Day in the Life

Ms. Arunima Sinha

Representative
Hindu Community of South Carolina

What are your prayer practices everyday?

If you look at the praying process in Hindu tradition, there is freedom to pray the way it suits your own temperament; you feel more connected to yourself or to a higher entity or whoever you call God. There are many ways to pray. There is freedom.

People who have sentiments or are more emotional or have more feeling, for them there is Vhajty-yoga (devotion-union), or an act of devotion to unify ourselves with God. This act of devotion is for people who use feelings and love and emotion as a tool to pray to God. Then there are people who are more practical - they like to serve God or connect with God through more than singing or prayer, etc. They use karma-yoga, acts of devotion that serve God or connect with God through selfless acts. They serve nature, humanity, community, through goodwill, understanding, etc.

In my life, all the types I’m describing are involved because I cannot sit down and pray a whole day and call it my devotion. It’s selfish because I do it for my own living and family. So a lot of it is community-oriented and service-oriented and that I call prayer.

The third way is for people of a practical nature. There are people who claim to be intelligent and they like philosophy and connect intellectually. For them, there is the path of knowledge, gayam-yoga. They like to read scriptures and search God. They want to know why they’re here, how nature is connected to the universe, how we are all working in this world. And through that they are trying to know God and connect with God. The knowledge path is more suitable for people of that nature.

The fourth way to pray is yoga of meditation and mind control. It’s called Rada-yoga and is a mystic path, for people of a mystic nature. Like scientists, they like to experiment the truth in themselves. They like to meditate, to discriminate mind and emotion and the true self. There are different kinds of meditation, but the purpose is always to know who we are. To realize that I’m not this body, not this mind. Only my body can die, but the soul within me is God and light, and I am that. So I won’t be dying ever, only my body dies. I am forever. I see that God is present in everyone and God is reality.

These are the four basic ways through which we can become one with the truth and one with God. This is the purpose of prayer and worship. Hinduism tries to take help from all these different ways. There is one way that’s dominant in everyone - for me, it is devotion. I always think of God as love when I pray. And I think that love could be both the means and the goal. And so I never think I’m the authority of anything. My life is here for loving and to understand love and to be loved. And when I pray I like to experience all of them - that I am loved by god and I love god. And it doesn’t matter who that entity is, be it a mountain, human, or non-human. The purpose is that I want to be able to love unconditionally without any discrimination. And once that has been done, it means I’m one with the universe, one with god.

So for that I do some recitation from the scripture everyday, meditate, sing, and dance. I do dance everyday. Sometime I just put some music on and dance in my own way. That takes me beyond my body and my mind. And I’m not a dancer. But sometimes when I get in that ecstasy of love, I feel that around me. Then in that situation I dance sometimes. Also I have a prayer wheel in my home where I have different deities. God has no gender. Hinduism believes in one god, one truth, one love, one universal power. But it also believes in many forms of God, so we are actually seeing God get manifested in many ways. And that is where we celebrate the diversity; not only the diversity of people in this world, but also the diversity of Spirit. God has expressed himself in many ways. If we want to express god as someone who incarnates in this world, then we don’t need to say god is male. For me, God came in the form of a mother, because for me, I need God to take a form in my life that can take the form of my mother. Because of temptation and this world, I am not always able to keep myself pure. But, God is always there to clean diapers and make us fresh.  For this reason, God takes the form of mother for me. But I also see God as a lover and friend. God is the underlying truth behind and within everything.

I do meditate a lot at any time, even when I’m on a bus. You can meditate with your eyes open. Prayers are not limited to any particular time or place. I do like to go to temples. I do go there very regularly, maybe twice a week. I even have a temple in my room where I have meditation mats, deities, and instruments. But the purpose of my life is to make every moment of my life prayerful. And these are simply means to attain that goal. Everything is a practice to me, because everything I’m doing is to express myself. When I talk to my friend, she is not just someone from such and such. She is someone who has so much presence to me because of all my experiences with her and her context. God is like that to me. I can only verbalize some of it. I cannot tell you what I feel and experience.

The purpose of religion to me according to my Hindu tradition is not only to know or to understand, but to become. There are different stages in this becoming. The purpose is to become One, and once you become that there is no way you can express that. The goal of my life is to become one with that truth, glory, and universal love so that I simply flow and simply connect, and I see no discrimination and nothing that is away from God. And everyone is a manifestation of the divine; the face of divine. I am also a manifestation of that God, and I have to come to that stage where I find no difference between pain, sorrow, happiness. If I’m sad today there is a reason for this and there is divine meaning behind it; so, I want to feel the presence of God in this journey. But, I also want to feel the presence of God when things are pleasant. God is present in both places. This can only be experienced by practice.

In my meditation, I also try to find some quotations from great sages from any tradition. I also try to connect to God through nature. I try to spend some time with nature everyday. I water the plants every day. It is the embodiment of glory and light. It’s acknowledging the presence of God in nature when I go out to pick out some flowers to offer to my deity, to my God. I also give some food to the birds outside. I try to think that it’s not me who has given this food to them but it’s all God’s creation and through God. Then I go to my garden and try to pluck some flower. Even when I take it, I feel guilty because I’m taking it. But I’m giving it back to God because everything given to me is from God and for God. Nature is important to me.

Pooja, or worship, is important to me too. I do some study of the scripture. Mainly the Hindu scripture, but I also read some good words from anybody, any tradition. I love the path of devotion, the path of love where you try to connect with God, with love. It is here where love becomes the way to connect with God. It’s important to me to read something which talks about God. And then I’m involved in many organizations, local to international. It doesn’t matter, because it’s all through one God.

When I drive I always say the name of God, I sing and chant. When I’m cooking I’m always praying or reciting some mantra. And it’s very important when I cook that I cook with mindfulness that everything is divine and the food is divine and it’s going to bring life and happiness and health. When I clean my house I’m always thinking that God is always present in my house, even when I’m cooking, when I’m cleaning, when I’m vacuuming. I try to introspect and I try to think to be that way. When I’m not that way sometimes and I’m not sure there are 24 hours in a day, I try to remind myself to be like that. I try not to be judgmental and to be true. I’m trying to say what I think is true just according to my own perception.

One hour before I sleep I must meditate and pray. This is usually around midnight when the world is sleeping. I’m trying to withdraw from many things and it’s not easy. Even though I’m busy with many things and I have a job and family. I try to dedicate my life and I try to recite some scripture and I like that very much. I don’t need to sleep more than four or five hours if I meditate right and my day goes okay. Anywhere from 11:00 pm to 1:00 am, I use to pray. I have six prayers that I use during this time. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half. Sometimes when I’m relaxed I do it softly and gently. Sometimes when I’m busy I do it as a routine and a lot of it I have memorized. A lot of times I take out the old ones and just to memorize those. I’m saying it is a prayer because chanting and reciting is very important to my tradition.

And serving is very important be it in Religions for Peace, the United Nations, or another organization. Christmas is not my tradition, but Hinduism teaches that diversity is there, and so I acknowledge all the great traditions of this world, and I try to participate, to learn from them and add something to my prayer, to gain a little inspiration from someone. I have a Christmas tree in my house and my family will gather here. My children from California will also be coming soon. What is the meaning of decorating the tree? I think of this time as a season of joy and a renewal of God’s presence in my heart. Over the year we kind of get polluted. This is the time Jesus Christ is born. For me it is the time to think, it is the renewal of God’s presence in my life. Because I pray to God as a child, baby Krishna. I pray to him as my own child. And I dress him and feed him everyday. The food has to be cooked with mindfulness as an offering to God. So Christmas connects very well with my own understanding of God; trying to renew the simplicity and the renewal of that child of God in my heart. And Christmas time it is especially renewed since so much of the whole world is celebrating. So everyday I try to create that spirit of the child in my life.

I grew up with many traditions so I was used to diversity. In my neighborhood, there were children of many different religions, and we used to play together. But when festivities came we knew we had different festivals. But they all helped me understand the purpose of life, which is God and happiness, immortality, joy, and bliss. And I think that’s what’s important.

Sometimes it’s hard for me to say how I want to be but this is the maximum I can try. There are a few activities and a few rituals that I do as a routine. Ritual is not just doing something physically. Real ritual is to lose your physical, mental, and intellectual entity to God. To merge with God. By offering these things to God through ritual we are getting rid of our ego. Through ritual and offering we are able to recognize that everything is only a gift of God. That “I-ness” goes away.

Ritual is also to help us attain a state of presence where we can recognize we are one with God. There are certain things that I do in my morning prayer. There is a schedule but it’s not a fixed schedule. I bring my own food to work; I don’t eat outside food. I’m a vegetarian. It’s important to me to acknowledge all life is sacred. Most Hindus are vegetarian. We try not to eat the flesh. I don’t eat in restaurants, but not all Hindus are like that. I just want to make everything sacred. Everything to me is pooja and everything is worship. Yes, I follow my routine but it’s important not to think of me as being part of this routine. I do all these things everyday, but everything I do I try to be mindful of the presence of God and that is true prayer to me. And that’s why everything in my life is centered toward God. Not that I’ve achieved it all but I’m training myself to be like that and it has helped.

At night I do prayer, in the morning I give respect to mother earth and acknowledge what’s she’s given to us. The first thing when I get up from bed that I want to do is to give her my love and respect. I’m thankful to be stepping on you and you’re the source of everything for us. Then I look up to the sun and give water and I thank the sun for the light. On full moon nights I offer water to the moon as a symbol of love and prayer, acknowledging its presence and the soothing love it brings to the world. I love the presence of all these creatures that come visit my yard everyday. They are all part of my life and so I give them some food to help remind me of God. Then I go to work and when I’m driving I try to chant. I do rosary too. It gives me a discipline to remember God. So there are certain things I do in the morning and at night but it doesn’t have to be strict. I pray to the sun, moon, nature, and birds. I pray in every direction every morning. And that includes my neighborhood, sky, earth, and everything. And I thank
God for my house and my neighbor’s house. When I do service I really want to feel the presence of God when I’m doing it. To be connected. And it doesn’t matter how you do it — through ritual, meditation, or other traditions. I do meditate as well, but I don’t meditate 24 hours a day. It’s when every moment of my life becomes transformed and in tune with the divine - that’s what I’m trying.

Rev. Dr. Gwynne Guibord

Consultant
Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations
The Episcopal Church

What are your prayer practices everyday?

I’m up by 5 in the morning. From 5-6 is my morning prayer time. I love that time of day because it’s quiet, it’s so dark out, and as I pray, I can be witness to the light emerging onto the day. My prayer involves the rosary…even though I’m an Episcopal priest I do pray the rosary. The rosary depends on the liturgical seasons of the year. After that I engage in the morning prayer as is found in the Book of Common Prayer. Whatever remaining time I have I use to meditate on those things that are of concern to me personally and as a member of a community of faith. During the day when I drive on the freeway I often find myself in prayer. So my prayer life is both planned and very intentional and unplanned. The intentional prayer is prescribed liturgy. It’s already set and I repeat that liturgy. There are also opportunities to study scripture when praying and that’s when I do that.

Prayer can be unintentional too.  Unintentional prayer is praying, for example, for a passing medical team or fireman and those people at the other end of that and whatever befalls them.

I prefer to use the Book of Common Prayer and the rosary. The reason I use a Roman Catholic rosary is because it’s longer and it serves as a way for me to focus on a meditation. And why the Book of Common Prayer?  I follow it because with everyday there are new scripture readings that are offered. I pray the way that I do because when I begin at 5 in the morning and then again end my day with prayer, it’s a way for me to frame my entire day with prayer. I begin and end my day with prayer.

Why is prayer important to you or in general?

I could not do the work that I do without being in partnership with the Holy. I could not do the work that I do without believing fervently that there is an entity that is larger than I and whom I can turn to in thanksgiving and in petition. I think that people have a need to pray for the same reason. The knowledge that there is an entity larger than us, who loves us, and is concerned about us and only wants the best for us. And so we turn to that parent, to that larger than life force that will be with us as we travail through the good times and the bad times. I feel the presence of this being throughout the whole day, when beginning and ending my day in prayer.

I believe that I am fulfilling the greatest commandment which is to love God with all my heart, mind, and soul and to love my neighbor as myself.  Through prayer one is able to see the holy in all things and in all people. Pray enlivens seeing the holy in people and in all things in life.  This appears to be common in all faith traditions.

Ms. Dorothy Savage

Consultant
Religions for Peace-USA

Former Director
Christian Education and Leadership
The National Council of Churches in Christ U.S.A.

What are your prayer practices everyday?

One of the things that have become important to me in my life over the last 15 years is meditation, or centering prayer. It helps me to be aware of some of the things that become obstacles to my awareness of God’s presence. And this has become more important to me than all of my studies, all the things I was taught. It helps me become aware of God’s presence both within me, in the circumstances of my day, and the people I meet. And this makes a big difference with the way I live my life with these people. Some of what has influenced me has been to reflect on the way people from eastern religions have taught about mindfulness or awareness of the present mind. And I combine that with the Christian approach, which is the presence of God in all creation and all time.

I do not usually find formal prayer meaningful, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes I come across a text from Christian scripture or another tradition, and I see reality differently and that influences how I pray. For me, what I was taught as a child as to what God is, is no longer adequate. I find energy, consciousness, and love - that’s what I think of as God and that’s more awesome than what I think I believed as a child or even a younger person, where God was some kind of loving, yet judging, micromanager who influences everything that happens.

I think this change was just a part of growing up, maturing, reading from other traditions, being involved in interfaith work. I was a Roman Catholic nun for 45 years. I met many different kinds of Christians, during that time, and I worked with ecumenical and interfaith organizations.  I was exposed to the wisdom of and practices of broader Christian traditions. I haven’t stopped being a Christian, but I’ve changed as a Christian…my relations to other people and my relation to the profound, warm presence that created the world has changed. And the practice of mediation came into that and has been very awesome to me. The presence of God is not as important to me anymore as trying to be aware of God’s presence.

How do you practice your meditation?

Meditation is usually 20-25 minutes in which I try to silence my mind and relax into my own center where I believe things emerge that are tensions, distractions, concerns, worries that I can let go of. And at the same time what can emerge is the awareness of a loving presence in my life that I call God. And as thoughts come I don’t reject them, I just see them as things to be aware of. And I just relax and release those things as not being helpful or wholesome.

For morning meditation, I sit in a chair in an upright position. I also practice chi gung once a week.  This comes from Daoism and Buddhism. It is a physical meditation rather than just a sitting meditation. On Thursday evenings a group comes and has meditation here in my apartment, and we’re together for about an hour, usually sitting in silence for 25 minutes.

I also find going to church on Sunday meaningful. I go to several different traditions, usually Christian but not always. What I look for when I go to church for prayer is a community concerned about justice, that cares for one another, where the service itself has preaching that looks for wisdom. In going to mass on Sunday, sometimes I find traditional Roman Catholic prayer very meaningful. But it depends on the church. I don’t have one where I’m living now. One of the things that’s important to me is to go on a silent retreat and that can be anywhere from 3-5 days.

I’m also involved in a United Methodist group, doing travel seminars to different parts of the world, and we always begin each day with some devotion, prayer, reading, and singing, but it’s done in a way that’s natural to the group. I always find that to be very meaningful because it’s rooted in community, and a real consciousness of God. I find that sharing insights about the wisdom that’s within different scriptures is a very human thing, but it’s also very prayerful for me. It all depends on the circumstances and the group. The community of people that I’m praying with is very important to me. If it’s a genuine community of caring people reaching out to the bigger world, to those who are suffering and injustices…that’s an important piece to me. That was part of my Roman Catholic teaching. I think that to just sit and pray is not to be fully in response to what prayer is. Prayer is also a way in which we live our lives with responsibility and love and kindness. We pray with our feet and our hands too. Those who feed the hungry, those who forgive, those who visit those in prison, that kind of life is a life in prayer. I guess an image that comes to my mind that I’ve got from meditation is that prayer is like breathing. The “in” breath is that which we usually call prayer-taking in, reflecting, quiet, filling us. But the other side of breathing is breathing out in which we live a life of prayer. The “out” breath is our lives with others in need. And both make for balance.

I very much like the chanting of the Divine Office, mass, Eucharist if it is a genuine community, but if it’s just a ritual, that’s less meaningful for me.

Ms. Judith Hertz

Co-Chairperson
Interreligious Affairs
Union for Reform Judaism

I like community, being all together and reaching out to one another. In Judaism, prayer is a communal event - there’s a regular service, just as there is in most traditions - but it is important to see that there is a sense of prayer as rooted in community in a very real way.

Some of the prayers are sung and there are moments of private reflection. Going to the prayer service reinforces my part in the community, as well as my relationship to God.

Ms. Zainab al-Suwaij

Executive Director
American Islamic Congress

What are your prayer practices everyday?

I pray 5 times a day. Personally, prayer gives me a lot of spiritual power and a lot of strength. I pray for the best - I pray for peace and justice and harmony in the world. You feel satisfied; you  feel like you’re contributing to the world and humanity in general. And that also impacts the work that I do in this field. This is how prayer affects my life. It gives me the strength to continue doing what I do. I’m the director of the American Islamic Congress, and we work with programs of interfaith and understanding between different religions and different faith groups.

In Islam, before you start the prayer, you have to be washed and cleaned. When you start praying you bend on your knees and put your forehead on the floor to show submission to God as well as reading the prayer you want. We have some certain holy days and some that we consider the special days for Muslims. The purpose of these days is for the purification of the soul and mind. We observe some other holidays like the birth of Christ as well.

We have our special chanting, but we don’t dance or sing. Each prayer has a different chanting - sometimes verses from the Koran or prayers for forgiveness, the best for the future, hope, and wishes. Each occasion has different kinds of prayers that we do. And sometimes we have happy occasions or not necessarily happy occasions. Each moment is different.

Most of the major prayers come from the Koran and are verses from the Koran, but others are from special prayer books that we have. And we have individual prayer too. It’s usually individual unless you’re going to the mosque. We pray a lot about peace and harmony and mankind. You can also look for verses from the Koran or special personal prayers that you can add to.

Rev. T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki

Resident Minister
New York Buddhist Church
Buddhist Churches of America

Prayer is for benefiting others. We pray during service in the morning. Whatever we receive we share with others, and we wish all sentient beings to be happy and peaceful. Whatever practice you do is for yourself but also for others. Every morning and every evening and Sunday services, we do meditation and chanting.

During meditation, we use incense, candles, and flowers. And we sit quietly and do some chanting of Buddhist scriptures. We do this with gratitude and respect and end with “dedication” or the “transference of merit.” This transference of merit is more comparable to a Christian or Jewish American notion of “prayer.”

The purpose of prayer is to benefit others and wish that all living beings be happy. We don’t really pray for individuals, and we pray mostly from prayer books and use the sutras.

Selfish prayer is not the way of the Buddhists. We don’t ask to become rich or successful, those things are all in self interest. That kind of prayer or chanting is not the Buddhist way at least in my understanding.