What God Can Give Us

Wealth?

Praying for abundance and prosperity is very common in all cultures. Praying to Maha Lakshmi the eternal consort of Vishnu, the preserver of the world is popular not only among Hindus but also among Jains and Buddhist.

Without wealth, nothing can be done. Decent amount of wealth acts as insurance for us to involve in spirituality. Lack of wealth will be a big deterrent. Renunciation will come after earning wealth.

When Tenali Raman was offered 2 bowls one could give him wealth and another one wisdom, he drank from both the bowls.

When annoyed ma said, “Rama! Why did you drink from both the bowls and disobey my orders?” Rama bowed his head and replied, “I am sorry Ma Kali,  but what is the use of knowledge without wealth, and what would I do with wealth without knowledge?”

Health?

There is a saying, doctor treats and God heals. Every life form has intelligence which can heal the body without outside interference. Subsume some times when things get complicated, the faith in divine helps them to regain health. Some might call it a placebo, but the truth is the intelligence was inside and we choose to name it differently.

Wisdom?

Stories of Srinivasan Ramanujan crediting his good brilliance to Maa Kaali and Goddess Kali impressed by quick thinking and intelligence of Tenali Raman blessing him, saying that he would become a great poet and would be known for his intelligence and sense of humour are well known to us.

This beautiful Prayer in rig Veda says the same.  Give us skills so that we can get rid of ignorance/hunger/disease.

Other than these 3 common types of prayers, there is one more prayer. Which is to increase the Adirshta phala.

Adirshta phala
The success of every act depends on 5 components.  Doer, job, skills the doer possess, attitude with which he does and adirshta phala. Praying can increase our chances of this Adirshta Phala.

The most popular Ganapathy mantra,

Vakratunda Mahakaya Surya Koti Sama Prabha

Nirvighnam Kuru Me Deva Sarva Karyesu Sarvada.

We pray to God for the removal of obstacles. Or in other words, increasing our Adirshta phala.

Praying for pacification/ destruction of EGO

The root of the whole problem is the ego in the individual soul, and the moment the ego is removed, whatever is shines forth in all its splendour. That is your essential nature. That is Satchidananda (Existence-Consciousness-Bliss). To remove the ego is the prime purpose of all Yoga.

Jñāna, Bhakti and Naiṣkarmya are four names of the same enlightened state from the perspective of the four streams of yōga — Jñāna yōga, Bhakti yōga and karma yōga.

Bakthi Yoga-Your loving devotion towards god. It is a common form of yoga. We show gratitude towards God for creating everything. We don’t blame him for our shortcomings in our life. Everything that comes in our life the devotee takes it as Prasada.

Karma Yoga – This of one of the most misunderstood streams of yoga. People tend to think that doing charity of karma yoga, but karma yoga is not about what you do. It is about what attitude you do. When we donate money for a god cause we expect done thing in returns like a word of praise or our name etched in a stone. These will only strengthen our ego. We need to understand we are not the doer. Every act of ours can become a prayer.

Jnana Yoga – This is the rarest of all yogas.

In Bhagavath Gita Krishna talks about four types of devotees

1) Ārta– – one who is in distress due to some worldly trouble (disease, loss etc.)

2) Jijñāsu – one who seeks to know the Supreme

3) Arthārthī – – one who seeks to gain wealth (can be generalized as any worldly possession)

4) Jñāni – – one who knows the Supreme.

Krishna does not criticize these three devotees in any way and calls all the four devotees virtuous and noble. But he glorifies Jnani above all the others because a jñāni is nityayukta (constantly rooted in reality) and ēkabhakti – he does not consider anything else worthwhile to devote himself to the ultimate sense; even if he engages in the world, it fails to swerve him. Krishna further says that a jñāni is the dearest to him (and he is dear to a jñāni), and calls him his own Self (7.17-18).

Stories of Mahbali Chakravarthy and Vamana Avatar, Vishwa Roopa darshan or Maha Vakyas like Tat Tvam Asi or Aham Bramhasmi, if one understands the real meaning of such tales and maha vakyas he will understand the Omni potency and omnipresence of God. This will destroy the ego, he will become more compassionate towards all life around him. He will not be disturbed by losses and unfortunate things that happen to him. He will not yearn for heaven as he will be in bliss in the earth itself.

Give up your ego,  you will gain everything.