The Forms That Prayers Take Match the Source of the Prayer in the Being

Many people formulate their prayers in the form of thoughts, and they are repeated according to a strict formula and ritual. In that case, if the mind is actively engaged in the prayer, it carries the power of the mental focus to tune the being to the frequency of the being who is the object of the prayer. Mental prayer generally requires an active linking to the will to become more than just mechanically repeated words with no energy behind them.

But not all prayers are mental formations. Prayers can also arise from deeper in the being, from the vital level or the emotional being, or even, from still deeper, from the psychic being. In the case of a vital source of the prayer, it can enhance the aura or vital envelope of the person doing the praying, and thus, will take on the general form of that individual.

The prayer arising from the psychic being embodies a palpable aspiration that unites the individual with the Divine in a way that the more external forms of prayer cannot do.

A disciple asks: “Do prayers and aspirations also take a form like thoughts?”

The Mother observes: “Yes. At times they take even the form of the person who has the aspiration or makes the prayer — often. That depends. Aspirations sometimes take the form of that to which one aspires, but most often, and specially prayers, clearly take the form of the one who prays.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Powers Within, Chapter IX Aspiration and Prayer pg. 84