Conversation

Replying to
This isn’t snark. Most of my family believes in prayer. My father has said daily prayers all his life (though mostly the meditative rather than supplicatory type). Praying for vague or specific good fortune is routine in India. For grades, cures for disease, etc.
1
11
Hinduism is weird that way. There’s a range of prayers and hymns ranging from metaphysical contemplation and epic memory genres to very specific intentional wishing.
1
5
It’s kinda hilarious that I can recite large chunks of many Sanskrit hymns (they tend to be long do memorizing complete ones is a feat) simply by virtue of having picked them up through repeatedly hearing them and barely understanding 10-25%.
1
8
My older relatives are convinced it does me good anyway. Even uncomprehending listening and rote parroting ability picked up despite yourself.
2
9
Replying to
Can you elaborate a little .. bhakti maarga is an easy way to realize ultimate n realization of the vast (பரம்பொருள்) Not sure abt the expectations of super natural intervention .. atleast I haven't seen that in any Hindu texts .. then there is karma Maarga n Jnana maarga
3
Show replies
Replying to
Most institutionalized forms of prayer are a social organization mechanism more than a legit request for supernatural intervention. Whereas that's generally NOT true for magical incantations and occult rituals.
Replying to
Isn’t the material difference some idea of ‘reward system based stability ’? Once institutional incantations stop generating rewards, people bail. The occult seems to instill a much slower moving recalibration to reward systems.