After Gurumayi told the story of the seven-year-old child wishing to “book darshan,” she gave another teaching about what this story illustrates.
Gurumayi said, “Ask, and you shall receive. We all know this. It is in every tradition. It is in the Hindu tradition, the Christian tradition, the Jewish tradition, the Muslim tradition. In every tradition, in every religion, the Truth is the same.”
When Gurumayi said this, it was like a light flicked on in my mind; this age-old wisdom became new again. I was generally familiar with the biblical passage from which this statement, “Ask, and you shall receive,” is derived. I had definitely come across this theme in the stories and scriptures I’d read about Lord Shiva. And I knew, from my studies and my conversations with others, that a similar sentiment is reflected in the texts of Islam and Judaism. But until Gurumayi spoke about it in satsang, I did not stop to appreciate the significance of this principle, this theme, occurring in all the major religious and spiritual traditions of the world.
What can we glean from the fact that no matter what tradition we choose to follow, our effort is considered vital? The Hebrew and Christian Bibles, the Qur’an, and countless scriptures of India all extol the benevolence of God. Yet they also make clear that the seeker must take that first step toward God. They must articulate what it is they wish for.
On the Siddha Yoga path, Gurumayi has taught extensively about the power of prayer—this profoundly sacred act of speaking to God, of supplicating God, of being in dialogue and communing with God. Prayer is a practice unto itself, one that fuses the intelligence of the mind with the innate knowing of the heart. A lot can go into making a prayer. It requires more than just prostrating before God and hoping that God will take care of the rest. It is also not about saying what we think is “right,” what sounds nice, or what we presume God wants to hear.
True prayer is a merging of our own soul with the supreme soul, the soul that is pulsing all around us. And to do this, we must first listen—to the footsteps of children, for example, or to the whistling wind against our windows. To the steady click of fingers on a computer keyboard and to the gurgling of soup on a heated stove. The pulse we are searching for is embedded in every sound—in the sounds we might consider mundane, and in those we take to be the very vibrations of divinity.
We still want to account for personal preference, though. Our bodies are unique. Our nervous systems have different sensitivities. Some sounds will be soothing to us, and others will grate on our nerves. I have found it useful—crucial, even—to learn what sounds I prefer and to limit my exposure to the noises I know will bother me. If we don’t know what our bodies like and don’t like, then how can we use these bodies to experience God? Conversely, if we do engage in this process with ourselves, if we learn what we prefer and what is good for us, then we allow ourselves this amazing possibility to touch the Divine.
Ultimately, there is only one sound that has emerged from the silence of this world, and it is this sound which reverberates in the wind and the waves and the drumbeat of our hearts. AUM, the primordial sound. When we listen for this sound, when we use our words to give voice to it, the prayers we make are imbued with its energy. They carry the power of AUM.
I do recognize that we might not always come from this place when we are praying. Sometimes we pray out of desperation, or fear, or even guilt. Sometimes we pray because we really want something. We do not need to get down on ourselves about this. Certainly we don’t need to compound whatever unease might have led us to pray in the first place with more guilt. As I wrote before, our prayers will still be answered. There’s a reason why Lord Shiva is called Varada, the giver of boons—why he is known as Shambhu, the bestower of happiness, and as Karunanidhi, the treasure-house of compassion.
What I understand, however, from Gurumayi’s teachings is that prayer can also be so much more. It can be more than the simple fulfillment of a desire. It can be a portal to the experience of God—and the words that then arise from that experience are in accord with God’s will. My mind goes to Gurumayi’s Message for 2026, and specifically its second line: “Observe! Uphold your dharma.” I find it so fascinating that observation is a precursor to upholding our dharma—that, to ascertain what our dharma is and to then fulfill it, a certain degree of awareness (of ourselves, of others, of our world) is first necessary.
Recently, I was swapping stories about prayer with a friend of mine in Shree Muktananda Ashram. We discovered that we have had similar experiences when coming before Bhagavan Nityananda to pray in his Temple. We will think really hard beforehand about what it is we want to ask for. We’ll find the perfect words to express our wishes. We might even memorize the words we want to say, so that when the time comes, we can bring them to mind easily. But then, when we arrive in Bade Baba’s presence—when we look upon his golden form and let his beneficent gaze fall upon us—the words that we had so carefully rehearsed just don’t emerge. Instead, other words arise, words that take us by surprise, but that perhaps more accurately convey what it is we are actually longing for.
This has happened to me often enough that I can’t help but laugh about it. At the same time, it makes me want to refine my approach to prayer. It makes me want to know myself better and to be honest with myself. I believe that in such honesty, in the truth that underlies the caprice of emotion and the occasional rigidity of our thinking, we gain access to that greater Truth which Gurumayi speaks of.
And when our prayers emerge from this space of Truth, there is no option but for them to manifest. “Ask, and you shall receive,” as the tenet goes. We are simply communicating what has to be. We are actualizing the possibility that has existed all this time, unformed in the ether until now. Not only that, what we are bringing into the world has staying power, and a benefit that reaches beyond ourselves. Yes, any desire can be fulfilled through prayer. But how long will we enjoy the satisfaction of that desire being met before the next and the next and the next desire take its place?
It has been my experience that a prayer made from the heart bears endless fruit. It lives on. It becomes a kind of talisman, magnifying auspiciousness for the person praying and for everyone whose lives are touched, directly and indirectly, by their prayer. I am reminded of this iconic quotation by the great saint Sai Baba of Shirdi, one that I’ve heard Gurumayi repeat many times: “I give people what they want in the hope that one day they will want what I have to give.”1
So now, I wish to ask you—Are you someone who finds it useful to pray and to offer your prayers? If so, then would you please share: How have you experienced the power of prayer in your life?
1 Cited in My Lord Loves a Pure Heart: The Yoga of Divine Virtues by Swami Chidvilasananda (S. Fallsburg, NY: SYDA Foundation, 1994), p. 70.
My prayers recently have been to live in alignment with God’s will and to understand and accept it.
In my relationship with others, it is sometimes difficult for me to give completely and freely, with no strings attached. This sometimes causes me disappointment. It is in these moments that I pray to accept the situation and understand God’s will. I pray, “What it is that God wants me to learn from my disappointment?”
Melbourne, Australia
I have always thought of prayer as something I “should” be doing on a regular basis. But I could never figure out how to formulate a prayer and articulate it in just the right way. So, I concluded that prayer just wasn’t my thing. Yet, when Gurumayi spoke about prayer in the Mahashivaratri satsang, it was, as Eesha said in this installment, “like a light flicked on in my mind.”
I realized that, throughout all these years, I actually have been praying, that my prayers have come from my heart, and that they have always been answered. Now I understand that the power of my prayers is not in the words I use, but in the intention behind them. Since the satsang and reading Eesha’s writings on this teaching, I have begun to recognize the prayers of my heart—and to actively listen to hear God’s answers to them.
I am profoundly grateful to Gurumayi for opening me up to this greater understanding and appreciation of prayer and of my own prayers.
California, United States
Last year, in a conversation about my feeling of helplessness in the face of world events, another Siddha Yogi reminded me of the power of prayer, and I in turn remembered Gurumayi’s teachings about the potency of heartfelt prayer.
Following this reminder, I invited my daughter to write a prayer with me for all those suffering in the world. After reading to each other some of Gurumayi’s teachings on prayer, we created a prayer from our hearts for those who are suffering in the world. I later wrote this prayer on a prayer stick and placed it on my puja altar; last December I took it to Gurudev Siddha Peeth to offer to a sacred flame there.
I have offered this prayer in my heart every day since we wrote it, and I no longer feel powerless in the face of the events unfolding on the world’s stage. I am so grateful to my friend for her reminder, and to Gurumayi for her guidance in every aspect of my life.
Christchurch, New Zealand
Many years ago, when I was just a teen, I was doing my homework for bible school. I was in my room, alone, and all of a sudden, I had the experience that I was one with everything. I saw that all people were like fingers on a hand—all connected within. I prayed to Christ to please send me a living teacher who could enlighten my experience more fully. Twenty-four years later, I met Gurumayi. I knew my prayer had been answered.
Wisconsin, United States
While traveling on vacation this week, I visited a beautiful cathedral.
A small chapel within it was set aside for personal prayer, and I felt inexplicably drawn to it. This chapel has been a special place of prayer for many centuries, and I sensed the deep sanctity of this tradition and the power it held.
Within moments of kneeling, I felt a divine inner presence, which seemed to silently voice my heart’s prayer. It was a prayer for peace, but expressed in a completely unexpected way. What stood out strongly to me was the feeling that accompanied this prayer—a deep sense of compassion and pure love.
This prayer connected me to my inner Self. Having read Eesha’s essay, I believe that this experience has given me a different understanding of prayer, and I feel deeply blessed.
Havant, United Kingdom
When we gather as a sangham in the Siddha Yoga Universal Hall for live stream satsangs, I imagine one heart, one voice, one prayer, Om radiating and pulsating, surrounding the world and all those in it with blessings and protection. This stills my mind and brings me hope.
Maine, United States
I am an elder, and I pray to Lord Shiva more often now. My prayer is to feel grateful for everything that has unfolded in my life.
I have noticed that my past does not weigh as heavily on me as it once did. There is a lightness within that helps me to honor myself, and to know that I am worthy of divine love.
Washington, United States
For more than forty years, I have experienced the power of prayer in my life as communion, solace, consolation, fulfillment, joy, conviction, clarity, and meaning.
The time to pray is signaled by an intention in my heart to move closer to God, to express and articulate the voice of my soul, and to abandon illusions that are costly and isolating.
I rise early to sit or kneel before God and, through devotion, return to and acknowledge where I come from, how my life is sustained, and where I will one day be absorbed back into. Prayer is the backbone of my life.
Prayer is also a space—a breathing space, as it were—to contemplate my life, reflect on its contents, and turn it over to God. The fruits of prayer in my life are stability, hope, and the means and impetus to change perception and drop bad habits. Ultimately, prayer establishes the grounds for divine contentment within me.
In my experience, the power of prayer—of keeping the company of the truth—is immense.
Arizona, United States
These last few weeks I have been praying for departed loved ones, asking for their souls to be held in love, that they may be at peace and that they may know how much they were cherished and appreciated.
And yet it is only when I go deeper, into the heart space where words fade, that I experience the incredible strength of prayer. In this space, I am the one holding the prayer and also the one being healed.
I strongly resonate with Eesha’s description about how the words in our minds can disappear in the presence of grace, only to be replaced with other words that are even more extraordinary. I find the qualities of courage, trust, listening, and patience to be invaluable in honoring this process.
I love another teaching in this “Meditation on Gurumayi’s Words”—that God is compassionate and accepts all our prayers. So, I can keep praying even when I am afraid or feeling need, understanding that it’s okay because my heart knows where I am really headed and that, eventually, I’ll find a congruence between all aspects of my being.
Warrnambool, Australia
“Meditation on Gurumayi’s Words” has opened my mind about prayer, which, until now, I had thought of as an irrelevant practice for me, since I do not desire things.
However, Eesha’s words about prayer as a practice that “fuses the intelligence of the mind with the innate knowing of the heart” have resonated within me. I now want to pray so that I may know myself better.
This month, I will be practicing praying. I will write down my prayers in my journal so I can revisit them in the future and see what has changed in my prayers.
Mumbai, India
When Eesha shared about her experiences of preparing to offer a prayer before Bade Baba, I was reminded of some of my own experiences in my early years on the Siddha Yoga path.
At times when I would experience agitation due to a circumstance in my personal life, I would write to Gurumayi. What happened was that—over and over again, without fail—the act of holding the Guru’s presence in my heart resulted in the dissolution of all my mental and emotional agitation. Truly, nothing short of a miracle!
So, every letter I wrote became one of gratitude to Gurumayi for all her love and compassion. I feel this gratitude so continuously today that it fuels my love for the Guru, the path, and my life.
California, United States
Since receiving shaktipat, I have been learning how to pray. In my learning process, I have prayed for blessings for everyone around me, even my enemies, and I have prayed to attain the state free from desires.
When desires arise, I am now able to perceive, behind them, the pure longings of my heart.
I have discovered the great wellspring of desires that resides within my system and remains lurking. And, fortunately, I also experience a great wellspring of the light of Consciousness and the Guru’s grace, which dispels ignorance. Therefore, my prayers always bring me beneficial answers and gradually dispel the darkness of my capricious desires.
Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz, Argentina
Some years ago, I was sitting alone in nature and quietly speaking aloud to God all the prayers in my heart. I went on speaking for quite a while—I had so many, many prayers, more than I had realized until I began speaking them aloud.
I had the distinct experience that, as I spoke, I was being heard. When I concluded my prayers and began walking back to rejoin my family, I experienced that God was everywhere, in everything—the trees all around me, the sky, the air, the flowers. It was then that I understood that, on a very literal level, God is always with me and always listening to my prayers—wherever I am. From then on, one of my names for God is “the Great Listener.”
California, United States
Forty years have passed since I expressed a “cry” of prayer. At the time, I was very young, and I felt poor, exhausted by life, and filled with despair.
I had traveled all the way from Japan to an ancient sacred site in India to work as a photographer’s assistant. As I shone a light on an ancient Buddha statue in the desert, my heart cried out in prayer. These words welled up from within me: “God, Universe, I can’t take it anymore. I can’t go on living. Either erase my soul’s existence forever or grant me enlightenment—just do one or the other!”
Shortly after that, I met Gurumayi.
I found out later that, at that very moment, Gurumayi was traveling through that area.
I feel that God hears every word of my prayers clearly.
Oita, Japan
It has been my experience while traveling on the Siddha Yoga path for forty-five years that my prayers—whether for the mundane or the spiritual—are answered immediately or in due course, when they arise from my heart, from my whole being.
When it comes to the articulation of my prayers, I do not follow any particular rule. However, at certain times, I formulate them in writing and place them on my puja altar.
Often, I feel I am sitting under a wish-fulfilling tree. I am grateful to Bade Baba, Baba, and Shri Gurumayi for my experience of their unfailing grace and blessings.
Udaipur, India
Earlier today, even before reading this incredible contemplative installment, I spontaneously made a prayer to Gurumayi to live a life of love. It was so sweet and childlike. And it felt so good and pure. Even as I voiced this prayer, I felt the amazing power to manifest it enveloping me.
I believe that thoughts to support my prayer will arise in my mind—and as I choose to follow them, my world will morph into this new reality.
My prayer to live a life of love was honest and came from my soul; I could feel that the time is right for me to let go of short-sighted ways of being that have sullied my life in myriad ways.
I am very grateful for this time of reflection with Eesha.
Washington, United States
I most definitely have experienced the power of prayer. The power of prayer led me to Gurumayi.
I was raised in the Catholic tradition and always said prayers. However, I distinctly remember the day, years ago, when I was out for a run, saying my prayers, and I looked up at the sky and said, “What is this life all about?”
During the year that followed, I reconnected with a special friend. It was at her home that I first saw a photograph of Gurumayi—an image that was so captivating to me, so familiar. I had to know more about her. And thus began my journey on the Siddha Yoga path, wherein, through the teachings of Gurumayi, the Truth began to unfold for me.
Through her grace, I understand that the phrases “Seek, and you shall find” and “Ask, and you shall receive” are not just sayings! My heart’s longing to know the Truth was a powerful prayer, and it was answered by finding Gurumayi.
Pennsylvania, United States
When I need guidance and support and I speak to God, I always feel a shift. In my experience, God is so close, so responsive, so loving. Often when I pray, I receive new insight, inner guidance, or a new way to perceive a situation.
For me, prayer is a most magical, glorious interaction with the Divine.
California, United States
When my mother’s health declined beyond my capacity to care for her, I prayed for the perfect place for her to live—a place where she would receive the best 24-hour-a-day care. I wrote a letter to Gurumayi and put it on my puja altar, and I prayed for a good outcome in this difficult situation.
Mom ended up in a nursing home four blocks from where I live, in a single room on the ground floor. Anyone who has been through this part of the health-care system knows how unusual it is to get such a perfect room. With Mom living so close, I was able to go every day, often twice a day, to keep a close eye on her quality of care and to make sure she knew she wasn’t abandoned by her family.
My mother’s quality of life was as good as anyone could hope for under the circumstances. She lived to the age of 105 with her daughter by her side right to the end.
West Vancouver, Canada
I especially love to pray when I am outdoors in nature. In nature, I so easily feel surrounded by the presence of God. Sometimes my husband and I make an outdoor fire, and we sit before it and offer prayers—for ourselves, our family, our friends, our community, the earth’s creatures, nature, and for the whole world. We take turns speaking our prayers aloud. I find this practice deeply fulfilling. I love the creativity I experience in articulating my prayers and the relief that comes from unburdening my heart by asking for God’s help and protection for everyone and everything in need of blessings and healing. I feel so close to God when I pray.
California, United States
Sometimes prayers arise on their own from my heart, fully formed and without any editing. These are the prayers that feel the most real to me. In those moments my heart overrides my mind completely and articulates what I am longing for before I can get in the way. I talk to God just as if he is standing right in front of me. I feel that Gurumayi’s grace is revealing to me what I really want in the deepest part of my being. It is so freeing and it fills me with gratitude. And whenever this happens, without fail, that prayer is answered.
New York, United States
Eesha asks, “How have you experienced the power of prayer in your life?” My first response is, “How have I not experienced the power of prayer in my life?” Every significant turning point in my life has been the result of a heartfelt prayer. The most significant turning point occurred just a few months before I encountered the Siddha Yoga path. I was at a painfully confused point in my life, and I remember praying distinctly for clarity and strength. Just a few months later I was invited to my first Siddha Yoga satsang. In the more than thirty-five years since that moment, I have never looked back. Yet I have also come to understand with increasing clarity (yes, that word again) that discernment and refinement of my prayers is what offers me the most beneficial and lasting of boons. So, I am grateful to Eesha for reminding me of the absolute truth of the words, “Ask, and you shall receive.”
Virginia, United States
I have been saying a prayer for peace multiple times daily since last summer. I had been feeling rather ineffectual in my efforts. Then, for the past week, the words, “Stop… Open… Receive…” have been arising spontaneously within me. Multiple times in the day, this has been reminding me to stop and to connect with my own heart, with Gurumayi, and with my Self. When I do this, I can feel a wave of expansion in my body, bringing me back to the experience of love, to my heart, to my Guru.
Doing this has been making my prayers feel more meaningful and sacred. I feel as though I am adding my voice to those of so many others across the world. When I read Eesha’s words about prayer, I realized that I had been truly receiving the fruits of my prayers in my own heart. I am recognizing now that the space of connecting to peace starts within me and then radiates outward.
New Mexico, United States
Prayer is an essential part of my sadhana. In Gurumayi’s talk “Food is God” on June 25, 2016, she invited us to pray for the world to be united and for everybody to feel nourished. I was in Shree Muktananda Ashram when Gurumayi gave that talk, and I was deeply moved and motivated by her words and continue to re-read this talk on the Siddha Yoga path website.
The day after hearing the talk, I formed a prayer, and I have repeated that prayer every day since then. When I finish my meditation practice, I open my eyes and look at the picture of Gurumayi on my wall, and I offer my prayer:
May there be peace, health, and harmony in our world.
May everyone, everywhere feel nourished, loved, and protected in mind, body, and spirit. Om Namah Shivaya.
I feel so much love and connection during and after making this prayer. I sense Gurumayi’s loving presence, along with my own connection to the light that shines in us all. Through the power of prayer, I also experience the wonder of darshan.
Llwynygroes, United Kingdom
My first experience of the power of prayer was as a child. I was left alone with four younger siblings and an emergency occurred without an adult nearby. I instinctively fell to my knees and prayed to God. I don’t recall what I said, but immediately a steady state of calm came over me, accompanied by a delicious sense of support and assurance that all would be well. And it was. I was able to take care of the situation without it escalating. I realize now, from reading Eesha’s words, that I must have voiced what had to happen. I asked, and I received!
Maine, United States
My three-month-old nephew was born with a heart issue and was going to have heart surgery for the second time in his short life. After reciting Shri Guru Gita and meditating, as I do most mornings, I felt this deep prayer emerge in my heart asking God for my nephew to make it through this operation. About an hour later, I went to pick up my medications from the store. On the way back, I was driving on a fairly busy road, when I looked up and saw this enormous rainbow in the sky. As I watched, the clouds parted and the rainbow seemed to become more brilliant and defined. In that moment, I knew that God was answering my prayer. I pulled my car to the side of the road and took a picture. I was so overwhelmed with love and awe that God was talking to me. When I got home, I texted the rainbow picture to my family to reassure them not to worry and that everything would be okay. As I looked at the image, I saw the distinct presence of God in it. Inwardly, I thanked God.
New York, United States
When I am praying from the deepest part of my being, I feel as though my heart and God’s ear become one. I feel a soothing calmness that extends to my entire being.
New York, United States
I am so grateful to Gurumayi for teaching me early on in my sadhana about the power of prayer and how to pray.
When I was recently in Gurudev Siddha Peeth, I made it an early morning ritual to bring a prayer stick to the morning svadhyaya and after this practice, to sit quietly and allow a prayer to arise. I then wrote it on the prayer stick and offered it to the sacred fire.
Two prayers that arose a number of times were for the Siddha Yoga Vision Statement to be fulfilled, and for world leaders to experience their heart energy, to experience compassion so that they make their decisions from this place.
Now that I am back in my home city, I have found that following my daily practice of “booking darshan” has led to a powerful experience of prayer. It’s a feeling of a gentle and loving energy flowing out from my heart for the well-being of all beings and our beautiful Earth.
Canterbury, Australia
The power of prayer plays a very significant role in my life. Every morning after waking up, I pray to Gurumayi with gratitude for granting me peaceful sleep. I pray that her grace may guide me throughout the day to do all my duties and responsibilities not as work but as guruseva.
Mantra repetition is a very powerful tool that also helps me to pray to Gurumayi. The mantra helps me to be alert at all levels—mental, physical, and psychological—to what I should be doing and what I should not be doing. Whenever I am in a “Catch-22” situation or other dilemma, prayer to Gurumayi comes to my rescue, bringing me guidance and help. For me, Gurumayi is always in my heart, so praying to her is easy.
As the day ends, it’s time to thank Gurumayi for listening to my prayers and guiding me to do good deeds. Closing my eyes, I repeat the mantra and drift into the inner world.
That’s how prayers have been helping me in my sadhana, and my professional and personal life.
Lucknow, India
Prayer is what allows me to connect with my purpose, with my reason for being here, and with the highest vibration available in this world to move through it. Prayer is my gift from Gurumayi, my way of giving thanks, my way of loving God back.
New York, United States
I feel that the things I ask for from the heart—not from the mind or the ego—come to pass. Sometimes I’ll say a vague or very general prayer, and I feel I should reflect in my heart on what I truly want and formulate a more specific prayer. At other times, the “perfect” prayer appears in my mind.
When I’m connected to my heart, I feel that the shakti guides me in my prayers.
Barcelona, Spain
When I got to the paragraph that began talking about the power of prayer, I thought, “Yes!”—because prayer and its place in my sadhana have been front and center in my mind this whole year.
Very recently, I also had the experience of a prayer coming out in a way I hadn’t planned, just as Eesha described. I was in the Temple in Shree Muktananda Ashram standing before Bade Baba. When I got to the end of my prayer, the next thing I asked Bade Baba was “Please let me surrender.” It wasn’t anything close to what I thought I’d wanted—but it was exactly what I needed, and now I keep coming back to those words.
Wisconsin, United States
What a beautiful reminder: “Ask, and you shall receive.” This has been something I have experienced my whole life; especially when I am feeling longing for the Guru, I receive exactly what I need.
This is also something I’ve understood over the years: what we ask for may not be exactly what we get, but the Guru does answer all my prayers and I have always received exactly what I need (whether or not I know what that is at the time). This installment is also a beautiful reminder that Gurumayi is always with us, and ties in so beautifully with the story in “Booking Darshan.” The gentle reminder that Gurumayi hears the prayers of our hearts is such a wonderful way to renew the practice of daily prayer.
Michigan, United States
I remember hearing Gurumayi speak about the value of intention and, specifically, of offering the blessings of our practices before we engage in them, and also about how we naturally become a recipient of grace when we do so. I feel that bringing this intentionality to offering blessings fuels my efforts with greater vigor, clarity, and light.
When coming before the Guru or Bade Baba’s murti for darshan, I always have so many things I feel I wish to ask for. Yet inevitably, each time I come before the Guru, my eyes well up with tears, and all I can say is “Thank you for the priceless grace of being on this path.”
