IX / (ii) 

Mental

A prayer may be repeated by the tongue of thought alone. This can be done only when one can prepare a suitable ground for it within himself. One must see the presence of God and be able to concentrate his thoughts before offering a thanksgiving to Him, making free and frank confessions of all his shortcomings and seeking His aid in all his endeavours. It is an art and like any other art requires a great deal of patience and steadfastness, as is necessary in learning music or painting. To start with, the mind has to be trained and stilled by constant thought of the Master, which works like a goad (the steel rod used by mahouts (elephant drivers) for keeping the animal under control).

After offering such a prayer one must for some time wait for His Grace or blessedness, which descends like a gentle dove, says Christ.

With it also comes peace that thrills one throughout from head to foot. Once a person tastes of this he feels a perfect satiation within himself. The infatuation of the world with its wondrous charms fall off like a discarded and a long-forgotten thing in the limbo of the past. In the world, he is now no longer of the world. What a wondrous change indeed! Some people consider this as the be-all and end-all of spirituality. But this is not the case. This change in outlook is but a precursor or a harbinger of the advent of the luminous form of the Master – and much more thereafter.