What is Prayer?

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Hari ke jan satigur, satpurkha binau karau gur paasi.

– Shri Guru Granth Sahib, 10

{O humble servant of the Lord, O true Guru, O true primal being, I offer my humble prayer to you, O Guru!}

Question: What is prayer? Is there a need for another thing or another body separate from you for praying?

Acharya Prashant (AP): The word ‘praying’ is beautifully understood when you also take its counterpart in Sanskrit Pra–arth–na.

Arth means desire. Whenever you usually pray — and we all keep praying — our prayers are to the world, our prayers are to people, to situations. Whenever we normally pray, there is a desire behind it: arth. The desire is obviously a product of conditioning; it is obviously material, as all desires are bound to be. It is about a thing, a person, or an idea.

Pra–arth–na means that arth (desire) is being surpassed.

Pra-arth — beyond desire.

So now I cannot ask for a thought, a thing, or a person. What is left to ask then? Because the world is only these: thought and object. Going beyond these…