September 9th

Deserving

Prostrate before the altar.
Are you worthy of your deity?
Can you eliminate profanity,
And strive for constant adoration?


It is not easy to worship. Simply going to a temple once a week to have a priest intercede on your behalf is not enough. True worship is a daily act of humbling yourself before your deity and offering a pure heart and holy words. A great holy leader came to my city once. He initiated 5,000 people into a simple practice of chanting. Since that time, it has been a struggle to keep up 108 chants a night. There is no prospect of stopping, no chance of "finishing."
In the same way, all scriptures must be recited. That means daily devotion. Once you begin, you cannot stop for the rest of your life. There is no room for laziness. Your body and mouth must be clean, you must be in a good frame of mind, and you cannot have uttered or done profane things. We must be worthy of our deities.
It doesn't matter if we are "getting anything out of it." Whether there is a response is secondary. The mere act of devotion is its own reward. It brings transformation.

Personal Interpretation

  Daily devotion brings transformation. Without it we stagnate. It is not enough to have someone intercede on our behalf or focus on what we stand to gain from our prayers. The act itself is what is important. It is not always a simple matter to find the time for prayer, the energy for meditation, the drive for repentance. We must constantly work to purify ourselves, must seek to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be. We must look beyond our own selves as we engage in these practices. We are part of a great network of energy. Our own interests are secondary to the betterment of the world into which we had the good fortune to be born.