Is prayer only for oneself?

And you have also asked whether prayer is only for oneself?

Prayer happens only when you are not; how then can it be for yourself? Buddha has said: the meditation, the prayer that is for oneself becomes false, goes wrong, gets distorted, turns poisonous. Prayer is always for the whole. That is exactly where the mistake happens. When you go to the temple, you ask for something for yourself—that is the very slip. There was a famous Zen fakir, Nan-in. A man used to come to him; Nan-in taught him prayer. In Buddhist prayer an essential part is this: first let your feeling be overwhelmed, and then say, “Whatever joy has come to me in this prayer, may it spread across the entire earth, may it reach all who suffer. Let it not remain with me; let it flow to all.” This is an indispensable part of Buddhist prayer. Because Buddha said: if meditation does not flower into total compassion, it…

Osho, what should I call you—Prabhu, Vibhu, or Shambhu? I ask this so that I may bow at your feet continuously. Only there do I wish to bow for all three times. Now please hear my prayer!

So absorbed in worship that one forgets even to raise the hands. You don’t remember to bow—you are bowed. So immersed in devotion! “Now, for prayer, my hands no longer rise; the heart seems lost in surrender and consent.” The temperament is so drowned in worship, in prayer: who remembers when to raise hands, when to offer flowers, when to mark the forehead? Bowed is bowed. Bowing is not an outer affair. It is inner—an inward mood. You ask to bow for three times. You will be in trouble, and you’ll put me in trouble too. If you must bow, bow—just spare me! “Because I may bow at your feet continuously.” What is the fear? Why make it “continuous”? Is this moment not enough? Settle this moment within itself. The next moment will care for itself. Why keep accounts of tomorrow? Surely your today is poor. Talk of tomorrow arises…

Osho, what is prayer?

They said, "We don't know! We don't know that we are saints either. People have started calling us saints and we go on trying to convince them that we are not, we are very simple people, but they don't listen. The more we argue that we are not, the more they worship us! And we are not very good at arguing either." The priest was very happy. He said, "What is your prayer? Do you know how to pray?" They looked at each other. The first said to the second, "You say." The second said to the third, "You say, please." The priest said, "Say what your prayer is! Are you saying Our Lord's Prayer or not?" They said, "To be frank with you, we don't know any prayer. We have invented a prayer of our own and we are very embarrassed -- how to say it? But if you…

Question: The first question: Osho, what is prayer? Avinash, prayer is the distillation of love. As pressing flowers yields perfume, so if you press all the forms of love, prayer is born. As fragrance dwells in flowers, so prayer is the fragrance of love. Prayer is neither Hindu, nor Muslim, nor Christian. And if it is, then know it is not prayer; it is something else—fraud, self-deception. And deception never reaches the Divine. You need real steps if you are to reach the doorway of that temple. The priest said, “You made a prayer? A heinous crime! Prayers are not made; they are revealed. God himself gave Jesus the prayer; how did you make one? Still, speak—what is your prayer?” They said, “You have frightened us. Better you don’t ask us, for if you hear, you will be very angry.

Osho, there is a popular prayer: na tvahaṁ kāmaye rājyam, na svarga nāpunarbhavam | kāmaye duḥkhataptānāṁ prāṇinām ārti-nāśanam || Meaning: I desire neither kingdom for myself, nor heaven, nor even liberation. I only desire that the suffering of beings scorched by sorrow be brought to an end. Please be gracious and say something about this.

And where the “I” is not, the second half of this prayer—“I only desire that the suffering of beings tormented by sorrow be ended”—becomes transparent in a different way. To one whose “I” has vanished it is obvious that people are miserable because of their “I.” There is no other misery in the world. The “I” is misery. The “I” is the thorn stabbing in the chest. To one who has seen, “My ‘I’ has dropped and instantly bliss arose,” such a person cannot pray, “May the sufferings of people end.” He will make people understand, “You are responsible for your suffering; no one can end it until you drop this ‘I’.” That is why a Buddha will not say, “Pray.” He will say, “Having understood, help others understand. The question is not of prayer but of awakening.” Who will end their misery? Is there someone sitting in the sky…