When Somebody is Sick, What Should We Do?

When you ask for yourself it is begging, when you ask for somebody else it is never begging. We have a right, I mean it is a right, perhaps even a duty cast upon us by love itself, that when we love we have to ask for those whom we love. We are never allowed to ask for ourselves. So you see, there is a fine distinction between praying for oneself which is begging for oneself and praying for another which is a prayer to the Almighty, "God bestow your mercy on him," or "Master bless him, or her." There is no difference, you see. So that is another aspect of prayer.

We should not distinguish between who deserves our prayer and who doesn't deserve our prayer. I remember one family, two children were sick. One was very sick, almost dying, and the other was not sick at all, you know, just a little fever and things like that, and everybody was praying for this child which was dying. The funny thing happened on the seventh day. The dying child started to recover and the child which was not at all sick died. That is why it is wise to pray for all. Because I don't think we are really competent to decide who is going, and if this going can be stopped by praying.

The second thing is a little bit more difficult, because we are always concerned with human sympathy, human love, things like that: is it right to pray at all for such persons? Because if we have rightly understood the theory of samskaras, and that a person's life takes a particular course because of the samskaras, then the right understanding would seem to decide that we have no right to interfere in that process. Of course, I'm now only talking about abhyasis, and it is very important to understand this correctly.

This brings us to an important division in our attitude: on one side we have the duty as human beings to help other human beings, and that duty is always with us. On the other side, we have to accept the divine will as the ultimate thing and leave it to decide what has to be done and not. I think the difficulty in perceiving this decision is what raises so many questions.

The law of evolution says, "Become that which you must become!" Then you are in a position to help others who have to be helped, who need to be helped. Otherwise we are left to this rather, weak-kneed approach of prayer. No doubt prayer is very effective, but the prayer of a weak man who cannot even help himself? See, when a Master prays, it is almost a demand upon Divinity. God cannot refuse.

So at that stage, whether by prayer or by direct intervention in the lives of others, you are able to help in both ways. It's twin-pronged sort of ability you develop. When we are weak, we can neither help ourselves nor anybody else. Nor can we pray in that sustained, devoted, strong way which can attract the attention of whatever it is - God, Divinity.