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Seeking shelter in prayerme
December 6, 2010  |  radhanath-swami

Little Richie (now Radhanath Swami) was shaken by the experience at Danny’s cellar; he was exposed to hand grenades, pistols, and words of hate. He wondered if God hated him. Despite his mother’s assurances, Richie struggled to reconcile the emotions of love and hate, and the connection of these emotions to God. He often stayed up in bed praying to God. In prayers he felt a sense of shelter and and that someone up there was listening to him. He however desired to know this person called God; was he some invisible cloud or a friend whom he could touch with his thoughts.

I was stunned on reading this account. Even as a young child, Radhanath Swami prayed and felt prayers as the best means to reconcile confusions about life in this world. So often we seek to reconcile contradictions by relying on our intelligence. The more we analyze the complexities of life and especially human relationships, the more it appears bewildering. We wonder why certain situations are the way they are; why people don’t change and toe our line of thought. We wonder why the world is so different from the ideals we strive for. The constant and rigorous search through intellectual wrangling is not only tiring, it often offers inconclusive results. On the other hand when faced with such confusions, we could attempt an alternative- helplessly praying to God- and experience a world of difference. Not only is this exercise refreshing, over a period of time, God also reveals the answers from within. The confusions that Radhanath Swami experienced as little Richie, we face in our daily social interactions. Unfortunately, due to a lack of spiritual training most people attempt to resolve them by forming opinions and passing prejudiced judgments. Radhanath Swami is wonderfully teaching us the merits of taking shelter of prayer in such situations.

Radhanath Swami shares his experiences candidly; helplessly praying to God shifts the focus from the self to God. Most anxieties occur due to our deep rooted conceptions that I am the doer. When we instead turn to God we access a power beyond our own- the spiritual power of God. This experience fills the heart with inner contentment and provides us the strength to face unexpected trials soberly.  This also purifies our intelligence and enables us to discover reasonable solutions to our confusions.

Even if our problems are unresolved despite constant prayers, we can seek solace in the fact that a bigger problem is getting solved; our loving relationship with God which was hitherto dormant and unexplored now promises to blossom. The maturing of this relationship then ensures eternal residence in the kingdom of God. Radhanath Swami’s realizations give me strength and hope, “please remember that God is more desperate that you turn to Him than you are interested to revive your relationship with Him. If we just make a beginning by taking one step towards Him, He reciprocates by taking ten steps towards us.”

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62 Comments


  1. “Most anxieties occur due to our deep rooted conceptions that I am the doer.” it’s stunning statement by Radhanath Swami.

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  2. H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj ki jai.

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  3. very nice instructions

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  4. What an amazing and articulate way to describe Prayers. We all pray without understanding the rationality of it, as our parents told us we need to pray. However, on understanding the power of prayers and their essence, it makes us more serious in our Prayers. Thanks.

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  5. I am amazed at this statement——“Even if our problems are unresolved despite constant prayers, we can seek solace in the fact that a bigger problem is getting solved; our loving relationship with God which was hitherto dormant and unexplored now promises to blossom.”
    I never thought of it in this way.

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  6. Sometimes it just happens that you are thinking about something and all of a sudden you find yourself hearing or reading something exactly on the same topic. Radhanath Swami Maharaj inspires from his example.

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  7. Radhanath Swami Maharaj knows God!

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  8. These words of Radhanath Swami are impacting and penetrating – praying to God shifts focus from self to God, and we can find solace that a bigger problem is being solved.

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  9. no doubt Radhanath maharaj is a special soul blessed by Shrila Prabhupada and Krishna. we are so fortunate that we can get his association from his articles. thank you Maharaj

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  10. Radhanath Swami is teaching us the power of sincere prayers.

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  11. Thanks Maharaj. Its true Power of Prayers is so strong that it can create miracles. Also this act diverts us from being the doer to center the same to GOD

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  12. Prayer is the best weapon for a devotee to fight in this material world

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  13. Jitendra Pardeshi

    Such a contemplation, prayerful moood and dependancy on God from early childhood….very inspiring…Thank you Radhanath Swami Maharaj.

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  14. Since childhood itself Radhanath Swami has been searching for deepre meaning of life than just clothes, toys, cars etc.

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  15. This shows that Radhanath Swami’s saintly qualities were inborn within him, not developed over time. They were just refined by meeting the right guru.

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  16. Based on this I understood that miseries in life can be good if they take us closer to God. Radhanath Swami turns to God for every situation in life, praying to remain a servant of God always.

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  17. Let us take a cue from Radhanath Swami’ instructions and spend some time regularly in praying. Thus, we will come to realise what we read above, and end-up appreciating Radhanath Swami more than ever.

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  18. Maharaj was born devotee…

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  19. Thanks for sharing the story!

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  20. Very nice message Radhanath Swami has given here. As long as we think we are the doers, the feeling of surrender to Lord will never come. Only when we surrender to Lord with the feeling that I can’t do anything now, then only mercy from the Lord would be showered upon us.

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  21. Thank you very much.

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  22. Radhanath Swami emphasizes on Power of Prayers how it can help one in spiritual life

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  23. Arjun K Ramachandra

    I never thought of prayers the way it is beautifully explained here. I was very touched by the statement ”Even if our problems are unresolved despite constant prayers, we can seek solace in the fact that a bigger problem is getting solved; our loving relationship with God which was hitherto dormant and unexplored now promises to blossom.”

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  24. Nice inspiring article on ‘Power of Prayers’…..

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  25. Deeply inspiring article.Thank you so much Maharaj.

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  26. Even a small prayer can help us connect our lost relationship with the Lord. Thank you very much Maharaj for teaching us this.

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  27. Very nice article.

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  28. wonderful experience, thank you Maharaj for all the love and guidance, haribol, bhakti

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  29. ” when the Lord gives an order along with it comes the power to fulfill it – if we take shelter ” – HHRNSM, thank you Maharaj for such inspiring statements, haribol, rajesh karia

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  30. This is such a wonderful solution to purify our thoghts and channalized them towards the prayers..instead of trying to analyse the worldly relations. Its so simple to let all that go and simply pray to the Lord and leave it to him to solve all problems.Thank you Maharaj for helping us .

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  31. I still remember the class which Radhanath Swami gave on power of prayers ie. how prayers could bring us closer to the Supreme Lord he gives examples of Gajendra, and so many other personalities.

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  32. Prayers help us to go beyond our material bodies and get access to divine power of GOD, thank you Radhanath swami for this point.

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  33. Radhanath Swamis instructions are very practical if one follows it his life will be perfect

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  34. thank you Radhanath Maharaj for always inspiring us with your wonderful instructions

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  35. Thank you for sharing this wonderful very important aspect of existence – to seek shelter in prayers.

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  36. prayers are the best way to keep connected to God, these prayers purifies our intelligence and then we can see the things that are happening in our lives as they are.

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  37. All Glories To H.H Radhanath Swami Maharaj

    What an beautiful experience. If we just take this instructions of taking shelter of GOD always, we are in all likelihood suppose to win only on the path of spirituality.

    Hare Krishna

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  38. Madana Kishore Das

    A very nice point made in this article: “Even if our problems are unresolved despite constant prayers, we can seek solace in the fact that a bigger problem is getting solved; our loving relationship with God which was hitherto dormant and unexplored now promises to blossom.”

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  39. Only true saints like Radhanath Swami can have such profound realization on how to perceive/look at the problems in life.

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  40. POSTPONEMENT , NEGLECT, TAKING IT LIGHTLY, these an many more situations deviate us from our core activity of human form, we may be skillful and may have achieved great things in our lives, however one is yet to see a corpse functioning as a CEO, MD or simple housewife. So are we prepared for our real roles or satisfied performing mundane activities day in day out? Radhanath Swamis book ‘The Journey’ home is so inspirational in making that 1 all important change.

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  41. Very nice article.

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  42. The last paragraph by Radhanath Swami is very hope giving. Thank you.

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  43. the power of prayers is the most powerful, haribol, rajesh karia

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  44. HHRNSM once again very beautifully illustrates the power in prayers and we must always take shelter in prayers to come closer to the Lord and cleanse our hearts, haribol, bhakti

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  45. very nice article.

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  46. Truly prayers are the only shelter.

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  47. Thank you Radhanath Swami for explaining how prayers are an important way to rebuild our relationship with God.

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  48. Very Nice! Thank you so much.

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  49. Thank you Radhanath Swami for guiding us to take shelter of prayers to God

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  50. M Pandu Rangayya Shetty

    It s very much moving. Transforming the desires. freedom from false ego. Nothing can be done by anyone, its only God does. Radhanath Swami nicely proven all these statements. all glories to Radhanatah Swami.

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