I know prayer is always helpful, but is there any specific prayer or yoga that would be specifically helpful; when wishing to help a father and husband, who chose renunciation and to follow God- thru joining a cult (not this path, or even close to it), come to see that his children/family need him, and that he really CAN have both — God and the domestic life (his family), that HE chose — and that it is a holy thing to do — he has been tricked with guilt....- thankyou for any sharing you give!!
—Melissa Bunt, USA
Dear Melissa,
Thank you for your question and we are sorry to hear of the challenges that you and your family are experiencing.
You are right! Prayer is always good. Even better is the addition of meditation, so that there is time to both talk with God (prayer) and then listen for the Divine answer (in silent, sitting meditation).
Remember that God/Gurus always answer prayers. Sometimes we don’t care for the answer, because it is not what we want. The answers may be yes, no, or wait for further guidance. The last may be the hardest of all to hear.
One prayer/affirmation that I might suggest would be this one from Yogananda: “I will reason, I will will, and I will act, but guide Thou my reason, will, and activity to the right thing that I should do.”
Sister Gyanamata suggested a great prayer also: “Lord, don’t change any circumstances of my life; CHANGE ME!”
Also it is perfectly right and helpful to pray: “I don’t know what is right for me to pray in this situation, so show me.”
A great part of effective prayer is the attitude with which you pray. Non-attachment and knowing that attuning our little will to God’s great WILL is the way to go. It’s not easy, but it puts us into that stream of grace which brings only grace and joy.
Finally, I would encourage you not to feel that you have to pray alone. Having others praying for and with you is essential.
Send a prayer request or check in with the Healing Prayer Ministry on the www.ananda.org website; in that way you’ll learn further techniques on how to join your energies with those your spiritual family on earth.
