10 Things to make your prayer effective.

10 Things to make your prayer effective. "Prayer is the best form of worship!" Indeed it is, there is no denying the fact that prayer is indeed the best form of worship. But most of us do not understand what true prayer is and we do not know how to do prayer. We will discuss 10 things which will explain us what true prayer is and how it should be done to derive maximum benefit out if it.
1) Prayer is a dialogue with God.
We have a false notion that to sing devotional songs or to recite holy verses is the only means of prayer. But true prayer is nothing but a dialogue with God. You may sing a song or recite verses of a holy book but the only condition is that you have to imagine that you are communicating with God and not doing any perfunctory activity. Let us take an example of communication happening between two friends. If you are talking with your friend but you are really not looking into his eyes and at the same time looking at your wrist watch to check how much more time you have to spend with your friend, what do you think will happen in that case? Will your friend like to talk with you? Do you think your relationship with your friend will last for a long time? Such is the case with God. Try to imagine as if you are talking with a real person, a teacher or a guru or a friend. Talk with God as if you are talking to a living person.
2) Arrange for a separate place in the room.
If your mother is helping you to complete your homework or your teacher is helping you write notes, what will happen if there is so much noise and negativity in the environment. Prayer has to be done at a quiet and a peaceful place. Because of so many people around us and the sound of the vehicles and other disturbances, it may not be possible to find a quite place. But at least allocate a fixed place where you will pray everyday. Even if you cannot arrange for a separate room, find some place where you can put some holy books or idols of God to trigger divine feelings in you. Burn incense, keep it clean and there will be positive vibrations floating near that place.
3) Pray with a longing heart.
If there is a thief who knows that there is gold near his residence, you can imagine how desperate it will be to get that gold. If there is a couple who would get married after a few days, we know how desperate they will be for their marriage. In prayer, too, we have to become desperate to meet God. We need to develop a longing heart and force God to listen to us and also talk with us. There are millions of people doing prayers every moment but God will only address those prayers where there is desperation on the part of the person to talk with Him.
4) Do not always ask for favours from God while doing prayer.
If a child requires anything, he will always ask his parents for that. But what if a grown up wants anything? He can buy most of the material things using money. But if he is suffering from an incurable disease or has gone broke in his business, what will he do? He will surely pray to God to help him and indeed God will help him if he prays with a longing heart. But you should not always, as a beggar, pray to God seeking favors. A child does not go to his mother only when he is hungry. He loves his mother, feels good with her and also feels secure in her company. Even with God we have to develop same attitude. We need to develop an unselfish love for God.
5) Pray regularly and at fixed time of the day.
What will happen if your mother gives you lunch one day at 12 pm then at 2 pm and the next day at 1 pm. How uncomfortable you will feel in that case. At times you might also feel like skipping the lunch. But a mother always makes sure that all the timings are taken care of and things are done at a fixed time in the day. Then why should we compromise with the timings of prayer? Pray at fixed time in the day. Book an appointment with God and surely he will wait for you at that time. If you pray everyday at 7 pm, sit in a proper position before 5 minutes of the prayer and imagine as if God has already come into our house and is waiting for us.
6) Find your Guru or a mentor.
Not all prayers work for everybody. As a beginner you may struggle to sit for some time for doing prayer. You may feel uncomfortable and may not understand what you are doing. It is better to get advise from some person who has got great faith in God. It can be your mother or a priest in the nearby temple. But make sure that the person who is guiding you has indeed got some knowledge of God. Otherwise what he will end up doing is only misguiding you and make things even more difficult for you.
7) Never become pessimistic and suddenly give up prayer.
There will always be times when you will become uncomfortable or anxious. Doubts may come to your mind whether doing prayers makes sense or not! You may feel that what benefit you will get by doing prayer? Be positive and realize that by developing faith in God, in that invisible energy, you have already begun to reap benefits out of it. Realize that God is already listening to you and you have developed a great relationship with God. You have found a new friend, a teacher, a guide who will always be there to help you.
8) Never become obsessed with prayers.
We need to enjoy prayers. We need to feel divine when we do prayers. But divinity is the key, joy is the goal. Prayer is a means to achieve bliss and peace. We should not get up from our bed imagining that we will do 2 hours of prayer for that day. It will defeat the purpose of prayer. To think about God, love God, develop a relationship with God itself is a prayer. Reading verses or singing devotional songs are just a means to enhance our faith in God so we should not get obsessed with them.
9) Pray to God for other living beings.
You will definitely derive benefit if you pray to God incessantly. But do not become selfish and seek things only for yourself. Pray to God for the good will of humanity and all the creature in the world. This will bring purity in your mind and your prayers will start to become sacred.
10) Challenge God.
This is for the people who have reached to the highest levels in their spiritual life. If you have been doing prayers with a longing heart, incessantly and have developed great faith in God, you need not stop there, you need to move on.
You can challenge God to talk with you. Speak to God, "This is the highest stage I have reached and I have made all possible efforts to get your vision. Now if you do not come to me then I will ....."
God will have no option but to take you in his lap with tears in his eyes and smile on his face.