00:00 And because our God...
00:01 Okay, wait.
00:02 You say conversation, how do you know whether or not he has replied you?
00:08 Hi, I'm Kwek E Seng from the Singapore Baha'i community.
00:23 I'm Seng Koo Teh Van from Inter-Religious Organisation of the Hindu Faith.
00:28 Well, Seng Koo, tonight we're going to talk about this very exciting topic.
00:33 And I know that Hindus have a lot to say about worship and prayer.
00:38 Right, yes. It's going to be interesting now.
00:41 So, in Hinduism, what form does it take?
00:45 Okay, worship itself.
00:47 This is where Hinduism, the optics of Hinduism comes in.
00:50 Where people seem to see they're worshipping a deity.
00:54 In terms of what ways of worship they are,
00:59 many ways, the worship process itself has got various degrees in Hinduism.
01:04 Yes, there are plenty in Hinduism because by the account of the deities itself,
01:09 the worship takes its own flavours.
01:12 So, it can be just from an altar at home,
01:16 worshipping with a God picture or something like that,
01:19 or a place where they built, especially which they call as a temple,
01:24 go there for a worship,
01:26 or they go elsewhere where collectively like it's a place where it attracts all these people for a common cause actually.
01:35 Oh, the rituals are plenty but they're not in vain though.
01:38 Every one of them has got a subtle meaning.
01:41 It's only that when you see it from an onset, you may not understand it.
01:45 Now, you may ask why the ritual in the first place, why is it a worship?
01:49 It's because it has to meet different genres of people.
01:53 To bring it to a bite-size, to an understanding level,
01:57 you have to come down to this level of doing something ritual first.
02:02 And do it continuously and do it faithfully.
02:05 So, you can move up to meditation, in the formless kind of…
02:12 What the scriptures literally tell you is that you start by doing something outwards,
02:19 eventually as you progress towards the spiritual path,
02:26 you start turning inwards for the answers.
02:29 What about in Bahá'� Do you have something…
02:31 Bahá'à prayers are very individualistic.
02:37 You say the prayers in your own privacy.
02:42 It's between you and God.
02:45 We don't have congregational prayer, for example.
02:50 Even if we come together and say prayers, it has to be just one person.
02:55 Right.
02:56 The others don't echo the prayer.
02:59 Somebody can pray for you, yes, but we still have to make our own effort.
03:04 And that is why Bahá'u'lláh has asked us to say our prayers in the privacy of our own chamber.
03:11 You are sincere only when you are in your own privacy, conversing with Him.
03:17 Yes.
03:18 You don't have to show everybody that you are so holy and so prayerful.
03:22 So, to us, it's an individual connection.
03:26 Yeah.
03:27 That is important.
03:28 So, the worship normally is carried out in the house of worship.
03:33 There is no sermon.
03:36 You just read your own holy script and your own prayers individually.
03:40 Right.
03:41 In our terms, the prayer, the understanding of prayer literally means in conversation with God.
03:47 That's what it is.
03:48 Exactly.
03:49 When a prayer is being done, and therefore I don't need a person, I need the divinity.
03:54 Because the whole idea of a prayer is in conversation with God.
03:57 The prayer can be defined in many ways, as if I'm asking for something, seeking for something,
04:04 or an act of gratitude, or just reveling in the divinity and trying to understand the super consciousness within me.
04:12 And because our God…
04:13 Okay, wait. You say conversation.
04:16 How do you know whether or not He has replied to you?
04:20 We don't wait for reply.
04:22 So, how do you know whether or not He…
04:24 We don't wait for answers.
04:25 And then?
04:26 The whole idea in a prayer is that unless you're seeking something, we look for reply.
04:31 We are not seekers. We are not seeking for something.
04:33 See, the fundamental of Hinduism lies with the fact that divinity is all-pervasive.
04:38 So, when I say all-pervasive, it means including yourself.
04:41 So, when there's nothing to go attain, there's nothing to seek.
04:45 Once I understand that no, divinity is all around, it is divinity that is guiding me all the time,
04:52 it's actually a revelation.
04:54 So, in a prayer, what we are trying to do is trying to seek that revelation.
04:59 Prayer in our concept, in our high concept, is still a conversation with God.
05:04 But we do seek for guidance, for example.
05:08 We seek for strength.
05:10 We seek wisdom from Him.
05:14 We seek inner vision also, you know.
05:18 So, all these are what we seek, but nothing material.
05:21 All these are spiritual qualities.
05:23 Very similar, Queng. Very similar.
05:25 So, tell me one more thing.
05:28 What is the difference between prayer and meditation?
05:33 Right. A prayer, there's a transactional element there where I'm conversing.
05:40 And meditation is you are listening to that divinity.
05:45 See the difference?
05:47 In a prayer, I'm actually trying to tell, call for, or say, most of the time I'm doing the talking, right?
05:53 But if you remain silent and let the divinity speak to you, that's meditation.
05:59 So, would you say that there are rules in worship and prayers in your faith?
06:05 Yes, yes. Because if you don't instill any rules or discipline,
06:10 He will first of all destroy the nature and take it for everything by Himself.
06:14 And therefore, it's good to have some rules and discipline because
06:19 otherwise, each and everyone will start to say, "My way is the only way."
06:24 You cannot enter a temple without taking a bath.
06:26 You cannot enter even the altar in your own home without taking a bath.
06:30 So, in temples, you see, even if you've taken a bath at home,
06:34 you wash your feet outside before you go.
06:36 You don't step into these places if you're unclean.
06:40 So, cleanliness is emphasised as one of the disciplines towards this worship.
06:45 It's the same here in the Baha'i faith.
06:47 Before the prayer, the obligatory prayer that we say every day,
06:50 we have to also wash our hands and our face.
06:53 Yeah, correct. Fundamentally, what is the purpose of the prayer means is for discipline.
06:57 You will find that this is the only thing that will follow you all the way right to the end.
07:02 Keep you sane.
07:03 Correct. Absolutely, you know.
07:05 Because when you finish your time with a working lifestyle,
07:09 this is the only one which is being… and this is what you will remember.
07:12 This is also an act of unentanglement.
07:14 Yes, correct.
07:15 That you find yourself in this world, right?
07:17 And another one important thing is you'll never find yourself lonely.
07:21 You'll find that I've been with the prayer, with the divinity,
07:24 then what is this question about loneliness?
07:26 True.
07:27 How can you tell that all these prayers you have said are answered
07:34 versus another person who doesn't believe in God and doesn't pray?
07:39 Wait, that's a very loaded question.
07:41 Because we can never change anybody's perception.
07:45 Your perception is different from mine.
07:47 And what I hold, the values, I can only tell the person and be an example in through my domino.
07:59 You don't need to pray. It doesn't mean there's no God.
08:03 There's no divinity.
08:05 Whether you believe or not, it is a divinity.
08:08 Whatever word you want to say.
08:10 In other words, you say I can get by without having to believe in God.
08:15 I believe that I'm doing very well as well, you know.
08:18 So what is the difference?
08:21 Why should I be doing that?
08:23 Actually, our scriptures got answer for that.
08:25 You see, we all turn towards this divinity of God.
08:28 You know when?
08:29 When the first fall in life and we realise that we're helpless.
08:32 If you're blessed that nothing happens like that, well you're blessed then.
08:36 But there will be a moment in life where you'll find that you are helpless.
08:41 Then you turn towards, there is something called divinity.
08:44 And that's when many people say you can hear all the world, the divinity has been there.
08:49 And this is the time you manage to turn towards the divinity.
08:54 You see, prayer comes with faith.
08:58 If you don't believe in anything, then there's no need for praying.
09:03 When you have tasted that ecstasy, that wine, you know,
09:10 that gives you real joy in understanding what life is all about, the truth and all that.
09:18 You don't look at these material things as priority.
09:25 You take it as it comes.
09:27 I'm happy to have this conversation with you tonight.
09:29 Learned so much from you.
09:31 Likewise, Quek.
09:32 So if you have any questions, please write them below.
09:35 Thank you. Good night.
09:37 Bye.
09:38 (Music)
09:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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