Is it ok to pray for someone who is in distress ?

[Ragmaala]

I have had this question in my mind since a long time that is it okay to pray for someone when he/she is in a problem ?

I understand clearly that parupkar /gentleness or kindness is very important but unfortunately I haven't reached the avastha of Sants and never will be who can sacrifice even their own bodies for the benefit of others.

The reason this doubt has taken birth is due to a certain belief that has been established in my mind. Please help me in removing my doubt.

I believe that when you pray for someone in trouble , you have to be responsible for that person's evil actions due to which he/she is suffering. Your kamai gets less as it is expended in praying. For ex, when Baba Harnam Singh ji rampur khede were doing paths for the betterment of an atheist he was encountered by shaheed singhs. Since he was a Pooran Sant he got away with it but what will mere mortals like us do ? Thats why I am scared.

Also one time when my 10 year old cousin got infected with chicken pox , I did a path of Sukhmani sahib and the next day I had chicken pox and it was bad and couldn't go to sleep for 3 days straight. The scientific explanation would have been that I was just infected by the virus. but nevertheless it has created a doubt it my mind. i know this could be just untrue and false.

We in ardass ask for Sarbat Da Bhala, but seriously do you guys think we are capable of asking the sarbat da bhaala ? we cant do bhala of ourseleves how can we ask the bhala of whole world ? could we have saved the world from the disasters that just recently hit sichuan province and myanmar . I think only pooran Sants could have reduced this diaster by taking the pain on their own bodies ?

If someone is in distress should we just sit there and do nothing and think that this is just a play of karmas ? Will we have to suffer in place of the person for whom we are praying ?

Please help me in clarifying these doubts .

I posted this because I have a very distant cousin , a 10 year old girl suffering from Leukemia who is currently in ICU ( intensive care unit) due to some complications before starting her chemotherapy. I know this is all a play of karmas but it is pretty painful when you see someone in pain even if that person is not related to you any way. My aunt has asked me to pray for her and I will feel very guilty if I don't do so. But I am just scared because of the doubts in my mind.

Lets hear your thoughts please.

[Xylitol]

You're initial impressions match what I have heard regarding taking on other people's karms. Sarbat da Bhalla is something we are, as far as I'm aware, mandated to ask via panthic ardass, I think there is no problem with that in terms of taking on too much weight.

I honestly think that it's purely a matter of how much you are willing to give when it comes to doing ardass for others, I do not think it is a matter of right or wrong, just that it is a pun to do this ardass. But not a paap to not do the ardass.

[Matheen]

As long as you think that YOU have any power to take someone else's 'paar', you'll feel this way, which IMHO is wrong.

It's Waheguru who is going to listen to the Ardas and grant what you ask for - not your own shakti. It is your duty to pray for Sarbat Da Bhala, after that it's in Waheguru's hukam.

Same for your cousin, how can you not do Ardas for her - have you forgotten what Daya means? So what if something happens to you, as long as her pain is reduced!

Do Ardas with prem and sharda and have faith in Maharaj Ji!

[SAadmin]

sorry for off topic guys, but what is IMHO means?

[Pheena]

I have had this question in my mind since a long time that is it okay to pray for someone when he/she is in a problem ?

I understand clearly that parupkar /gentleness or kindness is very important but unfortunately I haven't reached the avastha of Sants and never will be who can sacrifice even their own bodies for the benefit of others.

The reason this doubt has taken birth is due to a certain belief that has been established in my mind. Please help me in removing my doubt.

I believe that when you pray for someone in trouble , you have to be responsible for that person's evil actions due to which he/she is suffering. Your kamai gets less as it is expended in praying. For ex, when Baba Harnam Singh ji rampur khede were doing paths for the betterment of an atheist he was encountered by shaheed singhs. Since he was a Pooran Sant he got away with it but what will mere mortals like us do ? Thats why I am scared.

Also one time when my 10 year old cousin got infected with chicken pox , I did a path of Sukhmani sahib and the next day I had chicken pox and it was bad and couldn't go to sleep for 3 days straight. The scientific explanation would have been that I was just infected by the virus. but nevertheless it has created a doubt it my mind. i know this could be just untrue and false.

We in ardass ask for Sarbat Da Bhala, but seriously do you guys think we are capable of asking the sarbat da bhaala ? we cant do bhala of ourseleves how can we ask the bhala of whole world ? could we have saved the world from the disasters that just recently hit sichuan province and myanmar . I think only pooran Sants could have reduced this diaster by taking the pain on their own bodies ?

If someone is in distress should we just sit there and do nothing and think that this is just a play of karmas ? Will we have to suffer in place of the person for whom we are praying ?

Please help me in clarifying these doubts .

I posted this because I have a very distant cousin , a 10 year old girl suffering from Leukemia who is currently in ICU ( intensive care unit) due to some complications before starting her chemotherapy. I know this is all a play of karmas but it is pretty painful when you see someone in pain even if that person is not related to you any way. My aunt has asked me to pray for her and I will feel very guilty if I don't do so. But I am just scared because of the doubts in my mind.

Lets hear your thoughts please.

I think you have misunderstood the act of prayer gravely. Prarthna for others does not weaken you, rather when you open yourself to the pain of someone else you invoke compassion in your heart which not only benefits the one for whom the prayer is for but it nurtures your heart into become more sensitive. You gain strength in the form of this sensitivity not lose it.

NEO: its means In My Humble Opinion

[Silence]

everything is different in every situation, so no point asking other people about such serious issues as they will only tell you their opinion.

I don't understand this reluctance with sikhs to ask Guru Maharaj about their problems. Its like Guru Ji is the last person that comes to peoples minds.

so Original Poster "Raagmala Ji", please ask Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj what you should do in the form of a hukamnama

[Ragmaala]

veer silence , i will try asking guru ji too.

[shaheediyan]

Good post Pheena Ji.

[Mekhane'ch Jannat]

you can only help if you have atam-gyaan, if you have no knowledge of the atma you cannot do anything. YOu can only do things to yourself, as you said only pooran brahmgyanis can 'help' others. You can physically help by sending flowers etc, but in term of prayers, how can an individual who is stuck in the muck of maya, help another when he has not helped himself. Help as much as you can outwardly, do anything for her, but inwardly always work for your own mukti.

[Xylitol]

You can still help, even without atam gyan. Baba Harnam Singh ji Rampur Khera has said that the ardass of a rahitvan Gursikh is equal to that of a sant. (in Se Kinehya)

[Matheen]

Mekhane'ch Jannat: how did you come to a conclusion like that? Is there ANYTHING in Bani to back you up?

[Mekhane'ch Jannat]

its obvious, gurbani is a means to destroy haumai. even helping people 'internally' is haumai. But helping people outside - seva - is good, as long as you do not do seva inside, in other words if you think or pray to help someone you are doing seva internally to haumai. If you do simran inside and do seva outside this is better.

Gurbani tells us all is the atma, so to pray to help someone, is delusion, how can the atma pray to itself to make itself better when there is nothing wrong with it in the first place. BUT this in inside, outside we must help everyone impartially.

Matheen answer me this, if a jeev cannot clean anant janama dee maal from himself, how can he help any other jeev. I cannot teach you how to play cricket if i don't know the rules of the game. So if you really want to help others first you must help yourself otherwise you can help superficially, which is also okay.

[shaheediyan]

Mekhane'ch Jannat,

I understand what you're saying - but do you not believe that power of ardaas in/of the collective sangat is fruitful?

It's not about necessarily empowering your haumai by thinking 'I' can help that jeev, it's more about recognising the fact that only parm-atma plays the hand - and putting your benti in his charan - irrelevant of whether your ardaas is heard or not - the aim of the game is to recognise the source of power, and in doing so submit to it.

Surely doing a genuine ardaas for someone else is reflection of daya?

[Mekhane'ch Jannat]

Wishing another person well through ardas, will no doubt have a positive effect on the person, as wishing harm on a person will have a negative effect. But what will be the efffect on an individual? only he/she will know. Each person has a duty to guard his or her psychological purity, emotional attachment makes the mind dirty. So really and truly to wish a person well takes much hard work in acquiring self knoweldge.

But I agree a collective ardas is an exceptional thing, even if done fakely. But to reiterate the individual who wants mukti must always be on guard - sarvdhan ekagar chit - there are differnt rules for different people, but good wishes towards others undoubtedly helps others, but this 'help' must come from somewhere, and if you are at a certain stage to give this 'help' may be done in ignorance. The more shaktee you have the more careful you have to be,

[tSingh]

Mekhane'ch Jannat you've missed a fundamental aspect of Gurmat Sidhant, Parmatma as saguna viraat svarup ishvar ki maya braham. That is who upasana and ardas is directed toward, the 'tuhi', and that exists through hukam. Without that you are left with little more than vijnanvaadi drishtsrisht buddhist sidhant...and without which a lot of the writings of the Gurus, which are directed toward Hari, end up being redundant or relative expressions of truth.

[mit]

from my experience you can! i have prayed for some one very close to me that was ill, and by the grace of maharaj ji, they were healed. One thing you have to do is remember that sometimes you need to pray for a period of time. In Guru Gobind Singh Ji's Janam sakhi, he was questioned and in there maharaj ji stated that any one with problems should do 5 JapJi Sahib Paath's and day, with ardaas and guarenteed, their prayers will be answered. I havnt taken Khuda da Amrit, and it has worked for me, so why not anyone else? Any BrahmGyani's you speak to will also say that Ardaas from your heart is the most powerful ardaas becuase you have shaarda and love to whom you are praying to. You need to be confident when doing ardaas, even if you have 1% doubt in your ardaas, it wont happen. Sorry Mekhane'ch Jannat, i have to dis-agree with you there bro. why would our creator, our father, pita ji who put us on this earth and gave us life not grant us a wish for the betterment of someone else. your not asking for maya, but for akal purakh ji to put an end to the time of dukh for the individual that has been written for them to go through.

[Mekhane'ch Jannat]

TSingh - the sargun aspect of paramatama is towards whom the ardas is directed, and sargun exists through hukam. So how can you do ardas for someone who has cancer? What I am saying is to do a real ardas for someone you have to see paramatma in maya, or know the sargun aspect of brahm. Know the interconnectedness of everything, then you must 'see' that for you to wish help on another this can only be done through the interconnectedness, or through sargun brahm. Upashna towards brahm can be knowing or unknowing, unknowing you cannot help specific individuals, only sarbat da bhalla, so do not pray for individuals if you do upashna unknowingly, but pray for all, this avoids the danger inherent in the possibility of emotional attachment.

[mit]

guys, watch this link :

I guy who got cured through cancer. there is nothing wrong in praying for someones well being.

[Matheen]

No need to complicate things.

I just see Waheguru as my best mate/dad and have faith that when I pray for something, He'll listen. Never let me down yet!

Didn't Guru Sahib promise to answer every Ardas where Degh is offered?

Also, Sant Isher Singh Ji explains Ardas really well in some of their deevans and (if I remember correctly) their diary.

[SAadmin]

, but pray for all, this avoids the danger inherent in the possibility of emotional attachment.

I agree with you there.

[Mithr]

Legend has it that during the Mughal period when the Mughal prince Humayun fell ill, Babur prayed to Allah that "please heal my son, by putting his illness in me". As Prince Humayun healed from his illness, Emperer Babur began to feel ill, until finally Babur died.

I've heard that you cannot erase karams, only transfer them. A karam has to bear fruit no matter what. But it is possible that through Tapp/Saadhna/Bhagti one can reduce or decrease a karam. But still the Karam even to the decreased form of the minimal as to bear fruit.

[tSingh]

gurfateh

Ah sorry. I've been too hasty again and not read the context about praying for someone else's cancer.

[SAadmin]

Mithr veer, karam philosphy is very deep..i suggest you should read into sanchit karam, kiriman karam and pralabdh karam, its listed in the atamgyan thread on the main forum.

[Xylitol]

"I've heard that you cannot erase karams, only transfer them. A karam has to bear fruit no matter what. But it is possible that through Tapp/Saadhna/Bhagti one can reduce or decrease a karam. But still the Karam even to the decreased form of the minimal as to bear fruit."

true, but only for pralabdh (sp?) karms, other karms can be erased fully.

[yours]

I have had this question in my mind since a long time that is it okay to pray for someone when he/she is in a problem ?

I understand clearly that parupkar /gentleness or kindness is very important but unfortunately I haven't reached the avastha of Sants and never will be who can sacrifice even their own bodies for the benefit of others.

The reason this doubt has taken birth is due to a certain belief that has been established in my mind. Please help me in removing my doubt.

I believe that when you pray for someone in trouble , you have to be responsible for that person's evil actions due to which he/she is suffering. Your kamai gets less as it is expended in praying. For ex, when Baba Harnam Singh ji rampur khede were doing paths for the betterment of an atheist he was encountered by shaheed singhs. Since he was a Pooran Sant he got away with it but what will mere mortals like us do ? Thats why I am scared.

Also one time when my 10 year old cousin got infected with chicken pox , I did a path of Sukhmani sahib and the next day I had chicken pox and it was bad and couldn't go to sleep for 3 days straight. The scientific explanation would have been that I was just infected by the virus. but nevertheless it has created a doubt it my mind. i know this could be just untrue and false.

We in ardass ask for Sarbat Da Bhala, but seriously do you guys think we are capable of asking the sarbat da bhaala ? we cant do bhala of ourseleves how can we ask the bhala of whole world ? could we have saved the world from the disasters that just recently hit sichuan province and myanmar . I think only pooran Sants could have reduced this diaster by taking the pain on their own bodies ?

If someone is in distress should we just sit there and do nothing and think that this is just a play of karmas ? Will we have to suffer in place of the person for whom we are praying ?

Please help me in clarifying these doubts .

I posted this because I have a very distant cousin , a 10 year old girl suffering from Leukemia who is currently in ICU ( intensive care unit) due to some complications before starting her chemotherapy. I know this is all a play of karmas but it is pretty painful when you see someone in pain even if that person is not related to you any way. My aunt has asked me to pray for her and I will feel very guilty if I don't do so. But I am just scared because of the doubts in my mind.

Lets hear your thoughts please.

Minds trick...

Prayer is not prayer when it has reasons. It is no different than prayer to win million dollars, offcourse in this case ur intentions are different but you to transcend even those intentions. Whatever is happening, other is in pain, suffereing that is its true nature, you can either try to accept that. Accept it totally, accept there is no helpless, whatever they are they are perfect, they are in pain, they are healthy or unhealthy. Accept it TOTALLY as they are, that is your True nature. However we or our mind create distinction that who is weak and strong, who is in need of help who is not. I ask if flower is part of same nature and is unprotected from its surroundings then why do we not pray for it? Why is it that we totally accept that flower that could be helped to be in its state but yet cant when human is in trouble? why is this so?

I am not saying you should not do, do as you will...But Be whatsoever you are, if you feel that u are in pain then you will try to be the opposite this way u will never go beyond it. Dont try to be opposite of ur suffering, just be with ur suffering. Accept it and it will not remain.

So go ahead pray without worrying what it will do, if whatever does happen accept it as His will...do it without expectations but with Hope.