Prayer Or Autosuggestion

PRAYER! OR AUTOSUGGESTION! Come June and schools reopen and classes and studies begin. After a month and a half of vacation, the students have now to begin their studies with singleminded dedication. While the ordinary students continue to linger in the vacation mood for some more time, the good students dive into their books almost immediately. But many of these good students are susceptible to the pernicious 'Exam Fever'. Many more of them are drained out by a constant struggle to read and remember their innumerable subjects and text books. Yet some more of them regularly complain that they are unable to rightly understand the various subjects. These are universal problems of students. It is not that these problems don't have solutions but to find them you will have to think over patiently. You have already read some of these solutions in the two small booklets 'Secret of Concentration' and 'A letter to a student'. We now present you one more very important solution. This is an extremely effective, and in a way, an extremely simple solution; but one that needs continuous practice. You should do as you are told here, everyday, that is all. What is that solution? “Prayer”. Prayer is invariably addressed to God. Who is God and where is He? He is in our heart. You may visualize Him as Rama, Krishna, Ganesh, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Jesus, etc in your heart. The particular form in which you imagine and visualize God in your heart depends entirely on your liking. There is a technical term for this called 'Ishta'. God is omnipresent and omnipotent. He is omniscient and all-merciful. Since He is omnipotent, answering our prayers is child's play for Him. Since He is all-merciful, He cannot resist the call of our prayers. But is imperative for us to have faith in Him and believe that He will certainly answer our prayers. Next, how should students pray? We generally pray to obtain what we desire; students desire knowledge. Students must understand all that they read. Students must obtain high marks and pass exams. Is it not? Therefore, students must pray to God for those very things: “O Lord, my salutations to you. Incline my mind to read more and more. Enable my mind to understand whatever I read. Sharpen my memory to retain and recall all that I read and understand. Make me a good student. O Lord, I surrender to you. I depend on you. Be kind to me and answer this prayer of

mine” It is better to keep the eyes closed while praying. The reason is – when the eyes are open, outside light and objects impinge on the eyes, keep the mind engaged and do not allow the mind to enter into the heart. So, we need to close our eyes and pray with all our heart and soul, to the gracious Lord residing in our heart and soul. Students who want knowledge should pray like this for 3 months, before going to sleep and test this technique for themselves. They are sure to experience the sweet results of this small exercise in this short period itself. But the prayer must be sincere. It must come from within. Your entire heart and soul must be in it. It must be backed by a certain faith in its efficiency. Because this faith is the real secret of prayer. Do you know how God answers our prayers? He prepares our mind, making it fit for studies. He fills the mind with energy and vigour. Capability arises in the mind. A capable mind is able to achieve anything it wants. Therefore, more and more students must be made aware of this simple and wonderful tool called Prayer. More and more students must be taught how to use it and derive benefit from it. Then there is another kind of students. They do not believe in God nor do they ever like to develop any belief in Him. What should such students do? There is way for them too. Auto-Suggestion. Such students should constantly repeat forceful affirmations as follows: “I shall read more and more. I shall study more and more. Whatever I read and study, I shall understand, remember and recall all of it. By developing this capability, I shall blossom out as a student of very high calibre.” This is not a prayer. This is a thought, an affirmation. A student is bound to improve by repeating this auto suggestive affirmations again and again. Because, as the proverb says, 'As ye think, so shall ye become.' Whatever you think and feel about yourself, that you shall surely become. This is an irrefutable law. But you should think and feel with all your heart and soul. These thoughts must be backed by a certain faith in yourself. This is most important. Whether it be prayer or auto suggestion, it is faith that makes it powerful and renders it fruitful. Every student ought to know this golden secret.

Another secret is that auto suggestion should be done at night, before falling asleep. Whatever thoughts you entertain just before falling asleep seeps down into your unconscious mind. When you wake up in the morning, these very thoughts gain in strength, become very powerful and will manifest by colouring your entire personality. If you think the same thought intensely for a few months, it will get manifested very powerfully. Such powerful thinking enables us to achieve anything we like. Take the lives of great men, for instance. They too were mere mortals like anyone of us. How then did they become great? Only by their powerful thoughts, powerful will! They all planned great things. Their plans were with them with their every breath. Their constant resolve was – 'I shall do this. I shall not stop before achieving this.' Thus, one day they finally achieved it and became great men, men who shaped this world. Therefore, let students think: “I shall read more and more. I shall study more and more. Whatever I read and study, I shall understand, remember and recall all of it. By developing this capability, I shall blossom out as a student of very high calibre.” These thoughts are so powerful that they will certainly activate the students to study...inspire the minds of the students...and exalt their entire personality. In other words, these simple thoughts will one day enable the students to bask in the soft blue limelight of success! .......................................................... Words are redundant to explain the efficacy of Prayer. Because, to one who prays, it is obvious!!

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