Question: When we pray, is there any way that God would prefer us to pray, besides being intense? There are so many ways to pray —- we can pray with a cry, we can pray with a smile and so forth. Is there any way that God prefers to hear our prayers that would make our prayers reach His Ears or be more effective?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes. When we pray, not with the tears of our eyes but with the tears of our heart, that prayer is by far the best. Not with the prayer of smiling or laughing, not with a complacent feeling and not with a merely devoted feeling, no. There should be burning tears inside the heart. For anything that we pray, God will be the Judge.

The best kind of prayer has to be inside the heart, not in the mind, and that prayer has to be full of tears. Then God is bound to listen.

Again, if God fulfils our desires, it can take a different form from what we imagined. We are trying to get our prayers fulfilled in one way, but when God is satisfied with us, pleased with us, He may fulfil the same desire in a totally different way, in a way that is far beyond our imagination. Then we become so grateful to God.

While we are praying for something, we do not know how the outcome or result will come to us. So the best thing is to cry in the heart with tears. This prayer expedites its own fulfilment.