Prayer: Pure and personal

God is supposed to be the treasure trove of compassion. We all pray to God seeking mental solace and peace, material wealth and spiritual wealth. However, we never ask Him to remove our egoism, anger, hatred and attachments to material pleasures.

Each person has a unique way of sending requests and pleadings seeking the benevolence of God. Here is one endearing account that I read recently.

Every day early morning, a little girl would come to the church and stand before the Lord, closing her eyes with folded hands, and would murmur something for a couple of minutes.

She would then open her eyes, bow down, smile at Christ's statue and go out running. This was a daily affair. The priest was observing her and was curious about what she was doing. He thought she is too small to know the meaning of religion, hence she would hardly know any prayers. But then what was she doing every morning in the church?

Fifteen days passed and the priest couldn’t resist his urge to find out more about her behaviour. One morning, he reached the church before the girl and waited for her to complete her ritual.

He placed his hand on her head and said, “My child, I have seen you coming here regularly for the last fifteen days. What do you do?”

"I pray, father,” she said spontaneously." "Do you know any prayers?” the priest asked.

“No, father,” replied the girl. “Then what are you doing closing your eyes, every day?” he asked. The girl said innocently, “Father, I do not know any prayer, but I know a,b,c,d….up to z. I recite it five times and tell God that I don’t know your prayer, but it cannot be outside of these alphabets. Please arrange the alphabets as you wish and that is my prayer.”

How pure and pristine is her way of reaching out to God! It is said that ‘In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words than words without heart'.

In Hindu scriptures, Devi is eulogised as ‘matrukavarna roopini' — the one whose form is made of syllables. If we speak good words, use refined speech, it amounts to worshipping Her.