prayer is not asking God to do something, it's asking God to help YOU do something ~ Dennis Prager, #NFDB
857:Prayer is not what is done by us, but rather what is done by the Holy Spirit in us. ~ Henri Nouwen, #NFDB
858:prayer isn’t asking God to do what we want. Prayer is asking God to do what is right. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
859:Real prayer is union with God, a union as vital as that of the vine to the branch. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
860:Scatter as a prayer
escaping my lips...
as orchids
blooming in clouds. ~ Sanober Khan,#NFDB
861:Sometimes he would have liked to pray, but what is prayer if there is nobody there? ~ Iris Murdoch, #NFDB
862:The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16, KJV ~ Michelle Stimpson, #NFDB
863:The sinner's prayer has sent more people to Hell than all the bars in America. ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
864:When the heart gets into prayer, every beat of the heart creates a miracle. ~ Harbhajan Singh Yogi, #NFDB
865:When you live with constant gratitude, your life will become a living prayer. ~ Barbara De Angelis, #NFDB
866:A complete fast is a complete and literal denial of self. It is the truest prayer. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
867:As pain tells us of the need for healing, worry tells us of the need for prayer. ~ Richard Lovelace, #NFDB
868:Be honest with God and ask Him to give you a willingness to do the work of prayer. ~ David Jeremiah, #NFDB
869:Believe in the power of prayer - it is real, it is wonderful, it is tremendous. ~ Gordon B Hinckley, #NFDB
870:But prayer isn't asking God to do what we want. Prayer is asking God to what is right. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
871:For most of us the prayer in Gethsemane is the only model. Removing mountains can wait. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
872:I added a video to a @YouTube playlist youtu.be/xMDgVVHbPUQ?a Radha's Prayer ~ The Mother இராதையின், #NFDB
873:I'll tell you what's more important than all the commentaries in your library: prayer. ~ Mark Dever, #NFDB
874:Live and die without prayer, and you will pray long enough when you get to hell. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
875:(On surviving on the raft for 47 days) We had truly made it on a wing and prayer. ~ Louis Zamperini, #NFDB
876:Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God's gift of Himself. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
877:prayer incorporates the unknown and unpredictable in the outworking of God’s grace. ~ Philip Yancey, #NFDB
878:Prayer is the supreme instance of the hidden character of the Christian life. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
879:Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer. ~ John Bunyan, #NFDB
880:Souls who do not practice prayer are like people whose limbs are paralyzed. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #NFDB
881:Spiritual joy arises from purity of the heart and perseverance in prayer. ~ Saint Francis of Assisi, #NFDB
882:The best style of prayer is that which cannot be called anything else but a cry. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
883:The more we can give in our silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
884:There is only one prayer and that is prayer for light, for purity, for perfection. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
885:The scientific observer of Nature is a kind of mystic seeker in the act of prayer. ~ Muhammad Iqbal, #NFDB
886:Whatever is the object of a saint's hope is the subject of his prayer. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #NFDB
887:A prayer, a master act, a king idea Can link man's strength to a transcendent Force. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
888:For the faithful, Spirit-filled Christian, every place becomes a place of prayer. ~ John F MacArthur, #NFDB
889:If He has said much about prayer, it is because He knows we have much need of it. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
890:It is simply impossible to lead, without the aid of prayer, a virtuous life. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #NFDB
891:I uttered my prayer: Give me your honey. Bless my tongue with rhyme, poetry, song. ~ Carol Ann Duffy, #NFDB
892:Live a life of prayer, giving glory to God and continually listening for His guidance. ~ Mary C Neal, #NFDB
893:Neglect of private prayer is the locust which devours the strength of the church. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
894:No man's prayer is acceptable with God whose life is not well pleasing before God. ~ Alexander Whyte, #NFDB
895:Not forgiving interferes with the effectiveness of your prayer life (Mark 11:25). ~ Stormie Omartian, #NFDB
896:Prayer has comforted us in sorrow and will help strengthen us for the journey ahead. ~ George W Bush, #NFDB
897:Prayer indeed is good, but while calling on the gods a man should himself lend a hand. ~ Hippocrates, #NFDB
898:Prayer is a strong wall and fortress of the church; it is a goodly Christian weapon. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
899:Prayer is - loving conversation with the One who has invited us into His embrace. ~ Richard J Foster, #NFDB
900:Prayer is the art of assuming the feeling of being and having that which you want. ~ Neville Goddard, #NFDB
901:Prayer is the easiest thing to assume in church and the hardest thing to maintain. ~ James MacDonald, #NFDB
902:Prayer is the sign of your weakness. Rely on your inner strength. You will be the winner. ~ Amit Ray, #NFDB
903:Prayer joined to sacrifice constitutes the most powerful force in human history. ~ Pope John Paul II, #NFDB
904:The first requirement for prayer is silence. People of prayer are people of silence. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
905:Therefore, Your servant has found the courage to pray this prayer to You. 2 Samuel 7:27 ~ Beth Moore, #NFDB
906:The streaming wounds of Jesus are the sure guarantees for answered prayer. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
907:The tree of the promise will not drop its fruit unless shaken by the hand of prayer. ~ Thomas Watson, #NFDB
908:The true believer can no more live without prayer, than without food day by day. ~ George Whitefield, #NFDB
909:True prayer is an approach of the soul by the Spirit of God to the throne of God. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
910:Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ~ Eckhart Tolle, #NFDB
911:I think the Lord's Prayer is a very powerful prayer. And the prayer of St. Francis. ~ Dennis Kucinich, #NFDB
912:I would never want any prayer that would not make the virtues grow within me. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #NFDB
913:Like completing a run, living today begins with preparation, planning, and prayer. ~ Elizabeth George, #NFDB
914:Maybe love was superstition, a prayer we said to keep the truth of loneliness at bay. ~ Leigh Bardugo, #NFDB
915:No, the essence of prayer is volition, so the essence of blasphemy is volition. She ~ Ford Madox Ford, #NFDB
916:Prayer holds together the shattered fragments of creation. It makes history possible. ~ Jacques Ellul, #NFDB
917:Prayer is a thought, a belief, a feeling, arising within the mind of the one praying. ~ Ernest Holmes, #NFDB
918:Prayer is God's answer to our poverty, not a power we exercise to obtain an answer. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
919:Prayer is the best weapon we possess. It is the key that opens the heart of God. ~ Pio of Pietrelcina, #NFDB
920:prayer is the fruit of a relationship with God, not a technique for acquiring blessings. ~ D A Carson, #NFDB
921:Prayer must not be our chance work but our daily business, our habit and vocation. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
922:Prayer wasn’t a good-luck charm, he had said. It was a means of discovering God’s will. ~ Dean Hughes, #NFDB
923:Religion is only in the service of the people; it is not in the rosary and the prayer-carpet. ~ Saadi, #NFDB
924:The Igor position on prayer is that it is nothing more than hope with a beat to it. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
925:The infallible test of spiritual integrity, Jesus says, is your private prayer life. ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
926:When I manage to keep my center, it's usually because I've taken prayer seriously. ~ Jonathan Jackson, #NFDB
927:A man of prayer regards what are known as physical calamities as divine chastisement. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
928:Authentic prayer changes us, unmasks us, strips us, indicates where growth is needed. ~ Teresa of vila, #NFDB
929:faith is the acknowledgement of our own poverty and the prayer for God’s riches in Christ. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
930:How powerful prayer is! May we never lose the courage to say: Lord, give us your peace. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
931:If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough. ~ Meister Eckhart, #NFDB
932:If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice. ~ Meister Eckhart, #NFDB
933:If there’s one thing I’ve learned in all my years, Demian, it’s never to rely on prayer. ~ Alec Hutson, #NFDB
934:If we ever opened a meeting with a prayer, silent or otherwise, we would disintegrate. ~ Jerry Falwell, #NFDB
935:Nine times out of ten, declension from God begins in the neglect of private prayer. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
936:Prayer is an art which only the Spirit can teach us. He is the giver of all prayer. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
937:Prayer is a rising up and a drawing near to God in mind and in heart, and in spirit. ~ Alexander Whyte, #NFDB
938:Prayer is awe before an infinite force, and yet it's intimacy with a personal friend. ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
939:Prayer is essentially about making the heart strong so that fear cannot penetrate there. ~ Matthew Fox, #NFDB
940:Some people think prayer is telling God what to do. I don't think that's the case. ~ John Shelby Spong, #NFDB
941:The correct prayer is therefore never a prayer of supplication, but a prayer of gratitude. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
942:The fruit and the purpose of prayer is to be oned with and like God in all things. ~ Julian of Norwich, #NFDB
943:The life of prayer is just love to God, and the custom of being ever with Him. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #NFDB
944:The very precariousness of weather excites a large amount of earnest prayer. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
945:The whole of our life should be a prayer offered to the Divine. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III, #NFDB
946:through prayer and trust in the Lord her losses would turn into something beautiful. ~ Karen Kingsbury, #NFDB
947:For the faithful, Spirit-filled Christian, every place becomes a place of prayer. ~ John F MacArthur Jr, #NFDB
948:Happy is the spirit that attains to the perfect formlessness at the time of prayer. ~ Evagrius Ponticus, #NFDB
949:have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. 2 KINGS 20:5 ~ Stormie Omartian, #NFDB
950:History is a test of faith, and the correct response to that test is persistent prayer. ~ Philip Yancey, #NFDB
951:Hope is really just desire disguised, just desperation, aching, dressed up like a prayer. ~ T Greenwood, #NFDB
952:I don’t believe in prayer, but I do believe in magic, and I want to believe in miracles. ~ Laini Taylor, #NFDB
953:If prayer flew as quickly as gossip, all the saints in heaven could not keep up with it. ~ James R Benn, #NFDB
954:If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is "thank you," it will be enough. ~ Meister Eckhart, #NFDB
955:If the only prayer you say throughout your life is "Thank You," then that will be enough. ~ Elie Wiesel, #NFDB
956:If you want to protect me, prayer is just as powerful a weapon as that gun you carry. ~ Karen Witemeyer, #NFDB
957:I've got so much work to do today, I'd better spend two hours in prayer instead of one. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
958:My biggest concern for this generation is your inability to focus, especially in prayer. ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
959:Prayer is inward communication with yourself; action is outward conversation with God. ~ Steve Maraboli, #NFDB
960:Prayer is not the answer. God is the answer. Prayer is the vehicle by which we reach God. ~ Greg Laurie, #NFDB
961:Say a prayer for the pretender, who started out so young and strong only to surrender. ~ Jackson Browne, #NFDB
962:Temptation is stronger in the minds of people who are in doubt.
Prayer makes it weaker. ~ Toba Beta,#NFDB
963:The infallible test of spiritual integrity, Jesus says, is your private prayer life. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
964:The more sanctified a person is the more heavily weighted his prayer time is in adoration. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
965:The tea-kettle is as much an English institution as aristocracy or the Prayer-Book. ~ Catharine Beecher, #NFDB
966:We need to repeat Paul’s prayer: “Lord, help me to will and to work for your good pleasure. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
967:Without prayer it is impossible to resist temptations and to keep the commandments. ~ Alphonsus Liguori, #NFDB
968:Without prayer, our faith is weakened, our love grows cold, our hope becomes uncertain. ~ Terence Cooke, #NFDB
969:You do not have to wait until you become a saint. [Prayer] is the way to become a saint. ~ Peter Kreeft, #NFDB
970:And my one prayer to God, the miracle worker, was that I would wake up lighter-skinned. ~ Lupita Nyong o, #NFDB
971:Christian prayer is fellowship with the personal God who befriends us through speech. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
972:Desire and feeling joined together in a mental marriage will become the answered prayer. ~ Joseph Murphy, #NFDB
973:Faith and prayer are the vitamins of the soul; man cannot live in health without them. ~ Mahalia Jackson, #NFDB
974:Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live. ~ Jacqueline Winspear, #NFDB
975:If you practise meditation and prayer it will make me happy. I look on you as my own. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #NFDB
976:may I be I is the only prayer--not may I be great or good or beautiful or wise or strong. ~ E E Cummings, #NFDB
977:may I be I is the only prayer--not may I be great or good or beautiful or wise or strong. ~ e e cummings, #NFDB
978:Prayer does make a difference-a life-changing, mind-blowing, earth-rattling difference. ~ Lysa TerKeurst, #NFDB
979:Prayer infuses the air of a time yet to be into the suffocating atmosphere of the present. ~ Walter Wink, #NFDB
980:Prayer is fundamentally a transformation of will, a lifting of the heart and will to God. ~ Peter Kreeft, #NFDB
981:Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance, but laying hold of God’s willingness. ~ Jennifer Kennedy Dean, #NFDB
982:Prayer is the little implement through which men reach; where presence is denied them. ~ Emily Dickinson, #NFDB
983:Prayer - secret, fervent, believing prayer - lies at the root of all personal godliness. ~ William Carey, #NFDB
984:Prayer should be soundless words coming forth from the center of your heart filled with love. ~ Amit Ray, #NFDB
985:Prayer usually means praise, or surrender, acknowledging that you have run out of bullets. ~ Anne Lamott, #NFDB
986:Saadi’s dictum, in the Bostan: ‘The Path is not in the rosary, the prayer-mat and the robe ~ Idries Shah, #NFDB
987:See that you do not use the trick of prayer to cover up what you know you ought to do. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
988:Six hours in sleep, in law's grave study six,Four spend in prayer, the rest on Nature fix. ~ Edward Coke, #NFDB
989:Sometimes I think that just not thinking of oneself is a form of prayer. . . ~ Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, #NFDB
990:The Church gives more time, thought, and money to recreation and sport than to prayer. ~ Samuel Chadwick, #NFDB
991:The spiritual leader should outpace the rest of the church, above all, in prayer. And ~ J Oswald Sanders, #NFDB
992:The test of sincerity of one's prayer is the willingness to labor on its behalf. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #NFDB
993:This is the role of writers: to turn their tears into a story - and perhaps into a prayer. ~ Elie Wiesel, #NFDB
994:Time is not something you give back. The very next moment may be an answer to your prayer. ~ Mitch Albom, #NFDB
995:To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
996:True prayer presupposes an attitude of humble submission and adoration to the Almighty God. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
997:We will all be far better spouses, parents, and leaders as we take time to grow in prayer. ~ Mike Bickle, #NFDB
998:Whole days and weeks have I spent prostrate on the ground in silent or vocal prayer. ~ George Whitefield, #NFDB
999:Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden. ~ Corrie ten Boom, #NFDB
1000:Anything large enough for a wish to light upon, is large enough to hang a prayer upon. ~ George MacDonald, #NFDB
1001:Everybody works . . . . That's what life is. Work and a little play and a lot of prayer. ~ Susan Vreeland, #NFDB
1002:Every time someone cries out in prayer and I can't answer, I feel guilty about not being God. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1003:Experience teaches us that we do not always receive the blessings we ask for in prayer. ~ Mary Baker Eddy, #NFDB
1004:Hear our humble prayer, O God. Make us, ourselves, to be true friends to the animals. ~ Albert Schweitzer, #NFDB
1005:I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. 2 KINGS 20:5 ~ Stormie Omartian, #NFDB
1006:I knew I'd chosen the wrong airline when I noticed the sick bag had the Lord's Prayer on it. ~ Les Dawson, #NFDB
1007:I would like to explain that I consider prayer above all an act of gratitude for existence. ~ Saul Bellow, #NFDB
1008:My father was an Episcopalian minister, and I've always been comforted by the power of prayer. ~ Anna Lee, #NFDB
1009:My prayer, my sacrifice, my life and my death is all for Allah, The Lord of The Worlds. ~ Louis Farrakhan, #NFDB
1010:Prayer became less about asking God for something and more about being in God’s presence. ~ Mike McHargue, #NFDB
1011:Prayer earns merit. Merit makes life predictable. Keeps away accidents and surprises. ~ Devdutt Pattanaik, #NFDB
1012:Prayer in secret is life finding expression in the realized Presence of God our Father. ~ Samuel Chadwick, #NFDB
1013:Prayer is the only way to amend your life: and without prayer, it will never be mended. ~ Alexander Whyte, #NFDB
1014:Prayer is the way we communicate with God. Affirmation is the way we reprogram the mind. ~ Iyanla Vanzant, #NFDB
1015:Prayer must never be answered: if it is, it ceases to be prayer and becomes correspondence. ~ Oscar Wilde, #NFDB
1016:Prayer that craves a particular commodity, anything less than all good, is vicious. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
1017:Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest. ~ Book of Common Prayer, collect for the Second Sunday in Advent., #NFDB
1018:Study your prayers, a great part of my time is spent getting in tune for prayer. ~ Robert Murray M Cheyne, #NFDB
1019:The church expect too much from the pastors and there's barely anytime left for prayer. ~ David Wilkerson, #NFDB
1020:There is nothing in the world so much like prayer as music is. ~William Shakespeare ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1021:True meditation has no direction or goal. It is pure wordless surrender, pure silent prayer. ~ Adyashanti, #NFDB
1022:When we pray to God with entire assurance, it is Himself who has given us the spirit of prayer. ~ Cyprian, #NFDB
1023:Why God has instituted Prayer:— To communicate to his creatures the dignity of causation. ~ Blaise Pascal, #NFDB
1024:With prayer, one can go on cheerfully and even happily. Without prayer, how grim a journey! ~ Dorothy Day, #NFDB
1025:A kind of prayer. VLADIMIR: Precisely. ESTRAGON: A vague supplication. VLADIMIR: Exactly. ~ Samuel Beckett, #NFDB
1026:Central Truth: Prayer is successful only when it is based on the promises in God’s Word! ~ Kenneth E Hagin, #NFDB
1027:Every word you speak is a prayer, or meditation of reinforcement which creates permanence. ~ Bryant McGill, #NFDB
1028:He that knows how to overcome the Lord in prayer, has heaven and earth at his disposal. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
1029:I begin and end each day with prayer, meditation, and thoughts about what I am grateful for. ~ Nathan East, #NFDB
1030:I don't think science is totally true, because I've seen miracles happen through prayer. ~ Meredith Brooks, #NFDB
1031:If we do not love one another, we certainly shall not have much power with God in prayer. ~ Dwight L Moody, #NFDB
1032:I love to live alone in my own little cottage, where I can spend much time in prayer, etc ~ David Brainerd, #NFDB
1033:I'm a hopeless prayer. I think somewhere in there I spend a great deal of time at it. ~ Frederick Buechner, #NFDB
1034:In prayer we shift the center of living from self-consciousness to self-surrender ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel, #NFDB
1035:My prayer for you is for peace, which is something you have to make. You can’t just have it ~ Tayari Jones, #NFDB
1036:Never make the blunder of trying to forecast the way God is going to answer your prayer. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
1037:Prayer has been the saviour of my life. Without it I should have been a lunatic long ago. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1038:Prayer is an acknowledgement of your dependence on God and His direction for your life. ~ Elizabeth George, #NFDB
1039:Prayer to be fruitful must come from the heart and must be able to touch the heart of God. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
1040:Prayer was talking and listening and being excited to spend time with someone who loves you. ~ Chris Fabry, #NFDB
1041:Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan. ~ John Bunyan, #NFDB
1042:The core of all prayer is indeed listening, obediently standing in the presence of God. ~ Henri J M Nouwen, #NFDB
1043:The man who says his evening prayer is a captain posting his sentinels. He can sleep. ~ Charles Baudelaire, #NFDB
1044:The most glorious works of grace that have ever took place, have been in answer to prayer. ~ William Carey, #NFDB
1045:The politician's prayer is: May my words be ever soft and low, for I may have to eat them. ~ Norman Lamont, #NFDB
1046:There is no promise too hard for God to fulfill. No prayer is too big for Him to answer! ~ Christine Caine, #NFDB
1047:The world was made partly that there may be prayer; partly that our prayers might be answered. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1048:To say a prayer doesn't take more than a minute, but you need the discipline to do it. ~ Miguel Angel Ruiz, #NFDB
1049:A day without prayer is a day wasted of an opportunity to see God's hand in my life. ~ Candace Cameron Bure, #NFDB
1050:Cheese!" I exclaimed. It was a secret prayer, whose meaning was known only to God and to me. ~ Alan Bradley, #NFDB
1051:Christian prayer is generally too worshipful and therefore dualistic. And it is too wordy. ~ Paul F Knitter, #NFDB
1052:God, please help me not be an asshole, is about as common a prayer as I pray in my life. ~ Nadia Bolz Weber, #NFDB
1053:God's Word must be the guide of your desires and the ground of your expectations in prayer. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
1054:In prayer the lips ne'er act the winning part, Without the sweet concurrence of the heart. ~ Robert Herrick, #NFDB
1055:I put the pistol by my head, and say a prayer. I see visions of me dead, Lord are you there? ~ Tupac Shakur, #NFDB
1056:My favorite prayer is thank you. Most people are asking for things and not doing their part. ~ Tony Robbins, #NFDB
1057:My prayer for you is for peace, which is something you have to make. You can't just have it. ~ Tayari Jones, #NFDB
1058:No one who has had a unique experience with prayer has a right to withhold it from others. ~ Soong May ling, #NFDB
1059:Prayer allows you to tap into God’s wisdom anywhere, anytime, no matter what’s going on. ~ Elizabeth George, #NFDB
1060:Prayer alone will overcome the gigantic difficulties which confront the workers in every field. ~ John Mott, #NFDB
1061:Prayer does change things, all kinds of things. But the most important thing it changes is us. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
1062:Prayer is better than to sleep. Wake up. Wake up & pray. This is the way you free yourself. ~ Tariq Ramadan, #NFDB
1063:Prayer is God's appointed means for appropriating the blessings that are ours in Christ Jesus. ~ D A Carson, #NFDB
1064:Prayer is God’s appointed means for appropriating the blessings that are ours in Christ Jesus. ~ D A Carson, #NFDB
1065:Prayer is like Thanksgiving dinner. It takes one hour to eat it and ten hours to prepare it. ~ Peter Kreeft, #NFDB
1066:Prayer is not for the enhancement of our comforts but for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom. ~ John Piper, #NFDB
1067:Prayer is the way to experience a powerful confidence that God is handling our lives well. ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
1068:Prayer, which is breathing with the Spirit of Jesus, leads us to this immense knowledge. ~ Henri J M Nouwen, #NFDB
1069:Sometimes the answer to prayer is not that it changes life, but that it changes you. ~ James Dillet Freeman, #NFDB
1070:true fidelity consists in never neglecting prayer, study, meditation and fasting. ~ Omraam Mikha l A vanhov, #NFDB
1071:We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
1072:When she cries, it is quiet, tearless, almost completely imperceptible: one more unheard prayer. ~ Joe Meno, #NFDB
1073:Yes, I like that word. "More" is a prayer to God, isn't it? Gratitude and plea, all in one. ~ Art Garfunkel, #NFDB
1074:8By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1075:Apes. The moon woke them--
round the world's navel revolved
prayer wheels of steps. ~ Dag Hammarskj ld,#NFDB
1076:If it's worth doing, it's worth doing poorly. (friend who is a priest said regarding prayer) ~ Sybil MacBeth, #NFDB
1077:If you ever feel distant, never mistake who has drifted away. Prayer will close this gap. ~ Tad R Callister, #NFDB
1078:In books we seek God; in prayer we find him. Prayer is the key which opens God's heart. ~ Pio of Pietrelcina, #NFDB
1079:It wasn’t enough to wish people well and offer a quick prayer. God’s people needed to act. ~ Karen Kingsbury, #NFDB
1080:Prayer enables you to tap into God's wisdom anywhere, anytime, no matter what's going on. ~ Elizabeth George, #NFDB
1081:Prayer enables you to tap into God’s wisdom anywhere, anytime, no matter what’s going on. ~ Elizabeth George, #NFDB
1082:Prayer is a law of the universe, like gravity. You don't even have to believe in God to ask. ~ Sophy Burnham, #NFDB
1083:Prayer is the breath, the watchword, the comfort, the strength, the honor of a Christian. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
1084:Prayer, therefore, leads to a self-knowledge that is impossible to achieve any other way. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
1085:The 3 most powerful resources you have available to you : love, prayer and forgiveness. ~ H Jackson Brown Jr, #NFDB
1086:To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world. ~ Karl Barth, #NFDB
1087:Trouble and perplexity drive me to prayer, and prayer drives away perplexity and trouble. ~ Elizabeth George, #NFDB
1088:Trouble and perplexity drive me to prayer, and prayer drives away perplexity and trouble. ~ Francois Fenelon, #NFDB
1089:We find, sooner or later, that in prayer we either abandon ourselves or we abandon prayer. ~ E Stanley Jones, #NFDB
1090:When our will wholeheartedly enters into the prayer of Christ, then we pray correctly. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
1091:Annai Unnai Alagarithu ~ The Mother Prayer Song- Gangai Amaran – S P Bal... youtu.be/cRASQz0HHO8 via @YouTube, #NFDB
1092:God,’ said Pascal, ‘instituted prayer in order to lend to His creatures the dignity of causality. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1093:I believe that there is no prayer without fasting, and there is no real fast without prayer. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1094:If I should neglect prayer but a single day, I should lose a great deal of the fire of faith. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
1095:It is impossible to conduct your life as a disciple without definite times of secret prayer ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
1096:It was a prayer that he had never said before, because it was a prayer without words or pleas. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1097:My only prayer for my time with you is, "God I just want these men and women to long for you." ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
1098:My personal prayer is simply my joy to be alive, and to live in gratitude and generosity. ~ Miguel Angel Ruiz, #NFDB
1099:People with a lot of theological study and no prayer life are dangerous... and not in a good way. ~ Mark Hart, #NFDB
1100:Prayer consists simply in giving to God all the careful attention of which the soul is capable. ~ Simone Weil, #NFDB
1101:Prayer is not a form of words but an aspiration. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - II, The Need of the Moment, #NFDB
1102:Prayer is to the Christian what breath is to life, yet no duty of the Christian is so neglected. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
1103:Prayer must not be our chance work, but our daily business, our habit and vocation. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
1104:Replace worry with prayer. Make the decision to pray whenever you catch yourself worrying. ~ Elizabeth George, #NFDB
1105:Scientific prayer makes God a celestial lab rat, leading to bad science and worse religion. ~ Michael Shermer, #NFDB
1106:Seek the still of prayer that you may know yourself and make order of what is required of you. ~ Tamara Leigh, #NFDB
1107:The basic purpose of prayer is not to bend God's will to mine, but to mold my will into His. ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
1108:The essence of prayer is simply talking to God as you would to a beloved friend—without ~ John F MacArthur Jr, #NFDB
1109:The people's prayer, the glad diviner's theme, The young men's vision, and the old men's dream! ~ John Dryden, #NFDB
1110:The Psalter, then, affirms both the communion-seeking and kingdom-seeking kinds of prayer. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
1111:The richness of God’s Word ought to determine our prayer, not the poverty of our heart. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
1112:To keep God at the center of one's life requires frequent renewal of power through prayer. ~ Georgia Harkness, #NFDB
1113:We are so quick to tweet, Facebook, and Instagram but we treat prayer with a sense of delay? ~ Timothy Keller, #NFDB
1114:We must reflect the light of Christ through lives of prayer and joyful service to others. ~ Pope John Paul II, #NFDB
1115:When we devote all of our actions to a spiritual goal, everything that we do becomes a prayer. ~ Muhammad Ali, #NFDB
1116:Where prayer, amulets and incantations work it is only a manifestation of the patient's belief. ~ Hippocrates, #NFDB
1117:Without a plan in your head or a penny in your pocket, you best have a prayer in your heart- ~ Nancy B Brewer, #NFDB
1118:Without prayer it is impossible to resist temptations and to keep the commandments. ~ Saint Alphonsus Liguori, #NFDB
1119:writing poetry is like prayer, and prayer isn’t something you have to share with other people. ~ Sigrid Nunez, #NFDB
1120:You can serve or you can sing, and wreck your heart in prayer, working the world's hard work. ~ Annie Dillard, #NFDB
1121:Experience teaches us that we do not always receive the blessings we ask for in prayer.
~ Mary Baker Eddy,#NFDB
1122:I don't pray because it doesn't work. Prayer doesn't fix anything. Bad things happen anyway. ~ Nicholas Sparks, #NFDB
1123:knew something about prayer, asked Jesus how to pray (Luke 11:1). Here is where prayer really ~ Edward T Welch, #NFDB
1124:Laughter, music, prayer, touch, truth telling, and forgiveness are universal methods of healing. ~ Mary Pipher, #NFDB
1125:No man - I don't care how colossal his intellect - No man is greater than his prayer life. ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
1126:Prayer is all-powerful. Let us use it to bring peace to the Middle East and peace to the world. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
1127:Preaching affects men; prayer affects God. Preaching affects time; prayer affects eternity ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
1128:The basic purpose of prayer is not to bend God’s will to mine but to mold my will into his. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
1129:The guy that helped me learn this stuff suggested prayer and meditation. So I took up smoking. ~ Larry Correia, #NFDB
1130:The ultimate aim of prayer is “obedience to God’s will, not the contemplation of his being. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
1131:All of us would be wiser if we would resolve never to put people down, except on our prayer lists. ~ D A Carson, #NFDB
1132:Being inside her was like prayer. It was worship. It was the closest to God I had ever been. ~ Jessica Gadziala, #NFDB
1133:Conversation with God leads to an encounter with God. Prayer turns theology into experience. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
1134:Effective prayer is the fruit of a relationship with God, not a technique for acquiring blessings. ~ D A Carson, #NFDB
1135:effective prayer is the fruit of a relationship with God, not a technique for acquiring blessings. ~ D A Carson, #NFDB
1136:HELPED are those whose every act is a prayer for peace; on them depends the future of the world. ~ Alice Walker, #NFDB
1137:I can say a prayer while washing my teeth, but that does not mean I should wash my teeth in church. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1138:if monasteries accepted the irreligious and permitted abstention from prayer, I'd become a monk. ~ Henri Troyat, #NFDB
1139:If you have no time for prayer and meditation, you will have lots of time for sickness and trouble. ~ Emmet Fox, #NFDB
1140:Prayer, among sane people, has never superseded practical efforts to secure the desired end. ~ George Santayana, #NFDB
1141:Prayer can come in only when fasting has done its work. It can make fasting easy and bearable. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1142:Prayer had always struck me as more or less a glorified attempt at a business transaction. ~ Barbara Kingsolver, #NFDB
1143:Prayer, in it's simplest form, is finding out what God wants to do and then asking Him to do it. ~ Graham Cooke, #NFDB
1144:Prayer is no mere exercise of words or of the ears, it is no mere repetition of empty formula. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1145:Prayer is no substitute for work; equally true is it that work is no substitute for prayer. ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
1146:prayer is not an attempt to get God to agree with you or provide for your selfish desires ~ John F MacArthur Jr, #NFDB
1147:Prayer is the only means of bringing about orderliness and peace and repose in our daily acts. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1148:Prayer that runs its course till the last day of life needs a strong and tranquil soul. ~ Clement of Alexandria, #NFDB
1149:Pray fIor my soul, more things are wrought bX prayer than this world dreams of
-- Tennyson ~ Neville Goddard,#NFDB
1150:Take prayer with you wherever you go. Say it anytime, and then focus your mind and heart on God. ~ Henri Nouwen, #NFDB
1151:Teaching:
One hour's teaching is better than a whole night of prayer.
Saying of the Prophet ~ Idries Shah,#NFDB
1152:The Believers come with their guns, their prayer beads and their own Destroy-Yourselves Manual. ~ Arundhati Roy, #NFDB
1153:The Bible’s teaching on prayer leads overwhelmingly to one conclusion: Prayer changes things. ~ John Ortberg Jr, #NFDB
1154:The branches of the trees looked as if they were holding hands and bowing their heads in prayer. ~ Ishmael Beah, #NFDB
1155:The purpose of prayer is the alignment of the mind with the thoughts and the will of God. ~ Marianne Williamson, #NFDB
1156:There is comfort in keeping what is sacred inside us not as a secret, but as a prayer. ~ Terry Tempest Williams, #NFDB
1157:The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful then a thousand heads bowing in prayer. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1158:To say a prayer is not enough. One has to believe that it's possible for that prayer to be heard. ~ Marvin Hier, #NFDB
1159:Trying to describe what I do in prayer would be like telling the world how I make love to my wife. ~ J I Packer, #NFDB
1160:When people are truly dedicated to the Divine, there is no difference between action and prayer. ~ Mother Meera, #NFDB
1161:You are not going to know the meaning of God or prayer unless you reduce yourself to a cipher. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1162:A church service starts and ends with a prayer. A magazine starts and ends with an advert. ~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana, #NFDB
1163:Better channel your words into prayer, than into complaints. Zip your mouth and make a plan. ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
1164:But in His grace, He has given us the privilege of prayer so that we might share in His great ~ Warren W Wiersbe, #NFDB
1165:Every act I live while I am fully awake can not help but be both prayer and lovemaking. ~ Oriah Mountain Dreamer, #NFDB
1166:Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1167:I must ask the Lord to direct the Holy Spirit within me to drain the life out of sin and in prayer. ~ J I Packer, #NFDB
1168:Intercessory prayer is an act of communion with Christ, for Jesus pleads for the sons of men. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
1169:Maybe writing can't be taught, but editing can be taught—prayer, fasting and self-mutilation. ~ Donald Barthelme, #NFDB
1170:Prayer for the Day God, help me find You in my moments of blindness. This is when I really need You. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1171:Prayer is an ordinance of God, that must continue with a soul so long as it is on this side glory. ~ John Bunyan, #NFDB
1172:Prayer that is thoughtless and detached is offensive to God and should be offensive to us. ~ John F MacArthur Jr, #NFDB
1173:The minister is not always in the act of prayer, but he is always in the spirit of it. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
1174:There is no harder shield for the devil to pierce with temptation than singing with prayer. ~ Henry Ward Beecher, #NFDB
1175:through prayer we can reach into the future and with loving hands touch those beyond our reach. ~ Brother Andrew, #NFDB
1176:To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. ~ Martin Luther King Jr, #NFDB
1177:We do pray for mercy, and that same prayer doth teach us all to render the deeds of mercy. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1178:What moves the soul through each death are the keys of humility, desire, choice and prayer. ~ Padma Aon Prakasha, #NFDB
1179:When the prayer becomes the vibration of the mind and self, then we can create a miracle. ~ Harbhajan Singh Yogi, #NFDB
1180:When you kneel in prayer, don't give God orders, just report to your Commander in Chief for duty. ~ Michael Catt, #NFDB
1181:A congregational prayer is a means for establishing essential human unity though common worship. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1182:Close the day with prayer so that you may have a peaceful night free from dreams and nightmares. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1183:Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains. ~ Frederick Douglass, #NFDB
1184:Faith, prayer, and the Word of God are the weapons God provides you with to fight spiritual battles. ~ Jim George, #NFDB
1185:Give me deeper power in private prayer, more sweetness in Thy Word, more steadfast grip on its truth. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1186:I don't need politicians doing a 24-hour prayer with Oral Roberts to get our country back on track. ~ Lewis Black, #NFDB
1187:I'm not very good at praying, but what I experience when I'm writing a poem is close to prayer. ~ Denise Levertov, #NFDB
1188:I think I get from my books what other people get from family or a relationship or from prayer. ~ Karen Armstrong, #NFDB
1189:Oh, grant me my prayer, that I may never lose the touch of the one in the play of the many. ~ Rabindranath Tagore, #NFDB
1190:Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us. ~ Bill W, #NFDB
1191:Prayer bends omnipotence of heaven to your desire. Prayer moves the hand that moves the world. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
1192:Real inward devotion knows no prayer but that arising from the depths of its own feelings. ~ Wilhelm von Humboldt, #NFDB
1193:Religion often gets in the way of God.’ – BONO, AT THE NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST, FEBRUARY 2, 2006 ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
1194:The fall of communism had more to do with prayer meetings in Poland than bombs dropped on Cambodia. ~ Brian Zahnd, #NFDB
1195:The sky may be overcast today with clouds, but a fervent prayer to God is enough to dispel them. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1196:An authentic life is the most personal form of worship. Everyday life has become my prayer. ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach, #NFDB
1197:And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips. ~ Khalil Gibran, #NFDB
1198:Begin your day with prayer, and make it so soulful that it may remain with you until the evening. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1199:Every other consideration and plan and emphasis is secondary to that of wielding the forces of prayer. ~ John Mott, #NFDB
1200:I find a great deal of comfort and care in my faith and prayer. I'd sooner do without air than prayer. ~ Mary Karr, #NFDB
1201:I laid great stress upon prayer as an indispensable condition of promoting the revival. ~ Charles Grandison Finney, #NFDB
1202:In moments of prayer, people tend to pose as a critic and point out perceived flaws in God's art. ~ Steve Maraboli, #NFDB
1203:In moments of prayer, people tend to pose as a critic and point out percieved flaws in God's art. ~ Steve Maraboli, #NFDB
1204:I stood up and offered not a prayer, for that was of no use to anyone, but a moment of contemplation. ~ John Boyne, #NFDB
1205:It is a good thing to let prayer be the first business of the morning and the last of the evening. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
1206:It was not apathy or passiveness. For him, prayer was a display of the strongest possible activity. ~ Eric Metaxas, #NFDB
1207:Prayer continues in the desire of the heart, though the understanding be employed on outward things. ~ John Wesley, #NFDB
1208:Prayer, he suspected... was putting one foot in front of the other. Moving all
the same. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold,#NFDB
1209:Prayer is - listening for the still small voice of God. Listening with the "ear of our hearts." ~ Richard J Foster, #NFDB
1210:Prayer not only teaches and strengthens one for work, work teaches and strengthens one for prayer. ~ Andrew Murray, #NFDB
1211:Prayer that focuses on self is always hypocritical because every true prayer focuses on God. ~ John F MacArthur Jr, #NFDB
1212:The best way to develop an abiding awareness of God’s presence is to speak to Him often in prayer. ~ Robert Morgan, #NFDB
1213:The gods’ most savage curses come to us as answers to our own prayers. Prayer is a dangerous business. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1214:...the goodness of God is the highest object of prayer and it reaches down to our lowest need. ~ Julian of Norwich, #NFDB
1215:The prayer does call for serious, serious punishment on people. But I didn't call for that, God did. ~ Wiley Drake, #NFDB
1216:To foster inner awareness, introspection, and reasoning is more efficient than meditation and prayer. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
1217:Vocations are born in prayer and from prayer; and only in prayer can they persevere and bear fruit. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
1218:Whatever good work you begin to do, beg of God with most earnest prayer to perfect it. ~ Saint Benedict of Nursia, #NFDB
1219:And seek help through patience and prayer, and indeed, it is difficult except for the humbly submissive ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1220:Churches are good for prayer, but so are garages and cars and mountains and showers and dance floors. ~ Anne Lamott, #NFDB
1221:Heaven’s wiser love rejects the mortal’s prayer; ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain, #NFDB
1222:He teaches us how to be in prayer what we are in life and how to be in life what we are in prayer. ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
1223:I believe with faith all is possible. An answer to prayer is greatest positive feedback you can get. ~ J R Martinez, #NFDB
1224:I love my Jesus with all my heart, so why would I offer anything less than an ignited prayer life? ~ Lysa TerKeurst, #NFDB
1225:Isn't that a kind of prayer? The care and maintenance of the web of our noticing, the paying heed? ~ Kathleen Jamie, #NFDB
1226:I still say the Lord's Prayer every day. It covers a lot of ground in our relation to the world. ~ Rupert Sheldrake, #NFDB
1227:I wanted to know what I looked like to you. A sin committed and a prayer answered, you said. ~ Terese Marie Mailhot, #NFDB
1228:Jay," my name comes out like a prayer. "Be mine. Be only mine," he whispers to me. ~ Nicole Reed Kane ~ Nicole Reed, #NFDB
1229:Le de s ir de la prie' re est de j a' une prie' re. The wish for prayer is already a prayer. ~ Georges Bernanos, #NFDB
1230:nothing else can ever cure our sick world except saints, and saints are never made except by prayer. ~ Peter Kreeft, #NFDB
1231:Open the Bible, start reading it, and pause at every verse and turn it into a prayer. John Piper ~ Donald S Whitney, #NFDB
1232:Our prayer and God's mercy are like two buckets in a well; while the one ascends the other descends. ~ Mark Hopkins, #NFDB
1233:Prayer, as a means of drawing ever new strength from Christ, is concretely and urgently needed. ~ Pope Benedict XVI, #NFDB
1234:Prayer is the difference between seeing with our physical eyes and seeing with our spiritual eyes. ~ Mark Batterson, #NFDB
1235:The Lord's Prayer may be committed to memory quickly, but it is slowly learnt by heart. ~ Frederick Denison Maurice, #NFDB
1236:The main purpose of prayer is not to make life easier, nor to gain magical powers, but to know God. ~ Philip Yancey, #NFDB
1237:The most important thing is not to get what we want in prayer, but to accomplish what God wants. ~ Stormie Omartian, #NFDB
1238:The place of private prayer is the key, the strategic position, where decisive victory is obtained. ~ Andrew Murray, #NFDB
1239:There is no problem with the opening of new houses of prayer for Lutherans and Pentecostals. ~ Vladimir Zhirinovsky, #NFDB
1240:This is thine own. Thou drawest near, as turns a pigeon to his mate: Thou carest too for this our prayer. ~ Various, #NFDB
1241:Through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
1242:As soon as the man is at one with God, he will not beg. He will then see prayer in all action. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
1243:But from the good health of the mind comes that which is dear to all and the object of prayer-happiness. ~ Aeschylus, #NFDB
1244:Christians fight best on their knees. Whatever good may be done is done and brought about by prayer. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
1245:Christians, instead of arming themselves with swords, extend their hands in prayer. ~ Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, #NFDB
1246:He offered a prayer so deeply devout that he seemed kneeling and praying at the bottom of the sea. ~ Herman Melville, #NFDB
1247:I don't know of a single foreign product that enters this country untaxed, except the answer to prayer. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
1248:If, when God speaks to us in his word, we are deaf, when we speak to him in prayer, he will be dumb. ~ Thomas Watson, #NFDB
1249:My prayer was different now: A year, a year, a year. Those two words beat like a heart in my chest. ~ Cheryl Strayed, #NFDB
1250:Prayer cannot be a request made to a theistic deity to act in human history in a particular way. ~ John Shelby Spong, #NFDB
1251:Prayer is powerful beyond limits when we turn to the Immaculata who is queen even of God's heart. ~ Maximilian Kolbe, #NFDB
1252:Prayer [is] the quiet, persistent living of our life of desire and faith in the presence of our God. ~ Andrew Murray, #NFDB
1253:Speaking in tongues is as normal to me as 'Pass the salt' It's a secret, direct prayer language to God. ~ Katy Perry, #NFDB
1254:Tears are akin to prayer - Pharisees parade prayers, imposters parade tears. ~ Edward Bulwer Lytton 1st Baron Lytton, #NFDB
1255:The real 'work' of prayer is to become silent and listen to the voice that says good things about me. ~ Henri Nouwen, #NFDB
1256:Unless you have forgiven others you read your own death warrant when you repeat the Lord's Prayer ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
1257:When prayer fades out, power fades out. We are as spiritual as we are prayerful; no more, no less. ~ E Stanley Jones, #NFDB
1258:When we can play with the unself-conscious concentration of a child, this is: art: prayer: love. ~ Madeleine L Engle, #NFDB
1259:A flag doesn't cause someone to sit in a prayer meeting for an hour, and then stand up and shoot people. ~ Rich Lowry, #NFDB
1260:As my life was fading away, I remembered the Lord. My prayer came to You, to Your holy temple. Jonah 2:7 ~ Beth Moore, #NFDB
1261:C. S. Lewis wrote that in prayer we must “lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us. ~ John Ortberg Jr, #NFDB
1262:Faith" is not a generalized abstraction but a way of life that is expressed in persistent prayer. ~ Eugene H Peterson, #NFDB
1263:If the only prayer you said in your whole life was “thank you,” that would be sufficient. —MEISTER ECKHART ~ Sam Keen, #NFDB
1264:I have come to bring out the beauty you never knew you had and lift you like a prayer to the sky. ~ ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #NFDB
1265:It's the perfect environment for prayer. Chanting in Greek is like a beautiful opera, but way better. ~ Troy Polamalu, #NFDB
1266:Leading effective change in your church without prayer will not work. And it’s not very smart either. ~ Thom S Rainer, #NFDB
1267:Nothing is more vital than prayer in Christian existence, and few things are more vulnerable to neglect. ~ John Piper, #NFDB
1268:Prayer doesn't bend God's arm but it's guaranteed to bend our hearts toward His will. Worry less. Pray more. ~ LeCrae, #NFDB
1269:Prayer for the Day Higher Power, help me to learn from my attitudes. Whatever the outcome, help me learn. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1270:Prayer is a mighty ministry that any believer can have—anywhere, anytime, and in any circumstance. ~ Elizabeth George, #NFDB
1271:Prayer is a salve for every sore, even the sorest, a remedy for every malady, even the most grievous. ~ Matthew Henry, #NFDB
1272:Prayer is not so much a way to find God as a way of resting in him...who loves us, who is near to us. ~ Thomas Merton, #NFDB
1273:The asacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1274:The winds mourn and whine was wiser than any psalm, prayer, or profession of love he’d ever heard. But ~ Clive Barker, #NFDB
1275:Though prayer doesn't change God's mind or God's purposes, prayer does change something- It changes us. ~ Chuck Smith, #NFDB
1276:To cry out to Him is never in vain. So long as no response is received, the prayer must be continued. ~ Anandamayi Ma, #NFDB
1277:To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1278:A concentrated mind and a sitting body make for better prayer than a kneeling body and a mind half asleep. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1279:Aldrik,” she breathed faintly, as though it were a prayer. No word had ever tasted sweeter on her tongue. ~ Elise Kova, #NFDB
1280:And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and [really] believing, you will receive. MATTHEW 21:22 ~ Joyce Meyer, #NFDB
1281:It is unbelievable what a person of prayer can achieve if he would but close the doors behind him. ~ S ren Kierkegaard, #NFDB
1282:Nowhere is it more important to be in a conversational relationship with God than in our prayer life. ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
1283:Our prayer is a heart search. It is a reminder to ourselves that we are helpless without His support. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1284:Please. Don’t use the Lord’s name, unless you’re in prayer. It’s a hundred years in purgatory. ~ Dorothea Benton Frank, #NFDB
1285:Prayer indeed is good, but while calling on the gods a man should himself lend a hand. ~ Hippocrates, Regimen, IV, 87, #NFDB
1286:Prayer is a very precious medicine, one that certainly helps and never fails, if you will only use it. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
1287:Prayer is not magic. God is not a celestial bellhop ready at our beck and call to satisfy our every whim. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
1288:she hardly ever let herself say his name, when it felt like a prayer that her lips could only get dirty. ~ Cole McCade, #NFDB
1289:Souls without prayer are like bodies, palsied and lame, having hands and feet they cannot use. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #NFDB
1290:the call to follow Jesus is not simply an invitation to pray a prayer; it’s a summons to lose our lives. ~ David Platt, #NFDB
1291:The candidate was required to prepare himself by confession, fasting, and passing the night in prayer. ~ Horatio Alger, #NFDB
1292:The day you learn to be publically specific in your prayer, that is the day you will discover power. ~ David Wilkerson, #NFDB
1293:The greatness of prayer is nothing but an extension of the greatness and glory of God in our lives. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
1294:The Lord's Prayer takes less than twenty seconds to read aloud, but it takes a lifetime to learn. ~ R Albert Mohler Jr, #NFDB
1295:The readings described prayer as talking to God and meditation as listening to the divine within. A ~ Kevin J Todeschi, #NFDB
1296:Until we have acquired genuine prayer, we are like people teaching children to begin to walk. ~ Margaret Mary Alacoque, #NFDB
1297:We don't have all the answers. Perhaps prayer is simply a time we set aside to acknowledge that reality. ~ Mary E Hunt, #NFDB
1298:We should not permit prayer to be taken out of the schools; that's the only way most of us got through. ~ Sam Levenson, #NFDB
1299:By our attitude to prayer we tell God that what was begun in the Spirit we can finish in the flesh. ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
1300:Each activity of daily life in which we stretch ourselves on behalf of others is a prayer in action. ~ Richard J Foster, #NFDB
1301:How often I failed in my duty to God, because I was not leaning on the strong pillar of prayer. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #NFDB
1302:It's not your schedule that keeps you from praying, it's your failure to realize the importance of prayer. ~ Jim George, #NFDB
1303:Let your prayer for temporal blessings be strictly limited to things absolutely necessary. ~ Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, #NFDB
1304:Prayer does not demand that we interrupt our work, but that we continue working as if it were a prayer. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
1305:Prayer finds its source in God's holiness and it is at the same time our response to this holiness. ~ Pope John Paul II, #NFDB
1306:Prayer for the Day Higher Power, help me to choose wisely. Help me remember I'm responsible for my choices. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1307:Prayer is not asking for what you think you want, but asking to be changed in ways you can't imagine. ~ Kathleen Norris, #NFDB
1308:Prayer is the raising of the mind to God. We must always remember this. The actual words matter less. ~ Pope John XXIII, #NFDB
1309:Prayer, like everything else in the Christian life, is for God's glory and for our benefit, in that order. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
1310:Prayer steadies one when he is walking in slippery places - even if things asked for are not given. ~ Benjamin Harrison, #NFDB
1311:Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body and prayer is to the soul. We become the books we read. ~ Hal Elrod, #NFDB
1312:Take note, complaining is not the same as prayer. It doesn’t require any spiritual insight to grumble. ~ Brother Andrew, #NFDB
1313:The flower-girl's prayer to buy roses and pinks, held out in the smoke, like stars by day. ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, #NFDB
1314:The purpose of daily prayer is the cultivation of a sense of the sacred. Sacred energy renews us. ~ Marianne Williamson, #NFDB
1315:The purpose of prayer is emphatically not to bend God's will to ours, but rather to align our will to his. ~ John Stott, #NFDB
1316:There is a holiness about your tears. Each one is a prayer that only God can understand. KATHE WUNNENBURG ~ Roma Downey, #NFDB
1317:There is no such thing as a powerful prayer; we only have powerful people praying to a powerful God. ~ Chris Oyakhilome, #NFDB
1318:True prayer, not just mindless, halfhearted petitions, is what digs the well God wants to fill with faith. ~ Beth Moore, #NFDB
1319:What Is Prayer? Prayer is man giving God the legal right and permission to interfere in earth’s affairs. ~ Myles Munroe, #NFDB
1320:What most of all hinders heavenly consolation is that you are too slow in turning yourself to prayer. ~ Thomas a Kempis, #NFDB
1321:Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me! ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1322:Christ can come back at any time so the one thing you want to have in your life is a focused prayer time. ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
1323:Communicating our questions, hopes, and fears in prayer makes them-even to ourselves-more open and clear. ~ Jimmy Carter, #NFDB
1324:Edmund P. Clowney wrote, “The Bible does not present an art of prayer; it presents the God of prayer. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
1325:If our bones were not sending whispers of doubt to our hearts, there would be no need for prayer at all. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
1326:James 5:16 - The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. ~ Eugene H Peterson, #NFDB
1327:Keep on praying for faith, it is through prayer that you develop all your wonderful qualities of soul. ~ Myrtle Fillmore, #NFDB
1328:Lack of prayer says you've brought into the lie that life is manageable and you've got everything under control ~ LeCrae, #NFDB
1329:Meditative prayer like that we experienced in the labyrinth resonates with hearts of emerging generations. ~ Dan Kimball, #NFDB
1330:Of all the duties enjoined by Christianity none is more essential and yet more neglected than prayer. ~ Francois Fenelon, #NFDB
1331:Our prayer must always be, ‘Holy Spirit, dwell with me! Holy Spirit, dwell with Your servants! ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
1332:Prayer irrigates the fields of life with the waters which are stored up in the reservoirs of promise. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
1333:Prayer is not verbal. It is from the heart. To merge into the Heart is prayer. That is also Grace. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
1334:Prayer ought to be short and pure, unless it be prolonged by the inspiration of Divine grace. ~ Saint Benedict of Nursia, #NFDB
1335:Prayer succeeds by avoiding conflict. Prayer is, above all things, easy. Its greatest enemy is effort. ~ Neville Goddard, #NFDB
1336:Prayer will never do our work for us; what it will do is to strengthen us for work which must be done. ~ William Barclay, #NFDB
1337:The greatest and best talent that God gives to any man or woman in this world is the talent of prayer. ~ Alexander Whyte, #NFDB
1338:And so...we prayed. And I added a silent prayer of my own, giving God thanks for the blessing of my father. ~ Nancy Moser, #NFDB
1339:Be thankful and repay Growth with good work and care. Work done in gratitude Kindly, and well, is prayer. ~ Wendell Berry, #NFDB
1340:But I suspect if I asked, she would tell me that the prayer itself has power, regardless of who hears it. ~ Tessa Gratton, #NFDB
1341:By my definition, prayer is consciously hanging out with God. Being with God in a deliberate way. ~ Reverend Malcolm Boyd, #NFDB
1342:From my mother I learned the value of prayer, how to have dreams and believe I could make them come true. ~ Ronald Reagan, #NFDB
1343:I am so busy now that if I did not spend three hours each day in prayer, I could not get through the day. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
1344:I believe in religion against the religious; in the pitifulness of orisons, and in the sublimity of prayer. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
1345:Let me say amen betimes lest the devil cross my prayer, for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew. ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1346:May each family rediscover family prayer, which helps to bring about mutual understanding and forgiveness. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
1347:My job was simply to follow His leading one step at a time, holding every decision up to Him in prayer. ~ Corrie ten Boom, #NFDB
1348:No day should be lived unless it was begun with a prayer of thankfulness and an intercession for guidance. ~ Robert E Lee, #NFDB
1349:Prayer and love are learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible and the heart has turned to stone. ~ Thomas Merton, #NFDB
1350:Prayer feeds the soul - as blood is to the body, prayer is to the soul - and it brings you closer to God. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
1351:Prayer goes up and thought comes down -- or so it seems. As far as I can tell, that's the only difference. ~ Alan Bradley, #NFDB
1352:#Prayer is not verbal. It is from the heart. To merge into the Heart is prayer. That is also Grace. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
1353:Prayer is speaking to God - but sometimes He uses our times of prayerful silence to speak to us in return. ~ Billy Graham, #NFDB
1354:Prayer is the best study. It blesses the pleading preacher and the people to whom he ministers. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
1355:She didn’t think that she could sway the universe, but she hoped that you could nudge it with a prayer. ~ Allegra Goodman, #NFDB
1356:She whispered his name like a prayer, fingers already fast at work in that swampy heat between her thighs. ~ Blake Crouch, #NFDB
1357:That no Flake of [snow] fall on you or them - is a wish that would be a Prayer, were Emily not a Pagan. ~ Emily Dickinson, #NFDB
1358:The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays. ~ Soren Kierkegaard, #NFDB
1359:The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays. ~ S ren Kierkegaard, #NFDB
1360:The sky is my prayer, the birds are my prayer, the wind in the trees is my prayer, for God is all in all. ~ Thomas Merton, #NFDB
1361:To have time for it, I left off prayer which was to me the first inlet of evils. ~ Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon, #NFDB
1362:All souls in hell are there because they did not pray. All the saints sanctified themselves by prayer. ~ Alphonsus Liguori, #NFDB
1363:Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that thou wilt keep the United States in thy holy protection. ~ George Washington, #NFDB
1364:God answers every prayer, Rabbi Schumann once told him, years ago. Mostly His answer is ‘no’. ~ Paul Russell, #NFDB
1365:I indulge prayer when the world seems incomprehensible and only a plea to the incomprehensible makes sense. ~ James Ellroy, #NFDB
1366:I’m for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayer, tranquilizers or a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. ~ James Kaplan, #NFDB
1367:In religious circles, depression is often deemed to be a spiritual condition that can be cured with prayer. ~ Tony Campolo, #NFDB
1368:I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us, and we change things. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
1369:I’ve heard it said that prayer is the act of talking to God, while meditation is the act of listening. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert, #NFDB
1370:My hope and prayer is that everyone know and love our country for what she really is and what she stands for. ~ John Wayne, #NFDB
1371:Prayer, humility, and charity toward all are essential in the Christian life: they are the way to holiness. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
1372:Prayer is a torchlight that shows you hidden possibilities in the dark environment of your despondent mind. ~ Shubha Vilas, #NFDB
1373:Prayer is never rejected so long as we do not cease to pray. The chief failure of prayer is its cessation. ~ Peter Forsyth, #NFDB
1374:Prayer is the human response to the perpetual outpouring of love by which God lays siege to every soul. ~ Richard J Foster, #NFDB
1375:Prayer prompts and nurtures obedience, putting the heart into the proper "frame of mind" to desire obedience. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
1376:The Christian life is not limited to prayer, but requires an ongoing dedication and courage born of prayer. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
1377:We do not drift into spiritual life or disciplined prayer. We will not grow in prayer unless we plan to pray. ~ D A Carson, #NFDB
1378:We ought not to tolerate for a minute the ghastly and grievous thought that God will not answer prayer. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
1379:What is essential in prayer is not that we learn to express ourselves, but that we learn to answer God. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
1380:And seek assistance through patience and prayer, and most surely it is a hard thing except for the humble ones, ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1381:As far as the Jews were concerned, Hitler's only 'prayer' was that they be wiped off the face of the earth. ~ Efraim Zuroff, #NFDB
1382:By affliction prayer is quickened, for our prayers are very apt to grow languid and formal in a time of ease. ~ John Newton, #NFDB
1383:I'll like to tell all the people who wrote me and said a prayer for me, thank you from the bottom of my heart. ~ Gucci Mane, #NFDB
1384:In His own heart, there were frequently great struggles. And those struggles drove Him to prayer. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
1385:Kindness, kindness, kindness. I want to make a New Year's prayer, not a resolution. I'm praying for courage. ~ Susan Sontag, #NFDB
1386:LISTEN TO ME CONTINUALLY. I have much to communicate to you, so many people and situations in need of prayer. ~ Sarah Young, #NFDB
1387:Meditation goes in. Prayer goes out. But they both aim for the same place of union between you and the devine. ~ Lisa Jones, #NFDB
1388:No prayer!--No faith!--No Christ in the heart. Little prayer!--Little faith!--Little Christ in the heart. ~ Alexander Whyte, #NFDB
1389:Prayer is first of all listening to God. It's openness. God is always speaking; he's always doing something. ~ Henri Nouwen, #NFDB
1390:Prayer never works for me on the golf course. That may have something to do with my being a terrible putter. ~ Billy Graham, #NFDB
1391:Pray, hope and don't worry. Anxiety doesn't help at all. Our Merciful Lord will listen to your prayer. ~ Pio of Pietrelcina, #NFDB
1392:Prior to the meeting, there was a prayer. In general, in the United States there was always praying. ~ Friedrich Durrenmatt, #NFDB
1393:The cardinal rule in prayer remains the dictum of Don Chapman: “Pray as you can; don’t pray as you can’t. ~ Brennan Manning, #NFDB
1394:The first person I came out to was God. And the first conversation I ever had with anybody was in prayer. ~ Andrew Sullivan, #NFDB
1395:The Irish Catholic side was married to the life of an actor and I found out acting could be a form of prayer. ~ Liam Neeson, #NFDB
1396:The joining of the whole congregation in prayer has something exceedingly solemn and affecting in it. ~ Karl Philipp Moritz, #NFDB
1397:the most awesome power every human being possesses: the power to influence earth from heaven through prayer. ~ Myles Munroe, #NFDB
1398:The only prayer which a well-meaning man can pray is, O ye gods, give me whatever is fitting unto me! ~ Apollonius of Tyana, #NFDB
1399:The only way those Ten Commandments and prayer would be stripped from that Courtroom is with the force of arms. ~ Fob James, #NFDB
1400:The prayer preceding all prayers is 'May it be the real I who speaks. May it be the real Thou that I speak to.' ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1401:The purpose of prayer is to reveal the presence of God equally present, all the time, in every condition. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
1402:If I could have one prayer answered, I would pray for patience. I move so fast sometimes. I try to slow down. ~ Debra Winger, #NFDB
1403:Intent on prayer, she has a dumb girl's sweet piercing way of putting her whole body into one thing at a time. ~ John Updike, #NFDB
1404:In the same way that a small child cannot draw a bad picture so a child of God cannot offer a bad prayer. ~ Richard J Foster, #NFDB
1405:My principal battle with the North Vietnamese was a moral one, and prayer was my prime source of strength. ~ Jeremiah Denton, #NFDB
1406:Offer Christ your heart in meditation and personal prayer which is the foundation of the spiritual life. ~ Pope John Paul II, #NFDB
1407:PRAYER and love are really learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible and your heart turns to stone. ~ Thomas Merton, #NFDB
1408:Prayer and love are really learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible and your heart turns to stone. ~ Thomas Merton, #NFDB
1409:Prayer bends the omnipotence of heaven to your desire. Prayer moves the hand that moves the world. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, #NFDB
1410:Prayer is a practical strategy, the gaining of temporal advantage in the capital markets of Sin and Remission. ~ Don DeLillo, #NFDB
1411:Prayer is the wing wherewith the soul flies to heaven, and meditation the eye wherewith we see God. ~ Saint Ambrose of Milan, #NFDB
1412:prayer is whenever we consciously try to get in contact with the numinous, the ineffable, the marvelous. ~ Madeleine L Engle, #NFDB
1413:Prayers and love are learned in the hour when prayer has become impossible and your heart has turned to stone. ~ Thomas Mann, #NFDB
1414:Sometimes prayer moves the hand of God, and sometimes prayer changes the heart of the person who is praying. ~ Mark Driscoll, #NFDB
1415:Suffering borne in the will quietly and patiently is a continual, very powerful prayer before God. ~ Jane Frances de Chantal, #NFDB
1416:The Christian confession is not a neutral proposition; it is prayer, only yielding its meaning within prayer. ~ Benedict XVI, #NFDB
1417:The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.
~ Soren Kierkegaard,#NFDB
1418:The great poet Hafiz says that you should dye your prayer-carpet with wine if your teacher tells you to do so. ~ Idries Shah, #NFDB
1419:The importance of prayer rises in proportion to the importance of the things we should give up in order to pray ~ John Piper, #NFDB
1420:Verily, Prayer prevents the worshipper from indulging in anything that is undignified or indecent. (Quran 29:46) ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1421:You are my temple,” I murmur as I kneel beside her. “You are my priest. You are my prayer. You are my release. ~ Sabaa Tahir, #NFDB
1422:Again the word was a prayer, incense offered up to a high God through this new and unfathomable darkness ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
1423:At the conclusion of the Eucharistic Prayer the Priest takes the chalice and the paten with the host and, raising ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1424:Every Christian needs a half-hour of prayer each day, except when he is busy, then he needs an hour. ~ Saint Francis de Sales, #NFDB
1425:Every life you touch, every difference you make, every prayer you pray makes the world a better place. ~ Linda Evans Shepherd, #NFDB
1426:Everywhere, wherever you may find yourself, you can set up an altar to God in your mind by means of prayer. ~ John Chrysostom, #NFDB
1427:For prayer is request. The essence of request, as distinct from compulsion, is that it may or may not be granted. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1428:If I had a prayer, it would be this: "God, spare me from the desire for love, approval, or appreciation. Amen." ~ Byron Katie, #NFDB
1429:I had come to the time in my life when prayer became necessary and so I invented gods and prayed to them, ~ Sherwood Anderson, #NFDB
1430:In vocal prayer we speak to God; in mental prayer he speaks to us. It is then that God pours Himself into us. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
1431:Let us keep the flame of faith alive through prayer and the sacraments: let us make sure we do not forget God. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
1432:My mother was a Sunday school teacher. So I am a byproduct of prayer. My mom just kept on praying for her son. ~ Steve Harvey, #NFDB
1433:Now Peter and John were going up together to the •temple complex at the hour of prayer at three in the afternoon. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1434:Prayer for the Day Higher Power, help me to see the funny side of life. Allow me to see humor and fun in my life. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1435:Prayer is for the religious life what original research is for science--by it we get direct contact with reality. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1436:Prayer is talking to something or anything with which we seek union, even if we are bitter or insane or broken. ~ Anne Lamott, #NFDB
1437:Prayer lets you speak to God; meditation lets God speak to you. Both are essential to becoming a friend of God. ~ Rick Warren, #NFDB
1438:Sadly, prayer for many of us has been shrunk to an agenda that is little bigger than asking God for stuff. ~ Paul David Tripp, #NFDB
1439:The great thing in prayer is to feel that we are putting our supplications into the bosom of omnipotent love. ~ Andrew Murray, #NFDB
1440:There is nothing in the world so much like prayer as music is. ~ William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare ~ William Shakespeare, #NFDB
1441:The Simple Path Silence is Prayer Prayer is Faith Faith is Love Love is Service The Fruit of Service is Peace ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
1442:True love and prayer are learned in the hour when love becomes impossible and the heart has turned to stone. ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
1443:What is essential in prayer is not that we learn to express ourselves, but that we learn to answer God.131 ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
1444:You can get more with a simple prayer and a Thompson sub-machinegun than you can with a simple prayer alone. ~ John Dillinger, #NFDB
1445:about what you want. The goal of prayer is to change your own heart, to want what He wants, to the glory of God. ~ Chris Fabry, #NFDB
1446:All great literature has an uncreeded and luminous theology behind it... Art [is] a form of active prayer. ~ Melissa Pritchard, #NFDB
1447:A man does a lot of praying in an enemy prison. Prayer, even more than sheer thought, is the firmest anchor. ~ Jeremiah Denton, #NFDB
1448:For, "Yes," he had sighed on his dying breath, and all knew that was the ultimate prayer one could offer to life. ~ Robin Hobb, #NFDB
1449:He wanted to express his gratitude to the dead thing. But how does one say a prayer over the corpse of a god? ~ Jeffrey Thomas, #NFDB
1450:He who is unable to spend a long time together in prayer, should often lift up his mind to God by short prayers. ~ Philip Neri, #NFDB
1451:I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
1452:It's one thing to say so in a prayer, but it's a whole other thing to match those prayers in obedience. ~ Linda Evans Shepherd, #NFDB
1453:Ministers who do not spend two hours a day in prayer are not worth a dime a dozen - degrees or no degrees. ~ Leonard Ravenhill, #NFDB
1454:No, the prayer is essential. I live on the prayers. They alone can strengthen me to fight despair and fatigue. ~ Philip Yancey, #NFDB
1455:Our prayer cannot be reduced to an hour on Sundays. It is important to have a daily relationship with the Lord. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
1456:Prayer is, above all, a means of forming character. It combines freedom and power with service and love. What ~ Dallas Willard, #NFDB
1457:Prayer is the rope that pulls God and man together. But, it doesn't pull God down to us: It pulls us up to Him. ~ Billy Graham, #NFDB
1458:Prayer is the way that truth is worked into your heart to create new instincts, reflexes, and dispositions. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
1459:The prayer of the monk is not perfect until he no longer recognizes himself or the fact that he is praying. ~ Anthony of Padua, #NFDB
1460:To gather with God's people in united adoration of the Father is as necessary to the Christian life as prayer. ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
1461:True prayer is not asking God for love; it is learning to love, and to include all mankind in one affection. ~ Mary Baker Eddy, #NFDB
1462:We must never underestimate the power of the prayer that is lifted up by wonderful saints all around the world. ~ Will Graham, #NFDB
1463:And the forest perfume — trees and earth — it's like incense in a shrine. You fall into a state of... prayer. ~ Keiichi Sigsawa, #NFDB
1464:A servant of the Lord stands bodily before men, but mentally he is knocking at the gates of heaven with prayer. ~ John Climacus, #NFDB
1465:Biology doesn't make anyone a parent," Cassia added as she tucked her Eturian prayer stone beneath her shirt. ~ Melissa Landers, #NFDB
1466:Blasphemy and prayer are one. Both assert the existence of a superior power. The first, however, with conviction. ~ David Mamet, #NFDB
1467:God has instituted, not only prayer, but all good deeds in order to lend his creatures the dignity of being causes. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1468:If prayer do not constantly endeavour the ruin of sin, sin will ruin prayer, and utterly alienate the soul from it. ~ John Owen, #NFDB
1469:It isn't a coincidence that prayer was commanded right after the year of sadness. The prayer was the greatest comfort. ~ Yasmin, #NFDB
1470:My father thrives on fear. You know that prayer If I should die before I wake? I had sheets that said that! ~ Christopher Titus, #NFDB
1471:Never think that God's delays are God's denials. True prayer always receives what it asks, or something better. ~ Tryon Edwards, #NFDB
1472:No mere man since the Fall, is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments. ~ Book of Common Prayer, Shorter Catechism, #NFDB
1473:One of the first, and most important of those duties which are incumbent upon us, is fervent and united prayer. ~ William Carey, #NFDB
1474:Perfect prayer does not consist in many words, but in the fervor of the desire which raises the heart to Jesus. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
1475:Prayer is of no avail. The lightning falls on the just and the unjust in accordance with natural laws. ~ Robert Green Ingersoll, #NFDB
1476:Prayer is the center of the Christian life. It is the only necessary thing. It is living with God, here and now. ~ Henri Nouwen, #NFDB
1477:Prayer is what develops in us after we step out of the center and begin responding to the center, to Jesus. ~ Eugene H Peterson, #NFDB
1478:Prayer means that the total you is praying. Your whole being reaches out to God, and God reaches down to you. ~ E Stanley Jones, #NFDB
1479:The gods' most savage curses come upon us as answers to our own prayers. Prayer is a dangerous business. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold, #NFDB
1480:There are three answers to prayer: yes, no, and wait a while. It must be recognized that no is an answer. ~ Ruth Stafford Peale, #NFDB
1481:To-despise the world is the way to enjoy heaven; and blessed are they who delight to converse with God by prayer. ~ John Bunyan, #NFDB
1482:Undoubtedly, prayer requires a living faith in God. Successful satyagraha is inconceivable without that faith. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1483:All souls in hell are there because they did not pray. All the saints sanctified themselves by prayer. ~ Saint Alphonsus Liguori, #NFDB
1484:Blessings are the spiritual equivalent of breathing in, and prayer is the spiritual equivalent of breathing out. ~ Thom Hartmann, #NFDB
1485:I can think of nothing great that is also easy. Prayer must be, then, one of the hardest things in the world. ~ Timothy J Keller, #NFDB
1486:I say a little prayer every time I see a race. I say a little prayer that the riders and the horses will be okay. ~ Kenny Troutt, #NFDB
1487:It's more important to put the own heart in the prayer than to put other's words with nothing of the own heart. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1488:Meditating on the nature and dignity of prayer can cause saying at least one thing to God: Lord, teach us to pray! ~ Karl Rahner, #NFDB
1489:No matter what I preach or what we claim to believe in our heads, the future will depend upon our times of prayer. ~ Jim Cymbala, #NFDB
1490:Our Lord is the ground from whom our prayer grows and in his love and grace he himself gives us our prayers. ~ Julian of Norwich, #NFDB
1491:Patience, she’d tell herself, whispering the word like a prayer. If Vengeance has a mother, her name is Patience. ~ Jay Kristoff, #NFDB
1492:Prayer is a grace through which we pour ourselves out before God and through which He calls us into His presence. ~ Rich Mullins, #NFDB
1493:Prayer must emanate from the heart, where God resides, and not from the head where doctrines and doubts clash. ~ Sathya Sai Baba, #NFDB
1494:Prayer sometimes dulls the hunger of the pauper, like a mother's finger thrust into the mouth of her starving baby. ~ I L Peretz, #NFDB
1495:since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
1496:There is no specialized art of prayer. All of life must be a training to pray. We pray the way we live. ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel, #NFDB
1497:This spirit gradually decayed, not being nourished by prayer. I became cold toward God. ~ Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon, #NFDB
1498:We cannot evangelize until we have been evangelized. This happens most powerfully through solitary prayer. ~ John Michael Talbot, #NFDB
1499:We live by faith in a prayer-hearing, soul-converting , soul-sanctifyin g, soul-restoring, soul-comforting God. ~ Francis Asbury, #NFDB
1500:When you do something nice for somebody, it is just like walking around a temple. It is just like saying a prayer. ~ Pam Houston, #NFDB
298 Integral Yoga
222 Poetry
61 Occultism
55 Yoga
52 Christianity
46 Philosophy
42 Fiction
35 Islam
26 Mysticism
13 Psychology
13 Philsophy
13 Hinduism
8 Sufism
5 Buddhism
5 Baha i Faith
4 Education
3 Mythology
3 Kabbalah
2 Zen
2 Science
1 Thelema
1 Integral Theory
1 Alchemy
172 The Mother
97 Satprem
92 Sri Aurobindo
72 Nolini Kanta Gupta
50 William Wordsworth
46 Sri Ramakrishna
35 Muhammad
31 James George Frazer
29 Saint Teresa of Avila
27 Saint John of Climacus
24 H P Lovecraft
22 Saint Augustine of Hippo
19 Percy Bysshe Shelley
19 Aldous Huxley
17 Aleister Crowley
15 Carl Jung
15 Anonymous
13 William Butler Yeats
13 Ralph Waldo Emerson
13 John Keats
11 Rabindranath Tagore
11 Friedrich Schiller
10 Vyasa
8 Robert Browning
8 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
8 A B Purani
7 Walt Whitman
7 Plato
7 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
6 Swami Vivekananda
6 Baha u llah
5 Sri Ramana Maharshi
5 Nirodbaran
5 Jorge Luis Borges
5 Jalaluddin Rumi
4 Rainer Maria Rilke
4 Plotinus
4 George Van Vrekhem
4 Bokar Rinpoche
4 Al-Ghazali
3 Swami Sivananda Saraswati
3 Saint Francis of Assisi
3 Rabbi Moses Luzzatto
3 Peter J Carroll
3 Kabir
3 Hafiz
3 Farid ud-Din Attar
2 Thubten Chodron
2 Theophan the Recluse
2 Ramprasad
2 Ovid
2 Mahendranath Gupta
2 Ken Wilber
2 Jordan Peterson
2 Henry David Thoreau
2 Friedrich Nietzsche
2 Franz Bardon
2 Edgar Allan Poe
2 Bulleh Shah
50 Wordsworth - Poems
45 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
35 Quran
32 Prayers And Meditations
31 The Golden Bough
27 The Ladder of Divine Ascent
24 Lovecraft - Poems
19 The Perennial Philosophy
19 The Bible
19 Shelley - Poems
18 The Way of Perfection
18 Agenda Vol 08
17 Savitri
16 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08
16 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04
13 Yeats - Poems
13 Keats - Poems
13 Emerson - Poems
13 City of God
13 Agenda Vol 01
12 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03
11 Schiller - Poems
11 Questions And Answers 1957-1958
11 Letters On Yoga II
10 Vishnu Purana
10 The Interior Castle or The Mansions
10 The Confessions of Saint Augustine
10 Tagore - Poems
10 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05
10 Agenda Vol 02
9 Questions And Answers 1953
9 Agenda Vol 04
8 Talks
8 Questions And Answers 1956
8 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
8 Browning - Poems
7 Vedic and Philological Studies
7 Some Answers From The Mother
7 Letters On Yoga IV
7 Dark Night of the Soul
6 Words Of The Mother II
6 Whitman - Poems
6 The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
6 Liber ABA
6 Faust
6 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07
6 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 06
6 Agenda Vol 06
5 Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo
5 The Synthesis Of Yoga
5 Questions And Answers 1954
5 On the Way to Supermanhood
5 Magick Without Tears
5 Crowley - Poems
5 Collected Poems
5 Aion
5 Agenda Vol 11
5 Agenda Vol 09
5 Agenda Vol 05
4 Words Of The Mother III
4 The Secret Doctrine
4 The Alchemy of Happiness
4 Tara - The Feminine Divine
4 Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness
4 Rumi - Poems
4 Rilke - Poems
4 Questions And Answers 1955
4 Preparing for the Miraculous
4 On Education
4 Hymns to the Mystic Fire
4 Hymn of the Universe
4 Agenda Vol 12
4 Agenda Vol 07
4 Agenda Vol 03
3 Words Of Long Ago
3 The Secret Of The Veda
3 The Mother With Letters On The Mother
3 The Book of Certitude
3 Songs of Kabir
3 Record of Yoga
3 Raja-Yoga
3 Mysterium Coniunctionis
3 Liber Null
3 Letters On Yoga III
3 General Principles of Kabbalah
3 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02
3 Bhakti-Yoga
3 Agenda Vol 13
3 A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah
2 Walden
2 The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep
2 The Practice of Magical Evocation
2 The Divine Comedy
2 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
2 Sex Ecology Spirituality
2 Poe - Poems
2 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 04
2 Metamorphoses
2 Maps of Meaning
2 Let Me Explain
2 Labyrinths
2 Isha Upanishad
2 How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator
2 Goethe - Poems
2 Essays On The Gita
2 Essays In Philosophy And Yoga
2 Essays Divine And Human
2 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
2 Borges - Poems
2 Amrita Gita
2 Agenda Vol 10
2 Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2E
2 5.1.01 - Ilion
0.00 - INTRODUCTION, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
About his parents Sri Ramakrishna once said: "My mother was the personification of rectitude and gentleness. She did not know much about the ways of the world; innocent of the art of concealment, she would say what was in her mind. People loved her for her open-heartedness. My father, an orthodox brahmin, never accepted gifts from the sudras. He spent much of his time in worship and meditation, and in repeating God's name and chanting His glories. Whenever in his daily Prayers he invoked the Goddess Gayatri, his chest flushed and tears rolled down his cheeks. He spent his leisure hours making garlands for the Family Deity, Raghuvir."
Khudiram Chattopadhyaya and Chandra Devi, the parents of Sri Ramakrishna, were married in 1799. At that time Khudiram was living in his ancestral village of Dereypore, not far from Kamarpukur. Their first son, Ramkumar, was born in 1805, and their first daughter, Katyayani, in 1810. In 1814 Khudiram was ordered by his landlord to bear false witness in court against a neighbour. When he refused to do so, the landlord brought a false case against him and deprived him of his ancestral property. Thus dispossessed, he arrived, at the invitation of another landlord, in the quiet village of Kamarpukur, where he was given a dwelling and about an acre of fertile land. The crops from this little property were enough to meet his family's simple needs. Here he lived in simplicity, dignity, and contentment.
--
Born in an orthodox brahmin family, Sri Ramakrishna knew the formalities of worship, its rites and rituals. The innumerable gods and goddesses of the Hindu religion are the human aspects of the indescribable and incomprehensible Spirit, as conceived by the finite human mind. They understand and appreciate human love and emotion, help men to realize their secular and spiritual ideals, and ultimately enable men to attain liberation from the miseries of phenomenal life. The Source of light, intelligence, wisdom, and strength is the One alone from whom comes the fulfilment of desire. Yet, as long as a man is bound by his human limitations, he cannot but worship God through human forms. He must use human symbols. Therefore Hinduism asks the devotees to look on God as the ideal father, the ideal mother, the ideal husband, the ideal son, or the ideal friend. But the name ultimately leads to the Nameless, the form to the Formless, the word to the Silence, the emotion to the serene realization of Peace in Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. The gods gradually merge in the one God. But until that realization is achieved, the devotee cannot dissociate human factors from his worship. Therefore the Deity is bathed and clothed and decked with ornaments. He is fed and put to sleep. He is propitiated with hymns, songs, and Prayers. And there are appropriate rites connected with all these functions. For instance, to secure for himself external purity, the priest bathes himself in holy water and puts on a holy cloth. He purifies the mind and the sense-organs by appropriate meditations. He fortifies the place of worship against evil forces by drawing around it circles of fire and water. He awakens the different spiritual centres of the body and invokes the Supreme Spirit in his heart. Then he transfers the Supreme Spirit to the image before him and worships the image, regarding it no longer as clay or stone, but as the embodiment of Spirit, throbbing with Life and Consciousness. After the worship the Supreme Spirit is recalled from the image to Its true sanctuary, the heart of the priest. The real devotee knows the absurdity of worshipping the Transcendental Reality with material articles — clothing That which pervades the whole universe and the beyond, putting on a pedestal That which cannot be limited by space, feeding That which is disembodied and incorporeal, singing before That whose glory the music of the spheres tries vainly to proclaim. But through these rites the devotee aspires to go ultimately beyond rites and rituals, forms and names, words and praise, and to realize God as the All-pervading Consciousness.
Hindu priests are thoroughly acquainted with the rites of worship, but few of them are aware of their underlying significance. They move their hands and limbs mechanically, in obedience to the letter of the scriptures, and repeat the holy mantras like parrots. But from the very beginning the inner meaning of these rites was revealed to Sri Ramakrishna. As he sat facing the image, a strange transformation came over his mind. While going through the prescribed ceremonies, he would actually find himself encircled by a wall of fire protecting him and the place of worship from unspiritual vibrations, or he would feel the rising of the mystic Kundalini through the different centres of the body. The glow on his face, his deep absorption, and the intense atmosphere of the temple impressed everyone who saw him worship the Deity.
--
As his love for God deepened, he began either to forget or to drop the formalities of worship. Sitting before the image, he would spend hours singing the devotional songs of great devotees of the Mother, such as Kamalakanta and Ramprasad. Those rhapsodical songs, describing the direct vision of God, only intensified Sri Ramakrishna's longing. He felt the pangs of a child separated from its mother. Sometimes, in agony, he would rub his face against the ground and weep so bitterly that people, thinking he had lost his earthly mother, would sympathize with him in his grief. Sometimes, in moments of scepticism, he would cry: "Art Thou true, Mother, or is it all fiction — mere poetry without any reality? If Thou dost exist, why do I not see Thee? Is religion a mere fantasy and art Thou only a figment of man's imagination?" Sometimes he would sit on the Prayer carpet for two hours like an inert object. He began to behave in an abnormal manner
, most of the time unconscious of the world. He almost gave up food; and sleep left him altogether.
--
Hardly had he crossed the threshold of the Kali temple when he found himself again in the whirlwind. His madness reappeared tenfold. The same meditation and Prayer, the same ecstatic moods, the same burning sensation, the same weeping, the same sleeplessness, the same indifference to the body and the outside world, the same divine delirium. He subjected himself to fresh disciplines in order to eradicate greed and lust, the two great impediments to spiritual progress. With a rupee in one hand and some earth in the other, he would reflect on the comparative value of these two for the realization of God, and finding them equally worthless he would toss them, with equal indifference, into the Ganges. Women he regarded as the manifestations of the Divine Mother. Never even in a dream did he feel the impulses of lust. And to root out of his mind the idea of caste superiority, he cleaned a pariahs house with his long and neglected hair. When he would sit in meditation, birds would perch on his head and peck in his hair for grains of food. Snakes would crawl over his body, and neither would be aware of the other. Sleep left him altogether. Day and night, visions flitted before him. He saw the sannyasi who had previously killed the "sinner" in him again coming out of his body, threatening him with the trident, and ordering him to concentrate on God. Or the same sannyasi would visit distant places, following a luminous path, and bring him reports of what was happening there. Sri Ramakrishna used to say later that in the case of an advanced devotee the mind itself becomes the guru, living and moving like an embodied being.
Rani Rasmani, the foundress of the temple garden, passed away in 1861. After her death her son-in-law Mathur became the sole executor of the estate. He placed himself and his resources at the disposal of Sri Ramakrishna and began to look after his physical comfort. Sri Ramakrishna later spoke of him as one of his five "suppliers of stores" appointed by the Divine Mother. Whenever a desire arose in his mind, Mathur fulfilled it without hesitation.
--
There are two stages of bhakti. The first is known as vaidhi-bhakti, or love of God qualified by scriptural injunctions. For the devotees of this stage are prescribed regular and methodical worship, hymns, Prayers, the repetition of God's name, and the chanting of His glories. This lower bhakti in course of time matures into para-bhakti, or supreme devotion, known also as prema, the most intense form of divine love. Divine love is an end in itself. It exists potentially in all human hearts, but in the case of bound creatures it is misdirected to earthly objects.
To develop the devotee's love for God, Vaishnavism humanizes God. God is to be regarded as the devotee's Parent, Master, Friend, Child, Husband, or Sweetheart, each succeeding relationship representing an intensification of love. These bhavas, or attitudes toward God, are known as santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, and madhur. The rishis of the Vedas, Hanuman, the cow-herd boys of Vrindavan, Rama's mother Kausalya, and Radhika, Krishna's sweetheart, exhibited, respectively, the most perfect examples of these forms. In the ascending scale the-glories of God are gradually forgotten and the devotee realizes more and more the intimacy of divine communion. Finally he regards himself as the mistress of his Beloved, and no artificial barrier remains to separate him from his Ideal. No social or moral obligation can bind to the earth his soaring spirit. He experiences perfect union with the Godhead. Unlike the Vedantist, who strives to transcend all varieties of the subject-object relationship, a devotee of the Vaishnava path wishes to retain both his own individuality and the personality of God. To him God is not an intangible Absolute, but the Purushottama, the Supreme Person.
--
One day Jatadhari requested Sri Ramakrishna to keep the image and bade him adieu with tearful eyes. He declared that Ramlala had fulfilled his innermost Prayer and that he now had no more need of formal worship. A few days later Sri Ramakrishna was blessed through Ramlala with a vision of Ramachandra, whereby he realized that the Rama of the Ramayana, the son of Dasaratha, pervades the whole universe as Spirit and Consciousness; that He is its Creator, Sustainer, and Destroyer; that, in still another aspect, He is the transcendental Brahman, without form, attribute, or name.
While worshipping Ramlala as the Divine Child, Sri Ramakrishna's heart became filled with motherly tenderness, and he began to regard himself as a woman. His speech and gestures changed. He began to move freely with the ladies of Mathur's family, who now looked upon him as one of their own sex. During this time he worshipped the Divine Mother as Her companion or handmaid.
--
The Vaishnava scriptures advise one to propitiate Radha and obtain her grace in order to realize Sri Krishna. So the tortured devotee now turned his Prayer to her. Within a short time he enjoyed her blessed vision. He saw and felt the figure of Radha disappearing into his own body.
He said later on: "It is impossible to describe the heavenly beauty and sweetness of Radha. Her very appearance showed that she had completely forgotten herself in her passionate attachment to Krishna. Her complexion was a light yellow."
--
Totapuri arrived at the Dakshineswar temple garden toward the end of 1864. Perhaps born in the Punjab, he was the head of a monastery in that province of India and claimed leadership of seven hundred sannyasis. Trained from early youth in the disciplines of the Advaita Vedanta, he looked upon the world as an illusion. The gods and goddesses of the dualistic worship were to him mere fantasies of the deluded mind. Prayers, ceremonies, rites, and rituals had nothing to do with true religion, and about these he was utterly indifferent. Exercising self-exertion and unshakable will-power, he had liberated himself from attachment to the sense-objects of the relative universe. For forty years he had practised austere discipline on the bank of the sacred Narmada and had finally realized his identity with the Absolute. Thenceforward he roamed in the world as an unfettered soul, a lion free from the cage. Clad in a loin-cloth, he spent his days under the canopy of the sky alike in storm and sunshine, feeding his body on the slender pittance of alms. He had been visiting the estuary of the Ganges. On his return journey along the bank of the sacred river, led by the inscrutable Divine Will, he stopped at Dakshineswar.
Totapuri, discovering at once that Sri Ramakrishna was prepared to be a student of Vedanta, asked to initiate him into its mysteries. With the permission of the Divine Mother, Sri Ramakrishna agreed to the proposal. But Totapuri explained that only a sannyasi could receive the teaching of Vedanta. Sri Ramakrishna agreed to renounce the world, but with the stipulation that the ceremony of his initiation into the monastic order be performed in secret, to spare the feelings of his old mother, who had been living with him at Dakshineswar.
--
Toward the end of 1866 he began to practise the disciplines of Islam. Under the direction of his Mussalman guru he abandoned himself to his new sadhana. He dressed as a Mussalman and repeated the name of Allah. His Prayers took the form of the Islamic devotions. He forgot the Hindu gods and goddesses — even Kali — and gave up visiting the temples. He took up his residence outside the temple precincts. After three days he saw the vision of a radiant figure, perhaps Mohammed. This figure gently approached him and finally lost himself in Sri Ramakrishna. Thus he realized the Mussalman God. Thence he passed into communion with Brahman. The mighty river of Islam also led him back to the Ocean of the Absolute.
--- CHRISTIANITY
--
The Master took up the duty of instructing his young wife, and this included everything from housekeeping to the Knowledge of Brahman. He taught her how to trim a lamp, how to behave toward people according to their differing temperaments, and how to conduct herself before visitors. He instructed her in the mysteries of spiritual life — Prayer, meditation, japa, deep contemplation, and samadhi. The first lesson that Sarada Devi received was: "God is everybody's Beloved, just as the moon is dear to every child. Everyone has the same right to pray to Him. Out of His grace He reveals Himself to all who call upon Him. You too will see Him if you but pray to Him."
Totapuri, coming to know of the Master's marriage, had once remarked: "What does it matter? He alone is firmly established in the Knowledge of Brahman who can adhere to his spirit of discrimination and renunciation even while living with his wife. He alone has attained the supreme illumination who can look on man and woman alike as Brahman. A man with the idea of sex may be a good aspirant, but he is still far from the goal." Sri Ramakrishna and his wife lived together at Dakshineswar, but their minds always soared above the worldly plane. A few months after Sarada Devi's arrival Sri Ramakrishna arranged, on an auspicious day, a special worship of Kali, the Divine Mother. Instead of an image of the Deity, he placed on the seat the living image, Sarada Devi herself. The worshipper and the worshipped went into deep samadhi and in the transcendental plane their souls were united. After several hours Sri Ramakrishna came down again to the relative plane, sang a hymn to the Great Goddess, and surrendered, at the feet of the living image, himself, his rosary, and the fruit of his life-long sadhana. This is known in Tantra as the Shorasi Puja, the "Adoration of Woman". Sri Ramakrishna realized the significance of the great statement of the Upanishad: "O Lord, Thou art the woman. Thou art the man; Thou art the boy. Thou art the girl; Thou art the old, tottering on their crutches. Thou pervadest the universe in its multiple forms."
--
For the householders Sri Ramakrishna did not prescribe the hard path of total renunciation. He wanted them to discharge their obligations to their families. Their renunciation was to be mental. Spiritual life could not be acquired by flying away from responsibilities. A married couple should live like brother and sister after the birth of one or two children, devoting their time to spiritual talk and contemplation. He encouraged the householders, saying that their life was, in a way, easier than that of the monk, since it was more advantageous to fight the enemy from inside a fortress than in an open field. He insisted, however, on their repairing into solitude every now and then to strengthen their devotion and faith in God through Prayer, japa, and meditation. He prescribed for them the companionship of sadhus. He asked them to perform their worldly duties with one hand, while holding to God with the other, and to pray to God to make their duties fewer and fewer so that in the end they might cling to Him with both hands. He would discourage in both the householders and the celibate youths any lukewarmness in their spiritual struggles. He would not ask them to follow indiscriminately the ideal of non-resistance, which ultimately makes a coward of the unwary.
--- FUTURE MONKS
--
Harish, a young man in affluent circumstances, renounced his family and took shelter with the Master, who loved him for his sincerity, singleness of purpose, and quiet nature. He spent his leisure time in Prayer and meditation, turning a deaf ear to the entreaties and threats of his relatives. Referring to his undisturbed peace of mind, the Master would say: "Real men are dead to the world though living. Look at Harish. He is an example." When one day the Master asked him to be a little kind to his wife, Harish said: "You must excuse me on this point. This is not the place to show kindness. If I try to be sympathetic to her, there is a possibility of my forgetting the ideal and becoming entangled in the world."
--- BHAVANATH
--
Balaram Bose came of a wealthy Vaishnava family. From his youth he had shown a deep religious temperament and had devoted his time to meditation, Prayer, and the study of the Vaishnava scriptures. He was very much impressed by Sri Ramakrishna even at their first meeting. He asked Sri Ramakrishna whether God really existed and, if so, whether a man could realize Him. The Master said: "God reveals Himself to the devotee who thinks of Him as his nearest and dearest. Because you do not draw response by praying to Him once, you must not conclude that He does not exist. Pray to God, thinking of Him as dearer than your very self. He is much attached to His devotees. He comes to a man even before He is sought. There is none more intimate and affectionate than God." Balaram had never before heard God spoken of in such forceful words; every one of the words seemed true to him. Under the Master's influence he outgrew the conventions of the Vaishnava worship and became one of the most beloved of the disciples. It was at his home that the Master slept whenever he spent a night in Calcutta.
--- MAHENDRA OR M.
--
Gopal Sur of Sinthi came to Dakshineswar at a rather advanced age and was called the elder Gopal. He had lost his wife, and the Master assuaged his grief. Soon he renounced the world and devoted himself fully to meditation and Prayer. Some years later Gopal gave the Master the ochre cloths with which the latter initiated several of his disciples into monastic life.
--- NARENDRA
--
One day, soon after, Narendra requested Sri Ramakrishna to pray to the Divine Mother to remove his poverty. Sri Ramakrishna bade him pray to Her himself, for She would certainly listen to his Prayer. Narendra entered the shrine of Kali. As he stood before the image of the Mother, he beheld Her as a living Goddess, ready to give wisdom and liberation. Unable to ask Her for petty worldly things, he prayed only for knowledge and renunciation, love and liberation. The Master rebuked him for his failure to ask the Divine Mother to remove his poverty and sent him back to the temple. But Narendra, standing in Her presence, again forgot the purpose of his coming. Thrice he went to the temple at the bidding of the Master, and thrice he returned, having forgotten in Her presence why he had come. He was wondering about it when it suddenly flashed in his mind that this was all the work of Sri Ramakrishna; so now he asked the Master himself to remove his poverty, and was assured that his family would not lack simple food and clothing.
This was a very rich and significant experience for Narendra. It taught him that Sakti, the Divine Power, cannot be ignored in the world and that in the relative plane the need of worshipping a Personal God is imperative. Sri Ramakrishna was overjoyed with the conversion. The next day, sitting almost on Narendra's lap, he said to a devotee, pointing first to himself, then to Narendra: "I see I am this, and again that. Really I feel no difference. A stick floating in the Ganges seems to divide the water; But in reality the water is one. Do you see my point? Well, whatever is, is the Mother — isn't that so?" In later years Narendra would say: "Sri Ramakrishna was the only person who, from the time he met me, believed in me uniformly throughout. Even my mother and brothers did not. It was his unwavering trust and love for me that bound me to him for ever. He alone knew how to love. Worldly people, only make a show of love for selfish ends.
--
In spite of the physician's efforts and the Prayers and nursing of the devotees, the illness rapidly progressed. The pain sometimes appeared to be unbearable. The Master lived only on liquid food, and his frail body was becoming a mere skeleton. Yet his face always radiated joy, and he continued to welcome the visitors pouring in to receive his blessing. When certain zealous devotees tried to keep the visitors away, they were told by Girish, "You cannot succeed in it; he has been born for this very purpose — to sacrifice himself for the redemption of others."
The more the body was devastated by illness, the more it became the habitation of the Divine Spirit. Through its transparency the gods and goddesses began to shine with ever increasing luminosity. On the day of the Kali Puja the devotees clearly saw in him the manifestation of the Divine Mother.
0.00 - The Book of Lies Text, #The Book of Lies, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Follows a version of the "Lord's Prayer", suitable
to Horus. Compare this with the version in Chapter 44.
There are ten sections in this Prayer, and, as the Prayer
is attributed to Horus, they are called four, as above
--
As I enflame myself with Prayer:
"There is no grace: there is no guilt:
--
Burning up i the Flame of his Prayer, and born
again-the Phoenix!
--
Prayer
This Interchange, the Double Gift of Tongues, the
--
Whose swollen mask mutters an atheist's Prayer.
What oath may stand the shock of this offence:
0.02 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Extract from the Mother's Prayers and Meditations, 18 June 1913.
It is good sometimes to look backwards for a confirmation of
--
The sadhak's Prayer is composed of extracts from several Prayers of the Mother in
Prayers and Meditations,: paragraph one, 29 November 1913; two, 7 January 1914;
--
As to my belief in the efficacy of Prayer, I believe
in its efficacy only when it is addressed to the Mother.
--
and blood. If you refer your Prayer to some unknown
or unknowable or invisible god, I do deride it as mere
--
This morning at pranam a Prayer leapt up from my
heart towards You: "May this day bring me an opportunity to remain calm even in the face of provocation." It
was a very spontaneous Prayer.
Now that is indeed an imprudent Prayer! It is as if you were
deliberately attracting an unpleasant experience to yourself.
--
action of Saint Genevieve who, by the ardour of her Prayers,
obtained the intervention of the Divine Grace. This prompted
--
A Prayer: Teach me the unfailing way to receive from
Sweet Mother a healing and comforting kiss.
0.05 - Letters to a Child, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mother, accept my Prayer.
I am always with you, my child, so it is not only possible but
--
accept my childlike Prayer.
For you I want consciousness, knowledge, artistic capacity, selfmastery in peace and perfect equality, and the happiness that is
0.06 - Letters to a Young Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I do not understand a phrase in Your Prayers: "and that
all are equal - infinitesimal grains of dust or identical
0.07 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A Prayer:
"O Lord, awaken my entire being that it may be for Thee
0.08 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
that the Prayers of the various religions are addressed. These religions most often choose, for various reasons, one of these gods
and transform him for their personal use into the supreme God.
01.02 - The Issue, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
A Prayer, a master act, a king idea
Can link man's strength to a transcendent Force.
01.04 - The Secret Knowledge, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
And a faint voice of ecstasy and Prayer
Calls to those lucent lost immensities.
--
Unmoved by cry of revolt and ignorant Prayer
They reckon not our virtue and our sin;
01.05 - Rabindranath Tagore: A Great Poet, a Great Man, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
and sends up this Prayer:
Earth-souls needing the touch of the heaven's peace to recapture,
0.10 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
one of Your Prayers and then invoke the Divine Grace
in silence, each in his own way, for the departed person,
--
(Regarding a Prayer for Kali Puja Day)
It is all right, my children, but it is not enough to pray; you must
--
I have the impression that Your Force responds according to the intensity of our Prayer. But my case seems
to be different. Or am I not conscious of my Prayers?
Or is everything done for me, for my good, in spite of
0.11 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The Mother, Prayers and Meditations, 24 August 1914.
This is how I understand the Purusha:
--
The Mother, Prayers and Meditations, 17 May 1914.
Series Eleven - To a Sadhak
--
One morning as I was reading Your book Prayers and
Meditations, I wished to know which movement comes
0 1955-06-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother, this letter is a Prayer.
***
--
While reading your Prayer, I too prayed that it be heard.
With my blessings.
0 1956-04-23, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother takes a passage from Prayers and Meditations of September 25, 1914:
The Lord hast willed, and Thou dost execute;
0 1956-12-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I dont see a thing, nothing. Oh Mother, I turn towards you in this void that is stifling me. Hear my Prayer. Tell me what I must do. Give me a sign. Mother, you are my sole recourse, for who else would show me the path to be taken, who else but you would love me? Or is my fate to go off into the night?
Forgive me, Mother, for loving you so poorly, for giving myself so badly. Mother, you are my only hope, all the rest in me is utter despair.
0 1957-07-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It is certainly not an arbitrary construction of the type built by men, where everything is put pell-mell, without any order, without reality, and which is held together by only illusory ties. Here, these ties were symbolized by the hotels walls, while actually in ordinary human constructions (if we take a religious community, for example), they are symbolized by the building of a monastery, an identity of clothing, an identity of activities, an identity even of movementor to put it more precisely: everyone wears the same uniform, everyone gets up at the same time, everyone eats the same thing, everyone says his Prayers together, etc.; there is an overall identity. But naturally, on the inside there remains the chaos of many disparate consciousnesses, each one following its own mode, for this kind of group identification, which extends right up to an identity of beliefs and dogma, is absolutely illusory.
Yet it is one of the most common types of human collectivityto group together, band together, unite around a common ideal, a common action, a common realization but in an absolutely artificial way. In contrast to this, Sri Aurobindo tells us that a true communitywhat he terms a gnostic or supramental communitycan be based only upon the INNER REALIZATION of each one of its members, each realizing his real, concrete oneness and identity with all the other members of the community; that is, each one should not feel himself a member connected to all the others in an arbitrary way, but that all are one within himself. For each one, the others should be as much himself as his own bodynot in a mental and artificial way, but through a fact of consciousness, by an inner realization.
0 1957-12-13, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Sweet Mother, this is what is rising from my soul: I feel in me something unemployed, something seeking to express itself in life. I want to be like a knight, your knight, and go off in search of a treasure that I could bring back to you. The world has lost all sense of the wonderful, all beauty of Adventure, this quest known to the knights of the Middle Ages. It is this that calls so relentlessly within me, this need for a quest in the world and for a beautiful Adventure which at the same time would be an adventure of the soul. How I wish that the two things, inner and outer, be JOINED, that the joy of action, of the open road and the quest help the souls blossoming, that they be like a Prayer of the soul expressed in life. The knights of the Middle Ages knew this. Perhaps it is all childish and absurd in the midst of this 20th century, but this is what I feel, this that is summoning me to leavenot anything base, not anything mediocre, only a need for something in me to be fulfilled. If only I could bring you back a beautiful treasure!
After that, perhaps I would be riper to accept the everyday life of the Ashram, and know how to give myself better.
0 1958-04-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother, from the depths of my being, I offer you a sole Prayer: may I become your more and more perfect instrument, a sword of light in your hands. Oh, to get out of this ego that belittles everything, diminishes everything, to emerge from it! All is falsehood in it.
And I, who understood nothing of love, am beginning to suspect who Satprem is. Mother, your grace is infinite, it has accompanied me everywhere in my life.
0 1958-07-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
But yesterday, in fact, I was looking (with all these mantras and these Prayers and this whole vibration that has descended into the atmosphere, creating a state of constant calling in the atmosphere), and I remembered the old movements and how everything now has changed! I was also thinking of the old disciplines, one of which is to say, I am That.7 People were told to sit in meditation and repeat, I am That, to reach an identification. And it all seemed to me so obsolete, so childish, but at the same time a part of the whole. I looked, and it seemed so absurd to sit in meditation and say, I am That! I, what is this I who is That; what is this I, where is it? I was trying to find it, and I saw a tiny, microscopic point (to see it would almost require some gigantic instrument), a tiny, obscure point in an im-men-sity of Light, and that little point was the body. At the same timeit was absolutely simultaneous I saw the Presence of the Supreme as a very, very, very, VERY immense Being, within which was I in an attitude of (I was only a sensation, you see), an attitude (gesture of surrender) like this. There were no limits, yet at the same time, one felt the joy of being permeated, enveloped and of being able to widen, widen, widen indefinitelyto widen the whole being, from the highest consciousness to the most material consciousness. And then, at the same time, to look at this body and to see every cell, every atom vibrating with a divine, radiant Presence with all its Consciousness, all its Power, all its Will, all its Loveall, all, really and a joy! An extraordinary joy. And one did not disturb the other, nothing was contradictory and everything was felt at the same time. That was when I said, But truly! This body had to have the training it has had for more than seventy years to be able to bear all that without starting to cry out or dance or leap up or whatever it might be! No, it was calm (it was exultant, but it was very calm), and it remained in control of its movements and its words. In spite of the fact that it was really living in another world, it could apparently act normal due to this strenuous training in self-control by the REASONby the reasonover the whole being, which has tamed it and given it such a great cohesive power that I can BE in the experience, I can LIVE this experience, and at the same time respond with the most amiable of smiles to the most idiotic questions!
And then, it always ends in the same way, by a canticle to the action of the grace: O, Lord! You are truly marvelous! All the experiences I have needed to pass through You have given to me, all the things I needed to do to make this body ready You have made me do, and always with the feeling that it was You who was making me do itand with the universal disapproval of all the right-minded humanity!
0 1958-09-16 - OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The different mantras or Prayers that came to Mother and which She grouped under the heading Prayers of the Consciousness of the Cells, are included as an addendum to the Agenda of 1959.
***
0 1958-12-15 - tantric mantra - 125,000, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
When you invoke Durga, it is I you invoke through her, when you invoke Shiva, it is I you invoke through himand in the final analysis, to the Supreme Lord go all Prayers.
With all my love.
0 1959-05-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I can only repeat the Prayer that I made to the Supreme Lord this morning:
May Your Will be done in all things and at every moment. And may Your Love manifest.
0 1960-01-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Prayers of the Consciousness of the Cells
0 1960-05-16, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
In the early part of the century, I wrote Prayers and Meditations, and I too spoke of Him; but I wrote that with all my aspiration, all my sincerity (at least with all the sincerity of the conscious parts of my being) and I locked it up in a drawer so that no one would see it. It was Sri Aurobindo who later asked me to publish it, for it could be useful If I knew then, fifty years ago, what I know now, I would have been crushed! All this shame, all this unworthiness
After all, its good to know gradually, good to have some illusionsnot for the sake of illusions but as a necessary step along the way.
0 1960-06-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It is even good for people whove never been in trance to repeat a mantra (or a word, a Prayer) before going to sleep. But the words must have a life of their ownby this I dont mean an intellectual meaning, nothing of the kind, but rather a vibration. And this has an extraordinary effect on the body, it starts vibrating, vibrating, vibrating and so calm, you let yourself go, like falling off to sleep. And the body vibrates more and more, more and more, more and more, and you drift off.
Such is the cure for tamas.
--
'Or any word that has a power for you, a word spontaneously springing from the heart, like a Prayer which sums up your aspiration.'
Unfortunately, Mother had us cut many things from this text. We regret the fact.
0 1961-01-24, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
At midnight I was lying in bed. (And I remained there from midnight until I oclock fully awake. I dont know if my eyes were open or closed, but I was wide awake, NOT IN TRANCEI could hear all the noises, the clocks, and so forth.) Then, lying flat, my entire body (but a slightly enlarged body, exceeding the purely physical form) became ONE vibration, extremely rapid and intense but immobile. I dont know how to explain this, because it did not move in space but was a vibration (that is, it wasnt motionless); yet it was motionless in space. And the exact form of my body was absolutely the most brilliant white Light of the supreme Consciousness, the consciousness OF the Supreme. It was IN the body and it was as though in EACH cell there was a vibration, and it was all part of a single BLOCK of vibration. It extended this much beyond the body (gesture indicating about six centimeters). I was absolutely immobile in my bed. Then, WITHOUT MOVING, without shifting, it began consciously to rise upwithout moving, you understand: I remained like this (Mother holds her two joined and motionless hands at the level of her forehead, as if her entire body were mounting in Prayer)consciously like an ascension of this consciousness6 towards the supreme Consciousness.
The body was stretched out flat.
0 1961-03-27, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yesterday, while waiting for X, I was as usual in communion with the Supreme in his aspect of Love. Suddenly I felt X arriving and spontaneously, like a Veda, a movement of gratitude for his great goodwill arose from my heart, and it was formulated as a Prayer to the Supreme: Give him [X] the bliss of Your Love and the joys of Your Truth.
For a long time X has said nothing about his meditations with me, but just yesterday he told N. that he had some difficulty at the start of the meditation due to the presence of an adverse force, and it took him five minutes to overcome it!
--
You know he said someone has been doing black magic against me; but I have never felt anything of the sort in the room where we meditate, because I make a point of coming half an hour early and this of course clears the atmosphere: everything is always ready when he arrives, in silence, in perfect peace. Hasnt he always told you that when he comes into that room he enters another world, like Kailas?1 And thats the way it has always been. If there has been a change, its that now its even more like thatbecause (how to put it?) its more stable. Before, it fluctuated a bit: it came, went, came. But now its like a tranquil mass (Mother lowers her arms) that doesnt stir. Yesterday in particular, this was the experience: I felt him coming (when he is about to come in, I always sense something drawing me outward a little so that I wont be completely in trance and can stand up), and this Prayer came so spontaneously, oh! And then (laughing) in the afternoon N. tells me, Oh, X said he had some difficulty at the start of todays meditationa hostile force was present and it took him five minutes to clarify the atmosphere!
It gave me the impression you get in outer life: all the pieces more or less dovetail but with no inner unitytheres not ONE thing, not one, that is true, essentially and always true. We know it is like that outwardly, of course; but I have always felt that with people who have an inner life, one could attain a kind of identity of vibration and knowledge but no!
0 1961-04-15, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
After that, I spend hours concentrated in Prayernot exactly Prayer but (gesture palms turned upwards), like that, beseeching.
What has been achieved now is that I am absolutely detached from EVERYTHING. From everything, beginning with my body and including the work, ideas, conceptions, even the [people], all, all of them. It all seems to me so utterly dull and nonexistent.
0 1961-04-18, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Something is happening there (Mother touches her head); something is taking shape, being worked on. Every day, twice a day, during my long evocation-invocation-aspiration (or Prayer, if you like), I say to the Supreme Lord, Take possession of this brain. (I dont mean thought, I mean thisMo ther points to her headthis substance inside.) Take possession of it!
Once during the night, I went exploring inside this head; some cells still had fresh imprints of things registered during the day for whatever reason they hadnt had time to be combined into the whole, so they showed up as tiny, very clear images, minuscule things utterly devoid of any mental or psychological movementsimply like tiny photographic images. There were three or four images like that, and it was so shocking to see them in this Presence that all at once I said to myself, Am I going mad?! It was that shocking. And I had to bring in a peace, a peacenot to make the movement of possession stop, but to accompany it simultaneously with a mighty peace so I wouldnt tell myself, Youre losing your head. Thats how shocking it was.
0 1961-04-29, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
59One of the greatest comforts of religion is that you can get hold of God sometimes and give him a satisfactory beating. People mock at the folly of savages who beat their gods when their Prayers are not answered; but it is the mockers who are the fools and the savages.
Poor T.! She asked me, What does it mean (laughing) to give God a satisfactory beating? How is this possible? I still havent answered. And then she added another question: Many people say that Sri Aurobindos teachings are a new religion. Would you call it a religion? You understand, I began to fume!
--
I remember once going into a church (which I wont name) and I found it a very beautiful place. It wasnt a feast or ceremony day, so it was empty. There were just one or two people at Prayer. I went in and sat down in a little chapel off to the side. Someone was praying there, someone who must have been in distressshe was crying and praying. And there was a statue, I no longer know of whom: Christ or the Virgin or a Saint I have no idea. And, oh! Suddenly, in place of the statue, I saw an enormous spider like a tarantula, you know, but (gesture) huge! It covered the entire wall of the chapel and was just waiting there to swallow all the vital force of the people who came. It was heart-rending. I said to myself, Oh, these people There was this miserable woman who had come seeking solace, who was praying there, weeping, hoping to find solace; and instead of reaching a consciousness that was at least compassionate, her supplications were feeding this monster!
I have seen other things but I have rarely seen anything favorable in churches. Here, I remember going to M I was taken inside and received there in quite an unusual waya highly respected person introduced me as a great saint! They led me up to the main altar where people are not usually allowed to go, and what did I see there! An asura (oh, not a very high-ranking one, more like a rakshasa4), but such a monster! Hideous. So I went wham! (gesture of giving a blow) I thought something was going to happen. But this being left the altar and came over to try to intimidate me; of course, he saw it was useless, so he offered to make an alliance: If you just keep quiet and dont do anything, I will share all I get with you. Well, I sent him packing! The head of this Math5. It was a Math with a monastery and temple, which means a substantial fortune; the head of the Math has it all at his disposal for as long as he holds the position and he is appointed for life. But he has to name his successor and as a rule, his own life is considerably shortened by the successorthis is how it works. Everyone knew that the present head had considerably shortened the life of his predecessor. And what a creature! As asuric as the god he worshipped! I saw some poor fellows throw themselves at his feet (he must have been squeezing them pitilessly), to beg forgiveness and mercyan absolutely ruthless man. But he received meyou should have seen it! I said nothing, not a word about their god; I gave no sign that I knew anything. But I thought to myself, So thats how it is!
0 1961-06-02, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I know why I gave no explanations as I was speaking: because of the intensity of the experience. There is something like it in Prayers and Meditations. I remember an experience I had in Japan which is noted there. (Mother looks through Prayers and Meditations and reads a passage dated November 25, 1917:)2
Thou art the sure friend who never fails,
--
With the exception of the second asterisked passage, which was not included in his English version of selected Prayers and Meditations, the following translations are Sri Aurobindo's.
'Homage' is used in the original text.
0 1961-07-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
While walking in my room, a series of invocations or Prayers have come to me2 (I didnt choose themthey were dictated to me) in which I implore the Lord to manifest his Perfection (and I am quite aware of how foolish this expression is, but it does correspond to an aspiration).3 When I say manifest, I mean to manifest in our physical, material world Im asking for the transformation of this world. And the moment I utter one of these invocations, the sense of the particular approach it represents is there; thats why I am now able to give such a lecture on PerfectionPerfection is one of these approaches. Manifest this, I tell Him, Manifest that, manifest Your Perfection. (The series is very long and it takes me quite a while to go through it all.) Well, each time I say Manifest Your Perfection, I have an awareness of what constitutes Perfectionit is something global.
Its like the word purityone could lecture endlessly on the difference between divine purity and what people call purity. Divine purity (at the lowest level) is to admit but one influence the divine Influence (but this is at the lowest level, and already terribly distorted). Divine purity means that only the Divine existsnothing else. It is perfectly pureonly the Divine exists, nothing other than He.
0 1961-08-05, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It was during this period that I used to go out of my body every night and do the work Ive spoken of in Prayers and Meditations (I only mentioned it in passing).8 Every night at the same hour, when the whole house was very quiet, I would go out of my body and have all kinds of experiences. And then my body gradually became a sleepwalker (that is, the consciousness of the form became more and more conscious, while the link remained very solidly established). I got into the habit of getting up but not like an ordinary sleepwalker: I would get up, open my desk, take out a piece of paper and write poems. Yes, poems I, who had nothing of the poet in me! I would jot things down, then very consciously put everything back into the drawer, lock everything up again very carefully and go back to bed. One night, for some reason or other, I forgot and left it open. My mother came in (in France the windows are covered with heavy curtains and in the morning my mother would come in and violently throw open the curtains, waking me up, brrm!, without any warning; but I was used to it and would already be prepared to wake upotherwise it would have been most unpleasant!). Anyway, my mother came in, calling me with unquestionable authority, and then she found the open desk and the piece of paper: Whats that?! She grabbed it. What have you been up to? I dont know what I replied, but she went to the doctor: My daughter has become a sleepwalker! You have to give her a drug.
It wasnt easy.
0 1961-12-16, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
One day (Im translating the last section of The Synthesis of Yoga, The Yoga of Self-Perfectionit plunges you into bottomless gulfs) and one day (I think Ive told you this), I had a vision of the gap between not even what ought to be, because we probably havent the slightest idea of that, but between our concept of what we would like to be and what is. And it was so dreadful that the body was thrown into, oh an anguish, a horror; and along with it an intensity of aspiration, a Prayer. The gap seemed so tremendous: Is it possible?
Thats how it felt.
0 1961-12-20, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But between these two meetings he participated in a whole series of experiences, experiences of gradually growing awareness. This is partly noted in Prayers and Meditations (I have cut out all the personal segments). But there was one experience I didnt speak of there (that is, I didnt describe it, I put only the conclusion)the experience where I say Since the man refused I was offering participation in the universal work and the new creation and the man didnt want it, he refused, and so I now offer it to God.6
I dont know, Im putting it poorly, but this experience was concrete to the point of being physical. It happened in a Japanese country-house where we were living, near a lake. There was a whole series of circumstances, events, all kinds of thingsa long, long story, like a novel. But one day I was alone in meditation (I have never had very profound meditations, only concentrations of consciousness Mother makes an abrupt gesture showing a sudden ingathering of the entire being); and I was seeing. You know that I had taken on the conversion of the Lord of Falsehood: I tried to do it through an emanation incarnated in a physical being [Richard]7, and the greatest effort was made during those four years in Japan. The four years were coming to an end with an absolute inner certainty that there was nothing to be done that it was impossible, impossible to do it this way. There was nothing to be done. And I was intensely concentrated, asking the Lord, Well, I made You a vow to do this, I had said, Even if its necessary to descend into hell, I will descend into hell to do it. Now tell me, what must I do?The Power was plainly there: suddenly everything in me became still; the whole external being was completely immobilized and I had a vision of the Supreme more beautiful than that of the Gita. A vision of the Supreme.8 And this vision literally gathered me into its arms; it turned towards the West, towards India, and offered meand there at the other end I saw Sri Aurobindo. It was I felt it physically. I saw, sawmy eyes were closed but I saw (twice I have had this vision of the Supremeonce here, much later but this was the first time) ineffable. It was as if this Immensity had reduced itself to a rather gigantic Being who lifted me up like a wisp of straw and offered me. Not a word, nothing else, only that.
--
Mother is probably alluding to this passage in Prayers and Meditations (September 3, 1919): 'Since the man refused the meal I had prepared with so much love and care, I invoke the God to take it.'
See conversation of November 5, 1961.
Perhaps Mother is alluding to this passage from Prayers and Meditations (October 10, 1918): 'My Father smiled at me and gathered me into his powerful arms....'
***
0 1962-02-03, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And if one adds to this, as I do, a mantric program, that is, a sort of Prayer or invocation, a program for both personal development and helping the collective, then it becomes a truly active work. Then theres also what I call external work: contact with others, reading and answering letters, seeing and speaking to people, and finally all the activities having to do with the organization and running of the Ashram (in meditation this work becomes worldwide, but physically, materially, it is limited for the moment to the Ashram).
In the course of my observation, I also saw the position of X and people like him, who practically spend their lives doing japa, plus meditation, puja,4 ceremonies (I am talking only about sincere people, not fakers). Well, thats their way of working for the world, of serving the Divine, and it seems the best way to themperhaps even the only way but its a question of mental belief. In any case, its obvious that even a bit of not exactly puja, but some sort of ceremony that you set yourself to dohabitual gestures symbolizing and expressing a particular inner statecan also be a help and a way of offering yourself and relating to the Divine and thus serving the Divine. I feel its important looked at in this waynot from the traditional viewpoint, I cant stand that traditional viewpoint; I understand it, but it seems to me like putting a brake on true self-giving to the Divine. I am speaking of SELF-IMPOSED japa and rules (or, if someone gives you the japa, rules you accept with all your heart and adhere to). These self-imposed rules should be followed as a gesture of love, as a way of saying to the Divine, I love You. Do you see what I mean? Like arranging flowers in a certain way, burning incense, dozens of little things like that, made beautiful because of what is put into themit is a form of self-giving.
0 1962-07-28, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The first Prayers and Meditations date from November 1912, but there may have been earlier ones among the numerous texts Mother destroyed.
***
0 1962-09-15, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I dont want English. I dont want English! And more and more, I dont want English. For instance, the English translation of Prayers and Meditations is out of print and they wanted to reprint it. I said no: If you want, you can reprint what Sri Aurobindo HIMSELF translated (theres not much, just a thin volume). That, yes, because Sri Aurobindo translated it. But even at that, its not the same thing as my textits Sri Aurobindos, not mine.
Prayers and Meditations came to me, you knowit was dictated each time. I would write at the end of my concentration, and it didnt pass through the mind, it just came and it obviously came from someone interested in beautiful form. I used to keep it under lock and key so nobody would see it. But when I came here Sri Aurobindo asked about it, so I showed him a few pages and then he wanted to see the rest. Otherwise I would have always kept it locked away. I destroyed whatever was leftthere were five thick volumes in which I had written every single day (there was some repetition, of course): the outcome of my concentrations. So I chose which parts would be published (Sri Aurobindo helped in the choice), copied them out, and then I cut the pages up and had the rest burned.
Thats a shame!
0 1962-12-15, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But to me this seems to come from his Jewish background. Because Thon was Jewish, even though he never mentioned the fact (the Tlemcen officials made it known: when he arrived he had to tell them who he was). He never spoke of it and he had changed his name. They said he was of Jewish origin, but they could never say whether he was Polish or Russian. At least the person who told me never knew. But for the Jews its the Unthinkable, whose name must not be uttered (it is uttered only once a year, on the Day of Atonement; I think thats what its called). Its the word Yahveh, and it must not be uttered. But the Prayers speak of the Elohim, and the Hebrew word Elohim is plural, meaning the invisible lords. So there was no one and only God for Thon, only the unthinkable Formless; and all the invisible beings who claimed to be one and only gods were Asuras.
He used to call Christ That young man! (Laughter) It was very funny.
0 1963-01-30, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
In my case it was from the age of twenty to thirty that I was concerned with French (before twenty I was more involved in vision: painting; and sound: music), but as regards language, literature, language sounds (written or spoken), it was approximately from twenty to thirty. The Prayers and Meditations were written spontaneously with that rhythm. If I stayed in an ordinary consciousness I would get the knack of that rhythm but now it doesnt work that way, it wont do!
Yesterday, after my translation, I was surprised at that sense a sense of absolute: THATS HOW IT IS. Then I tried to enter into the literary mind and wondered, What would be its various suggestions? And suddenly, I saw somehow (somehow, somewhere there) a host of suggestions for every line! Ohh! No doubt, I thought, it IS an absolute! The words came like that, without any room for discussion or anything. To give you an example: when he says the clamour of the human plane, clameur exists in French, its a very nice wordhe didnt want it, he said No, without any discussion. It wasnt an answer to a discussion, he just said, Not clameur: vacarme.1 It isnt as though he was weighing one word against another, it wasnt a matter of words but the THOUGHT of the word, the SENSE of the word: No, not clameur, its vacarme.
0 1963-02-15, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
When I sit down to play, I make how should I put it? Not a Prayer, but my usual invocation, like this (gesture above), I am in a state of contemplation, and all of a sudden it starts: I see my hands in position on the keys, and, Now then, begin that way! All right, I begin that way. Then one note calls for the next. But I have to be very tranquil. And, oh, what I hear is lovely, so lovely! But I have no idea of what I play. I play without hearing what I play: I hear the other thing.
Thats why one day I will ask to listen to the recording to see whether both things are the same.
0 1963-03-13, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And an invisible Presence kneels in Prayer.
Pretty lovely!
--
And an invisible Presence kneels in Prayer.
On some deep breast of liberating peace
--
It sent its voiceless Prayer to the Unknown;
It listened for the footsteps of its hopes
0 1963-05-11, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mother later clarified: "'Glory to You, O Lord' isn't MY mantra, it's something I ADDED to itmy mantra is something else altogether, that's not it. When I say that my mantra has the power of immortality, I mean the other, the one I don't speak of! I have never given the words.... You see, at the end of my walk, a kind of enthusiasm rises, and with that enthusiasm, the 'Glory to You' came to me, but it's part of the Prayer I had written in Prayers and Meditations: 'Glory to You, O Lord, all-triumphant Supreme' etc. (it's a long Prayer). It came back suddenly, and as it came back spontaneously, I kept it. Moreover, when Sri Aurobindo read this Prayer in Prayers and Meditations, he told me it was very strong. So I added this phrase as a kind of tail to my japa. But 'Glory to You, O Lord' isn't my spontaneous mantrait came spontaneously, but it was something written very long ago. The two things are different."
Such is the case, for example, of Anandamayi-M, who was said to be hysterical because of the strange gestures she made during her meditations, until it turned out that they were ritual asanas and mudras which she performed spontaneously.
0 1963-07-20, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It happens especially during daytime (between 12:30 and 1 oclocknot for long, a few minutes, I cant say; and between 5:30 and 6). At night its not the same, because (I think Ive told you already) as soon as I stretch out, the whole body is like a Prayer. Its more than an aspiration, its an intense need: Lord, take hold of me ENTIRELY! So there may be nothing but You, and that always brings about a result [the trance]which may last more or less long, until (how can I put it?) the moment agreed upon comes! Then when I wake up, or rather when the body emerges from that state, it knows its agreed upon, it doesnt have that anxiety. I dont know how to explain. In terms of consciousness its almost like a child: very simple, very simple. No complications, no complications whatever, very simple: to do what is to be done in the proper way while expressing the supreme Will. That is, to bring as little mixture as possible to the supreme Will (its not a question of Will: the Movement, the Vibration), as little mixture or distortion or deterioration as possible to the Vibrationwe always translate into words that are too intellectual.
But the body is docile, full of goodwill. Only I find its a little bit of a whiner (that must be particular to this one, I am sure other bodies are different), it isnt spontaneously joyful. Not that it complains, not at all, but Perhaps its due to that sort of concentration of Force of progressits not a blissful satisfaction, far from it. Its a long time since it stopped enjoying ordinary satisfactions, like the sense of taste, of smell: it doesnt enjoy any of thatit is conscious, very conscious, it can discern things very clearly, but in an entirely objective way, without deriving any pleasure from them.
0 1963-07-24, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And yet, for some time now and increasingly, there has been an extremely concrete Response to a kind of aspiration (a call or Prayer) in which I say to the Lord, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Love. (It comes at the end of a long invocation in which I ask Him to manifest all His aspects one after another, one after another, and it ends like that.) But then, remarkably enough, at that moment there comes a Response which is growing clearer and clearer, stronger and stronger. But Sri Aurobindo says that Truth should be established first, and that what he calls the Supramental is the supreme Truth, the Divine Truth. It corresponds to what I noticed while translating that last chapter on the perfection of the being in the Yoga of Self-Perfection: I kept thinking, But thats only the aspect of Truth; all that he expresses is the aspect of Truth; always and everywhere, its the angle of Truth; and his supramental action is an action of Truth.
I didnt know he had said it, but its written clearly here:
0 1963-08-10, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The last experience (which Ive had these last few days), in which apparently there was a hitch (it wasnt really one) was a sort of demonstration. I told you what it was, you remember: its like a purge of all the vibrations that are false vibrations, that arent the pure and simple response to the supreme Influence (all that in the cells still responds to the vibrations of falsehood, either from habit or from the people around or the food takenfifty thousand things). Then, with an aspiration or a decision, almost a Prayer for purification coming from the body, something happens which, naturally, upsets the balance; the imbalance in turn brings about a general discomfort. The form discomfort takes is habitually the same: first, pains and all kinds of sensations I need not describe; if that state goes on developing, if it is allowed to assume its full proportions, it results in the past it resulted in a faint. But this time, I followed the process for about two hours from the moment I got up: the struggle between the new balance, the new Influence that was getting established, and the resistance of all the existing elements forced to go away. That created a sort of conflict. The consciousness remained very clear the consciousness of the BODY remained very clear, very quiet, perfectly trusting. So for two hours I was able to follow the process (while going on with all my usual activities, without changing anything), until I felt, or rather was told sufficiently clearly that the Lord wanted my body to be completely immobile for a while so that He might complete His work. But I am not all alone: there are other people here to help me and watch over everything (but I dont say or explain anything to them, those are things I dont talk about I dont say what goes on, I dont say anything), so I sat there wondering, Is it really and truly indispensable? (Mother laughs) Then I felt the Lord exert a little more pressure, which heightened the intensity of the conflict, so that I had all the signs of fainting I understood (!) I stood up, let my body moan a little to make it plain it didnt feel too well (!) and I stretched out. Then I was immobile, and in that immobility, I saw the work that was being donea work that cannot be done if you go on moving about. I saw the work. It took nearly half an hour; in half an hour it was over. Which means there is really there is a fact I cannot doubt, even if all the surrounding thoughts and forces contradict it: I cannot doubt that the consciousness is increasing more and more the consciousness in the body. It is growing more and more precise, luminous, exactQUIETvery peaceful. Yet very conscious of a TREMENDOUS battle against millennial habits. Do you follow?
When it was over, I saw that even physically, bodily, there is a strength: the result is an increased strength. A very clearly increased strength.
0 1963-08-24, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
At times For the body its a constant worka constant laborvery tiny, of every instant, an unceasing effort, with, so to say, an imperceptible result (externally at any rate, quite nonexistent), so for someone who doesnt have my consciousness, its perfectly obvious that the body appears to wear out and age, to be slowly heading for decomposition: thats in everyones atmosphere and consciousness (Mother laughs), its the kind of appreciation and vibration thats being thrown all the time on this poor body, which besides is quite conscious of its infirmityit doesnt entertain any illusions! But that quiet, peaceful, but UNCEASING endurance in the effort of transformation makes it sometimes yearn for a little ecstasynot as an abolition or annihilation, not at all, but it seems to be saying, Oh, Lord, I beg you, let me be You in all tranquillity. In fact, thats its Prayer every evening when people are supposed to leave it in peace (unfortunately they leave it in peace physically, but mentally they dont). But that I could cut off, I learned to cut off long, long ago, I could cut off, but something, I mean somewhere, someone doesnt approve! (Mother laughs) Obviously what the Someone the great Someonewants to see realized is perfect peace, perfect rest, and joy, a passive joy (not too active; a passive joy is enough), a passive, constant joy, WITHOUT forsaking the work. In other words, the individual experience isnt regarded as all-importantvery far from it: the help given to the whole, the leaven which makes the whole rise, is AT LEAST equally important. Ultimately, thats probably the major reason for persisting in this body.
Nothing inside asks any questions, there are no problems there; all the problems I am talking about are posed by the body, for the body; otherwise, inside, everything is perfect, everything is exactly as it should be. And totally so: what people call good, what they call evil, the beautiful, the ugly, the all that is a small immensity (not a big immensity), a small immensity that is moving more and more towards a progressive realization thats the correct phrasewithin an integral Consciousness which integrally (how should I put it?) enjoys, or I could say, feels the plenitude of what He doesdoes, is and so forth (its all the same thing). But this poor body
0 1963-12-07 - supramental ship, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There have been many efforts, concentrations, meditations, Prayers to bring about the clarification and control of all those semiconscious reflexes that govern individualsa great concentration on that point. And this experience seems to be the outcome.
There are lots of things which people dont even take notice of in life (when they live an ordinary life, they dont take any notice), theres a whole field of things that are absolutely not quite unconscious, but certainly not conscious; they are reflexesreflexes, reactions to stimuli, and so on and also the response (a semiconscious, barely conscious response) to the pressure exerted from above by the Force, which people are totally unconscious of. It is the study of this question which is now in the works; I am very much occupied with it. A study of every second. You see, there are different ways for the Lord to be present, its very interesting (the difference isnt for Him, its for us!), and it depends precisely on the amount of habitual reflex movements that take place almost outside our observation (generally completely outside it) And this question preoccupied me very, very much: the ways of feeling the Lords Presence the different ways. There is a way in which you feel it as something vague, but of which you are sureyou are always sure but the sensation is vague and a bit blurred and at other times it is an acute Presence2 (Mother touches her face), very precise, in all that you do, all that you feel, all that you are. There is an entire range. And then if we follow the movement (gesture in stages, moving away), there are those who are so far away, so far, that they dont feel anything at all.
0 1964-01-22, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its Prayers that come out from here (gesture to the heart center), like this, all of a sudden, unexpectedly they come out all the time, but I found this one interesting. It was again after my bath (!). It often happens at that time.
To be what You want me to be,
0 1964-03-25, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And I saw (because I wanted to see, and I saw) that the other experience was still there but it was beginning to be almost habitual, almost natural, while this one was new. It was the result of my old Prayer: Lord, take possession of this brain.
Well, thats what is happeninghappening everywhere, all the time. So if it happens in a large enough aggregate, it gives the appearance of a miracle4but it is the miracle of the whole EARTH.
--- Overview of noun prayer
The noun prayer has 5 senses (first 4 from tagged texts)
1. (5) prayer, supplication ::: (the act of communicating with a deity (especially as a petition or in adoration or contrition or thanksgiving); "the priest sank to his knees in prayer")
2. (4) prayer, petition, orison ::: (reverent petition to a deity)
3. (2) entreaty, prayer, appeal ::: (earnest or urgent request; "an entreaty to stop the fighting"; "an appeal for help"; "an appeal to the public to keep calm")
4. (1) prayer ::: (a fixed text used in praying)
5. prayer, supplicant ::: (someone who prays to God)
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun prayer
5 senses of prayer
Sense 1
prayer, supplication
=> worship
=> activity
=> act, deed, human action, human activity
=> event
=> psychological feature
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
Sense 2
prayer, petition, orison
=> request, asking
=> speech act
=> act, deed, human action, human activity
=> event
=> psychological feature
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
Sense 3
entreaty, prayer, appeal
=> request, asking
=> speech act
=> act, deed, human action, human activity
=> event
=> psychological feature
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
Sense 4
prayer
=> sacred text, sacred writing, religious writing, religious text
=> writing, written material, piece of writing
=> written communication, written language, black and white
=> communication
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
Sense 5
prayer, supplicant
=> religious person
=> person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, soul
=> organism, being
=> living thing, animate thing
=> whole, unit
=> object, physical object
=> physical entity
=> entity
=> causal agent, cause, causal agency
=> physical entity
=> entity
--- Hyponyms of noun prayer
5 senses of prayer
Sense 1
prayer, supplication
=> devotion
=> blessing, benediction
Sense 2
prayer, petition, orison
=> prayer wheel
=> benediction, blessing
=> collect
=> commination
=> deprecation
=> grace, blessing, thanksgiving
=> intercession
=> invocation, supplication
=> requiescat
Sense 3
entreaty, prayer, appeal
=> adjuration
=> demagoguery, demagogy
=> supplication, plea
=> solicitation
=> suit
=> courtship, wooing, courting, suit
Sense 4
prayer
=> Agnus Dei
HAS INSTANCE=> Angelus
HAS INSTANCE=> Ave Maria, Hail Mary
HAS INSTANCE=> Canticle of Simeon, Nunc dimittis
HAS INSTANCE=> Evening Prayer, evensong
HAS INSTANCE=> Kol Nidre
HAS INSTANCE=> Litany
HAS INSTANCE=> Lord's Prayer
=> Mass
=> Shema
Sense 5
prayer, supplicant
=> beadsman, bedesman
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun prayer
5 senses of prayer
Sense 1
prayer, supplication
=> worship
Sense 2
prayer, petition, orison
=> request, asking
Sense 3
entreaty, prayer, appeal
=> request, asking
Sense 4
prayer
=> sacred text, sacred writing, religious writing, religious text
Sense 5
prayer, supplicant
=> religious person
--- Coordinate Terms (sisters) of noun prayer
5 senses of prayer
Sense 1
prayer, supplication
-> worship
=> deification, exaltation, apotheosis
=> ancestor worship
=> prayer, supplication
=> idolization, idolisation
=> adoration, latria
=> idolatry, idol worship
=> idolatry, devotion, veneration, cultism
=> idiolatry, autolatry, self-worship
=> arborolatry, tree-worship
=> astrolatry, worship of heavenly bodies
=> cosmolatry
=> diabolatry, demonolatry, devil-worship
=> pyrolatry, fire-worship
=> hagiolatry, hierolatry
=> heliolatry, sun-worship
=> zoolatry, animal-worship
=> monolatry
=> moon-worship, selenolatry
=> salat, salaat, salah, salaah
=> praise
Sense 2
prayer, petition, orison
-> request, asking
=> notification, notice
=> wish, indirect request
=> invitation
=> entreaty, prayer, appeal
=> prayer, petition, orison
=> call
=> charge, billing
=> trick or treat
=> questioning, inquiring
=> order
=> recall, callback
Sense 3
entreaty, prayer, appeal
-> request, asking
=> notification, notice
=> wish, indirect request
=> invitation
=> entreaty, prayer, appeal
=> prayer, petition, orison
=> call
=> charge, billing
=> trick or treat
=> questioning, inquiring
=> order
=> recall, callback
Sense 4
prayer
-> sacred text, sacred writing, religious writing, religious text
=> scripture, sacred scripture
HAS INSTANCE=> Adi Granth, Granth, Granth Sahib
HAS INSTANCE=> Avesta, Zend-Avesta
HAS INSTANCE=> Bhagavad-Gita, Bhagavadgita, Gita
HAS INSTANCE=> Mahabharata, Mahabharatam, Mahabharatum
=> Bible, Christian Bible, Book, Good Book, Holy Scripture, Holy Writ, Scripture, Word of God, Word
=> Paralipomenon
HAS INSTANCE=> Torah, Pentateuch, Laws
HAS INSTANCE=> Torah
HAS INSTANCE=> Tanakh, Tanach, Hebrew Scripture
HAS INSTANCE=> Prophets, Nebiim
HAS INSTANCE=> Hagiographa, Ketubim, Writings
=> Testament
=> Gospel, Gospels, evangel
=> Synoptic Gospels, Synoptics
HAS INSTANCE=> Book of Mormon
=> prayer
=> service book
=> Apocrypha
=> sapiential book, wisdom book, wisdom literature
=> Pseudepigrapha
HAS INSTANCE=> Koran, Quran, al-Qur'an, Book
=> Talmudic literature
HAS INSTANCE=> Gemara
HAS INSTANCE=> Mishna, Mishnah
=> Vedic literature, Veda
HAS INSTANCE=> Upanishad
=> mantra
=> psalm
HAS INSTANCE=> Psalm
Sense 5
prayer, supplicant
-> religious person
=> religionist
=> Christian
=> non-Catholic
=> Muslim, Moslem
=> Buddhist
=> Hindu, Hindoo
=> abstainer, ascetic
=> agnostic
=> anointer
=> believer, worshiper, worshipper
=> celibate
=> churchgoer, church member
=> coreligionist
=> Mandaean, Mandean
=> missionary, missioner
=> Moonie
=> oblate
=> Nazarene, Ebionite
=> novitiate, novice
=> pagan
=> Parsee, Parsi
=> penitent
=> prayer, supplicant
=> prophet
=> religious
=> religious leader
=> Sabbatarian
=> sacrificer
=> tritheist
HAS INSTANCE=> Eddy, Mary Baker Eddy, Mary Morse Baker Eddy
HAS INSTANCE=> Fox, George Fox
--- Grep of noun prayer
book of common prayer
evening prayer
house of prayer
lord's prayer
morning prayer
prayer
prayer beads
prayer book
prayer mat
prayer meeting
prayer of azariah and song of the three children
prayer rug
prayer service
prayer shawl
prayer wheel
prayerbook
sprayer