When we pray, for what do we ask? Health, financial success, career opportunity? That we or a loved one are protected? It is good to pray, as we are remembering and addressing the Lord, but if we examine our prayers, we will find that we are mostly asking some service from the Lord to support our material experience. We are using God as the means to obtain some gratification from this world. Yet, He hears our prayers and responds accordingly. He also has His own plan that supersedes ours, and He is most intelligent in how to intertwine the various desires of the individual souls with His Divine choreography.
If our desires are not apparently fulfilled by God, even if we have prayed, do we then decry the existence of God and become non-believers or atheists? That is foolish. If our parents do not fulfill our every desire out of loving care for us, does that mean that they don’t exist? They are looking out for our greatest good, and so is God.
A child is always placing demands upon the parents, but when there is maturity, it is expected that the child will also serve the parents in reciprocation. We are not expected to remain children who always ask of God, but to grow up in service and reciprocal relationship with the Lord.
An animal in nature does not pray for its sustenance, but it is provided. The ant has its needs met, and the elephant also, as long as humans do not encroach upon the natural environment. As we are not expected to remain children in need of parental support, we are also not meant to be in prayer for what is naturally provided, even to those animals for whom prayer is unknown.
Looking to God as the supplier of our demands shows immaturity on the path of spiritual development. It is a step, but only a beginning step. Would it not be wonderful to develop a personal relationship with the One who is capable of providing all needs to all living beings and yet is unencumbered and undiminished by all our demands?
If we pray to know God in His glory, to serve Him in loving reciprocation, the proper guidance will be given how to achieve that relationship which is superior to all others. God Himself, His Divine abode, and the association of His dearmost affiliates is the supreme goal. God is therefore not to be seen as a means to achieve temporary happiness in this world, but to be known as the topmost end.
From the vantage point of reconnection with God, the temporary and frustrating nature of this material world will be evident. The apparent pleasures of this mundane realm are pale in comparison to the ecstatic personal reciprocations with the most glorious and munificent Supreme Personality of Godhead.
