VEDIC PRAYER

Transliteration By Dr. Sudhir Anand

We Must Get Rid of Our Vices to Become True Devotees of God

Na pāpāso manāmahe naarāyāso na jalahawah.

Yad it nu indram vrshṇam sachā sute sakhāyam krṇvāmahai. (Rig Veda 8: 61: 11)

*Na päpäso manämahay* We cannot become true devotees of God, if we perform sinful deeds,	na aräyäso if we are miserly and do not share wealth with others			na jalahawah. and if we are selfish and of no service to our fellow beings.

*Yad* *it nu* Therefore, with certainty	*sakhäyam* to become true friend of	*Indram* God Who is Master of all wealth, and Universal Benefactor,			*vrshnam* and showers us with prosperity
*sachä* *sutay* we must first do good deeds in life, become generous,			*krnvämahai*. Thus we all become deserving.

We cannot become true devotees of God without correct knowledge of God, soul and how we should live virtuously. Similarly, we cannot become true devotees of God if we perform wrong or sinful deeds in thought, words or actions that are against the teachings of the Vedas and our rishis. To become true devotees of God we have to knowingly and consciously make God our constant Companion and Friend. We can do this only if we start incorporating some of God's attributes in our lives to the extent possible, such as following truth, becoming generous, being kind and just when dealing with others in our thoughts, words and our deeds.

The current state of most so called believers, devotees and worshippers of God is that most of them believe by merely going through the ritual of worship they can consider and claim themselves to be true devotees and lovers of God. The ritual usually consists of going to a designated holy place such as a temple (in other religions a church, synagogue or a mosque) where the devotee with folded hands bows before a moorti (icon) or an image such as a picture; lights a lamp; offers water, milk, sweets and/or flowers; says a couple of mantras or other sayings from holy books; sings a bhajan (song); or circles the temple building. As soon as the devotee leaves the temple he/she starts to believe that I have done my religious duty for the day, I have worshipped and pleased God (as if God is an unhappy person; in the Vedas God is called Poornam i.e. Perfection and Akāmo i.e. without personal desires), and now I am free to live as I want. Whether the worksite be a shop, factory, office, school or the court, irrespective of the place of work the same 'devotee' feels no hesitancy in cheating, lying, deception, fraud, taking or giving bribes, or injustice. Many so called devotees kill animals and birds for eating and despite their cruelty believe God should be kind to them. There are persons who use intoxicating agents such as bhang (marijuana), cocaine, heroin, alcohol and other agents and consider themselves true devotees of God. There are exploiters of the poor, robbers, rapists, killers and doers of other heinous deeds and still consider themselves to be devotees of God because they went to the temple to do a worship ritual, attended a prayer service or gave a small donation. What a strange hypocrisy and deceptive joke such doers of sinful or evil deeds are deluding themselves with despite their characteristics being so vile and their actions so despicable, yet they consider themselves dhārmic (followers of dharma i.e. religious), true believers and devotees of God?

This mantra states that human beings who are totally self-centered or selfish, performing wrong deeds to gain wealth and prosperity as well as persons who perform sinful or evil deeds can never be true devotees of God. Such persons cannot acquire gifts which God gives us such as wisdom, inner peace, fulfillment, joy, liberation, strength and will power. God does not consider us worthy of these gifts just because we performed the rituals of prayer and worship for a few minutes during the day but rest of the day we lived a non-virtuous or sinful life. To receive showers of God's blessings one has to constantly live a virtuous life from the moment one rises in the morning and until one goes to bed at night. One has to always remember and follow God's teachings as well as perform virtuous deeds. We should all perform our deeds based on what God has instructed us through the Vedas and rishis (sages) have guided us through related scriptures such as Upanishads and Darshanas. A person who does deeds because they are convenient or expedient but are otherwise non-virtuous and/or wrong cannot become a friend or companion of God. On the other hand those persons who follow God's commands, irrespective of what happens in the society at large, find God as their Constant Companion and enjoy God's friendship in life.

Those persons who are ignorant of their spiritual nature and whose mind, intellect and the soul are totally focused on selfishness, lying, deception, laziness, cruelty and/or exploitation of others as means to fulfill their personal ambition will never attain true spiritual peace, bliss, fearlessness or bravery. Dear God as we have grown and matured we have finally realized that to become Your true friend we must follow a path of virtue guided by You, become generous and give selfless service or donations to the others especially the needy. Therefore, it is our humble prayer to you, dear God please inspire and guide us to follow Your path and obtain Your blessings.

Dear God, we make a commitment that from now on we will follow Your teachings as directed in the Vedas and related scriptures. Every day we will wake up early in the morning and start the day by thanking You for giving us a new day and a new opportunity to get closer to You and make You our conscious Companion and Friend. We will exercise every morning to make our body healthy and strong and then bathe to clean our outside. Thereafter, we will sit down with a calm mind, free from external distractions, to pray and meditate on Your attributes to clean our inside i.e. our mind and soul. We will make effort to acquire some of Your attributes in our lives to the extent possible, such as following truth, becoming generous, being kind and just when dealing with others in our thoughts, words and our actions. We will do daily yajna (havan, agnihotra) i.e. fire ceremony to purify ambient environment and honor noble persons, followed by swādhyāya by studying Vedas and Vedic scriptures as well as do introspection whether or not we are progressing and uplifting our personal lives or are we going backwards in our life journey. We will donate our time and money selflessly for just causes and the uplift of others. Also, at a personal level we will live simply, eat healthy foods, wear simple clothes and not be show offs. We will refrain from lying, deception, demeaning others and other wrong or sinful behaviors when interacting with others. Moreover, we will not be satisfied by our progress only, but with our body, mind and wealth help selflessly our friends, neighbors and others in the society for their welfare and prosperity.

Dear God You are called Indra in the Vedas because You are the Ultimate Master of all wealth and prosperity, as well as You are the Universal Benefactor. Please bless us with such spiritual and mental wisdom and strength so that at all times we experience peace, courage, fearlessness, bravery and bliss. Dear God, with this hope and desire we have come for Your shelter.

(This mantra has been reprinted with minor modifications from Acharya Gyaneshwar Arya Ji's book Ved Prarthana in Hindi and its English Translation by Sudhir Anand. The English Translation was published in August 2012 by Vaanprashtha Saadhak Aashram.)