Prayer is when the mind is one-pointed and man talks to Infinity. Meditation is when the mind becomes totally clean and receptive, and Infinity talks to the man.
~The Aquarian Teacher Training manual

Mantra is the power of the word. Prayer of the man through the power of the word is a manifestation of the Divine Itself. It is the rhythm which creates the vibration. It is the vibration which moves the universe. If you positively move the vibration, the world is yours. There's nothing standing between you and You.
7/14/87

Living in gratitude is a prayer. Actually, prayer is gratitude.
3/29/96

Each good wish, each prayer, is the power to extend happiness. That is the power of the prayer. There is no power nor worship in this Universe greater than prayer: there is no love other than the prayer.  It is the prayer: it is the worship: it is the devotion. Whosoever knows the art and power of worship will himself become God.
-KRI International Teacher Training Manual Level 2 Conscious Communication 

Once prayer becomes an attitude then you are a far-out person. You are beautiful. Then everything is for you. Then nothing can stop you. When you are in prayer, your attitude is very exalted, very gracious and very kind.
3/29/96

Love is the power behind the prayer.
-KRI International Teacher Training Manual Level 2 Conscious Communication 

Perceive, then conceive, then deliver, then nurse and then experience; this is the concept of prayer.
7/19/82

Prayer is when your heart prays, not your head. When your head bows and your heart prays that is a prayer.
4/19/87

Prayer has nothing to do with what you say and what you don’t say. It is just an intunement, mental intunement, and that is where the power is.

Asking somebody higher to come in—you have been taught this in the Piscean Age. That's why religion has failed. Religion should have taught you to call on your higher self in prayer.
3/29/96

Prayer is the essence, prayer is the projection, prayer is the destiny and prayer is the life. All power comes from prayer, not from you.
7/15/82

Prayer is tapping energy from my unknown. Whenever you want to reach your own unknown, you pray. And the only channel through which your unknown can reach you for help is the power of your own prayer.
-KRI International Teacher Training Manual Level 2 Conscious Communication 

The classification of prayer is this: a technology within a human being through which the unknown is known, the unseen is seen, the unheard is heard. That is prayer.
7/15/82

Prayer can penetrate to the very heart of God.

What are the four powers in prayer? The first prayer is of the mother. The second prayer is of the beloved. The third prayer is of the Self; and the fourth prayer is that of the Spiritual Teacher. These are the four prayers and the four realms in which they are very effective. 
7/14/82

It is useless to ask in prayer, “Give me a car.” That’s not prayer. That is projecting a desire. Don’t ask it. Just say, “God, God, God.” I mean, if God doesn’t know what you need, who knows?
7/15/82

If your word does not mean anything, your prayer does not mean anything either.

There is no power in the head. It is all in the heart. God gave you a head to give it to God. God gave you a heart to live. Head is for God. Heart is for you. Whosoever lives with a head lo God and heart to the self, his or her prayer is complete.
--KRI International Teacher Training Manual Level 2 Conscious Communication 

Head is a computer. Heart has the power of 108 suns. Heart center is the strongest of all centers. Whenever you pray with the head, it will take so long—you have to go through the intellect, thought, circumstance, environment, space and time. Whenever you sing or pray from the heart, it will be timeless, space-less and absolutely effective.

If you never speak in anger and always speak in prayer, in ninety days your words can create exactly what you are saying. When you speak, it shall happen.

Prayer is the ray of the soul.

Your spiritual name is your designated destiny, your heavenly identity. That's all it is. You may or may not live to it, but it is your guiding force. And it's a prayer. It's a prayer in the other man's word. What is prayer? It is a calling. And you answer the calling. You get uplifted. It's a plus. It's a way of receiving people's blessings.

What do we do when we are in trouble? We start praying. When we are not in trouble, who cares? Our prayers are seasonal; so are our moods, so is our temperament, so is our life. But, in this human life—which averages these days 65 to 75 years—prayer is the power. One who can do the prayer can be very powerful because prayer makes all the elements serve that person. All elements, gifts will come to that person and whosoever will give to that person will be gifted a hundred fold, a thousand fold. That is also the beauty of it.

There is no damage so serious, even though it is to the point of insanity, which cannot be erased by the power of prayer.
7/14/82

Your prayers are not answered because you do not know the projection of the prayer. How do you pray? God is over some sky or in San Diego somewhere. Then you pray to Him or to Her, whatever the case is. Actually, prayer is always to the rhythmic beat of the heart from inside. That's prayer. Any prayer outside is a waste of time, and a misleading religious practice. Prayer is not done to somebody. That's why mostly your prayers don't work. It is not your fault. You have never been told how to pray.
-KRI International Teacher Training Manual Level 2 Conscious Communication 

God is our help, the only power we have is prayer, and the worth of life is just the grateful moments we live. If you remember these words, you will always find me around you.

Without prayer you are weak. You are not complete. We feel empty no matter how many possessions we have if we do not fully possess our self. That emptiness comes to us because we have not got the inflow of the unknown into the known of us. It is that combination we are seeking as humans. It is that combination that makes us failures or makes us successful. 
7/16/82

God is so great that whosoever touches that greatness must appreciate it. And that appreciation of God is prayer. Prayer is your concept of appreciating the infinity of God which is your unknown. It is a relationship right here. Between the known and the unknown there is a relationship, an appreciation of the unknown, the vastness, and the creativity. 'Gimme a car, a Mazda. I am your good son.' That is not prayer. 
7/16/82

In the Aquarian Age, you don't pray—you ask God lo pray for you. It is reversed. Tell God, "Lord, pray for me that I should be as Infinite as You are. Make me as great, bright, bountiful, and beautiful as You. Oh Lord, give me the power of love to serve. Let me know to serve myself. Let my touch heal. Let my sight create miracles. Let where I exist and pass, there be nothing but the enlightened dance from your Grace.
-KRI International Teacher Training Manual Level 2 Conscious Communication 

Prayer does not mean that you have to jump and juggle and make a huge panorama show that you are very prayerful. It's intunement. It's a conscious intunement with the unknown. 
7/15/82

There is no power nor worship in this Universe greater than prayer; there is no love other than prayer.
7/14/82

If you relate to the known, which you are, and you search out the unknown, that is a prayer.
7/15/82

You think you have to pray like this, 'Oh God, bless me.' It's totally unnatural. God understands that you are folding the hands. The power which is folding the hands is God. The lips which are uttering the prayer is God. The fact that you are trying to concentrate is God. You might be thinking, 'I could have been eating pizza now.' Then you are making a posture of prayer. Your mind is somewhere else; you are somewhere different. But when you are in tune with the unknown, the known is very peaceful.
7/15/82 

The concept of prayer is to tap my own unknown for my known. When the known and unknown are united in the oneness of the self, God is alive. When the known and unknown are separated in any concept, God is dormant—not dead, not gone—dormant. Therefore, the power of prayer has to be continuous. 
7/21/82

It doesn't matter how you pray. Prayer is the method in which you can tune your mind. I tune my mind in one way. You will tune your mind in a different way. But remember it is your mind, it is your prayer, and it's all about you. Prayer has no relationship with anybody else. Prayer is totally your own power to tap the unknown.
7/15/82

Prayer is the power to tap your own unknown to bring it to your known and become radiant. The rest is a ritualistic situation. So you must redefine yourself. Your power is prayer, and prayer is the power. Without prayer, you are handicapped.
7/16/82

I want to talk to God. I want to communicate with him as a man to man, a person to person, a friend to friend, a human to human. I don't want to feel him outside me. Also I don't want to feel Him inside me. I want Him to be me. That is the first projection of prayer. That is the first projection of love. That is the first projection of life.
-KRI International Teacher Training Manual Level 2 Conscious Communication 

The first sign of prayer is that it comes from the heart and not the head. 
7/16/82

Nobody can make me strong and nobody can make me weak. I make myself strong and I make myself weak. When I connect to my unknown with my own prayer, I am very strong. When I am not connected, I am very weak. It’s that simple. 
7/21/82

We pray only when we are in trouble. We don't pray because we love to pray. We relate to God as our savior from trouble, not as our Beloved. 
7/16/82

When you pray you become an identity who is asking for help. You are asking the Infinite to come through for the finite. Prayer is powerful because prayer brings the entire Infinite with you.
-KRI International Teacher Training Manual Level 2 Conscious Communication 

Prayer is not done out of judgment. Prayer is just a gift. There is nothing a human can give to another human but a prayer. By lifting the fallen, you uplift yourself forever. A person thinks in 'yes' and 'no,' but a godly person sees nothing but God in everything and prays that God may come through and uplift.
7/15/87

You should learn to pray from the heart rather than head. We have to pray for peace. I know one secret: prayer is the power and it is a very virtuous and graceful power. Love those who hate you, be compassionate to those who are uncompassionate, bless those who slander you, and walk on this Earth in the light of God. 
12/22/81

© The Teachings of Yogi Bhajan