“The value of a stone is known only to somebody who knows about gems”

Prayer: that’s what transforms somebody. Through prayer, people find solace; some to attain the lotus feet of the Lord, some to achieve whatever they desire in life. But the main thing is to pray: that’s what transform you, what gives you this inner glow, so that you can call yourself spiritual. People, humans are always on a search. They are always searching for something. Some people search for it in the outside world. Some people search for it in the inside world. But, only few really know the importance of prayer. In the Ramcharitmanas, Tulsidas said “The value of a stone is known only to somebody who knows about gems”. Then they can value how precious the stone is. The same thing: if somebody knows the glory of prayer, the glory of chanting the Divine Names, they know the value of it.

Before I said: prayer distinguishes one from other people outside; it distinguishes why you call yourself spiritual and why the other person is not so spiritual, because there is spirituality everywhere in different ways. In spirituality you reflect the glow. And the more you chant the Divine Name, the more you start to reflect the quality of the Divine, the qualities of love, compassion, joy, happiness, calmness. You start to reflect all these qualities, which the Divine has, through prayer, through the chanting of this Divine Name. So you start to become alike the Divine. And you don’t need to say this joy to somebody, you don’t need to express to somebody that you are happy. This joy that you will be having inside of you, it will reflect itself.

The same when you take the life of Saints. Take the life of Mirabai, Bhakta Prahlad, any Saints who have attained the Divine, they glow this light of the Divine. They glow, they reflect the Love of the Divine through them. They don’t need to talk about God, but they just need to be around. Same with all of you: the more you chant the Divine Names, the more the Divine will start to reflect on you. Then you can call yourself spiritual, because when you become spiritual, all the negative quality is removed from you, all the negative karma that you have created through many lives before, it get removed. And what takes place is this joy – the joy of serving, the joy of really being here, the joy of trying to attain the Lord, you know. And this joy starts to appear with you the more you attune yourself to the Divine. But you have to do the first step, because the Divine is already there. He’s waiting for you.

Prayer, can turn all your life into gold. It can turn all your negativity into purity.