
Devotional
Prayer may here be called as ‘PRAYER’; whereas ‘Intuitional Prayer’ may
coincide roughly with CONTEMPLATION. Both type of prayers lead to union with
God. Such of them is more suited to some Sadhakas than to others. According to
time and need suitability of these Prayers may change.
Any Prayer that limits itself to the thinking mind alone is not prayer really
but! at best, a preparation for prayer. Even among Sadhakas there is no genuine
personal communication that isn’t at least in some small degree heart
communication, that does not contain some small degree of emotion in it. If a
communication, a sharing of thoughts, is entirely and totally devoid of
all emotion you can be sure the intimate, personal dimension is lacking.
Here are some variations of the previous exercise more devotional than
intuitional. As the thought content in prayer is minimal—it will easily move from
the devotional to the intuitional, from the heart to the heart.
Become aware of your breathing for a while. Now REFLECT presence of God in the
atmosphere all around you.... Reflect His presence in the air you are
breathing—BE CONSCIOUS OF HIS PRESENCE.... Notice what you feel, when
you become conscious of His presence in the air you are breathing in and out....
Now express yourself to God non-verbally. Frequently, express a
sentiment through a look on a gesture .... Then again by breathing. Express
first of all, a great yearning for Him without using words, even
mentally, say to Him, MY LORD, I long for You .... Just by the way
breathe. You may express this by breathing in deeply, by deepening your
inhalation.
Now express another attitude or sentiment: ONE OF TRUST AND SURRENDER—NO
words—just through breath, “My LORD, I surrender myself entirely to you ....
You may do this by emphasising your exhalation, by breathing out each time as if
you were sighing deeply. Each time you breathe out feel yourself letting the
whole of yourself go in God’s hand.
Then, after sometime, take up other attitudes before your LORD and express these
through your breathing such as: LOVE.... CLOSENESS.... and INTIMACY
ADORATION.......... GRATITUDE.......... PRAISE.... if you are tired of doing
this, return to the beginning of this exercise and just rest peacefully in the
awareness of God all around you and in the air you are breathing in and out....
Then, if you tend to get distracted, fall back on second part of the exercise
and express yourself to God non-verbally once more.