The prayer plant and the meditation tree
"Master, Master, please save me! I have a serious problem. My problem is that I do not know what kind of mental attitude I should have when I pray and what kind of mental attitude I should have when I meditate."The Master placed his hand on Dhanu's shoulder and said, "My son, it is a very simple problem. It is not a serious problem. When you pray, you have to feel that this is the last opportunity that you will get to pray. You have to feel that if you pray soulfully, then a new life of illumination and fulfilment will immediately dawn in you, and if you don't pray soulfully, then death will come and snatch you away.
"Now I want to tell you about your meditation. When you meditate, you have to feel that this is the first opportunity you are being given. If you miss the first opportunity, no harm. There will be many more opportunities to come."
"Master, Master, then in that case, why do I have to pray at all? I shall always meditate. Then I will get opportunities again and again."
The Master said, "Wait, I have not yet finished my philosophy. It is true that when you pray, only one chance is given, and if you don't use it soulfully and devotedly, then death comes and snatches you away. Again, it is true that when you meditate, you get many more opportunities if you miss one. But I wish to say that each time you miss an opportunity to meditate devotedly and soulfully, you have to know that God's Heart starts bleeding. If you don't meditate well, He is bound to give you another opportunity. But each time His Heart starts bleeding with sorrow. He feels, 'Here I am showing you My infinite Compassion, but I won't be able to make you My best, absolutely best instrument. But whoever makes the most out of the first opportunity when it is given, whoever does not miss even one opportunity, that person makes the best progress. That is to say, when it is time for his meditation, if he meditates most devotedly and soulfully, then he gets infinite Light, Bliss, Gratitude and Pride from Me. These divine qualities enter into him and he assimilates them. Then he offers them to the world at large, to aspiring humanity.’
"So I wish to say, when you meditate, feel that each time is an opportunity to grow into the high, higher, highest world. But if you don't meditate soulfully and devotedly, then you will see God extremely sad. His Heart starts bleeding and He can never make you His dearest or His closest or His most perfect instrument.
"Again, prayer is done by the child in us. Once the child pleases the father or mother, he is always loved and adored. But one in the family who meditates is more grown up. So, in his case, it is not like that. He is given many more chances, because one who meditates has much more responsibility than one who prays. If he uses these chances in a divine way, then he becomes the greatest messenger of God. But if he misuses them, it is a real pang to God.
"Prayer and meditation are both necessary. But prayer is usually done by the child in us, while meditation is done by the youth in us. Both are necessary. Without being a child, how can you grow into a youth? From a plant you grow into a tree. Prayer is the plant and meditation is the tree. They both go together. It is a continuous growth of reality. Prayer and meditation are a continuous growth of the same reality tree. Prayer and meditation are the continuous movement of man's evolution. They are the continuous development of God-fulfilling life on earth."
