Hare Krishna
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Does God hear me when I pray silently?
Does God hear my thoughts or do I have to talk out loud to Him?
Does God really hear all our thoughts?
Sometimes I think unwanted thoughts unintentionally, does God hold us against thoughts that we don’t mean to think?
How does one deal with blasphemous religious thoughts?
Thank you,
S.C
Replies
Thank you all for taking the time to answer my questions.
"... if you ever have an unwanted thought of any kind, then say out loud, "Jai Radhe" and the unwanted thought will be neutralized (wont count against you). "
Thank you Rohini-suta dasa for teaching me the above method. I often feel guilty and down for unwanted thoughts that enter my mind, so thank you for this beautiful weapon against impure thoughts:)
From now on i'll try to say my prayers out loud.
May The Supreme Lord bless you all
ys
S.C
Dearest Shivanie, I am happy that my suggestion will bring you peace and strength. Yes, it is a weapon. Something we can do. Some days I have said Jai Radhe" to rid my mind of unwanted thoughts many many many many times. But you can also say "Jai Radhe" to happily and lovingly thank and glorify Radha for her grace, mercy, and kindness. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Dear Shivanie Chetty, Thank you for your nice questions. As far as praying to God, personally I speak softly so that I hear what I am saying. But I find that prayer is something I enter - a process. Here is how I do it. "Dear Nityananda, You are an ocean of mercy, having saved the two sinner Jagai & Madhai from the wrath of Lord Chaitanya. Please have mercy on me a sinner and please convey my prayers to the Lord" This would now be a good time to speak to God.
Lord Nityananda is in your heart and you have asked Him to convey your prayers to Sri Krishna Chaitanya. I don't necessarily have my words memorized, or start my prayers exactly with the same words, because the same idea can be said using different words. But this approach to praying is consistently the same.
In 1976 I was chanting japa in the old New York City temple on 55th street. I was a new devotee of less than two weeks. Out of the blue a devotee came up to me and said, if you ever have an unwanted thought of any kind, then say out loud, "Jai Radhe" and the unwanted thought will be neutralized (wont count against you). I never saw that devotee again. I don't even think I mentioned this to H.H. Jayananda Prabhu who was letting me share his room at the time, but I took what was told to me to heart and ever since that morning I have never failed to say out loud this beautiful Holy Name whenever my thoughts are improper. Today, 37 years later, I said Jai Radhe about 3 times. We need something practical that we can do and here it is. Hope this helps. God Bless you. Rsd
hari bol!!
Thank you prabhu ji for so much nice suggestion. I was struggling how to wipe out my dirty thoughts that prevails in my mind. Now, I think I can do it. "Jai Radhe".
Thank you very very much for sharing.
Dear Nischalinn, Please accept my warmest regards. Thank you for joining our conversation. And yes, "Jai Radhe" is so simple and easy to remember. In a very short time this will become part of your life. I was 30 years old when I took to heart this suggestion and immediately, I never forgot. Yesterday...36 years later, I said "Jai Radhe" several times. This of course is because I have no sincerity or love for God. But I do have the Holy Name and I can pray for mercy. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Rsd
Hare Krishna dear Devotees, please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
"Jai Radhe!!!" Thank You so much Prabhu, it really works. And because in my case my is always dirty i need to chant it again and again. Because of that it is recommended to think of Krishna 24 hours a day, isn't it?!
When we chant our japa and when japa completes if we try to chant on mind then only mind will be occupied with this and won't have time for other things.
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Indeed Krishna knows our mind better than anyone else even ourselves.
So offering prayers is one of main 9 processes of devotional service. So it is immensely powerful!
For example, i remember before finding the knowledge of Bhagavad Gita i used to pray and beg God to be merciful to me and give me true knowledge. So He heard. And it is of course by the hard work of Srila Prabhupada and his disciples who made our karmas auspicious which means they put that desire into our hearts. That desire to search Krishna.
Your servant,
Dear Mataji,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Krishna hears all our thoughts, because He is seated in our heart. He knows everything about us, directly and indirectly.
He accepts our silent prayers, but we must chant His name loudly also and hear it. Only very advanced devotees are able to actually associate with the Lord in their mind. We see that all the acaryas (teachers) and advanced devotees in this age showed the example of audibly chanting the Hare Krishna mantra.
In the previous ages people were held responsible for their sinful thoughts as if they had actually done the sin. But in this age sinful or blasphemous thoughts will themselves not give reaction, but we should strive to remove them, because if we think bad too long, then we will also do something bad, and then we will get the reaction.
We can remove blasphemous religious thoughts by understanding the truth about religion. All contradictions are resolved in Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We only have blasphemous thoughts because of ignorance. So we should associate with saintly persons and spiritual master, hear scriptures and ask questions to resolve our doubts.
Your humble servant,
Madhavi-lata d.d.