Prayer - Mahatma Gandhi

Prayer
14. THE OBJECT OF PRAYER
(From "Weekly Letter" by Pyarelal)
The object of prayer is not to please God, who does not want our prayers or
praise, but to purify ourselves. The process of self-purification consists in a
conscious realization of His presence within us. There is no strength greater
than that which such realization gives. Presence of God has to be felt in every
walk of life." If you think that as soon as you leave the prayer ground you can
live and behave anyhow; your attendance of the prayer is useless.
Harijan, 26-5-'46, p. 156
(From a prayer speech : Jan. 4, 1946)
Prayer ought to result in self-purification and it ought to transmute our entire
conduct. If anybody thinks that it gives him licence to do as he likes during the
rest of the day, he deceives himself and others. That is a travesty of the true
meaning of prayer.
Food for the Soul, (1957), p. 80 fn.
(From a prayer speech : Nov. 30, 1944)
Prayer does for the purification of the mind what the bucket and the broom do
for the cleaning up of our physical surroundings. No matter whether the prayer
we recite is the Hindu prayer or the Muslim or the Parsi, its function is
essentially the same, namely, purification of the heart.
Food for the Soul, (1957), p. 80
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