Science of rituals and customs in Hinduism: POSTURE OF PRAYING

Praying – why? how?

The material world appears as it exists, but in reality there is only one truth behind all these existence that is called dependable existence. Very body is made up of matter and consciousness. The body matter is composed of 5 elements [panch boothas]. For that matter, at a subtle level, even the brain is matter. In essence, all 3 bodies – sthula, sukshma and karana sarirams are matter by nature.

Then, what is consciousness?

1. Consciousness pervades the body.This is called “Chit” in Sanskrit.

2. Consciousness survives even after the body ceases. This concept is called “Sat” in Sanskrit.

3. Consciousness is not limited by the boundaries of the body.This is called “Anantha” in Sanskrit.

4. In summary, consciousness or Athma is a ‘Sat-Chit-Anantha” swaroopa.

The moment we shift our vision from the body to consciousness or athma, we become immortal or limitless.

This is where the Gita, the Vedas and prayers play a vital role.

The word ‘Prarthana (prayer) is derived from two words ‘pra’ and ‘artha’ meaning pleading fervently. In other words, it is asking The Lord for something with intense yearning.
Prayer includes respect, love, pleading and faith. Through a prayer a devotee expresses his helplessness and endows the task to God.
Prayer has different forms which include praise, requesting guidance or assistance, confessing sins, or an expression of one’s thoughts and emotions.
The words used in prayer may take the form of intercession, a hymn, incantation words of gratitude, or a spontaneous utterance in the person’s praying words.
Praying is done in public, as a group, or in private. Most major religions in the world involve prayer in one way or another in their rituals.
Prayer is considered to be an integral part of the Hindu way of living. The chanting of mantras is the most popular form of worship in Hinduism. Yoga and meditation are also considered as a form of devotional service towards the Lord.

The first stage in this mudraa is raising one’s hands in prayer with the thumbs gently touching the mid-brow region or the Aadnyaa chakra (the spiritual energy centre at the mid-brow region).
It is best to begin praying after we are in this position because when we bow our head in this prayer position, it awakens the spiritual emotion of surrender in us.
This in turn activates the appropriate subtle frequencies of deities from the Universe. These divine frequencies come in through our finger tips which act as receptors. These divine frequencies are then channelized into our body through the thumb to the Aadnyaa chakra (the spiritual energy center at the mid-brow region).
The result is an increase in the positive spiritual energy in us which makes us feel lighter or gives relief from symptoms of physical or mental distress.

After one finishes his prayer, he should assume the second mudraa (posture) as shown in the diagram above.
This means that instead of bringing his hands in prayer down immediately, they are to be placed in the mid-chest region in such a way that the wrists touch the chest.
This facilitates the process of more completely imbibing the Divine Consciousness of the deity principle. So initially the Divine Consciousness of the deity principle that had entered the finger tips now also gets transmitted to the region of chest, the seat of the Anaahat chakra.
Just like the Aadnyaa chakra, the Anaahat chakra also absorbs sattva frequencies.
By touching the wrists to the chest, the Anaahat chakra is activated and it helps in absorbing more sattva frequencies. When activated, the Anaahat chakra awakens a seeker’s spiritual emotion and devotion. In this stage of the prayer mudraa, one should be introspective and contemplate upon the experience of being in God’s presence.