The Prayer Steps of Sannidhi

'PRAYER STEPS', the method of praying God or the order of prayer for maximum result. These steps shall be followed from one step to another in the same order as specified below.

1. Concentration Of Mind.
2. Confession Of Our Sins To God.
3. Resolution for New Life.
4. Submit to God.
5. Subjects Of Prayer.
6. Praise to God.
7. Waiting upon God.

1. Concentration Of Mind:

• When we are in prayer and meditation, we should not allow any evil thoughts to come into our minds.
  
  Thoughts of filth and dreadful things should not be allowed to come into the mind.
  
  We should drive them out by force.
  
  
• We should not allow what sin we have committed and what evil nature we have, to come into our minds.
  
  We should keep them out by force.
  
  
• The sin that others have committed and evil nature of others should not be allowed to come into our minds.
  
  We should drive them out by force.
  
  
• Even good things should not come into our minds as long as we are in meditation though they are not bad, because they divert our attention while we are meditating.
  
  So we should also drive them out by force.
  
  
• Concentration of mind must be continued during every step of prayer.
  
  
• Faith that God would answer prayer should be exercised during every step of prayer.
  
  
• Praise to God also should be continued during each step of prayer.
  
  
• The thought of God alone should occupy our minds during the meditation.

While some people exercise concentration of mind their brain becomes weak and they get mental disease.

We must beware of it.

Some people spend their time in meditation by fasting.

Cold water does not agree with some people.

Hot water does not agree with some other people.

So also, fasting does not agree with some other people.

Why should you fast when you cannot stand? My suggestion is that you can have prayer and meditation on any convenient day between 7 P.M. and 10 P.M.

after which you can have your meal or early in the morning of the next day.

When the concentration of our mind is accomplished, we will certainly think of God and we will have an imaginary picture of God.

Instead of an imaginary picture of God some people feel the very presence of God.

When we have the imaginary picture of God or when we feel the presence of God, we will be filled with the perfect peace of God.

• The very thought of God convinces us that He is with us.
  
  
• Because we have a form, we desire to see God, who is formless, in the form of man, if not, we will not be satisfied.
  
  So we have to think of Him in human form.
  
  
• When we have an imaginary picture of God, we should not think it is a pigment of our imagination because it is supported by the fact that God is omni-present.

After firmly fixing our mind on God, we should prostrate before Him with all reverence at our command and worship Him.

The hard work of the first step is now over; let us forward to the second step.

2. Confession Of Our Sins To God:

• We are now in the presence of God and before we make our requests to Him we should confess our unworthiness to Him.
  
  By thought, word and deed we are sinful and so we should confess our sins, feel sorry for them and ask God for His forgiveness.
  
  
• Before we do this, we should confess our offences against others and seek forgiveness.
  
  Prayer for forgiveness may be given as follows:
  Our Heavenly Father
  
• Forgive me all the sins I committed unwittingly against Thee.
  
  
• Forgive me all the sins I committed against Thee wilfully.
  
  
• Forgive the sins I have committed against others.
  
  
• Forgive me the sins I committed against myself.
  
  
• Forgive me the sins I committed on account of others compulsion.
  
  
• Forgive me the sins I committed to please others.
  
  
• Pardon me for misusing my wisdom, conscience and other gifts of Thine.
  
  
• Forgive me for the feeling of disgust toward others.
  
  
• Forgive me for the feeling of disgust towards Thee not understanding Thy dealing with me.
  
  
• Forgive me because many times I was inclined to forget Thee in doing my life-work.
  
  
• Now we forward to the third step.
  
  

3. Promise To God To Lead A New Life:

We should first make a promise to God in the following manner:

• O God I promise not to commit the sins that I already committed.
  
  
• I promise not to commit any new sins.
  
  
• I promise to lead a new life completely trusting in Thee.
  
  

4. Surrender:

O Creator now I surrender unto Thy keeping and protection my body, mind and spirit with my whole life as well as my house and everything in it.

5. Subjects Of Prayer:

• Here the readers may pour out all their needs before God such as small and great needs for body, mind and soul.
  
  
• They may also pour out their hearts before God for others.
  
  
• They may also put before God all their requests for the whole creation.
  
  
• Then we have to offer the following prayer:
  O Lord I beseech Thee to grant all other petitions which I have committed in my prayers through forgetfulness and ignorance.
  
  
• O Lord, I did not pray for certain items thinking that they are too small to pray for and that they may displease Thee.
  
  So, forgive our mission and grant all those requests in the way Thou pleasant.
  
  
• I beseech Thee to correct me if I have any unworthy request.
  
  

6. Praise to God:

O Creator, I praise Thee for enabling me to climb up the first five steps and to reach the sixth step.

• I believe that Thou hast heard all my previous prayers and I praise Thee for the same.
  
  
• I beg Thee to confirm my prayers.
  
  
• I beseech Thee to confirm my faith.
  
  
• I pray Thee to confirm my praise.
  
  
• O God, hear my humble prayers because of Thy glorious manifestation of Thyself

i.e. revelation of Thyself through the whole creation through Thy holy attributes, through the conscience implanted in me by Thee and in the most precious names such as God, Creator, Father, Saviour, Redeemer, Sustainer, Protector, Revealer, Supreme Being, Preserver of the world etc.

7. Waiting upon God:

We now climb to the throne of God.

We should wait upon God to know what God would tell us about the six steps of prayer, we have just now completed.

When we approach an authority or a higher officer to make our requests, we wait at the office to receive answers to our petitions.

In the same way, we should wait upon our Heavenly Father to know what He would say about our six steps of prayer.

After He had heard our prayers, our Creator would appear to us and answer our questions of ours.

What a glorious step this is! I call this step heaven on earth.

Every individual very often should adopt this method.

Important: Exercise implicit faith and praise on every step of prayer.

Notice that the first step is on earth and we gradually climb up to the throne of God; our spiritual life will gradually grow as we climb up step by step the most sinful, the wicked, the ignorant, the stubborn and even the atheist will derive great benefit by frequently adopting these seven steps of prayer.

A minister once asked an atheist to repeat several times the following prayer: O God have mercy upon me. The atheist said I cannot do it because I don't believe in the existence of God.

Then the minister told him to repeat the prayer to test whether there is God or not, irrespective of his belief in His existence.

After he repeated the prayer several times, the godless man cried out O God, I believe that Thou art here with me.