“I bear witness, O my God, that Thou hast created me to know Thee and to worship Thee. I testify, at this moment, to my powerlessness and to Thy might, to my poverty and to Thy wealth. There is none other God but Thee, the Help in Peril, the self-subsisting.”

We all know that God is our Almighty Father and we are all His children. God is in everything…in the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink. Prayer is the medium of communication between God and us. It is like a spiritual vitamin. It helps healing our body and invigorating our souls. One gets filled with energy and moral strength by praying to God.

The power of prayer is immense. When King Dashrath called Lord Rama, he first told him about the two vows he had made to Queen Kaikeyi. One, Kaikeyi’s son Bharat and not Rama should be made king of Ayodhya. Two, Ram should be sent to fourteen years of exile. Immediately after that, Dashrath asked Rama to refuse to go by any of these commands. Crying, he told Rama that as a father he would not be able to able to bear the agony of separation from his son and would die if Rama went on exile.

Lord Rama was in a fix. His father Dashrath had, in a way, given two conflicting commands – one, he was asking Rama to go to exile to fulfill the vows he had given to his wife Kaikeyi and two, he was asking Rama not to go to exile because he did not want to leave his son. What was he to do? The choice was all the more difficult because if Rama followed his father’s first command of going on exile, his father was sure to die in separation. Thus, in a way Rama would be responsible for his father’s death. On the other hand, if Rama followed his father’s second command of refusing to go to exile his father would end up being termed a person who broke his promise made to his wife Kaikeyi. It was at this crucial juncture that Rama prayed to God to help him choose what is right. Things became clear soon. Rama realized that in the larger interest of society, Dashrath’s promise in the capacity of a king was far more important than his emotional request as a father. Rama decided to follow his father’s first command and go to exile for fourteen years and let his younger brother Bharat become king of Ayodhya. He left his weeping father behind; the latter’s miserable state notwithstanding. Prayers make a man strong like steel and Rama had gained that steely determination after praying. Rama had become ‘maryada purshottam’ Rama, an icon of valued principles.

The power of prayer is really immense. Prayer not only connects man with God. It is also the bridge that unites all people, cultures, religious paths and practices. Everything is possible through prayers.True prayer goes beyond words. It is an attitude of heart and mind, of receptivity and thanksgiving. Prayerfulness is a state of being that signifies our communion with God and thus, needs continual cultivation. So let prayer guide our every thought word and action. May prayer be the very foundation of our lives.