Prayer is the song of the soul,
the pleading of the heart,
the sobbing of our very depths.
It may stem from ecstacies of joy,
or agonies of sorrow.
It is an attempt to verbalize that which no words can encompass,
to express the inexpressible.
It is our means of communication with God.
All religions share some basic
tenents. The most basic, of course, is a
belief in the divine force. And close behind,
is a need to communicate with that force - the need to pray.
Prayer takes an incredibly wide
variety of forms. Some might consider certain
types of art, music and dance to be prayer. The
more customary forms range from the ritual of the Catholic mass to the silent Quaker
meditation, from the perpetual prayer vigils of Buddhist monks to the unbidden "God
forgive me," of any believer repenting for one of the numerous mistakes we catch
ourselves making.
Whether spontaneous outbursts, or long
rituals, all prayers express that need of our innermost beings to communicate with the
Creative force who gave us our beings and continues to nurture us.
Barbara Greene & Victore Gollancz
collected a number of wonderful prayers in their book GOD OF A
HUNDRED NAMES: Prayers & meditations from many
faiths & cultures (Gollancz Paperbacks, London, 1985. First published 1962.) Greene's foreward begins:
"Prayer is a road to
spiritual knowledge. The nations refuse to
share their scientific knowledge, and are being brought by their intransigence to the very
brink of international disaster. One hope
remains: namely that more and more groups may seek to find a basis for unity in the spiritual
dimension."
Our world has dramatically changed in
the almost 40 years since those words were written. Nations
have begun to work together in many areas, and with the disintegration of the iron curtain
even more cooperation can be expected. And
the need for spiritual unity has only increased with this changing political climate.
With this in mind, let us begin with
the prayer of a Chinese student:
"O Lord, convert the world - and
begin with me."
Our prayer expresses who God is to us. In that role it is a most important practice in
one's spiritual growth. As humans, we have
difficulty relating to something we cannot express in words. Thus, even if our groping towards an understanding
of God we use allegory in the expression of who that being is, it is critical to us to put
that allegory into words.
Here are some examples of those
efforts, many drawn from Greene and Gollancz's book:
"Even if I have gone astray, I am
thy child, O God; thou art my father and mother." - Arjun - died 1606 - Sikh
"Praise be to Thee, Lord of the
Universe.
Master of the Day of Judgement.
Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
You
alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help."
- from the Al-Fateha or Key of the Muslim prayer
"Oh Eternal Ruler, Lord of all,
set in my heart the fear of thy Godhead: grant me what thou deemest best: for thou it is
that has created my life." - Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon (7th-6th century
B.C.)
"Thou, my God, who art Love, art
Love that loveth, and Love that is loveable, and Love that is the bond between these
twain." - Nicolas of Cusa - 1400's
"O God, seek me out of Thy Mercy
that I may come to Thee; and draw me on with thy Grace that I may turn to Thee.
O God, I shall never lose all hope of Thee even though I disobey
Thee; and I shall never cease to fear Thee even though I obey Thee.
O God, the very worlds have themselves driven me unto Thee, and
my knowledge of Thy Bounty has brought me to stand before Thee.
O God, how shall I be disappointed seeing that Thou art my hope;
or how shall I be despised seeing that in Thee is my trust?
O Thou who art veiled in the shrouds of Thy Glory, so that no eye
can perceive Thee! O Thou Who shinest forth in the perfection of Thy splendor, so that our
hearts have realized Thy Majesty! How shalt
Thou be hidden, seeing that Thou art ever Manifest: or how shalt Thou be absent, seeing
that Thou art ever Present, and watchest over us?" - Ibn'Ata'Allah - died 1309 -
Sufi
Actually, the very act of praying helps
us understand who God is for us. It
presupposes that there is One who hears our prayer, One who can and does respond to it.
Probably all of us have our own
personal 'conversations' with God, asking His help, thanking Him, expressing our love for
Him.
Many religions also have another form
of prayer - one that takes a specific form and is repeated in the same way each time. It has been hypothesized that such prayers meet a
human need for ritual.
This may well be so, but there are
indications that for at least some of these forms, there is a deeper meaning. In the 11th century Rabbi Judah the Pious and his
followers came to understand these prayers in another light. Joseph Dan writes that (see STUDIES IN
JEWISH MYSTICISM; Assn. for Jewish Studies, Cambridge, MA. Joseph Dan & Frank Talmage, editors, 1982,
pages 91-2):
"(they) evolved a mystical theory,
according to which the words and letters of the various prayers are not accidental nor are
they only vehicles for their literal meaning. Their
order, and especially their numbers, reflect a mystical harmony, a sacred divine
rhythm....
(As such) no change can be tolerated in the text of the prayers,
not even a minute one, because every change - even of one letter -would destroy the
numerical harmony inherent in the text .... The liturgy received new importance and new
meaning within the framework of religious practice. A
completely new dimension was added in this way to the daily prayer service; it stopped
being just a reciting of requests and praises ofGod in ancient formulas, and became a
vehicle for becoming a participant in a mystical, divine harmony. The prayers suddenly received a new depth of
meaning and importance, which was undreamed of... "
Rabbi Judah recognized in this
numerical harmony a bridge between man and God, a connection which mere words can not
achieve. Thus prayer can be far more than
just a verbal communication. It can allow an
actual contact with God.
Significantly, the name of the ritual
Muslim prayer is Salat. The word 'Salat' means 'contact', i.e.,
denoting contact with your Creator. And even
more significantly, it also is interwoven with a numerical harmony, in exactly the same
manner reported by Rabbi Judah. In both
cases, this numerical harmony or pattern is based on the number 19. It involves the words, the verses, the numbers of
repetitions of the prayers, the names of God used in them and many, many other parameters.
As an example, the number of units of
the 5 prayers that a Muslim prays each day is 2,4,4,3,4.
When these numbers are put together, side by side they form 24434 or 19
times 1286. The number of times that his or
her lips come together in the main body (i.e., the scriptural recitation) of each of these
units of prayer is 19.
The scriptural recitation in each unit
is known as the 'Key' or Al-Fateha (see the
partial quote of it, above). Its opening
phrase also opens the chapters of the Muslim scripture, the Quran. And it occurs in the Quran 114 times (19 x 6). Also, each word in it occurs through out the Quran
in multiples of 19.
Likewise, Rabbi Judah found analogous
patterns in the Torah... enough to write 8 large volumes on the subject!
What does all of this mean? In an article on the subject, Dr. Rashad Khalifa,
discoverer of the 19 coding in the Quran, offers this:
"Now we appreciate the fact that
when we recite Sura 1, "The Key," during our Contact Prayers, something happens
in the universe, and we establish contact with our Creator.
The result is perfect happiness, now and forever. By contacting our Almighty Creator 5 times a day,
we nourish and develop our souls in preparation for the Big Day when we meet God. Only those who nourish their souls will be able
to withstand and enjoy the physical presence of Almighty God.
-Lisa Spray
FURTHER READING:
God of a Hundred Names. Edited by B. Green & V. Goilancz.
Studies in
Jewish Mysticism. Edited by J. Dan
& F. Talmage.
Beyond Probability. God's
Message in Mathematics, by Abdullah Arik.
