FACE OF GOD

FACE OF GOD

 

Baba said, "Purification of mind is absolutely necessary; without it, all our spiritual endeavors are nothing, but useless show and pomp" in Sri Sai Satcharitra, ch. XVI, XVII.

 

What is prayer?

 

Prayer is outpouring of the heart.

 

Prayer is offering flowers plucked from the garden of heart.

 

Prayer is the cry of the wounded heart to the Beloved.

 

Prayer is the soul's ascent to the mount of vision.

 

This word "prayer" means, literally, "asking". I recall the words of Jesus: "Ask and it shall be given to you."

 

Prayer is asking for the key to the treasures of the Spirit-world. And I sometimes say prayer is a voyage of discovery. For, if you but know how to pray, you begin to discover a mighty world around you – the Spirit-world.

 

The word for "prayer" in the Sanskrit language is upasana. The literal meaning of this word is "sitting under". That is prayer, -"sitting under" the influence of the Spirit. Many years ago, when I was in England, one sweet little English girl came to me and said: "Teach me what to pray." I said to her: "My child! The Spirit alone may teach us what to pray." But she said: "You must give me some words which I may recite every day!" And I passed on to her the words of an ancient Rishi: "Out of darkness lead me into Light!" (Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya). And I said to her: "Recite these words and in silence meditate on their meaning."

 

I was a guest in the house of this girl. One day, I looked into a little room and I saw her sitting – this sweet English girl – and she was lisping the words: "Out of darkness lead me into Light!" And she offered the prayer in such sincerity, with such love in her heart, I saw her face illuminated, her eyes aglow with light, and I said to myself: "I have seen the face of God!"

 

True it is, that from time to time you see a person filled with the spirit of prayer, and gazing at his face you feel that you see the Face of God.

 

 

 

 

 

(Sadhu Vaswani in East and West Series, July 2004)