| MdW: |
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What
is prayer? What is your definition of prayer? |
| CS: |
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Prayer
is a conversation with yourself or God – whatever your concept
of Her, Him or It might be. |
| MdW: |
|
Why
do people pray? |
| CS: |
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Humans
innately seek something beyond their mundane selves. So we pray
to make ‘contact’ with whatever our concept of that is. We
pray particularly when we’re in trouble, want guidance, want
to say ‘thank you.’ |
| MdW: |
|
Can
one expect an outcome from prayer? Does prayer work – if so
why? |
| CS: |
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One
can certainly expect an outcome from prayer. But it may not be
the outcome you expect or want. Like a good parent, the universe
or God (whatever your concept of Her or Him or It may be) will,
I believe, give you what you need (which may be suffering for
growth) and not what you want – which is usually the absence
of suffering, hardship, trials and the like. |
| MdW: |
|
How
does intent relate to prayer? |
| CS: |
|
Jesus
said “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much.” So it’s got to be a prayer that’s very
specific in its intention or desired outcome (effective). It
needs to have intensity and yearning (fervent). Your motive
needs to be pure, unselfish or ‘good’
(righteous). Then it has the concentration power to make it
produce results. If it’s unfocused, vague and not serious in
intent, it won’t generate the energy required for a result. |
| MdW: |
|
Is
there a place for prayer in business? |
| CS: |
|
Emphatically!
Business is part of our lives or a ‘compartment’ of our
lives. What works after-hours works during working hours as
well! Touching base with God or the Universe or the Higher Self
a few times during the day makes us much nicer colleagues. It
means we’re not forgetting what’s really important in life. |
| MdW: |
|
Do
you say prayers for business reasons? |
| CS: |
|
Why
ever not? If you pray for your child’s exam success (provided
the blighter has done the studying) there’s no problem with an
intention for a successful business. |
| MdW: |
|
What
is the junction of spirit and business? |
| CS: |
|
There
shouldn’t be a junction! If they’re seamless, they work
best. There shouldn’t be a separation between spirituality,
prayer and any of the aspects of our lives. We should live in an
integrated, congruent manner. |
| MdW: |
|
Are
businesses becoming more spiritual or more conscious – if so
why? |
| CS: |
|
Businesses
are not ‘things.’ They’re made up of people. People are
without doubt becoming more conscious of the need for their
spiritual component to permeate the workplace as well. This is
not suppositional or anecdotal. I see it in the work I do all
the time. People ask questions they would never have asked five
years ago. And hey, a guy in a Sasolburg conference asked me to
comment on reincarnation. You could have knocked me over with a
feather! |
| MdW: |
|
Would
you advise people to use prayer in business – if so why? |
| CS: |
|
Yes.
When we’re in a truly prayerful state, we’re in an Alpha
mind state. Generating hemispheric synchronization at between 8
and 12 cycles or Hertz per second. It’s a state of optimal
creativity and resourcefulness. It’s also scientifically
proven to be restful, healing and therapeutic. So when we learn
to get into a prayer state at will, it can only benefit whatever
we’re doing in business. |
| MdW: |
|
Have
you had any interesting experiences regarding the power of
prayer? |
| CS: |
|
Numerous.
Perhaps the most powerful was when my best friend, aged 31, was
dying from lymphatic cancer. The night before her passing, she
was in great physical pain. I was exhausted from all the
emotional support I’d been giving her. I took her one hand in
mine and with the other (in my mind) held my spiritual
preceptor’s hand, thinking, “Please do something to help
her.” At that exact instant, she said, “Hmm. It feels just
like Swamiji’s holding my hand.” |
| MdW: |
|
Who
(in your spiritual beliefs) hears our prayers? |
| CS: |
|
The
universal consciousness – which is ‘alive,’ vibrant and
never sleeps. At a higher level of understanding, it is we who
pray and we who answer the prayer. |
| MdW: |
|
Why
– traditionally – have corporations sought to exclude
spirituality or prayer from business? |
| CS: |
|
Because
they’ve had difficulty – as have many individuals and
organizations – in separating ‘religion’ from the concept
of spirituality. With religion, you can ‘live’ in a church,
temple, mosque, shul or shrine – and still be a demon. With
spirituality (respect for all levels of consciousness) you may
never have been in any of them and yet be a
saint. |
| MdW: |
|
Why
– traditionally – is business almost exclusively concerned
with the business of making money? |
| CS: |
|
Because
that’s the role of business - to make money. Good and
insightful businesses also invest in people and communities. But
that’s not their prime role. |
| MdW: |
|
What
role does religious and spiritual diversity bring to bear
regarding the above? |
| CS: |
|
Organizations
that are respectful of diversity will be spiritual
organizations. If they understand the healing role of
spirituality in their people, they’ll actively encourage it. |
| MdW: |
|
Is
prayer connected to religion – if so how? |
| CS: |
|
Prayer
is the universal language of spirituality. Whether spoken, as
thought, as meditation, solo or in groups. It may be a communing
with nature or animals. It may be a sense of connectedness. It
doesn’t have to be linguistic and it doesn’t have to be
religious. |
| MdW: |
|
What
other things would you like to tell me about prayer in business? |
| CS: |
|
People
who pray have a sense of higher purpose in their lives, lower
stress levels, better immune system function, lower levels of
anger, higher levels of self-esteem, heal quicker, suffer less
depression and if they do, recover from it quicker than those
who don’t pray. All of this has been the subject of some
well-validated medical and psychological research projects and
is well documented. |
| MdW: |
|
Any
other thoughts? |
| CS: |
|
Yes.
If we don’t get out of bed in the morning with a sense of why
we’re on this planet and what we’re going to be doing and
how we’re going to do it, we’ll at some point – guaranteed
– slide into a clinical depression. The single most important
dimension of the human being has to be the spiritual component.
If we resist the spiritual development process, nature and
circumstances will force us, kicking and screaming, into the
learning experience. If you want to know if you’re living a
spiritual life, two thoughts:
“If you can get to the end of a day and say, ‘Today I have
grown a little more in love and compassion,’ you are living a
spiritual life. If you get to the end of a day and you can’t
say, ‘Today I have grown a little more in love and
compassion,’ you are not living a spiritual life.” – The
Dalai Lama of Tibet.
“God will not forgive you if you are bluffing. He is the One
who hears the heartbeat of the ant. Do you mean to say He does
not know what you are saying and doing?” – My Spiritual
Preceptor and best friend, Swami Shivapadananda. |
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