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from darkness to light. TAMSO MA JYOTIRGAMAYA. We are in darkness: O Lord, lead us, guide us, direct us, so that we can move into the world of light. Guide us, lead us, direct us, from the world of untruth to the world of truth: ASTO MA SADGAMAYA. We are living in death, we are surrounded by death -- death surrounds us like an ocean surrounding a small island -- O Lord, lead us from death to deathlessness, from time to timelessness:.MRITYOR MA AMRITAMGAMAYA.
All the Upanishads start with this prayer; there is something very significant in it. Dionysius also says:
... DIRECT US TO THE HEIGHT OF MYSTICAL REVELATION...
Although there is no God as a person, as a being, still the prayer is significant. You will have to understand something very subtle. People think a prayer is significant only if there is somebody to listen to the prayer, that is not right. The prayer is significant because you pray, it doesn't matter whether there is anybody to hear it or not. The prayer does not change God, the prayer changes you. The prayer changes the one who is praying, not the one prayed to.
When you pray you become humble. When you pray you become surrendered. When you pray you accept your AGNOSIA. You say, "I don't know where to go, how to find you. I don't know from where to start. Please guide me." Not that there is a God to guide you, not that somebody is going to come and guide you, not that somebody is going to fulfill your prayer, but just the capacity to pray is enough; it will help you. The capacity to bow down to existence is enough: you lose the egoistic stiffness. The prayer helps you to relax. the prayer gives you an opportunity to let go.
And in that let-go you start moving towards the right direction without anybody guiding you. It is the state of let-go that helps you to find the right direction -- because when you are not tense you are always moving towards the right direction. And whenever you are tense, even if you are moving in the right direction, the direction is not going to prove right because you are not right. The question is not of direction; the question is of YOUR being right or wrong.
When you are relaxed,
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