PRAYER! OR AUTOSUGGESTION!

Come June and schools reopen and classes and studies begin. After a month
and a half of vacation, the students have now to begin their studies with single-
minded dedication. While the ordinary students continue to linger in the
vacation mood for some more time, the good students dive into their books
almost immediately. But many of these good students are susceptible to the
pernicious 'Exam Fever'. Many more of them are drained out by a constant
struggle to read and remember their innumerable subjects and text books. Yet
some more of them regularly complain that they are unable to rightly
understand the various subjects. These are universal problems of students. It is
not that these problems don't have solutions but to find them you will have to
think over patiently. You have already read some of these solutions in the two
small booklets 'Secret of Concentration' and 'A letter to a student'. We now
present you one more very important solution.

This is an extremely effective, and in a way, an extremely simple solution; but

one that needs continuous practice. You should do as you are told here,
everyday, that is all. What is that solution? “Prayer”.

Prayer is invariably addressed to God. Who is God and where is He? He is in

our heart. You may visualize Him as Rama, Krishna, Ganesh, Lakshmi,
Saraswati, Jesus, etc in your heart. The particular form in which you imagine
and visualize God in your heart depends entirely on your liking. There is a
technical term for this called 'Ishta'. God is omnipresent and omnipotent. He is
omniscient and all-merciful. Since He is omnipotent, answering our prayers is
child's play for Him. Since He is all-merciful, He cannot resist the call of our
prayers. But is imperative for us to have faith in Him and believe that He will
certainly answer our prayers.

Next, how should students pray? We generally pray to obtain what we desire;
students desire knowledge. Students must understand all that they read.
Students must obtain high marks and pass exams. Is it not? Therefore, students
must pray to God for those very things:

“O Lord, my salutations to you. Incline my mind to read more and more.

Enable my mind to understand whatever I read. Sharpen my memory to retain
and recall all that I read and understand. Make me a good student. O Lord, I
surrender to you. I depend on you. Be kind to me and answer this prayer of
mine”

It is better to keep the eyes closed while praying. The reason is – when the eyes
are open, outside light and objects impinge on the eyes, keep the mind engaged
and do not allow the mind to enter into the heart. So, we need to close our eyes
and pray with all our heart and soul, to the gracious Lord residing in our heart
and soul.

Students who want knowledge should pray like this for 3 months, before going
to sleep and test this technique for themselves. They are sure to experience the
sweet results of this small exercise in this short period itself. But the prayer
must be sincere. It must come from within. Your entire heart and soul must be
in it. It must be backed by a certain faith in its efficiency. Because this faith is
the real secret of prayer.

Do you know how God answers our prayers? He prepares our mind, making it
fit for studies. He fills the mind with energy and vigour. Capability arises in the
mind. A capable mind is able to achieve anything it wants. Therefore, more and
more students must be made aware of this simple and wonderful tool called
Prayer. More and more students must be taught how to use it and derive benefit
from it.

Then there is another kind of students. They do not believe in God nor do they
ever like to develop any belief in Him. What should such students do? There is
way for them too. Auto-Suggestion. Such students should constantly repeat
forceful affirmations as follows:

“I shall read more and more. I shall study more and more. Whatever I read and
study, I shall understand, remember and recall all of it. By developing this
capability, I shall blossom out as a student of very high calibre.”

This is not a prayer. This is a thought, an affirmation. A student is bound to

improve by repeating this auto suggestive affirmations again and again.
Because, as the proverb says, 'As ye think, so shall ye become.' Whatever you
think and feel about yourself, that you shall surely become. This is an
irrefutable law. But you should think and feel with all your heart and soul.
These thoughts must be backed by a certain faith in yourself. This is most
important. Whether it be prayer or auto suggestion, it is faith that makes it
powerful and renders it fruitful. Every student ought to know this golden
secret.

Another secret is that auto suggestion should be done at night, before falling
asleep. Whatever thoughts you entertain just before falling asleep seeps down
into your unconscious mind. When you wake up in the morning, these very
thoughts gain in strength, become very powerful and will manifest by
colouring your entire personality. If you think the same thought intensely for a
few months, it will get manifested very powerfully. Such powerful thinking
enables us to achieve anything we like. Take the lives of great men, for
instance. They too were mere mortals like anyone of us. How then did they
become great? Only by their powerful thoughts, powerful will! They all
planned great things. Their plans were with them with their every breath. Their
constant resolve was – 'I shall do this. I shall not stop before achieving this.'
Thus, one day they finally achieved it and became great men, men who shaped
this world.

Therefore, let students think:

“I shall read more and more. I shall study more and more. Whatever I read and
study, I shall understand, remember and recall all of it. By developing this
capability, I shall blossom out as a student of very high calibre.”

These thoughts are so powerful that they will certainly activate the students to
study...inspire the minds of the students...and exalt their entire personality. In
other words, these simple thoughts will one day enable the students to bask in
the soft blue limelight of success!

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Words are redundant to explain the efficacy of Prayer. Because, to one who prays, it
is obvious!!

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