Prayer Is a Consequence of Real Meditation - OSHO

Prayer Is a Consequence of Real Meditation

"Kabir will suggest meditation, Buddha has suggested meditation, I suggest meditation. Meditation is a different approach: it has nothing to do with God, it has something to do with you, with your mind. It has to create a silence within you, a deep utter silence. In that utter silence you will start feeling the presence of God.

"Prayer is a consequence of real meditation. Only a meditator can pray because he knows, because he feels; because now God's presence is not just an argument, not a logical thing, but something experienced, something lived. And then prayer is no longer a complaint. Then prayer is a surrender, then prayer is pure love – no desire attached to it, no conditions. It is sheer gratefulness.

"Let prayer come after meditation. You meditate. Meditation will prepare your heart, it will cleanse you. It will cleanse you of your thoughts, it will throw out all the rubbish that you have been carrying in your head for ages, for lives; it will make space for prayer to happen. Meditation is like preparing the ground for a rosebed: prayer is like a rose. First you have to prepare the ground, you have to remove the weeds, you have to change the soil, you have to throw out all the stones.

"Meditation prepares the bed. And only in a prepared bed can you plant roses. Otherwise weeds will overrun your roses and weeds will exploit the whole soil and your roses will not get much, they will be poor roses. And if there are stones in the ground the growth of the roses will be stunted.
"First prepare the ground, then prayer happens on its own accord. Prayer is something that you cannot do. Meditation is something that you can do because it has something to do with your mind."

Osho, The Revolution, Talk #2