Meditation: The Highest Form of Prayer

Prayer is an effective means of communing with God. People offer many kinds of prayers. Some pray for things of this world: a better job, a new house or a new car. There are others who pray for wellness, so that they or their family can be physically healthy. Others may pray for their personal relationships to be better. Yet, mostly, people pray for objects of this world.

Generally when we pray we are asking God to give something to us; we are trying to ask for those things that we think will help us. At that time, our knowledge of the big picture of our lives is limited. We might pray for something that we think will help us but it might not be the right thing in the whole scheme of our lives. We may pray for something and receive it but find that it is not good for us in the long run.

Therefore, I believe the right way is to pray for God’s will to happen in our life. This is why there is a saying in many traditions, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.” Why? Because God is aware of each and every thing that is happening with us. God knows what is truly best for us. For example, we might think that winning a lottery of ten million might be good. However, little do we realize that after getting the money, two different things can happen. We can go on such a big buying spree that our attention is diverted from God. Or maybe all our friends want a piece of what we gained and if we do not give it to them, we lose our friends and our life becomes lonely. So we really do not know what is truly good for us. In our own limited vision, we ask for whatever we think is good. But if we leave it up to God to give us whatever is best for us, then we are truly praying.

The highest form of prayer is to know God and have communion with God. Other prayers may be sincere, but they are often made with the aim of gaining something that will help our material existence. Praying to know God is to seek out the One who created us. Praying to know God is to turn our face to the One who was the cause of our existence. When the desire to know God enters our heart, it becomes a continuous prayer that does not stop until we find the Lord.

Such prayers to know God are known as meditation. Meditation is called the highest form of prayer. In prayer, we are telling God what we want. In meditation, we are listening to what God wants for us.