"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."

I shall presume to discuss the general lines of the meaning of prayer and the essence of prayer in this system of Sahaj Marg.

We all know that prayer has been the most efficacious way by which one could approach God. And it is invaluable in the ordinary practice of all religions. There are all sorts of prayers, all kinds of prayers, and these prayers of all sorts and kinds are admitted as valid by several religions. Therefore in our ordinary life we are expected to pray even for the material things of this world, as well as for the fulfillment of our very cherished desires. We are also sometimes praying for the establishment of dharma in this world, and prevailing of the righteous conduct over unrighteous conduct. Lastly there are prayers for the ultimate emancipation of man from the bondages of this world. These four kinds of prayer may be said to be of the artha, kama, dharma and moksha varieties, in the technical language of our country.

In all religions people do pray. The second question, which usually crops up, is to whom are we to pray for these benefits. Normally any man of discernment would ask a man who can give wealth to give wealth; ask one who can grant your desires to grant your desires; ask one who can protect dharma to protect dharma; and ask him who can grant liberation for liberation. This discernment is very evident in our country, especially in Hinduism. Therefore, we have had gods of wealth to whom we have prayed; gods of kama to whom we have prayed; gods or protectors of dharma to whom we have appealed; and gods who can grant liberation.

So, so long as those four people were distinguished there are four ultimate gods for these four purposes. But the concept of one God began to develop in our minds, and we thought that artha, which is wealth, or power which is got from any god, if it is not capable of producing dharma or liberation, is self-defeating and capable of causing misery. So also if you ask for desires which will not promote dharma or emancipation, we are in pretty great difficulties of misery. Similarly when dharma has been asked for without its capacity to give you moksha as freedom, well we said it is not worthwhile.

So ultimately it became important that liberation should be the ultimate thing to determine our choice of artha, or choice of kama, or choice of dharma. Naturally, then, we wanted the person who can give us ultimate liberation to be in charge of the three other portfolios in life. And so we wanted one God to whom we could appeal to give us freedom whilst granting us wealth; give us freedom whilst granting our desires; and to give us freedom whilst granting our dharma, or preservation of righteousness. That is why the idea of one God to whom we can go and ask for these things became very dominant.

We passed then from what is called polytheism to monotheism. The concept of one God who can give all the four, regulated by the fundamental principle of liberation became, I think, the cardinal principle of our own Hindu religion and tradition.

Now there are so many institutions and men who can cater to these things by appealing to the one God. But what happens is, in life, that the ultimate motive for liberation seems to get dimmed as men, even when they go to that One God, are anxious to ask for the lower but not for the higher also. That is why one of the great dictums of a great saint was "seek ye the kingdom of God first, and all things shall be added unto you."

So firstly seek the kingdom of freedom, moksha. Then you will find that every other thing will naturally follow from it, namely righteous wealth and righteous power, righteous enjoyment of love and desire, righteous enjoyment of dharma-God in this universe. So firstly it becomes incumbent on us to seek the ultimate being. That is why whenever we go to a god we ask for the ultimate reality or freedom, or moksha. And then we are sure the other things would follow.

There have been, of course, some people who in their anxiety to promote only liberation have asked us to deny the other three things and say I want only liberation. I do not say that it is wrong. All that I say is that they want us, as a practical expedient process, to deny the lower so that they can show their anxiety to get the higher. In many cases, as I may put it, it appears to me that it savours of a kind of mental hypocrisy, and therefore I would rather have a definite frankness with the Divine in asking for liberation. A liberation that includes everything, rather than excluding everything; Because ultimately we know that there is a sense of liberation when we get a little moderate wealth; a sense of liberation when we experience the fulfilment of legitimate desires; a sense of freedom when we get legitimate order or government. Excessive government is always dangerous, and therefore dharma may be an excessive government. So we want liberation in government, as we want liberation really, ultimately. That gives us what is called a graduated growth of expansion of our consciousness when we feel that we are growing in freedom, rather than growing in bondage. Obviously you will realise that the second one is a self-contradicting proposition! Growing in bondage!

So we want to grow in freedom, and the sense of freedom should inform us; and if we ask God to help us, it is because the techniques of the lower thrives, namely a political power, an economic power, or any other hedonistic power, or even excessive police-power or police government, and these cannot promote freedom along with the granting of these things. In this conviction the great people of the past thought of God as the ultimate Being who can grant our freedom on all the levels without giving up the ultimate freedom to which we ought to go and aspire for. So ultimately then, our goal is getting the ultimate liberation because all of us are having a life in terminable condition, which ends. All of us die! And we want freedom from this. We are afraid of the future, as a matter of fact, and we want to be assured that we will not be once again turned into the world of bondage-that we will not be returned to this bondage. So we want freedom also of that level, after death. A feeling of freedom now, and a feeling of freedom hereafter. This seems to be the natural goal of the vedic rishi who said that Nanyah pantha ayanaya vidyate there is no other path except total surrender to the ultimate Being, and who also said you will experience that freedom even here, Ihaiva bhavati. So this is an ancient aspiration which we have held very dear during the ages.

In our Sahaj Marg we are taking up this concept in its very practical form. Now our prayers, as I told you, have been of all sorts and kinds. So to whom shall we address ourselves? Kasmai devaya havisya videma? As the great veda said it-to which god shall I offer my oblation? Myself and my prayers? And it answers, the Supreme Being, the Purusha. The supreme being one who purifies you; one who exalts you; one who makes you one with himself while sacrificing himself to you, dedicating himself for your emancipation. The one goal of God seems to me, just as my one goal is, that He should lean himself to me, just as I yearn towards Him, that is all. This is the great meaning of the Purusha Sukta. So, in our system, the Sahaj Marg, which is natural to a divine man or one who seeks the Divine light, we firstly offer prayers to the ultimate Being with the one wish that we should be gradually taken to that condition of divine life. Therefore, our prayer, which has come to my Master Sri Ram Chandraji from above as he told me, and also given in the language in which it has come, in English, is very significant and very helpful. It is simple. It says, I shall repeat the prayer for your reference:

"Oh 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."

This prayer which was given to the Master, which is being used by everyone of the abhyasis before he starts his meditation, puts in a nutshell the essential ingredients of a prayer. I do not want to compare this prayer with other prayers. Forgive me if I don't. But I shall explain this. This shows that the Divine is the Master, is the guru. And He is the goal, which you must attain. The goal, of course, is that state of being. It is not to get his form, but to get that state of being that gives you the essence of an existence and also meaning to your existence. I do not know, how many of you have a sense of existence in you. Suppose I ask, will you please tell me do you exist. Most of you exist because of your office, or because of your property, or because of something else. What is the meaning of the words 'I am'?

All of us know that we depend on other things and we ourselves are nothing, and by ourselves are nothing. So why are we restless? Because we are trying to be and in trying to be, we are not being ourselves. I am not playing with words. I want you to see the full meaning of what I am saying. The sense of being is very important because none of ous has the sense of being but only of not-being. So we want this, we want that, and we want the other! And if we get that, we think we are yet less than others because we measure the quantum of property we have; the quantum of power that we have; where is the sense of being? That is why we are restless. We have no sense of being but we are asking for being. And we are moving in the wrong directions. We ask for wealth, we run after power, run after certain desires thinking that by getting those desires we be. Of course, I leave it to you to find out the instances for yourselves. And then everything is chaos, and we are not having any sense of being in this world or everything is insecure, in a state where everything is going away, slipping out of our grasp, what we hold we lose. Now all this shows that we have no sense of being. And that is why we must get the sense of being. And we are struggling for it. And this is the Master CAN give, because the ultimate reality is, in a sense, the being of which all these are non-being.

Why do I want God? Just because He can give me this sense of being. And he who cannot give this sense of being but urges us on to another thing, a farther thing, is only a transition, and not being, and not God! That is why the ancient scriptures in our country stated "God is existence and to know him is Satya, Sat-ya! One who creates the sense of being in you is God. That is truth. That is why, the Sanskriti is very nice when he uses the word Satya-'ya' is the 'krit' suffix-making 'Sat' is Reality. Firstly we must earn the sense of reality of being. And that is the goal to which we are moving. Now this sense of being, therefore, firstly announces the essence of our prayer-the goal of my being, of my existence, of my life, is being.

It had been my experience that several persons who were informed of the system of the Sri Ram Chandra's Raja Yoga telling me that they are not yet prepared for it and that unless they purify themselves they cannot start any sadhana. They also told me that they would come after making themselves deserving for such method. It is very amusing, and as Rev. Babuji said these persons want to complete their graduation before starting to learn A B C. This is one type of egoism. There are few others who say that they do not deserve to come to this path as they are hopeless sinners and are not prepared to pollute the atmosphere in the satsang. This is another type of ego which requires to be cleansed. There are a few others who join the system and then tell that they are hopeless individuals and do not deserve to be here and go on pitying themselves. This is yet another type of egoism. There are a few others who told me that there is lot of time to think about this and this can be taken up after retirement from active life or service. This is all because there is no clear cut idea about the life itself and the goal they are seeking.

For majority of the people the purpose of life is very vague and most of the time the question perhaps never arises. This is because from almost 6 months old the child is told about the various rhymes and songs starting with the imbecile recitation of 'baba black sheep, have you any wool'. We are told to learn by rote several nonsensical things which have no value for life as such. The so called education that we are getting imparted is nothing but the capacity for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of information which might help us in enabling us perform skills required for a social life. These are not educts but only adds on. Real education should mean educing some thing from within. That Divine resides in the heart of all and that it can be realized and we can live in harmony with it performing our social and divine responsibilities is totally forgotten. The technical skills we develop, even animals and birds have. The birds build their nests, the dogs trace out thieves. These skills if necessary should be learnt by us but they are not the real ones we should educe. The divine resource we have within has to be more exploited than the animal and human resources which we are trying to harness for the material prosperity of some one whom we serve or asked to serve. The traditional lullabies and divine stories told to the children are totally forgotten and our children are being taught songs and poetry which do not carry any morals. The Aesop's fables and Panchatantra stories are almost forgotten and in their place we have Riche Rich, Top Cats engaging the attention of our children. This lack of direction at the childhood is the root cause of lack of meaning in life that one ponders later in life and being confused gets lost in the maze of sensuous delusions and sensory illusions. The goal of life has to be imparted early in life. On the contrary the children are being taught to be 'first' in the studies, first in play and first even in eating! It is very unfortunate that comparison and competition which surely promote jealousy, greed and hatred are being taught to us from early childhood, instead of harmony and good will to others. This is the seed for the degeneration of the present day values of life. Human civilization would not have advanced to the extent to which it has if cooperation and goodwill were not the values advocated in earlier days. The ethical values of our earlier generations so carefully nurtured and preserved are losing their ground and today the words are 'kill', 'fire', 'envy'. To what levels we have sunk one can estimate for oneself. Porn and Violence are being taught from the beginnings of life and the modern media (thanks to our great advances in audio visual fields) and advertising are doing irreparable damage to human civility and culture. The funniest part of it is, these are being used to, what we are told, preserve our culture and tradition. The need of the day is to know the goal of human life.

The prayer of the system of Rajayoga of Sri Ram Chandra starts with a clear statement that "O Master! Thou art the real goal of human life". That means the goals set by our schools and colleges which are totally geared to economic worth of the individual by harnessing his human and animal resources is not the goal that one should set for himself. The Artha (economic) and Kama (pleasures and luxuries) are not the goals that are worth striving for. They become available anyway according to ones own capacities. The craze (greed) of every parent to see his/her offspring becomes an IIT engineer or an M.B.B.S., from National Institutes, though one knows pretty well is not likely to materialize however much they may try for it with all the home works and tutors and tutorials, is something that is amazing. There is no basic awareness that the potentialities differ. Greed has overtaken their common sense and the children are put to enormous but avoidable suffering. These values taught from the early childhood have so overtaken us we do not know of any other value. Life is just not earning livelihood. It has other purposes to serve. The need for satisfaction of animal needs (Kama), the need for earning money to satisfy our wants and needs (artha) are secondary to the means through which these are sought to be satisfied. The means should be Dharma and not Adharma. Today any means is good enough for achieving the satisfaction of kama and artha. That is where the dissatisfaction starts. Therefore, are the arisal of conflict and disharmony. This lopsided approach to life should give place to the holistic way of life. Dharma is not what Manu has stated or any other modern Manu has stated. To be balanced under all circumstances is Dharma. To be in tune with Nature is Dharma, to maintain ecological balance is Dharma, to give respect to all beings and existences is Dharma, understanding the temporariness of life and living according to the principle 'let us leave the World a bit better than what it was when we started life' is Dharma. To know the Master as the Goal means not to search for some God in far off heavens, but to feel Him in the caves of the Heart directing us every moment towards harmony which is personal, social and trans-personal lives. There are several social values developed over a period of time with the advancement of human civilization. Fraternal love is one such. But carried to the extremes without reference to the God's wishes can be ruinous. While the fraternal love has been rewarded in the case of Laxmana and Bharata because it meant good for all, in the case of Kumbhakarna this was not so and he was punished. Between God (good for all) and individual's satisfaction, God should be preferred. Similarly loyalty to the friend (Karna's dedication to Dhuryodhana as against the will of God), loyalty to the King (in the case of Krupa, Drona as against the side of God), Satya vratatva (in the case of Bhishma as against the side of God) all got doomed. Krishna was only pleading for somehow adjusting among the brothers and not go in for war. He was seeking peace in the name of their values of life the great warriors of the day of Mahabharat, these persons erred badly and therefore perished. To live and to love all is the meaning of life. This is best expressed by the Master as "Mould your living so as to rouse a feeling of love and piety in others". Such is the goal we should have and then only we feel our oneness of being with the Master realized. After all this universe is a material manifestation of the Divine, which requires to be loved and enjoyed. That is bliss, that is happiness, that is peace. It is our individual identity that makes us separate from the Universe. This identity is an illusion. There are no individual existences, all are interdependent beings. Whenever the individual tries to extricate from the interdependency, he becomes a Titan or an Asura. Titans and Asuras never were capable of such severance and ultimately they had to perish. Their values which are now borrowed in the name of independence of individuals both women as well as men is false and there is need to submit ourselves to the Divine or the Master so that our lives are happy and we make others happy.

What is it that prevents us from yielding to the Divine. It is our self-centredness and concern for ourselves. When Swartha overtakes Parartha problems of life get complicated. True it is that there are basic instincts like Kama and Krodha. There are also Lobha, Moha and Ahankar which are our own creation. It is necessary that the latter three are to be minimized if not totally eradicated. The basic instincts of Kama and Krodha are to be moderated. That we are not able to do these is mainly because of the fact that we are slaves for our wishes. Please note the difference between wishes and drives that are mentioned here. Instincts and Drives cannot be got rid off. The process of civilization is nothing but finding sublimation and moderation of the instincts. All the social customs and restrictions are geared towards this end. Acceptance of the fact that we are slaves of our wishes is a must. We always tend to defend all our cravings, wishes and desires as the most natural things we should and can have. This refusal arises mainly because of the Swartha we have. Even to accommodate others points of view happen to be viewed as sacrifice. The word sacrifice is now almost deleted from the Dictionary of individuals. Sri Ram Chandraji Maharaj makes this as the base for the second line of prayer "We are yet but slaves of our wishes putting a bar to advancement". The word 'yet' suggests that we have the hope of getting out of this level of being "slaves of our wishes". It suggests that we want to be obedient to Him and live in happiness. When self interest predominates conflict and disharmony result. When we work for the Divine, harmony alone stands.

The prayer does not end with the awareness of our being 'slaves of our wishe', it also states that we are aware that this position puts us in a handicapped condition and we are not able to advance in our journey. Unless the self is reduced to the nominal level and the interest of the whole of Universe predominates our advancement towards the goal is impeded. The need for Peace or Santhi in the Universe is paramount as compared to the individual Peace or Santhi. Rev. Sri Ram Chandraji Maharaj in his book 'Reality at Dawn' makes this point clear and brushes aside the effort at Universal peace through political institutions and asserts that individual peace alone can lead to Universal peace. Spiritually evolved people alone can live in Peace and the effort should be in that direction. Our being slaves of our wishes (generated by our drives, needs and aspirations) are all barriers to spiritual progress. All that we consider as bad and good are to be given up. This means the total Samskaras are to be washed away. Our incapacity to do that is obvious. Whatever means we adopt (building shrines and temples, arranging for Choultries for pilgrims, performing yagas and yajnas, participating in acts of charity and service, total dedication to the understanding of the real nature of Reality and self) they form samskaras of their own. That is the point stressed by Bhagawan Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita when he states "Sarvadharman parityajya". Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Bhakti Yoga are all useless. It is total dedication to the Divine and utter consecration of our life to the Divine that leads us out of this helpless state. But then to which Master are we supposed to surrender totally. Is He the Ishta Daivam, is He the Kula Daivam, Is He Agni, Is He Vayu, Is He the Indra? "Kasmai devah havisha videma?" The answer traditionally is either 1.The God behind all Gods or 2. The God of your choice. Neither of this is true. It is that God who is easily accessible, who can understand our problems, the God who was here very much and experienced all that we go through in our lives. It is that One who does not seek from us anything and is willing to part with everything. He has with Him provided we offer ourselves to Him. There is nothing that we can give to Him. The question of offering the yajna phalam to some God does not arise. It is He who gives us. He does the Pranahuti provided we are prepared for receiving the same. Such is the Master we should pray.

The last part of the Prayer of Rev. Ram Chandraji Maharaj states this. It is necessary to understand that the Divine is the driving force of our existence and it is He who directs our ways. Since we think we have our own problems and solutions for our existence there is confrontation and conflict in every aspect of our lives. The moment it is the Divinity that is expressing itself through us dawns, this illusion is gone and we participate in the Divine activity totally and integrally. To think about a Goal in far off heavens is a tough job. To feel in the core of the heart is natural and real. To meditate on the great deeds performed by the Divine in different geographical locations and try to impress the greatness of such Divine expression leads to conflict amongst religions and faiths. To know Him as the Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer is difficult. To feel Him in our heart is natural and simple. He expresses Himself as the Divine light. A light which is beyond our comprehension but yet real. It is light without luminosity. It is light without being bright. It is natural, soothing and one with us. To such a Divinity (Master) we assert that He is the means and we say "Thou art the only God and power to bring us up to that Stage". The stage of the Master as the Goal in the first line and this stage of total surrender to Him in the last part of the Prayer summarizes the entire sadhana. The prayer therefore should be perennial and the constant remembrance is nothing but being aware of the state of Prayer. "Pray (beg) that you pray (be submissive) and continue to pray (constant remembrance) so that prayer (yielding) may continue" is the correct advice that we can practice and suggest to others for practice.

The child cries whenever there is a need. It cries and cries whether the mother or father responds or not. It is thus natural for a child to cry. Similarly we too cry, pray and beg according to our needs. Thus, different concepts of prayers have come into vogue. But what exactly we pray for and to whom should we pray, are the two basic questions demanding an earnest enquiry. Firstly, should we pray for some material comforts or favours? Secondly, should we pray to the ultimate, unseen and probably unknowable God or to many of His phenomenal forces which seem to be controlling our lives? That we speak to people who can help us to solve our problems is one level. That we appeal to people who matter to solve our problems is another level. But there is no point in projecting these two levels on to the Ultimate God. When we seek absolute peace in our heart, absolute oneness with our brothers and sisters in thought, action and feeling, when we seek coherence and integration in life, I think we can appeal to God who is all pervading even as stated in 'Isavasyopanishad'.

When we appeal to Him, what should we appeal for? It can only be total unselfishness, because, any thinking man can discern that it is only his point of self, his own personality or settlement, against an adjustment. We have to transcend this selfishness and we know that it is not in our hands. We are painfully aware of this weakness. I am reminded of the great men of our Puranas, King Duryodhana more than anybody else. He was a great man. No doubt about it. A man who could give away a part of his kingdom to a person whom he thought deserved it, could not after all be a mean person. He knew that he was living with God. When Lord Krishna asked him, " Don't you know that I am god before you and is it not necessary for you to adjust with Pandavas?" he said, "I know, but I cannot help myself. I am aware of my feelings. I cannot cheat my conscience, which says I should give nothing to them". He was painfully aware of his limitations. Similar is our predicament today. In our daily life we find ourselves forced to do so many things which we would not normally do. This is the torture of the soul of modern man. If we are prepared to quit our jobs and live in seclusion, these problems will not trouble us. But Sahaj Marg says that we should live in this world because we are here to bring in a regeneration of man, to try to take life One step above man, to pray to make man live a fuller, more integrated and meaningful life, where his selfish interests are subdued and where he could see more of what is right in others, than what is right in himself. It is very difficult and for this you require the help of Nature itself. You call it God, Babuji, Master, it makes little difference.

According to sastras, the prayer starts with that particular goal which solves all our problems. "Thou art the real goal of human life" - which is Nature itself. In our Samstha we call this goal Babuji: and I have no hesitation when I share with you my conviction that he is God. This may sound exaggeration to a rational mind. But still that is my feeling and I have as much a right to keep it.

Having settled the goal which solves our problems, now we are also aware of how hopelessly bad we are to achieve that state. It has become a fashion for the modern scientists to talk of conquering. This concept seems ridiculous to me and it should make no sense to anybody when we understand that he is himself a part of the nature. These people do not believe in living along with Nature, in sharing with it, in allowing it to do what is good for mankind. Such people assume an eternal existence for themselves and attempt to struggle with nature. One thing definite is that the moment you are born, death is there with you. Life is a continuous activity against this inevitable event and how best we can live depends upon the values we cherish and particularly an awareness of our temporary existence here. My point is why should we try to conquer Nature. Why can't we live with it, adjust with it and lead a balanced life. It is our greediness, envy and jealousy that come in our way of living according to nature's dictum, these are our shortcomings "we are yet but slaves of our wishes putting bar to our advancement ".

Who should help us out?

If only Duryodhana had surrendered to Krishna, the problem would have been solved. He thought he was going to solve it himself. That is why Babuji says, you pray. "Thou art the only God and power to bring me upto that stage". Give yourself totally to Nature. You get what you deserve namely oneness with God.

There are some problems here. It assumes a capacity on your part to accept that you are weak, hopelessly bad, depending on another personality, on power to help you out of this priority. It is not easy, for the modern world demands more assertiveness and more ego rather than totally surrendering the ego on to the parents or Super ego. In the beginning definitely we do not know God. It is here that we have got to go on faith, a dimension not easily accepted in the modern world. I had faith in my father and that is the reason why I am in the system. But that faith was based on a philosophy. It is the 'Aptavachana' as our vedantins say. When I was introduced I was hardly 16 or 17 years. I was fairly successful in studies and sports with no time for all these things. But simply because my revered father said this is the way out of the human limitations that govern most of our decisions, I accepted it. We should have that much of a faith in a friend, father or brother. Otherwise one can never take up sadhana. Kindly note Babuji's sentence, "I make Masters. Not disciples". If he had any other intention of exploiting he would not have said it and that is one sentence by which you can definitely lay your faith in Him. It is heart's language; not minds. Many Gurus and Mahatmas said that they will prepare disciples. They need not be accused. It is we who go and fall at their feet to become disciples that are to be blamed. In the entire history of man it is Babuji alone who said "I will make Masters". Faith in such a Guru is what the vedantins call "Mahaviswasa", which is one of the six angas of prayer, the others being "Anukulyasankalpa", "Pratikulya samarpanam", "Gotrutavarnam", "Atmanikshapa", and "Kripanatva". Thus Mahaviswasa and Kripanatva are the two things fully stressed in our prayer. The total helplessness to achieve the goal is stressed in the last two sentences of our prayer. It may be very easy to go on reciting the Upanishads, for there you love your own voice, your capacity to recite and congratulate yourself for your competence. But here, you are confronted with your total incapacity, helplessness and incompetence. The 'I' in man, the ego, does not so easily accept this proposition. That is why most of us in our Samstha also report the prayer but do not meditate on its meaning. If we really meditate on the meaning, tears shall roll down. We will feel how hopelessly bad, incapable, and miserably incompetent we are in this great task of trying to be one with nature. We are incapable of even to be worthy disciples of the great Master. The problem is that we are pitted against ourselves in this grand task. It is easy to confront some enemy, to conquer nature, perhaps. But when pitted against your ownself, you are aware of your utter humility, incapacity. "Kripanatva". It sinks deep in our heart. Then, and then alone, the descent of the Divine starts. We empty ourselves from the heart and God enters there. Give room for God. Let there be vacuum first, feel constantly your helpless situation. Even Arjuna could come to that position only when a couple of impossible situations confronted him. Otherwise, he would not, he could not have sought God. Traditional Prayer is but a nityakarma. Can a yogi be satisfied with such a routine prayer when he wants to be with God? Definitely not. Prayer should be in that absolute supplicant mood inviting God into your heart.