A More Correct Way To Pray

There are many reasons to pray. In several cases we are powerless, such as:

• Health situation of a dear one
• Livelihood loss
• Impact of greater forces, such as a hurricane or fire or climate change
• Powerful exercising unnecessary destruction on the powerless
• In Auroville, revered trees older than Auroville, being needlessly cut.

A tree looking like its protected from the road construction

These events seem to happen because of men hiding behind large institutions and because of Nature aroused by acts of these very same institutions.

A society that lives not by its men but by its institutions, is not a collective soul, but a machine; its life becomes a mechanical product and ceases to be a living growth.

— Sri Aurobindo

The small weapon that felled the mighty tree

This is because the whole world is steeped in falsehood―so all actions that arise will be false, and this situation may continue for a long time and will bring much suffering to the people and the country.

The only thing to do is to pray―from the heart―for the Divine intervention as that is the only thing that can save us.

— The Mother

It does seem the only thing we can do is pray, as we helplessly watch the oldest trees fall.

But i do believe that we can strengthen our prayers — that the universe heeds the quality of prayers more than the number.

The tree that knew it was breathing its last

There is one way we can make our prayers more noble, more meaningful, more worthy.

We have add penance.

Did we not have a role in the problem? We have to admit it. Here, in Auroville (others can find some similar issues in their neighbourhood), there was a reason why many were unhappy. Everyone felt blocked. There were many who felt frustrated. Some for decades. And many who left.

There are people who feel that the old system with many blocking games is not broken enough. That the blockers will come back and return to their old ways. We have not studied the old structure and its contribution to the stagnation of Auroville. Auroville is an experiment, but when things do not work out, we have to declare that phase of the experiment a failure and choose another path to try.

We have to document the failure, what did not work. Only then can we learn from both our mistakes and our successes to create a new experiment with another approach.

As part of this exercise of declaring this phase of the experiment — the operating model (governance and structure) — as having failed and mark it finished. Importantly, we have to admit our role in its failure.

There has been no admission by people who had a role in the decades-long gridlock. There has been no apology. The people currently in power had a good reason to be frustrated and angry. Their response and actions can be wrong and have no validity, but the cause of eruption should not be denied.

Saying sorry is easier than admitting stubbornness, incompetence, gross negligence, or malfeasance. Between truth and reconciliation lies retribution.Not only do we have to admit we did wrong, but we have to face the consequences from our peers, from our community. If we pray without doing this, then we are hiding behind our prayers, where even the divine will not look.

If our prayers do not have the element of penance, the acknowledgement of our bad behaviour, our part in the creation of the situation, then how can the prayer have the power to invoke help? It is this acceptance of our guilt, of our participation, that is our surrender, to open ourselves to judgement from the community. This admission of our culpability puts the heart into the prayer, that opens our heart to help.

The Mother heard the prayers of the trees. The trees, in pain, kept doing their work. Despite knowing about their impending death, they kept providing shade, shelter, oxygen, and fruit.

The tree did its work till it the last second

Similarly, with prayer we also have to have action. We have several folks in our midst, who are taking their daily steps, ones that keep Auroville going. And try to protect it as much as possible.

We have to collectively add one more task: to create the framework of the next experiment. And this time we have to structure the experiment and document it properly, including how to evaluate it over time.

Only when we have asked for forgiveness for our previous trespasses and designed the path forward, will our prayers be answered.