Re: Loving God - Two ways
namaste Believer.
I understand and appreciate your point as regards the purpose and manner of prayer. Since you talked in the OP that people asking favours from a deity in their prayers are like having the relationship of a beggar, I had to point out that it is one--perhaps the most common--method of prayer which is also recognized in our Hindu texts. I don't mind discussing what I could in detail vis-a-vis what you provide, so there is no disrespect involved--so long as we can express ourselves civilly.
• Your point of the SudhAma-KRShNa episode is well taken, but in Hindu Dharma, there is no single set of directives that must suit everyone at different levels.
The origin of seeking favours from the deities using words such as dehi--(please) give me, is in the Vedas:
• tejosi tejo mayi dehi vIryamasi vIryam mayi dehi |
balamasi balam mayi dehi ojosi ojo mayi dehi ||
--shukla yajur veda saMhitA 19.9
"You are brilliant, give me that brilliance; you are powerful, give me that power!
You are strong, give me that strength; and you are vitality, give me that vitality!"
• When the taittirIya saMhitA of the KRShNa-yajur-veda originated, RShi YAjnavalkya was a disillusioned pupil of his guru VaishampAyana, so he did tapas towards SUryadeva--sun god, asking the god to be his guru. Pleased by his penance, SUryadeva descended in the form of a horse and revealed a new form of Veda which became the Shukla-yajur-veda. SUrya directed YAjnavalkya to pray to Goddess SarasvatI to improve his memory of the Veda. In his sarasvatI stuti, YAjnavalkya prays thus, among seeking other things:
jnAnam dehi smRutam dehi vidyAm vidyAdhidevate |
pratiShThAm kavitAm dehi shaktim siShya prabhodinIm ||
"I beseech you DevI to grant me jnAnam--spiritual knowledge, smRuti--memory, vidyA--worldly knowledge, praTiShTA--distinction, kavitA-shakti--power to compose poetry, capacity to convince pupils and capability to produce excellent writings of granthas--books. Side by side, provide me competent shiShyas--disciples.
• Among the concluding lines of the famous Adiya-hRudayam stotra, taught to shrI RAma by Agastya maharShi, are these lines (VAlmIki rAmAyaNam, yuddha kANDam 107):
bhAno bhAskara mArthANDa chanda rasmai divAkara |
Ayur Arogyam aishvaryam vidyAm dehi namostute ||
He who breaks the morn,
He who berings light to the world,
He who brings heat tio the world,
He who has scorching rays,
And he who is the maker of the day,
Give me long life,
Health, intelligence and wealth.
From the upaniShads (which form the jnAna-kANDam of the Vedas):
• aum namo bhagavatyannapUrNe mamabhilAShitam annam dehi svAha
"Salutation, O divine Annapurna, vouchsafe the food I desire".
--annapUrNa upaniShad
• na duHkhena vinA saukhyaM dR^ishyate sarvadehinAm |
duHkhaM tanmAtrakaM j~neyaM sukhamAnantyam-uttamam || 7.118 ||
"Without sorrow/pain, no welfare is seen, so give me everything!
For, sorrow is merely that, while supreme happiness could be understood to be infinite."
• I-20: O Jatavedas, shine brilliantly in order to destroy the sins connected with me. Confer on me enjoyments of various kinds including cattle. Give me sustenance and longevity and appoint a suitable dwelling for me in any direction."
--mahAnArAyaNa upaniShad
The mahAnArAyaNa upaniShad puts the advaitic unity of Brahman as everything on the one hand and the dvaitic diversity it manifests as the other, in the proper perspecive when it says it its very opening lines:
"Hari Om ! May Mitra, Varuna, Aryaman, Indra, Brihaspati
And all-pervading Vishnu be propitious to us
And grant us welfare and bliss.
I bow down to Brahman in reverence."
When God is the all-giver (although he resides within everything he has manifested himself as), it is in order, IMO, that we as seekers of truth at various levels, ask for our interim and ultimate needs in our prayers to him.
रत्नाकरधौतपदां हिमालयकिरीटिनीम् ।
ब्रह्मराजर्षिररत्नाढ्यां वन्दे भारतमातरम् ॥
To her whose feet are washed by the ocean, who wears the Himalayas as her crown, and is adorned with the gems of rishis and kings, to Mother India, do I bow down in respect.
--viShNu purANam
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