“To pray is to pay attention to something or someone other than oneself. Whenever a man so concentrates his attention -- on a landscape, a poem, a geometrical problem, an idol, or the True God -- that he completely forgets his own ego and desires, he is praying.”

-W. H. Auden

 

The Moghul Emperor,Akbar,was one day out hunting in the forest.

When it was time for the evening prayer he dismounted,spread his mat on the earth and knelt to pray in the manner of devout Muslims everywhere.

Now,it was precisely at this time that a peasant woman,perturbed by the disappearance of her husband who had left home that morning and hadn’t returned,went rushing by,anxiously searching for her husband.In her preoccupation she did not notice the kneeling figure of the Emperor and tripped over him,then got up and without a word of apology rushed further into the forest.

Akbar was annoyed at this interruption but being a good Muslim,he observed the rule of speaking to no one during the namaaz.

Now just about the time that his prayer was over the woman returned, joyful in the company of her husband whom she had found.She was surprised and frightened to see the Emperor and his entourage there. Akbar gave vent to his anger against her and shouted,“Explain your disrespectful behaviour or you will be punished.”

The woman suddenly turned fearless,looked into the Emperor’s eyes and said,“Your Majesty,I was so absorbed in the thought of my husband that I did not even see you here,not even when,as you say I stumbled over you. Now while you were at namaaz,you were absorbed in One who is infinitely more precious than my husband.And how is it that you noticed me?”

The Emperor was shamed into silence and later confided to his friends that a peasant woman,who was neither a scholar,nor a Mullah,has taught him the meaning of prayer.

~Anthony de Mello

“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. ”
― John Bunyan

P.S:

Judgment is like veil of  fog over reality…

So very often reality is very different from what we choose to perceive it as.

What if,we could let go of all judgment of ourselves/others/ everything?

What if,our connection to the Divine were to be on-going one…not just a few minutes each day ?

What if,I choose to make my life…. my prayer??????

Namaste,

Bhagya