Does prayer change your fate and karma? From last 6 years of my experience, it is not. If like that then , why do we need to pray ? Why do we need to waste time? We can do many good things with that time?
—anniebasent, india
Prayer is about your relationship with God. It is not about what you receive, but what you give. Praying is a way to open up to the presence of a Higher Reality in your life. Some people call this God, other people have other names for it. Whatever name you give it, asking for help from a source that is higher than your own small self is a necessary first step on the road to a fuller life. This is one of the reasons why people pray. They have reached the end of the road with trying to find their own answers in life, and they are seeking something greater.
When you pray, you are asking a higher consciousness to come into your life and help you. To do this you must quiet your mind so that you can truly receive what is being given to you. That is why prayer is about giving first. If you don’t make the effort to quiet your mind, you won’t be able to “hear” the responses to your prayers.
I think many prayers are answered, but people are not listening in the right way for the answers that come. A quiet mind is essential to prayer. For this reason, we strongly suggest that people offer prayers at the end of their meditation.
Another big block to answered prayers is that you don’t want to hear the answer that is being given you. Many people pray saying, “Please, God, give me an answer to this problem in my life, and let it be this answer.” If you are praying in this way, then no answer will be able to come to you. You simply won’t be able to hear it. So we must pray with an open mind to what might come to us. And we must be willing to accept the answer and to give it a try. In fact it has been found in studies done on prayer, that the most effective way to pray is to offer your prayer saying, “Thy will be done, Lord.” In prayer, this is how you will achieve the best results.
So, quieting the mind, listening inwardly, and being receptive are three essential elements for effective prayer. Using these you should be able to test prayer in your own life and see what results you receive. Your own direct experience of prayer will be the proof of how effective it can be for you.
