There
are several kinds of prayers.
There
is the purely mechanical, material prayer, with words which have
been learnt and are mechanically repeated. That does not signify
anything much. And that has usually only one single result, that
of quietening the person who prays, for if a prayer is repeated
several times, the words end up by making you calm.
There
is a prayer which is a spontaneous formula for expressing something
precise which one wants to ask for: one prays for this thing or
that, one prays for one thing or another; one can pray for somebody,
for a circumstance, for oneself.
True
Aspiration
There
is a point where aspiration and prayer meet, for there are prayers
which are the spontaneous formulation of a lived experience: these
spring up all ready from within the being, like something that's
the expression of a profound experience, and which offers thanksgiving
for that experience or asks its continuation or asks for its explanation
also; and that indeed is quite close to aspiration. But aspiration
is not necessarily formulated in words; or if it is formulated
in words, it is almost a movement of invocation. You aspire for
a certain state; for instance, you have found something in yourself
that is not in keeping with your ideal, a movement of darkness
and ignorance, perhaps even of ill-will, something that's not
in harmony with what you want to realise; then that is not going
to be formulated in words; that will be like a springing flame
and like an offering made of a living experience, asking to grow
larger, be magnified and ever more and more clear and precise.
All that may be put into words later, if one tries to remember
and note down one's experience. But aspiration always springs
up like a flame that rises high and carries in itself the thing
one desires to be or what one desires to do or desires to have.
I use the word "desire", but truly it is here that the
word "aspire" should be used, for that does not have
either the quality or the form of a desire.
It
is truly like a great purifying flame of will, and it carries
in its core the thing that asks to be realised.
For
instance, if you have done something you regret having done, if
that has unhappy consequences which disturb things, and several
people are implicated, you do not know the reactions of the others,
but you yourself wish that what has been done may take a turn
for the best, and that if there is a mistake, it may be understood,
and that no matter what the mistake, this may be for you an opportunity
for a greater progress, a greater discipline, a new ascent towards
the Divine, a door open on a future that you want to be more clear
and true and intense; so all this is gathered here (in the heart)
like a force, and then it surges up and rises in a great movement
of ascent, and at times without the shadow of a formulation, without
words, without expression, but like a springing flame.
That
indeed is true aspiration. That may happen a hundred, a thousand
times daily if one is in that state in which one constantly wants
to progress and be more true and more fully in harmony with what
the Divine Will wants of us.
Different
types of Prayers
Prayer
is a much more external thing, generally about a precise fact,
and always formulated for it is the formula that makes the prayer.
One may have an aspiration and transcribe it as a prayer, but
aspiration goes beyond prayer in every way. It is much closer
and much more as it were self-forgetful, living only in the thing
one wants to be or do, and the offering of all that one wants
to do to the Divine. You may pray in order to ask for something,
you may also pray to thank the Divine for what He has given you,
and that prayer is much greater: it may be called an act of thanksgiving.
You may pray in gratitude for the aspect of kindness the Divine
has shown to you, for what He has done for you, for what you see
in Him, and the praise you want to offer Him. And all this may
take the form of a prayer. It is decidedly the highest prayer,
for it is not exclusively preoccupied with oneself, it is not
an egoistic prayer.
Certainly,
one may have an aspiration in all the domains, but the very centre
of aspiration is in the psychic being, whilst one may pray in
all the domains, and the prayer belongs to the domain in which
one prays. One may make purely material, physical prayers, vital
prayers, mental prayers, psychic prayers, spiritual prayers, and
each one has its special character, its special value.
There
is a kind of prayer at once spontaneous and unselfish which is
like a great call, usually not for one's own self personally,
but like something that may be called an intercession with the
Divine. It is extremely powerful. I have had countless instances
of things which have been realised almost instantaneously due
to prayers of this kind. It implies a great faith, a great ardour,
a great sincerity, and a great simplicity of heart also, something
that does not calculate, does not plan, does not bargain, does
not give with the idea of receiving in exchange. For, the majority
of men give with one hand and hold out the other to get something
in exchange; the largest number of prayers are of that sort. But
there are others of the kind I have described, acts of thanksgiving,
a kind of canticle, and these are very good.
There
you are. I don't know if I have made myself clear, but this is
how it is.
Prayer
and Aspiration
To
be clearer, we may say that prayer is always formulated in words;
but the words may have different values according to the state
in which they are formulated. Prayer is a formulated thing and
one may aspire. But it is difficult to pray without praying to
someone. For instance, those who have a conception of the universe
from which they have more or less driven out the idea of the Divine
(there are many people of this kind; this idea troubles them -
the idea that there is someone who knows all, can do everything
and who is so formidably greater than they that there can be no
comparison; that's a bit troublesome for their amour-propre; so
they try to make a world without the Divine), these people evidently
cannot pray, for to whom would they pray? Unless they pray to
themselves, which is not the custom! But one can aspire for something
without having any faith in the Divine. There are people who do
not believe in the existence of a God, but who have faith in progress.
They have the idea that the world is in constant progress and
that this progress will go on indefinitely without stopping, towards
an ever greater betterment. Well, these people can have a very
great aspiration for progress, and they don't even need any idea
of a divine existence for that. Aspiration necessarily implies
a faith but not necessarily faith in a divine being; whilst prayer
cannot exist if it is not addressed to a divine being. And pray
to what? One does not pray to something that has no personality!
One prays to someone who can hear us. If there is nobody to hear
us, how could one pray? Hence, if one prays, this means that,
even when one doesn't acknowledge it, one has faith in somebody
infinitely higher than us, infinitely more powerful, who can change
our destiny and change us also, if one prays so as to be heard.
That is the essential difference.
So
the more intellectual people admit aspiration and say that prayer
is something inferior. The mystics tell you that aspiration is
all very well but if you want to be really heard and want the
Divine to listen to you, you must pray, and pray with the simplicity
of a child, a perfect candour, that is, a perfect trust: "I
need this or that (whether it be a moral need or a physical or
material need), well, I ask You for it, give it to me." Or
else: "You have given me what I asked of You, You have made
me realise concretely those experiences which were unknown to
me and are now marvels I can attain at will; yes, I am infinitely
grateful to You and I offer a prayer of thanksgiving to sing Your
praise and thank You for Your intervention." It is like that.
To aspire it is not necessary to direct the aspiration to someone,
towards someone. One has an aspiration for a certain state of
being, for knowledge, for a realisation, a state of consciousness;
one aspires for something, but it is not necessarily a prayer;
prayer is something additional.
Prayer
is a personal thing, addressed to a personal being, that is, to
something - a force or a being - who can hear you and answer you.
Otherwise you can't ask for anything.
There
is another interesting observation of the Mother regarding prayers.
She was asked:
