Why do Gods Pray?

Why does avatAra show human emotions like anger, grief, faith, surrender or pray to somebody or meditate on sombody?

Some may have a doubt as to why avatArs like RAma, kRSNa or even Gods like trimUrtis (brahma, viShNu and mahesha) show emotions. They are also seen praying to somebody or meditating on someone or something.

The question arises, if they are Gods, who by definition is perfect, complete and eternal, then why does a God need to pray or meditate or show any human emotion like anger, grief, etc. Afterall emotions arise from ego and attachment. The very Gods teach us of detachment then why do they show the same weakness that we pray to God to remove from us?

There are many reasons for this behaviour. Our shAstra-s teach us dharma, artha, kAma and moksha. They also teach us various other arts and disciplines. In general, each incident has it’s own teaching and it’s own ‘moral of the story’. There is a way to interpret and understand any incident. Any incident has to be understood by either ‘vidhi’ (positive) or ‘nishedha’ (negative) says Puri SankarAchArya SrI nishchalAnanda sarasvatI ji. Either by positive learning or negaive learning it should be understood. So either you emaluate or you do not i.e. not to repeat the mistake or do evil karma.

Let us first consider the case of avatars like bhagavAna rAma. We have seen him Praying to sUryadeva, the Sun God. When rAma was tired of fighting rAvaNa, he saw rAvaNa full of vigour ready of next session of face-to-face fight. In the midst of fierce battle, losing hope and confidence and so losing inner strength to fight rAvaNa. In this state of mind, rAma was taught the famous Adityahridayam by Rishi agastya. 

Lord rAma, who though being supreme brahman himself, has, by his own wish, endowned himself with mAyA and restricted himself to act within human limits, as he is maryAdA puruSottama, and engages himself in some deep thoughts. He cannot vanquish rAvaNa acting as All powerful invincible God, as rAmA must respect the boon given by Lord brahmA jI that rAvaNa cannot be killed by anyone except humans including Gods except humans. He didn’t cared to include protection from Humans in the boon as he considered them as weak.

rAma had to behave in a human way and show emotions of tiredness, dejection, loss of faith and confidence. Then his guru shows him the path to remove negative emotions like tiredness, dejection, loss of faith, etc and replace them and reinstate energy, strength, confidence and faith. Finally rAma manages to kill rAvaNa and so the victory of dharma is established. 

We all pass through these emotions in some phase of our life. Even a spiritual person who is walking on the path of moksha also experiences such emotions when his / her sAdhanA does not seem to bear fruit or one may feel s/he is stuck up in a mental frame and not able to progress. Slowly enthusiasm decreases and so does faith in God. At such a time, guru approaches such sAdhaka and offer advice similar to what rishi agasthya did to his disciple rAma and our spiritual progress resumes again. If we continue to walk on this path, one day surely we will also become jivan mukta.

So, such incidents are pointers which have to be understood correctly. 

Now let us understand why any avatAra like SrI rAma prays. The doubt here is why Ishvara who is perfect, complete and above guNa-s need to pray and to whom does Ishvara pray? Are there many Ishvara-s? Can there be many Gods? How is it possible?

The answer to this is, in sanAtana dharma, there is only one supreme Godhead. Hinduism, if it can be roughly classified, is Henotheistic. The supreme Godhead, which is formless, when acts for creation, preservation and destruction, takes the help of mAyA. Ishvara, which is ‘it’ not ‘he’ or ‘she’ (neuter gender) assumes the role of masculine force which acts as an anvil and mAyA becomes feminine force shapes the world on that anvil. Same Ishvara or paramAtmA or Brahman as mentioned in upanishads, can take as many forms, male or female, as per his wish and each form is equally powerful.  Our mind is habituated of seeing shapes and forms. It is difficult to comprehend formless infinite tatva (essence). It is easy for mind to be emotionally attached to a form. We get attached to our loved ones. Same is the case with a form of Ishavara like kRSNa or rAma. They also do have a unique character which helps us get attached to that form of Ishvara. For devotional purpose, a form of Ishvara like rAma or kRSNa or Siva or devI is established in our shAstra-s. For a partcular devotee his / her form of Ishvara, known as IshTa devatA (the chosen deity) is the supreme Godhead. For hanumAna, rAma is the supreme Godhead. No one is above him, all Gods and Goddesses are under his sway. He was not satisfied with the form of kRSNa and so prayed to him to give him darshan in the form of ‘rAma’. HanumAna ji very well knew both are same, still he was devotionally attached to the form of rAma. When a character is created, there will be incidences in his / her life and from that, as said earlier, we have to understand those incidences in a right way – i.e by ‘vidhi’ or ‘nshedha’. 

Let us return to the case of rAma praying to sUrya deva. The doubt arises, why does he need to pray? Let us understand it from another angle. In case of avatAra, from day one of birth, an avatAra has great clarity of thoughts. He is technically not attached to anything, so his mind is very pure. His emotions are highly purified. The words that come from their mouth have deep meaning, highly purifed emotions said from the bottom of the heart. Sri Ramakrshna says, that mind of avatAra or jivan mukta is such that it can easily enter samAdhi, just like there is a big window from which one can jump to outdoor i.e. from finite to infinite. Their heart is always rooted in Brahman. This is the reason why their prayers or eulogising any form of Ishvara, will touch our hearts. Their words have great strength and devotion. Their bhAva, i.e. spiritual emotion, is highly purified and it touches the heart of a sincere devotee. Such a prayer is very helpful for spiritual progress. In order to make the prayer more effective a pUrvabhUmikA, i.e. a prima faci environment, is created which leads to an incident and then a prayer is composed. This pUrvabhUmikA helps devotee too as a story is easy to remember. One can easily construct whole scene mentally and enjoy the bliss of divine play of Ishvara. Same is the case with the stutis and prayers composed by great devotees like prahlAda and dhruva. They are spiritually highly matured and their prayers come from intense longing for Ishvara. They sing glory of Ishvara in estacy which touches us all, cleanses our heart, purifies it and helps one progress spiritually.

Similarly, there may be a doubt as why rAma or Siva meditates and what is the need for them to meditate, as a perfect Ishvaa never meditates, he does not need to. Technically this is correct. Ishvara does not need to meditate for himself, but for the sake of devotees, avatAra meditates. If an avatAra meditates on a particular place, that place gets purified. It vibrates with spiritual energy. If rAma prays to Siva, the thoughts, emotions, faith, surrender and love for Siva is so strong that the entire atmosphere vibrates with such lofty spiritual emotions. Such amtosphere is highly pure. Meditating on that spot or even in it’s vicinity will greatly benefit a devotee. Thoughts will calm down, speed of thoughts will decreases and inner peace and bliss will increase, there will be natural attraction for Siva. sAdhanA will happen effortlessly. Same is the case of a place where avatAra of a siddha or even a devotee who had darshan of his / her IshTa devatA (chosen, or had experienced Self Realization is very pure and vibrates with spiritual energy.

Another reason for avatAra to undergo penance or do sAdhanA is to establish a benchmark for devotees. An avatAra undergoes rigorous austerities, does penance for long time, faces harsh conditions that a common man many not be able to withstand. He will mentally collapse. In order to push up our efforts to progress spiritually and increase the longing and intensity of sAdhanA or to intensity the longing for IshTa devatA such accounts of intense sAdhanA and austerity gives a sAdhaka much needed moral and spiritual boosting, giving hope, increasing surrender and love for Ishvara.

To sum up, 

1. There is a way to interpret any incident mentioned in our shAstra-s. Understand it by ‘vidhi’ (positive learnng) or ‘nishedha’ (negative learning)

2. avatAra acts or shows human emotions or prays for the benefit of devotees. We need to understand it correctly. An incident leads to the composition of heart touching, spiritually uplifting poems, hymns, and stuti-s. It gives us inner strength to overcome our negative feelings and progress spiritually.

3. Story that leads to composition of poem helps devotee to stay immersed in the bliss of divine play of his / her IshTa devatA

4. sAdhanA or tapa (penance) by an avatAra or a siddha purifies a place and fills that place with uplifting spiritual vibrations. If one meditates on such a place or even in it’s vicinity, one’s spiritual progress is greatly accelarated. 

All that is mentioned in our shAstra-s is for our own good. We need to understand it in a correct way with a positive approach. As time passes, one becomes spiritually mature. At a proper time, secrets will unfold. There are certain things that one may not be able to find in shAstra-s, but can find only from guru, there are certain things which one experiences during sAdhanA. Till then one needs to keep the faith in our guru and our shAstra-s and continue to walk on the path that leads one to immortality.

Hari OM