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something to God, but, on the contrary, listening to God, listening silently..."Does he have something to say to me?" All the prayers that you go on doing are pointless. Learn to listen whether God has something to say to you, learn to listen to the still small voice within you. Stop talking. Stop the inner talk, the inner chattering. In that silence, prayer arises on its own.
Prayer is a silent heart full of gratitude.
GO OVER AND OVER YOUR BEADS, PAINT WEIRD DESIGNS
ON YOUR FOREHEAD,
WEAR YOUR HAIR MATTED, LONG, AND OSTENTATIOUS,
BUT WHEN DEEP INSIDE YOU THERE IS A LOADED GUN,
HOW CAN YOU HAVE GOD?
You can go on doing rituals, but if your heart is full of violence. if you have a loaded gun in the heart... and that's what the case is. Mohammedans have been fighting with Hindus. Hindus have been fighting with Mohammedans; Christians have been killing Mohammedans, Mohammedans have been killing Christians. Religions have been a calamity to the world, not a blessing, a curse, not a benediction. More people have been killed, butchered, murdered, raped, in the name of religion than in any other name.
This is very strange! Prayer is on the lips, and a loaded gun in the heart. Unless your inner violence disappears, you cannot be prayerful.
And why is there inner violence? Because there is competition: everybody is trying to outdo others; everybody is trying to go ahead of others. That's what you have been taught: to be ambitious. Ambition is the root cause of all violence, and ALL your education is that of ambition: "Be the first! Attain to the gold medal!" And then your whole life you are trying to be the first, to become the prime minister or the president.
We teach people ambition, competition. And when you are ambitious, how can you be prayerful? And when you are ambitious, how can you turn in? Ambition has to be fulfilled there, outside -- in New Delhi, in Washington, in Moscow -- somewhere there.... These are the new holy places.
The ambitious person cannot turn in; it is impossible. The competitive person cannot turn in; he is always looking at the other, he is always at war. How can he
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