What is praying?

[PurpleTree]

Growing up non-religious i never prayed.

Is it worth doing? Is it something else than meditation? And who would i pray to?

[Salvijus]

Prayer is love actually. It's when the flow of Light and Glory is flowing through the crown of your head, into the the heart and then the rest of your body. To tap into this energy of god's Love we may use figures like Jesus Christ or reading the bible or acim even. One needs to be sufficiently developed and sensitive to begin working with this new channel of energy that meditation cannot touch or open. Those who practice genuine prayer are likely to develop healing abilities, ability to communicate with angelic beings, perform miracles etc. It's quite an esoteric practice actually.

Sometimes pictures can explain what prayer is better then words

Edited May 3, 2023 by Salvijus

[M A J I]

Praying is more so about Gratitude than anything else, it is in present tense where true prayer resides, rather than the common future/past tense.

I like the quote: Praying is talking to God, Meditation is listening to God.

I am grateful for being alive and aware, I am grateful for .... fill in the blanks... this is true prayer and will attract more of that.

Namaste

[gettoefl]

prayer is self talk that motivates oneself to wake up

namely getting serious

 

[_Archangel_]

@PurpleTree I think you can interpret praying as connecting your tiny soul to an archetype that can make elevate you. you are drown to it little by little like a magnet. When thoughts are directed towords something, that something becomes part of your reality over time: so yes, prayer is actually good if your aim is correct.

[PurpleTree]

4 hours ago, M A J I said:

Praying is more so about Gratitude than anything else, it is in present tense where true prayer resides, rather than the common future/past tense.

I like the quote: Praying is talking to God, Meditation is listening to God.

I am grateful for being alive and aware, I am grateful for .... fill in the blanks... this is true prayer and will attract more of that.

Namaste

 

21 minutes ago, _Archangel_ said:

@PurpleTree I think you can interpret praying as connecting your tiny soul to an archetype that can make elevate you. you are drown to it little by little like a magnet. When thoughts are directed towords something, that something becomes part of your reality over time: so yes, prayer is actually good if your aim is correct.

I thought prayer was more about a dialogue with or asking « god » for something

 

like

« dear god pls relieve little jimmy of his oxy addiction »

 « dear lovely god pls help me let go of the ego/these blockages »

 « dear god pls help the children in ukraine »

 

[_Archangel_]

@PurpleTree Well, certainly it's both. Originally, prayer was intended more like a visualization mantra. But every tradition has kinds of prayers more akin to what you are describing
Coincidentally, i was listening to a podcast where D. Ingram (hardcore meditator) shares how he "ask the universe" for certain things in his magical practice, i invite you to listen to it so you can get so you can idea of how these techniques can get integrated in a meditative path.

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/daniel-hill6/episodes/Magick-its-not-what-you-think--An-interview-with-Daniel-Ingram-Part-Two-efjkek
This is the 2 part, in which he talks about his practice. There are 3 parts in total.

[Moksha]

Prayer is the absolute unconditionally resonating, in anticipation of a possible dream expression, or in the silent harmony of itself.

[tuku747]

8 hours ago, M A J I said:

I like the quote: Praying is talking to God, Meditation is listening to God.

The duality breaks down ? 

[M A J I]

@PurpleTree That is the more modern version of prayer. I am providing you the original/universal form of prayer before religions came out mashed everything up and distorted spirituality.

[Yimpa]

The ultimate praying is facing your fears head on, and asking your True Self to guide you towards your highest path as you enter the fear.

Intuition follows and your prayer is answered implicitly.

[Salvijus]

"Invokation of the Divine Light" is a good name for prayer. When God's Glory & Light is pouring into you and every cell in your body is singing Hallelujah, that's when you're a in real prayer, or communion with god.

The original aramaic Lord's prayer that Jesus tought to his desciples was actually a Divine Light invokation practice, by using certain consecrated sounds to become open, receptive and available for this Glory to enter us.

 

Edited May 4, 2023 by Salvijus

[Salvijus]

15 hours ago, PurpleTree said:

I thought prayer was more about a dialogue with or asking « god » for something

like

« dear god pls relieve little jimmy of his oxy addiction »

 « dear lovely god pls help me let go of the ego/these blockages »

 « dear god pls help the children in ukraine »

The reason people are doing this but are not concious of it is because when one connects to the Devine Light he can manifest whatever he wants. You can ask this Devine Light for protection, prosperity, guidence, spiritual growth, etc. And it will come, it's the energy that fulfills all your needs. This energy can also heal you, so people tend to ask for healing. Healing in general is very popular topic in christianity not by accident.

Edited May 4, 2023 by Salvijus

[PurpleTree]

On 3.5.2023 at 0:01 PM, _Archangel_ said:

@PurpleTree Well, certainly it's both. Originally, prayer was intended more like a visualization mantra. But every tradition has kinds of prayers more akin to what you are describing
Coincidentally, i was listening to a podcast where D. Ingram (hardcore meditator) shares how he "ask the universe" for certain things in his magical practice, i invite you to listen to it so you can get so you can idea of how these techniques can get integrated in a meditative path.

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/daniel-hill6/episodes/Magick-its-not-what-you-think--An-interview-with-Daniel-Ingram-Part-Two-efjkek
This is the 2 part, in which he talks about his practice. There are 3 parts in total.

 I listened to it, don’t think i got much out of it. What was your favourite part about it?

[_Archangel_]

@PurpleTree Well, that was basically an Arahant (highest attainment in Theravadan Buddhism) that tells how he prays and the mechanics of it.
I think it's pretty good advice. It shows you that prayer/spell casting/magic is part of every contemplative tradition.

If you haven't found the podcast useful i don't what you expected to understand through your post.
Feel free to elaborate if you want.

[caspex]

In Hinduism, genuine prayers and/or rituals are generally done so that the deity you are worshiping enters your heart and possesses you in a way that there is no difference between you and it anymore. Now whether this is all mental or you are actually connecting to an energy archetype or organism, is not something I know.

[Yimpa]

@Swarnim That’s the core limitation of religion. 

Even if you deeply connect to one deity… hell, even the religion had multiple deities, that would only be connecting to a subset of Infinite Love.

To make it even worse, you need to live by a set of unequivocal rules and beliefs in order to maintain that connection. 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Yimpa

[caspex]

20 minutes ago, Yimpa said:

@Swarnim That’s the core limitation of religion. 

Even if you deeply connect to one deity… hell, even the religion had multiple deities, that would only be connecting to a subset of Infinite Love.

To make it even worse, you need to live by a set of rules and beliefs in order to maintain that connection. 

@Yimpa The main logic behind connecting to deities is that they act as intermediary steps to Infinity/Bhraman. You become one with them, and now that you are at their level, you can go higher. The thinking is that Bhraman doesn't care about you at all, it's completely unbiased, so there are deities in between you can go through to reach it and dissolve in it. The set of rules, on a surface level practice might be arbitrary but I think on deeper levels the energetic organism/deity you connect to has certain biases, and you have to abide by it to seek its help. I mean you have to live by a certain set of rules even normally to stay in certain states, for most people stabbing yourself in the gut will not help you attain a higher state of consciousness. You have a body and mind, maybe even an energetic body, that has certain biases. What I am saying is, it's not such a bad thing to follow a set of rules.

Edited May 7, 2023 by Swarnim

[Moksha]

The pantheon of gods is no more real than those that worship them. When the worshipped and the worshipper dissolve together, the absolute realizes itself.

[Yimpa]

3 minutes ago, Moksha said:

The pantheon of gods is no more real than those that worship them. When the worshipped and the worshipper dissolve together, the absolute realizes itself.

I’m still envious of your ability to use words eloquently and with such metaphoric clarity. 

I’ll pray that I reach your level one day