Talk:Making Vandana Meaningful and Effective
By Vishal Agarwal
How we say our praises and how we communicate to Bhagavān are equally important to what we say to Him. The following story narrates that saying it with love and sincerity is as important as the prayer itself. A Bhakta’s prayer is not very effective if it lacks love. A modern scholar explains-
“In deep prayer, you forget everything. You forget your body, mind, and personality. You lose yourself. Deep prayer always comes from the heart, not from the head. Flowery words and lengthy prayers are not important. Prayer must come from the heart. Even if it is a meaningless word, God understands our innermost prayer. How does a baby communicate with its mother? By a sound that no one else can understand. Only the mother understands it. In the same way, God understands our sincere, deep prayer, even when we express it in a meaningless word. Always develop the heart. Wherever you go, whatever you do, let your heart be there. The sacred heart is secret. You need not expose it or show it to others. Just let God know. Let it be a secret communication. Just allow the heart to melt, It is the best way to get God’s light.”
Story: Krishna Hears Kurur Amma but Ignores Bilvamangal’s Prayer
In the 16th-17th century, in the town of Guruvayoor in Kerala (India) lived two devotees of Krishna – an elderly lady named Kurur Amma and a poet named Bilvamangal. The people of the town believed that Krishna often appeared in front of these two Bhaktas in the form of a child to play with them. One day, a friend of the two devotees came to visit Bilvamangal and requested, “Dear friend, I have a terrible stomach ache that refuses to go. Can you inform your friend Krishna about it?” Bilvamangal agreed.
The next day, when Krishna appeared before Bilvamangal, he said, “Krishna, my friend asked me to inform you that he is suffering from a bad stomach ache.” Krishna replied, “Well, this is because of some bad Karm that he did in a previous life. He must reap the fruit of that now.” Bilvamangal conveyed Krishna’s message to his suffering friend the following day. Disappointed, the man now went to Kurur Amma and begged her to ask Krishna to remove his stomach ache.
When Krishna came to play with Kurur Amma, she pleaded with him lovingly, “Dear Krishna, a friend came to me with a very bad stomach ache. He is suffering a lot. You are very kind and merciful. Please do this favor on me and remove his pain.” Krishna replied, “As you wish. His pain will go away.” The gentleman’s stomach ache indeed disappeared. When he met Bilvamangal a few days later, he told the poet how his stomach ache went away after Kurur Amma had requested Krishna. This made Bilvamangal very angry. When Krishna came to visit him the next time, Bilvamangal complained, “You are being partial. When I told you about my friend’s stomach ache, you said that he was suffering due to his bad Karm. But when Kurur Amma spoke to you, you responded to her request favorably, and my friend got healed.”
Krishna replied, “Instead of being happy that your friend’s pain is gone, you are upset that I answered Kurur Amma’s loving request and that your friend was healed because of her and not you. I am not partial to anyone. I respond to the prayers of my Bhaktas after determining whether they have said it with feeling and love or not. You just conveyed your friend’s request to me as if you were doing a favor to him. But Kurur Amma requested me with love and sincerity, and therefore, I fulfilled her wish.”
Vandana becomes meaningless if done without feeling, love, sincerity, and focus or if done mechanically or to make a show to others. The following story illustrates this principle-
Story - Guru Nanak Teaches That We Should Perform Our Prayers Sincerely
Guru Nanak once passed by a group of Muslims in Sultanpur (in district Kapurthala, Punjab, India) performing Namāz- the traditional way of Islamic worship that all believing Muslims are supposed to do five times every day. Guru Nanak commented that the true five prayers are speaking the truth, earning one’s bread by hard labor, asking God for the good of everyone, keeping one’s intentions and feelings pure, and, fifth, chanting the praises of God.
The Muslim worshippers got very offended and thought that Guru Nanak was insulting their religion by suggesting that the Islamic way of offering the five prayers was not correct. Sultan Daulat Khan, who ruled the region of Sultanpur, said to Nanak, “You say that there is no difference between Hindus and Muslims. So why don’t you join us in our prayers in the mosque?” Guru Nanak agreed.
As the Muslim priest started calling out the Islamic prayer, the Muslim worshippers started their gestures required by their tradition. But Guru Nanak just stood still in his place, and he burst out aloud into laughter twice! The priest was further enraged and urged the Sultan to order a severe punishment of Nanak for insulting Islam. When Nawab Daulat Khan asked Nanak for the cause of his laughter, the latter replied, “How could I join in the prayers when the priest himself was not praying? He was merely uttering words from the Koran without any sincerity because, in his mind, he was worried that the new calf that he had purchased recently might fall into the well in his home while he was here, leading the prayers. And you, Sultan, were not saying your prayers wholeheartedly either. Instead, you were thinking all the time about whether your agents in Kabul had clinched the deal for buying horses or not.”
Everyone was shocked when the cleric, as well as the Sultan, confessed that they were indeed not praying wholeheartedly and that what Guru Nanak had said about them was correct. The Sultan fell at the feet of Guru Nanak and asked for forgiveness. Guru Nanak forgave him and advised him to be a just ruler who always worked for the welfare of his people.