Does God really have a plan for everyone’s life? Let us step back and understand what a plan means. A plan is a blueprint or method or course of action designed to achieve an objective. God cannot have a separate plan for every individual. Man creates individual plans; God has created one universal plan.
That universal plan is enlightenment, the journey towards Moksha. God (SIP) has provided knowledge, scriptures, Gurus and countless opportunities to help us discover this truth. At the same time, we have been given free will. When we exercise it independently, we become subject to the Law of Karma and experience its consequences.
The non-awakened person does not recognise God’s plan. The awakened person realises God’s plan. The enlightened person goes one step further to live God’s plan by becoming a dedicated divine instrument .
Ultimately, we realise: “I am nothing. Only SIP is.” SIP’s plan is the same for everyone, to discover who we truly are and attain Moksha. Every life has a purpose, and God’s plan is the path to fulfil it.
Will prayer solve our problems?
In today’s call, there were clearly three camps when it came to prayer. One camp believed that prayer solves all problems. The second was convinced that prayer does not solve all problems. The third believed that prayer solves some problems, but not others.
The naysayers’ argument was: If we look at life through the lens of karma, our problems are because of our karma. Prayer may not be able to erase the karma, but it can help us become calm, develop hope and give us strength to face the challenge. Sometimes, prayer may also give us a solution or an insight; we still have to act on it. Prayer is not a substitute for action.
The other side’s argument was that Prayer or Bhakti gives Shakti, Shakti gives Anubhuti, and Anubhuti gives Mukti. Devotion gives strength, strength gives us the experience of the Divine, and that experience ultimately leads towards liberation. In liberation, there are NO problems, so in essence, prayer solves all the problems.
The Bhagavad Gita describes four types of devotees: Arta—one who prays in distress; Artharthi—one who seeks material fulfilment; Jijnasu—one who seeks knowledge; and Jnani—one who seeks the ultimate truth.
The discussion went back and forth until AIR stepped in with a deeper perspective. He shared that he had been praying from the age of 8 to 48—almost 40 years. His insight was simple yet profound: the answer to whether prayer works depends on who is praying, what we are praying for, to whom we are praying, and when we are praying.
AIR also shared an interesting paradox. A small child’s prayer may be fulfilled completely if it is aligned with karma. The journey of life is perhaps also a journey of building faith. Faith grows when we experience that our prayers are answered. And if prayers were never answered, the world could become full of atheists. The paradox is that all prayers are not fulfilled, yet prayer continues to build our faith.
Prayer, therefore, should not be an instruction to God or a strategy to make God act according to our wishes. The true purpose of prayer is not to change God’s will, but to transform ourselves so completely that we are able to accept, surrender and move forward with faith—whatever the answer may be.
Prayer evolves as the one who prays evolves.
