Prayer In Hinduism

According to the Meriam Webster dictionary, prayer is an address (as a petition) to God or a god in word or thought. There are many different religions and everyone has a different way to pray, address, or become closer to their god, gods, or goddess. Most religions have a quiet to yourself kind of prayer and a loud kind of prayer. Hinduism is one of those religions. They have a couple of ways and places to address their god, gods, and/or goddess. They also have daily rituals of praying.

Every day Hindus have a daily routine, their daily rituals, that they follow. These are called dinacharya, this is from the time they wake up to the time that they go to sleep at night. There is a twelve-hour time separated into five parts that they are supposed

to pray; dawn, morning, mid-day or noon, afternoon, and evening.(hindugajuri.org) In Hindu, they have special names to represent that time; Pratahkal representing dawn, Sangavkal for morning, Madhyanhakal for mid-day or noon, Aparanhakal for afternoon, and Savanhakal for the evening. (hindugajuri.org) All these times require them to do different things, but they are all times of praying to their god or goddess. Time to give them a break for the natural world. All of them require them to stop, kneel down on the ground at pray to their god and/or goddess.

When the time of the day comes that they are required to pray, they do it.

This can be at home, in a temple, at the grocery store, or wherever they may be located. If they are at home, they will have a shrine set up to represent their personal and family god or goddess. This can take up a whole room, but it usually will be set up in a corner of a room and that becomes a scared area to them. (Library of Congress) This signifies their devotion to their god or goddess or they call it bkati. (Muesse) If one is out in public and it is a time to pray, they will stop and kneel down and quietly to themselves. It would be a prayer to their personal god or goddess because it is by themselves. If they are in the temple there is usually a priest that is leading the prayers. When the priest is leading it, he is praying out loud, it would be louder than when someone is just praying to themselves. There can be many people there, so usually they will not all pray to their personal gods, they will be united and pray to the village or town’s god or goddess. In all of these places, there are many different gods that one could be praying or worshipping to. Some of the most common gods are Krishna, Rama, and Brahma. Krishna and Rama are incarnations of Vishnu, who is another popular god to be prayed to or worshipped. (V) If they are praying to a god then they will need to pray to a goddess as well. Many of the goddess get jealous and can do some very evil things if they are not being prayed

or worshipped to as well. Two of the major goddess that will do this is Durga and Kali. They will kill or require a human sacrifices to get what they want. (Muesse)
When they are praying they will either be on their knees leaned over so that their hands and head are on the ground or they could lay their whole body on the ground. This is showing that one is surrendering themselves to their god or goddess. When one prays it is a chant. They could chant their god or goddess’s name. For example, if one was praying to Krishna, they would chant “Hare Krishna” and “Hare Rama” repeatedly. This is representing three different gods, but it is referred to as “the Hare Krishna” chant. Hare is representing the god Vishnu. (Wikipedia.org) They chant to invite their god or goddess to come to where they are.
When they come they will worship them and offer them gifts. They will wash their feet, offer them food, water, flowers, fruit, incense, and light. (V) When they get them to a comfortable place they will begin singing hymns and prayer of gratitude to them. They will offer the food to the gods or goddesses first and then they will get the leftovers, that way they are eating the same things as the gods or goddesses. (V) It is then considered sacred or holy. This mainly only happens in a temple. The chanting or praying can be a very short, only lasting a minute or two. When a priest is doing a service, that chanting or praying can last up to an hour. They usually have music that they will chant to. During this time would be when they give their offerings. They will begin by waving these thing in front of a picture or shine of their god or goddess. (V) When they are in their homes or anywhere else they chant or pray, but the offering may not be as great because they are not in a position to be able to give a significant gift or offering. When they are chanting they are speaking in Sanskrit which is a polysemic language. (Wikipedia.org)
Hindus dedicated themselves to their gods and goddesses.

No matter where they are, if it is time to pray, they will stop and pray to their god or goddess whether it is to their personal god or goddess or their village or town’s god or goddess. This is a lifestyle that they are required to live in order to be reincarnated to a good or better life than before. Even though it is strict, one must make it their own. If one would like to be reincarnated to a better life, then they should dedicate themselves fully, if they are fine with the way they live then they must keep up what they are doing, if they are not happy with their life then they need to increase what they are doing and take their faith to the next level and fully dedicate themselves. They have rights and choices. It is what they do with them that

counts.