Prayer is the oldest and the simplest expression of religion. All faith traditions believe in the power of prayer and have prayer texts to beseech God for favors.
Prayer is the very soul and essence of religion, and therefore it must be the very core of the life of man, said Mahatma Gandhi. Now some research has indicated that it works. So, how can we pray to have our heart’s desire fulfilled? Paramahansa Yogananda, of the ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ fame, said that the first rule in prayer is to approach God only with legitimate desires. The second is to pray for their fulfillment, not as a beggar, but as a son: “I am thy child. Thou art my Father. Thou and I are One.”
Here are some well-known prayers from various faith traditions.
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be doneon earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever
Amen.
–Lord’s Prayer, New Testament
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;
Where there is hatred,
let me sow love;Where there is injury,pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not
Seek to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
–A hymn by St Francis of Assisi,
Om, may all become happy,
May all be free from illness,
May all see what is auspicious,
May no one Suffer in any way.
Om Peace, Peace, Peace.
–A Vedic hymn
I desire neither earthly kingdom,
nor even freedom from birth and death.
I desire only the deliverance from grief
of all those afflicted by misery.
Oh Lord, lead us from the unreal to the real;
from darkness to light;
from death to immortality.
May there be peace in celestial regions.
May there be peace on earth.
May the waters be appeasing.
May herbs be wholesome
and may trees and plants bring peace to all.
May all beneficent beings bring peace to us.
May your wisdom spread peace all through the world.
May all things be a source of peace to all and to me.
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.
–Peace Prayer, Hinduism
· Salat al-fajr: dawn, before sunrise
· Salat al-zuhr: midday, after the sun passes its highest
· Salat al-’asr: the late part of the afternoon
· Salat al-maghrib: just after sunset
· Salat al-’isha: between sunset and midnight
–Muslims are ordained to pray five times a day
When My servants ask you about me,
tell them that I am near.
I answer the prayer
of every supplicant who calls to Me;
therefore let them respond to Me,
and put their trust in Me,
that they may be rightly guided.
–The Quran (2: 186)
I bow in reverence to Arihants
I bow in reverence to Siddhas
I bow in reverence to Acharyas
I bow in reverence to Upadhyayas
I bow in reverence to all Sadhus
This five-fold salutation
Destroys all sins
And amongst all auspicious things
Is the most auspicious one
–Jain Namokar mantra
I go to the Buddha for refuge.
I go to the Dhamma for refuge.
I go to the Sangha for refuge.
–Buddhism: The Refuge Prayer
Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.
Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom
for ever and ever And you shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your might.
And these words that I command you today
shall be in your heart.
And you shall teach them diligently to your children,
and you shall speak of them when you sit at home,
and when you walk along the way,
and when you lie down and when you rise up.
And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand,
and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
–Judaism: Origin- The book of Deuteronomy, Chap 6
God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make things right
If I surrender to His Will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him
Forever and ever in the next.
Amen.
–The Serenity Prayer by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr
Lead picture courtesy Diana Simumpande/Unsplash
