"On Prayer"
OM... Anandamayi, Chaitanyamayi, Satyamayi Parame....
Whenever life throws at us difficulties that we cannot overcome with our own strength, whenever circumstances seem to press upon us so hard that it feels as if we will be crushed under their pressure, no help around us seems to be successful, no one who can help seems to respond to our call, it is at such times that instinctively we turn to a higher power. We say: "God help me." We have never seen God, we have never met God, all we have here to say, those who are not too sure if God exists will say: "God if you exist up there then help me." 
Those who deny the existence of God will feel nevertheless some power greater than themselves. They give it a name – destiny, fate. They say, "If I'm destined to do this, then make that destiny happen." Just we are talking to someone, to their destiny. Instinctively, we know that there is something which transcends all these circumstances, which is conscious, with whom we can relate and who can intervene on our behalf to change the circumstances when all else fails. This instinctive call we give it a name: prayer. As long as it was instinctive it didn't matter too much, it worked, it didn't work. But, when it comes into the realm of our conscious awareness, our mind begins to question: "There are so many gods, so many forms that I know. Whom should I pray to?" There is a joke that in a boat, there was a Hindu, a Muslim and a Christian and the boat was sinking. So the Muslim prays to Allah and he is saved. The Christian prays to Jesus and he is saved. And the Hindu says "Oh Vishnu, O Kali, O Lakshmi, O Brahma, Shiva please help me" and he drowns. So, when he goes to heaven, he asks God" "What happened? You saved the others, you didn't save me?" God says, "What could I do? First you said 'Vishnu', so I had to put on the dress of Vishnu; then you said 'Kali', so I had to change my dress again, then you said 'Shiva', so I had to change my dress again. By the time I could come to you it was too late."
It's a joke, but it places before us a very important problem that the mind raises. Whom do you pray to? Does it matter what form we pray to? Does it make a difference between forms? And for us, particularly, the variation of the questions, if we have accepted Sri Aurobindo and the Mother as our gurus, "Is it right, is it permissible to pray to other forms that we are familiar with, or were familiar with the form?" There is also another question: "How does one pray? Does it matter how I pray? should I always offer some bribe in return? If it grants my wish I will break ten coconuts of your name, or I'll do such and such path hundred times or is there some other way? Are all prayers answered? Why is it [that] sometimes my prayers are answered, sometimes they are not? Is God partial to me or to another? Is God whimsical?" These are all questions which come up as soon as the mind comes into play and prayer rises out of the realm of instinct.
And these questions need to be answered. If we are to pray consciously with a certain intention, especially for one who chooses a life of sadhana, obviously we are familiar that it is the same Divine who ultimately answers all prayers. Sri Krishna says: "All prayers come to me ultimately." There is a saying: 'As all the rivers go ultimately to the ocean, so all prayers ultimately go to the same Lord Ishwara'. Certainly, there are different aspects and functions of the same one divinity and these are known by many names. The names themselves describe that particular attribute or function of the One. So, if you say Shiva or Nataraja, there is a difference. Shiva is an auspicious one – vast, calm, free. The consciousness or the response that comes from him is of that character. Nataraja is a lord of the rhythms and when you pray to him the response is coming from him. Again it has that stamp. Durga – one who destroys, eliminates all suffering, ignorance. So, her action will be again through that process. Each of these forms has a very specific kind of response, if you pray to them. But only if it is the same one who responds to that form which we approach.
