Dr. Dinshah K. Mehta
Servant of Servants of God
Editorial Note:
The other day, as I was going out of the entrance door to our flat, I found a very dear friend standing outside. I asked him: “Why are you standing outside? We have been expecting you!” He replied: “Since some time, I have been pressing the button of the electric bell, waiting for you to answer me.” I told him we could not hear, because it was not yet connected at the other end. He laughed and said: “This is what happens often in our lives. We keep on pressing ‘the button’ with profuse prayers at our end, little realizing that it is not connected with God. He does not answer, and we feel frustrated, blaming Him for not hearing our prayers!”
Many of us must have had a similar experience in our lives when we have prayed and prayed our hearts out, without receiving any tangible response from God. At such times, we must ask ourselves: Are we connected at all with God, either directly or indirectly?
If we would watch our prayers, we would find that many of them are directed towards teaching God how He should run the cosmos, the universe or at least our little lives by granting our requests for this or that. Such prayers do not reach God. They are governed by the laws of causation which have been aptly stated as, “As you sow, so shall you reap”. We do not get what we desire but only that which we deserve. And, how few of us ever pray: O Lord! Give us the strength to bear with fortitude and gratitude whatever we deserve!
If our prayers do not reach God, then the question arises: Why should we pray at all? Indeed, if we pray only for the fulfillment of our egocentric desires, and if there is no force of destiny behind these desires, we are only asking for frustration. But then, asking for egocentric desires is not true Prayer.
As Revered Dadaji, Dr. Dinshah K. Mehta, has explained in this Discourse, true prayer is offering our thoughts to God.
Even when we make the offering in the right way, how can we be sure that it is accepted by the Source of all creation, whom we call God? This and many other matters connected with prayer are clearly explained in this Discourse, which was delivered through Revered Dadaji on April 6, 1975, at the Delhi Branch of the Society of Servants of God.
— Sundri Vaswani
Read the full Discourse.