22 August 2013 - QA 6

Gurudev, when we do Puja, who is praying? Are the one who is praying and the one who to whom the Puja is being offered to, the same? Then what is the difference and what is the need to pray?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: A river is also water and a lake is also water. Both are water. But one receives the water (the lake) and another is water flowing into it (the river). Similarly the small mind in you prays and the big mind in you accepts it. So both are there together - the big mind or the Atma (Soul) and the small mind (the limited mind). So you see the small mind which is the little self, and the big mind that is the Higher Self. Everything is water. Do you understand what I am saying? The river (little self) is water, and the ocean (Higher Self) is also water. The river flows into the ocean. In the same way, the small mind which is troubled and which is experiencing the world, which has desires and fears, prays to the bigger mind, which is present like an ocean, constant, joyful, and full of energy and the smaller mind comes closer to that.