'With prayer, you can win'

faith can move mountains, but distorted beliefs can create mountains where none exist, says shiv khera. i come from a family where we have deep rooted faith in god. i do believe in super power and am spiritual too. i pray everyday but i am not ritualistic. in last 30 years, i have been to the temple maybe twice. i pray at home, i have a place of worship at home, just above my television.i have a lord shiva idol and i have two short but meaningful prayers that i follow everyday, for nearly three decades now. first is the serenity prayer — "god grant me the serenity to accept things i cannot change. courage to change the things i can and wisdom to know the difference." it's a simple prayer with a deep meaning. for example, i cannot change my height or colour, so let me accept it graciously and not grudgingly. and instead of brooding, i should have courage to try and change the things that i really want to. my second prayer is — 'god haelp me to remember that nothing is going to happen today, that you and i cannot handle together'. with god as my partner, i am never alone. and this gives me a tremendous feeling of comfort, confidence and security. i also practice autosuggestion, which involves positive statements and visualising. it is mostly deep breathing and concentration, which helps me relax. autosuggestion is a way to program and condition the mind to make a statement into a self-fulfilling prophecy. i don't believe in palmistry, astrology and nor in enriching the priesthood. i am fond of reading and have read swami vivekanda, guru nanak, dr rajaram mohan roy's and found that they were not ritualistic, they all were against superstitious ignorant behaviour. i also agree with what swami vivekanda said — 'if you respect your mother only then can you respect someone else's mother.' merely performing rituals is not prayer. i do not think that one can attain bliss in mountains and jungles, that is escapism, one should not be indifferent to human behaviour and run away from life's problems. i am against superstition and fatalistic attitude. its shocking to read about brutalities conducted in the name of religion. i personally feel that faith can move mountains and the story of david and goliath illustrates this. but remember distorted faith can create mountains where non-exists. for me diwali and dasera are symbolic festivals where good triumphs over evil. this is a wonderful message, sadly not remembered today. one has to conquer evil within oneself and in society. i celebrate diwali with my family, but we do not have any rituals. we all pray to goddesses laxmi that god help us to earn money in the most honourable and honest way and that the money be used for the health and prosperity of our family and society. in good and bad times with faith in god i have found peace and courage to stand and go on in life. i also firmly believe that our wishes and prayers are answered, if they are harmonised with our actions, so what you do and the kind of life you lead also matters".