Daily Prayer for Peace

Praying for the Welfare of Others

On the path of pure devotion to Krishna, where does praying for others fit in?

“Thank you!” I said when a friend brought me a plate of lunch. “Can I do anything for you?”

“Please pray for me,” she replied. “Ask that I can do better service for Krishna.”

Later that day I saw a posted notice about a devotee’s illness that included a request for prayer. I often pray for others, and have also done my share of asking others to pray for me.

A few days before Sridhara Swami, an ISKCON leader and guru, left this world several years ago, I asked him if I could do anything for him. He requested me to research and write about praying for others, often called intercessory prayer.

“So many people say, ‘Would you pray for me?’ or ‘I’ll pray for you,’ but I wonder if that is just something people say, or if they really do it,” he said. “We should research how praying for others is part of spiritual life, what we pray for, and the mood we should have.”

For a deeper understanding of intercessory prayer, I turned to India’s ancient scriptures, especially the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Praying for Others

After the great war at Kurukshetra, one of the few warriors left alive on the defeated side was Ashvatthama, son of Dronacharya, the martial guru of the Pandavas. Ashvatthama wanted to ensure that the dynasty of the victors at Kurukshetra, the Pandavas, would end with them. He therefore killed the Pandavas’ five sons, but a grandson was lying in embryo within the young widow Uttara, wife of Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu.

Ashvatthama was a brahmana by birth though not by character. Still, he knew how to use supernatural weapons and could cause an abortion from a distance with a brahmastra that could home in on a specific target. Ashvatthama threw the weapon at Uttara’s womb, and she felt her child to be in danger. She raced to Arjuna and Krishna.

“Let the weapon destroy me if you like,” she prayed to Lord Krishna, “but please save my baby!”

Krishna then entered her womb in a four-armed form, foiling Ashvatthama. The Pandava line would continue.

In this historical account from the Srimad-Bhagavatam, a devotee of Krishna prays for another’s welfare. There are other notable examples in scripture of prayer for others. Prahlada asked the Lord to give mercy to his father, who had tried to kill him numerous times. King Ambarisha also prayed that his would-be murderer, Durvasa, be excused.

Some notable devotees have prayed for forgiveness for a family member who committed an offense to others. When the serpent Kaliya attacked Krishna, his wives prayed for his release. When the sage Samika’s son cursed King Parikshit to die, the sage begged Krishna for his son’s pardon.

There are also historical examples of devotees praying for others’ spiritual enlightenment. Vasudeva Datta, an associate of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, asked to take on others’ sinful karmic reactions so they could attain bhakti, love of God. Prahlada and Lord Brahma both implored the Lord to grant spiritual benedictions to people in general.

Although there are few instances in scripture of praying for others’ protection from disease, injury, and general harm, we do find that Yashoda Devi, Krishna’s mother, often prayed for her son’s protection, and the context seems to indicate that such prayers for others’ bodily safety were a common part of the cultural tradition that surrounds ancient India’s spirituality.

The Role of Mood

Prayer to God could be considered an inherently pure activity, but intent or mood affect the purity of prayer. So, while prayer to God is one of the items of pure devotional service, those who offer prayers for others should consider their own motives. We do not want to try to use God as our servant.

Often, prayer for others takes the form of asking God to relieve someone of suffering. Due to the law of karma, people suffer as a reaction to their own sinful deeds. Ultimately it is Krishna, or His deputed agents, who have ordained suffering for the person’s rectification. So, when we pray for others, are we presuming to know better than God how to run the universe, or one life within it? No. We are simply trying to develop our natural relationship of dependence on Him. Even the most exalted saintly devotees naturally turn to Krishna when they or others are in danger. Such dependence is the natural loving relationship of the pure soul to Krishna.

Praying for others focuses our attention on Krishna rather than on thinking ourselves the controllers of the world. If we don’t turn to Krishna, we might develop a mood of carelessness and irresponsibility in our dealings with others, even becoming cold-hearted in response to others’ difficulties. Taking our time and energy to pray for others helps us develop selflessness.

Those who pray for others in a mood of pure love for Krishna know that everything is up to Him. It is not the volume or intensity of prayer that changes a situation; it is Krishna and His will. It is true that there are cases in scripture where the Lord changes things at the behest of His devotees. But while Krishna may sometimes change His decisions out of love for those who petition Him, He always has the ultimate deciding power. Those who pray for others, therefore, think, “Whatever you want, Lord, is all good.”

Throughout the scriptures, those who want spiritual enlightenment are advised to do good for others. Activities to benefit others are both a prime symptom of spiritual advancement and an essential part of the process to achieve enlightenment. Offering intercessory prayer can enhance such a mood of openhearted service.