{"id":809,"date":"2023-10-18T20:12:40","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T00:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/alignment\/?p=809"},"modified":"2023-10-18T20:12:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T00:12:40","slug":"week-of-prayer-for-world-peace-day-4-hindu-prayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/alignment\/2023\/10\/week-of-prayer-for-world-peace-day-4-hindu-prayers\/","title":{"rendered":"Week of Prayer for World Peace (Day 4) Hindu Prayers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Hindu festival of Navratri in honor of the mother goddess falls within the Week of Prayer for World Peace (image: Canva)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

On this fourth day of the <\/span>Week of Prayer for World Peace<\/span><\/a>, we pray for <\/span>those we perceive as enemies<\/span>.<\/span> Savita Singh offers a prayer from the Hindu tradition. The Week of Prayer coincides with the nine days of <\/span>Navaratri<\/span><\/a> in honor of the nine forms of <\/span>Durga<\/span><\/a>, the mother goddess. The universal mother is known by many names, and in today\u2019s prayer, we pay homage to her as Shakti and to her power in overcoming the maya<\/em>, <\/span>the physical and mental reality in which we live that keeps us from our true state of consciousness.<\/span> Savita explains that maya<\/em>, illusion, is one of the greatest enemies according to Hindu belief. Only when we can defeat this enemy can we find the divinity within us as we conquer our egotism, our conceit, and our attachments. <\/span>This keeps us from achieving the ultimate state of nirvana. As we pray for those we perceive as enemies, we keep closely in mind the ways that we are gripped by the enemy of illusion.<\/span><\/p>\n