Prayer - Mahatma Gandhi

Prayer
02. PRAYER IS NECESSARY FOR ALL
(From a Letter)
In my opinion all selfless service leads to self-purification. Economic and moral
development should go hand in hand. Atma is that which animates the body.
Realization comes through purification. Prayer is necessary for all, if food is.
Mahadevbhaini Diary, Vol. 2 (Gujarati Edn., 1949), p. 114
(From "Discourses on the Gita")
Man's need for prayer is as great as his need for bread. A bad man will use his
ears to hear evil of others and see sinful things, but the good man says that,
had he a thousand eyes and ears, he would use them to contemplate the vision
of God for ever and to hear devotional songs, and employ his five thousand
tongues to sing His praises. It is only after I have prayed here every day that I
feel the bliss of having tasted the amrita of knowledge. For that man who
wishes to be a real human being, dal and roti are not his food. They count little
to him. His real food is prayer.
The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi—XXXII, (1969), p. 219-20
(From a Letter)
There can be no manner of doubt that this universe of sentient beings is
governed by a Law. If you can think of Law without its Giver, I would say that
the Law is the Law-giver, that is God. When we pray to the Law we simply
yearn after knowing the Law and obeying it. We become what we yearn after.
Hence the necessity for prayer.
The Diary of Mqhadev Desai, Vol. I, (1953), p. 222
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