PRAYER

PRAYER
This article was written by Ranzie Mensah who lives in Aosta, Italy.
Is my soul atrophied ?
Is my soul hungry?
Is my soul thirsty?Is my soul in anguish?
Is my soul wandering in the desert of heedlessness
Blinded by the veils of my vain imaginations?
Are my wings sullied
By my attachment to worldly desires?
What is prayer?
Why must we pray?
Why is humanity not praying anymore?
All the religions of the past have taught us that the fundamental purpose of prayer is for us to draw closer to God. The essence of the human creation is his soul, and this soul will return to its Maker. Our heaven will be the degree of our closeness to Him and our hell will be the degree of our separation from Him.
"...in separation from Whom hearts and souls have melted..."(Baha'u'llah, Long Obligatory Prayer, Bahá'í Prayers, 1985 edition, p. 9)
"...separation from Thee hath destroyed me, and remoteness from Thee hath consumed me." (ibid, p.13)The cardinal purpose of our lives on this earthly plane is to know God and to worship Him. One of the ways to achieve this is through prayer. "I bear witness, O my God, that Thou hast created me to know Thee and to worship Thee." (ibid, p.4)When the seed is sown, the pure water and the brilliant rays from the sun will cause the seed to sacrifice itself and become the tree, giving forth blossoms, flowers and finally its fruit. The purpose of the creation of the seed will have been fulfilled. The seed will have become utter nothingness.
"...O My servants! Be as resigned and submissive as the earth, that from the soil of your being there may blossom the fragrant, the holy and multicolored hyacinths of My knowledge."(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings CLII)We pray so that the fire of the power of the Word of God will burn away our idols of vain imaginings.
"...to make of my prayer a fire that will burn away the veils which have shut me out from Thy beauty, and a light that will lead me unto the ocean of Thy Presence." (Baha'u'llah, Long Obligatory Prayer, Baha'i Prayers, p.8)We must teach our children to learn the prayers and the Sacred Writings by heart. 'Abdu'l-Bahá exhorted many of the early believers to commit the prayers and Tablets to memory. We must be an example for our children and youth. These words will be engraved on their hearts forever and will strengthen them in the Covenant. I will always remember when the martyrs in Iran were thrown into prison, all their belongings taken away from them, including their Baha'i books. They all knew prayers by heart and chanted them in their prison cell and prepared their souls to meet their heart's desire. In the next world, we will pray. We will pray for our beloved ones who are still on this earthly plane as they will pray for us. We will take with us, not the prayer books, but the prayers that are engraved on our hearts.
"...whereby I may live as long as Thy sovereignty endureth, and may make mention of Thee in every world of Thy worlds." (ibid, 9)Our prayers must lead us to the shores of detachment. But before we reach this station, we must be ready to surrender our will to His Will. And this is sometimes a life-long enterprise. That is why we repeat these phrases everyday when we recite the Long Obligatory Prayer on pages 8 and 9 in Bahá'í Prayers.
"Behold me standing ready to do Thy will and Thy desire...""I have desired only what Thou didst desire, and love only what Thou dost love."Only when the dross is cleared from the mirror will it reflect the face of the Beloved.Only when the veils are removed from the lamp will the light shine.Only when the dust is shaken from our feet may we tread the threshold of His bounties.Only when we have removed every trace of wordly desire will we come home.
"Be light and untrammeled as the breeze, that ye may obtain admittance into the precincts of My court, My inviolable Sanctuary."(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings CLII)____________________