Date: March_01_2004
Title: Writing Prayers to the Devas
Category: Temples and Temple Worship
Duration: 9 min., 42 seconds
Date Given: February 29, 2004
Given by: Bodhinatha

Good Morning, Everyone.

One of the subjects that has been in the recent Daily Master Course Lesson is writing prayers to the devas. So I thought I would say a few words about that this morning. There is a whole chapter on it in, 'Living with Siva', Chapter 36, devoted to the subject.

I had kind of forgotten this was in there. Gurudeva tells how the practice came to him. The boon of communicating with the Inner worlds through written prayers came to Gurudeva shortly after the Kadavul Nataraja deity arrived at the monastery. Of course, that was in February 1973. It seems like yesterday. He explains that with this six-foot tall bronze image of the Lord of Dance came tens of thousands of devas. It was revealed to him that these devonic helpers, though unseen to the physical eyes are skilled in the art of fulfilling prayers. How it was to be done was the written prayers could be offered into their hands through the sacred fire that burns perpetually at Lord Nataraja's Holy Feet.

Gurudeva continues the story by explaining that many of the prayers offered up through the sacred temple fire were soon answered and in this way faith began to build among the devotees about this practice. It also emphasizes that prayers may only be sent to the devaloka in a sanctified havana kunda where special arrangements had been made with the devas.

Sometimes members write in and say, "Can we burn prayers here, can we burn prayers there?" Of course, the answer is no. It has to be in a very special place that has been designated and the devas have been informed about.

How does this process work? It begins by writing the prayer and placing it in the temple fire. As the paper burns, the astral double of the prayer appears in the devaloka. The prayer is then read by the devas who proceed to carry out the devotees' requests. These temple devotees are fully dedicated to assist all who come through the temple doors with their emotional, mental and physical problems.

Gurudeva explains that it is well known that religious people have guardian devas or angels, helping them through their earthly experience. Those who worship in Hindu temples slowly gain acceptance into the devonic realms of the Gods and one or two of the devas often return with the devotee to his home. When this happens, the home immediately has within it the feeling of fullness.

It is these guardian devas, Gurudeva explains, who are the first to receive the devotee's written prayers when they are transferred to the devaloka through the sacred fire. They read each prayer carefully, if they cannot immediately respond, the prayer is given to a waiting dispatcher along with some advise about the individual or the family from the guardian deva. The dispatcher carries the prayer along with the guardian deva's advise to the group of devonic helpers who can best fulfill the request.

Gurudeva goes on to explain that after the prayer has been read and understood by each one in this group of devas, it enters their inner minds. When this happens the solution is revealed to all. One or several of the devas is then seen to vanish on their way through inner space to execute the request. Because earth time and astral time are different, the entire process takes about three earth days from the time the prayer is offered until the time it is fulfilled. That is why you need to plan at least three days ahead when writing prayers to the devas. That is an important point. Plan ahead three days. We don't want to be sending in a prayer today about something that is happening tomorrow. Not giving enough notice.

Gurudeva explains that before the Gods and devas can respond to your request, they must examine a timeline extending 99 years into the past and 99 years into the future. This is quite interesting. Sounds pretty good! Then they divide the possible decisions into 9 groups to choose their course of helpfulness to your karmic pattern. The duty is not to alter time or experience to manipulate karmas but to assist you in going through your natural karmas and to mitigate, nullify and soften the effects of the karmas of the past that touch you in the present be they good, mixed or bad. Therefore, it is also important to delineate your state of mind as you write your prayer.

Gurudeva mentions that you can also send prayers to loved ones. Their guardian deva will hand the prayer to the loved ones, relatives or close friends. Through such prayers many devotees who are feeling badly about their behavior patterns toward the departed member of their family, apologize for misdeeds performed during their relative's earthly life.

This next one is very interesting.

Gurudeva also explains about sending prayers to your departed Guru. He says that souls that have attained mukti, freedom from rebirth, but who are not yet ready to enter into higher planes where they will no longer will be involved with or communicate with those in earth consciousness also receive messages from their devotees on earth. They are staying in touch with their devotees, Gurudeva explains, for the purpose of helping their devotees to attain their highest potential in this lifetime.

So it gives us a nice sense of what Gurudeva is doing, staying in touch with us all and helping us attain our highest potential in this lifetime.

To give some specifics, the astral image of each prayer arrives in the antaraloka is an exact duplicate of its physical plane counterpart but not quite as clear. It is more like a carbon copy. So, if the physical plane original is not clear, its astral counterpart will be even less clear. It will be blurred like trying to read a letter without one's glasses. Even the astral counterparts of type-written documents prepared in small type are difficult to read in the inner worlds.

Here are some specific guidelines for preparing the prayer.

When writing by hand always use black ink, never colored ink. Black translates to white or gray in the inner world where the prayer appears reversed. The paper that is white becomes black and the letters that are black become white. If you use colored paper and colored ink in writing your prayers your words could be unreadable even if you have used the tyeif script. Colored paper appears dark purplish blue in the inner worlds, somewhat like the ashes of burned paper that are still intact but barely legible, ready to disintegrate at the first touch. Be sure to use well rounded clearly formed letters and sign the paper and also include the date. Typed documents on one side of the page only are acceptable and are easily read in the inner world as long as the size of the type is not too small.

Prayers can be in any language, of course you can also prepare them in the tyeif bamboo looking script, that Gurudeva created specifically for writing prayers to the devas. Devonic helpers often do know what a devotee needs but they are admonished by the dharmic law that requires that they must be asked before steps towards fulfillment can be taken. In other words they won't interfere, you have to ask for their help in order for them to help. Many guardian devas connected to the sangam group of devas are inner plane gurus of karma and when asked they will fulfill their nine steps quite willingly and abundantly.

Clarity is essential for the devas to fulfill the petitions to the lasting satisfaction of each devotee. For complex issues, the explanations may need to be lengthy. Names and addresses of the various parties involved should be included. Along with your prayers you can send typed documents, copies of contracts to clarify the subject.

In this way, you can make sure that the Gods and the devas are aware of the details of your prayer and understand your need.

Aum Namah Sivaya.