Meditations on The Journey Home –
Chapter 1: Journey to the East
Childhood is the most impressionable age, and exposure to incidents of hate and violence leave deep scars on a child’s consciousness. An interaction with Danny, the friend of little Richie (Radhanath Swami’s childhood name) threatened to destroy his innocence. Seven year old Richie shivered on seeing two pistols and several hand grenades stacked up at Danny’s cellar. Hideous images of hate and violence flashed through Richie’s mind when Danny displayed Hitler’s framed photograph. Richie was stunned with disbelief to know that Danny’s parents hated him because he was a Jew, and they believed Jews Killed Jesus. Danny hoped to not hate Richie when they grew up. Hurt knows no reason, and Richie, hiding his misery, asked his mother if God hated him. The contradiction of love and hate made little sense and Richie offered silent prayers to God, with faith in his mothers’ words that God did love him.
While most children may not undergo such extreme incidents, but they do get exposed to violent and passionate images on the television screen, and the budding purity, founded on childhood simplicity and innocence, is throttled right away. National Institute on Media and the Family (U.S.A) revealed that children younger than eight “cannot uniformly discriminate between real life and fantasy/entertainment. They also quickly learn that violence is an acceptable solution to resolving even complex problems, particularly if the aggressor is the hero.” University of Michigan psychologists Leonard Eron and Rowell Huesmann studied the viewing habits of a group of children from various cultures, for decades. They stated in their testimony before U.S Congress that across the world, watching television is the single factor most closely associated with aggressive behavior -more than poverty, race, or parental behavior. Repeated exposure to pornographic and vivid scenes of bloodshed and violence degrades the consciousness.
Due to living at a time when TV was not so widespread, Richie (now Radhanath Swami) was spared the television onslaught; the onslaught of hatred that he did face, he tried to deal with by spending his nights whispering a silent prayer to God in his thoughts.
Richie prayed in bed, until he fell asleep. In prayer he found a sense of shelter, and that someone was listening to him. Being inspired by his example, I have personally tried praying and must confess, despite all my shortcomings, it is indeed a powerful tool. From little Richie to Radhanath Swami, the essence hasn’t changed. He still prays, and once when a student asked if he could write letters to him, Radhanath Swami humbly replied, “Of course you can”. The student then enquired, “Do you also write letters to God and to your guru?” Radhanath Swami smiled, “I am not a writer, I am more of a prayerer. I love to pray.” As a seven year old, he revealed the power of prayer- a tool to perceive God’s presence in our lives and touch Him with our thoughts.
Radhanath Swami, with his saintly wisdom, cautions us from underutilizing the power of prayer, “Don’t expect God to answer your prayers for material well being. That wouldn’t be a relationship based on love; that’s more of a business deal. A sincere prayer to God doesn’t always guarantee a material solution to problems, but it certainly ensures that we come closer to God. And that coming closer to God fills the heart with a spiritual joy that transcends petty material pursuits.” A culture of prayer then solves a much bigger problem of this world- the problem of smiling faces but crying hearts, the problem of enacting a pretense of happiness, while being empty within. Prayer enriches our hearts with God’s presence and brings deep, lasting fulfillment, thus enabling us to have smiling hearts and smiling faces.
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Founder-acharya of the International Society For Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
“Go to India” a sweet but commanding voice; spoke up in the heart of young Richard (later Radhanath Swami) who was immersed in meditation, his search for meaning in life has brought him to the Isle of Crete. Today he was ordered to go to India. Born and raised in the middle class suburbs of Chicago, Radhanath swami grew up in the 1950’s and 60’s era when popular musicians protested war, prejudice and social injustice. Radhanath swami would listen to these songs again and again, but their lyrics referring to God stirred his soul. Peter, Paul and Mary- the folk trio from Greenswich village sang in their debut album
“Early in the morning, about the break of day
I ask the Lord, to help me find my way”
This simple prayer was to guide Radhanath swami in the coming years of his life........
To pray needs a humble heart, and humility is the greatest virtue valued by GOD.
View CommentRadhanath Swami by his desire, ability, eagerness, and knowledge to pray shows us how close he is to the instructions of GOD.
Resources like the one you mentioned here will be very useful to me! I will post a link to this page on my blog. I am sure my visitors will find that very useful.
View CommentIts really true , Prayers give us a lot of morale boostup from inside and have personally realised this power of Prayer number of times. But yes Maharaj incident teaches how and what to pray for.
View CommentThank you for sharing the importance of prayers and also what is the real outcome of prayers – Not exactly the material returns but closeness to God which in turn gives one spiritual fulfillment
View CommentPraying to Lord gives lot of satisfaction in this world.Thanks to Radhanath Swami.
View Commentradhanth swami shows by his example that faith can move mountains he had faith in his mother that god loves him and that faith has took him to the position of divinty.
View CommentNice level of information here. There is so much data around about this subject that sometimes you cannot see the wood for the trees but you have pitched this at just the right level so that the lay person can understand – thank you!
View CommentTo commune with God, at all times pray
Whatever troubles your heart , to Him humbly say
Radhanath Maharaj shows the easist and noblest way
To make our dreary lives simple,sublime and gay!
View CommentHey very nice blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds also…I am happy to find so many useful information here in the post, we need develop more strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
View Commentkeep up good work!!!
View CommentPrayers cuts the distance between oneself and God. radhanath Swami habituated since tender age to pray. He is really a great spiritual man. All glories to Radhanath Swami.
View CommentRadhanath Swami is a real saint who has come out of his comfort zone to save us from the onslaught of this material world. Thank you Radhanath Swami.
View CommentPower of Prayer….Radhanath Swami always prays for the well being of everyone. That is his greatness.
View Commentthank you verymuch for sharing
View CommentPower of prayer is always taken lightly due to lack of faith. But through this article Radhanath Swami gives a new surge of faith.
View CommentRadhanath Swami’s mood is always prayerful for spiritual well being of other
View Commentvery beautiful experience from HHRM’s book as expressed here in the article on the power of prayers, haribol, rajesh karia
View Commentwonderful explanation by Maharaj about the power and the effect of a silent prayer for spiritual well being and a way to connect to the Lord, haribol, bhakti
View CommentThank you Radhanath Swami for instructing us on the mood to be followed while praying.
View CommentThanks for sharing, we can peep into Radhanath Swami’s heart and his feelings through his prayers. He truly is everyone’s well wisher.
View CommentMaharaj’s intense prayers have resulted in a temple like chowpatty
View Commentthank you very much Maharaj!!!
View Commentright words or aspiration in prayers can be taken from swamiji
View CommentThank you Radhanath Swami
View CommentPower of prayers! really amazing.
View CommentPrayers are indeed the most powerful tool & medium to express our heart our beloved Lordships ! As its said “Prayers go up, Blessings come down”.
View CommentRadhanath Swami teaches us it so simply “The power of Prayers”
Thank you !
Hare Krishna !
Thank you for showing us the power of prayers.
View CommentPrayers are very powerful!
View CommentHare Krsna ! very nice article.
View CommentThank you for sharing its enlightening.
View CommentRadhanath Swami is constantly remembering Krishna and help others also remember him.
View CommentIts due to the intense desire to bring everyone out of the fire of material existence, that Radhanath Swami is making the time to preach to everyone. His heart is very merciful.
View CommentPrayer enriches our hearts with God’s presence and brings deep, lasting fulfillment, thus enabling us to have smiling hearts and smiling faces – wonderful lines!
View CommentThank you Radhanath Swami!
View Commentpower of prayer- a tool to perceive God’s presence in our lives and touch Him with our thoughts. What a wonderful definition of prayer!
View CommentWonderful article….
View CommentUsually all of us pray for material things like wealth, good job, nice spouse, etc and we also make deals saying that if we get what we ask for, then we will donate coconuts or feed brahmins, etc. But that is not what we should pray for. We should pray out of love and a sense of gratitude. We should pray for his love and blessings.
View Comment