The tenth Commandment deals with prayer. "At bed times, feeling the presence of God, repent for the wrongs committed. Beg forgiveness in a supplicant mood, resolving not to allow repetition of the same".

We may think that to pray at bedtime should be easy for all of us, to start with at least. As Master puts it, because one is then free from all entanglements and the only point in one's view is that of rest and repose it is considered better time for prayer. He compares this freedom we have at the time of bedtime as similar to the state of contentment of Nature at that time and it is good time to take advantage of this natural condition.

But is it really so for us. Do we feel contented by bedtime? We are accustomed to plan for the next day carrying in our minds the problems of the present day. Further the physical and vital planes of our existence demand our attention, which we are not generally able to resist. This is in spite of our offering prayer. We most often complete recitation of the prayer and succumb to the demands of the physical and vital planes of existence. We know that we have just now prayed but yet the tight hold of the urges over us, make us ignore the prayer offered few minutes earlier and succumb to indulgence in carnality.

Master says offer prayer feeling the presence of God. This is essential in as much as we are conscious of our deficiencies and it is only He who can hear our problems and help us to come out of our helplessness in resisting carnality. The awareness of the greatness of God automatically brings in us a certain amount of vacuum. This enables the influx of the Divine, thanks to the introduction to the system of Pranahuti Aided Meditation where our link to the Divine Master is established at the time of introduction. The imperience we have at this time is the motivating factor for us in the coming days to pray.

But of course, that is not all that easy, because we really don't know what is God and what is His presence. If we entertain in our minds the various notions of God our rest is bound to get disturbed and the purpose of the prayer itself would be defeated. But if we accept implicitly what Master has stated namely, if we find a certain amount of calmness and peace, when we sit near a person and think about that particular person as one spiritually advanced and capable of leading us to our goal, and be devoted to him it is easy to remember that person and feel Divinity. That is the way in which we try to get in to a supplicant mood.

When we are feeling the presence of the Master, repent for the wrongs committed. Some say, "I don't feel anything wrong has been done by me, I don't have to repent for it at all" therefore the question of "following this Commandment does not arise". So the question of begging forgiveness and other things does not arise for them. But then please understand that in the beginning itself we have committed the mistake of jumping out of the Homeland, we ought to be terribly repentant for that. That is the original sin we have committed, we know, when we left our homeland. As fools we walked out of it. We are now struggling to get back. How can we say we have not done anything wrong? And in the process we have developed several twists and turns, several samskaras have been formed. We have got ourselves attached to so many brothers, so many sisters, so many women, the mother, the father, and our children; we have loved them, we have differences of opinion with them, we fight with them, we appreciate them and criticize them. In such a situation how do we say we have not done anything wrong? Instead of attaching ourselves to that One Source, have we not attached ourselves to any and everything?

That is the main reason why we have been asked to develop Vairagya or due attachment? The meaning for Vairagya is that, it is not so much dejection with these people, but dejection with us, for not capable of maintaining purity with which we were created by God. "What fool have I been that I left my Home and I am here, left my source and am with all sorts of worms". That is the feeling we have deep in our heart. We feel like saying to the dear ones "you may be the most beautiful person, agreed. Still you are a worm compared to Him, I would not like to be with you, I want to get back", that is the feeling that arises in our heart during our march to Infinity. That is the basis for development of Vairagya. As a matter of fact, if we are going to question this concept of having committed a mistake and repenting for it, then the question of serfdom itself does not arise. So please note these impurities Mala, Vikshepa and Avarana about which Revered Babuji talks a lot, in other works, are there and it is our folly that created them.

Repentance is nothing but a jerk in thought waves, which creates a certain amount of vacuum within us. Please note that it helps us. We are not repentant for nothing. We are repentant which generates a jerk in our being an empty space is carved out of our ego. Thus we feel humility and the Master whom we have already chosen fills that space generated by humility. Please note repentance is something that if we are going to refuse it as a tool, perhaps we are not going to make any headway in spirituality. It is arrogance of the worst sort to say "I have not committed any wrong".

Be very conscious, there is nothing wrong about knowing our lapses. Then place those lapses before Him. "I couldn't do all these things in spite of my best intention, because I am a slave of my wishes, because I am a slave of carnal desires, because I am a slave of what this modern world has taught me of aggressiveness, competition etc., I place before you O' God, Master, save me from this".

O Master! Thou art the Real Goal of Human life. We are yet but slaves of wishes Putting bar to our advancement. Thou art the only God and Power To bring us up to that stage.

It is necessary for the aspirants to note that prayer does not promise that all our follies and lapses would be ignored. They will be naturally treated according to merits. Many develop a sick mind by expecting no punishments for their lapses, particularly when they feel they have not been let off for their lapses. Responsibility to ones' actions is the index of lion heartedness. Repentance as explained above enhances our deservancy to receive the grace of God. If on the contrary we are going to be let off without facing consequences for our action, it means that God loses His title for being Just. In such a situation there may not be the Seventh Commandment at all.

The three sentences in the Prayer given to us, really sum up our total helplessness in achieving that Goal which He is asking us to achieve. The first nine Commandments are not logically one after the other in one sense and they are logically one after the other in another sense. Both are true, because we may not be in a position to reach the optimum level of compliance in all the commandments at the same time. But it shall be our endeavour to ensure that we positively implement all the first nine commandments. When we fail in doing so, the tenth one is there for us to resort to. We then start from the first again next day. For those who say, "can we start from tenth, can we start from fifth?" we may reply that we may start from anywhere we like. Because we also fully understand the impossibility of following all these commandments in one resolve. It is a continuous, perennial, persistent effort alone that will make us come to that. In order to see that we get this capacity we pray to Him, we try to get as much energy from Him, we try to feel His presence in our heart and beg forgiveness for the lapses. The imperience of the Divine had by us at the time of prayer gives us the courage and confidence that we can implement the instructions of the Master. It is the imperience that beckons us to implement the Commandments of the Master.

So when the Institute is talking about Sri Ram Chandra Consciousness, we are not talking to about a form of Divinity. Sri Ramchandra has no form and He himself said it so in his writings. But we have abhyasis asking whether they can meditate on His form. We advise not to. It is not possible for us. But we should meditate over His Commandments. We should try to live up to His commandments. We should try to live up to His expectations. This shall be our motto. This shall be our principle. This shall be the guiding principle. This alone will enable us to mould ourselves so that others may develop love and piety to Master.

We thus understand the Commandments that Sri Ram Chandra has given for all of us as something integral for living a spiritual life that ensures happiness for us all and lays foundation for the Kingdom of God to really exist. Humanity has a long way to go before it comes out of petty notions of exploitation for individual good, fighting wars in the name of religion covertly or overtly, seeking positions where one may wield power over other human beings even as humanity exploited the animals and other forms of life. It appears that Divinity is eager to assist us grow out of this lower level of mind governed by the physical and mental planes of our existence and is too willing to stoop to conquer us back to its fold. May this be the truth, may this be our future, may this happen soon.

Prayer seems to be the most effective way for the noble souls to achieve Kingdom of God on this very earth. Living in the presence of Divinity embedded deep in our hearts let us pray that every one of us lives up to the expectation of the Divine and make our lives meaningful.

We may conclude by saying let us learn to pray that we pray and continue in prayer so that prayer may continue.