After this manner therefore pray ye:
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
(Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:9-13)

AN ARTICLE FROM “THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT” MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 1957, PUBLISHED BY THE UNITED LODGE OF THEOSOPHISTS IN INDIA

As men’s prayers are a disease of the will, so are their creeds a disease of the intellect. – EMERSON

Do we have to go through life without prayer? Most emphatically we do, if prayer means to us what it usually does. But emphatically no, if we refer to true prayer. When the Buddha said, “Pray not! . . . seek nought from the helpless gods by gift and hymn” he did not refer to true prayer. Neither is the “Lord’s Prayer” meant to be understood as it is generally understood. Jesus said that we should pray in secret and gave an example of true prayer. But how is this prayer regarded by us today? Do we not mainly emphasize “Give us this day our daily bread?” Look at the prayer as though it were a statement of a teacher of scientific law, who shows us how to aspire with the heart and the mind and to live by action, and it takes on a different meaning.

Our Father which art in Heaven.

Here we have the recognition that there is something which is not of this earth on which we live; there is that which is our Source, of which each of us is a “son.’’ Since we all originate from that Source, it is called “our Father.’’ While permeating the earth, He dwells in spheres above the pettiness of earthly things. Our true home is with Him in Heaven.

Hallowed be thy name.

We can get nowhere in spiritual living without reverence, for that is a safeguard against pride, the besetting sin of the personality. The heart immediately responds to the idea that there is something to be reverenced in its own right. Reverence is the recognition of greatness far beyond our own, and is born of love and, to some extent, of knowledge of the nature of that which is reverenced. We cannot really love someone we do not know, but, knowing the inherent loveliness of the character of a friend, we can add reverence to our love for him. True reverence is, then, an attitude of mind, not mere genuflection.

These two short phrases set the keynote of the relationship which should exist between God and man, especially when we view them in reference to the next phrase.

Thy kingdom come.

To work to bring God down to earth, to show the spirit of reverence and devotion towards Nature — that will bring the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Who can do His will, but we through whom it flows? When we do the will of that which we reverence, instead of working for personal ends according to our own will, then indeed will the Kingdom of God be established on earth.

Give us this day our daily bread.

This phrase implies that all we need is what is truly necessary, and the Great Law will always bring us what is necessary. “Our daily bread” does not mean merely food necessary for the body — though if God (or the Good Law) feeds the sparrows, how much more will He feed us, unless by our own actions we prevent Him! It refers also to experience, to courage, to strength. It implies that, entangled as we are in our lower nature, we are not strong enough to face life’s battles, but, with the aid of the higher or the divine in us, we shall emerge victorious.

Forgive us our trespasses.

How easy to say, how easy to believe that our trespasses will be forgiven! Taught to fear the consequences of our wrong-doings, we long for forgiveness. But there is a price to be paid for this forgiveness, as there is for everything. The price is that we forgive those who trespass against us, and this is a much harder thing to do. Still, unless we do this, our own trespasses will remain as rocks in our pathway of life.

Lead us not into temptation.

This phrase has perplexed many people for many years, for its meaning is often not properly understood. We cannot expect God to lead us into temptation, whether by God we mean the Impersonal Law or the common Father of us all. Does it not mean, rather, let us not allow ourselves to fall into temptation, but let us endeavour to deliver ourselves from evil? Once again the necessity of looking for aid to the Spirit-Soul is implied, and if this is truly understood, then it is not to an outside being we pray but to the Spirit-Soul seated in our heart. United as spirit-soul-body, we can conquer; separated, we fail.

This idea is also brought out by the phrase: ‘‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” That light is in all of us, but it must be made to shine through our actions, motivated by our thought-feelings. Certainly if we accept this line of thought we would not pray for this and that favour for ourselves or for our friends.

Prayer becomes a will-full recognition of the indwelling Soul and Spirit which is in us and in all men, as in all Nature. True prayer is therefore union with the Divine and ends in a paean of praise.

When Jesus said, ‘‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them,’’ he was referring to the power of thought-feeling of this nature, and true it is that such prayer is beneficial not only to oneself but to all Nature.

It is time we awoke to the fact that we are not miserable sinners. We are sinners, yes, but only miserable when we are too cowardly to face the consequences of our actions and too lethargic to exert our will to eradicate our defects.

True prayer is, then, (1) the recognition of the Divine outside us and within us; (2) reverence; (3) devotion. It is a song of praise binding ourselves to the Divine, and it enables the Divine to shine through all our thoughts, words and deeds.

The affirmation of the Buddhist: “I take my refuge in the Buddha, the Law and the Brotherhood,” is the same as that of the Hindu: “Unveil, O Sun, thy true Radiance,’’ and that of the Egyptian: ‘‘Thou art One. I am in thee and thou art in me.’’ Such Union with the Divine is called Yoga.

Emerson, in his essay on “Self-Reliance,” wrote:—

“Prayer that craves a particular commodity, anything less than all good, is vicious. Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view. It is a soliloquy of a beholding and jubilant soul. It is the spirit of God pronouncing his works good. But prayer as a means to effect a private end is meanness and theft. . . . As soon as the man is at one with God, he will not beg. He will then see prayer in all action.”

Epictetus, the Roman slave-philosopher, says that one must be able at length to say from the bottom of one’s soul, ‘‘Conduct me, Jove, and thou, O Destiny, wherever your decrees have fixed my lot.”

~ * ~

This article may have raised more questions about various things. Please make use of the site search function (the magnifying glass symbol at the top of the page) and visit the Articles page to see the complete list of over 400 articles covering all aspects of Theosophy and the Theosophical Movement. Some which relate closely to this one include:

Theosophy on Prayer, Prayer, Karma, and Compassion, Jesus, Christos or The Christ Principle, and Christianity, Theosophy is ONE with the Christianity of Christ, Find God and Know Yourself, Karma, Justice, and Forgiveness, and Church Fathers on the Secret Teachings of Jesus.

~ BlavatskyTheosophy.com ~