Can, then, prayer guarantee happiness? Yes, prayer can become so perfect that it, in conjunction with cosmic science, can completely expel the dark shadows of sorrow and ill-fortune from the mental sphere of the individual. Not that it renders him immune to pain or physical suffering. Physical suffering, despite a lot of prayer, very often remains quite unchanged. Nor is prayer an Aladdin's lamp by means of which one is able to offer one's loved ones a long life or ensure that one's children live up to the ideals of health, morals, intelligence and position which are every natural father's and mother's sincere hope and dream. Prayer can do very little in this respect. Otherwise, prayer would be a means of disintegration and sabotage of the divine world-plan. All such phenomena as the above mentioned have been determined previously by fate. This means, for the individuals concerned, that their temporary situation, whether good or bad, is an innate necessity. It is a continuation and necessary development of their building up of experience, a development from which they would be completely cut off if it could be prevented, for example, through prayer. It is true that it would be very attractive and pleasant if one could "save" a mother from dying and leaving her small children, and thereby remove the trouble that would arise from such a catastrophe; but if this same mother, as well as her children, were thereby prevented from reaching a higher plane of development, it can only be a divine blessing that such a prayer cannot be granted. On the physical plane, there are many possibilities of relieving the surviving little children from the loss of their mother, but there are absolutely no possibilities of compensating the mother for what she would lose by not being allowed to suffer the predestined premature death. It is not a punishment for anything but a necessary lesson, a necessary enrichment of the consciousness, which could only occur in that very situation. Thus prayer cannot be used to make undermining inroads into the plan which Providence has for every living being. If a child is born with powers which stamp it as being primitive, it is no use to pray that this child's powers may suddenly change and appear as highly intellectual ones. Such a prayer cannot be granted by Providence, because outstanding talent only exists as a result of previous experiences, work and application and, without these phenomena, creation of talent would be impossible, because it would then be produced from "nothing"; and "something" cannot come from "nothing", as we all know. It is exactly the same principle which manifests itself in the case of the prematurely dying mother, as well as the motherless children. The premature death is a result of a previous combination of fate-substances which she has created, either in the present or in former lives, and is just as natural a consequence as the outflow of water from a tap that has been turned on. Praying to Providence that water will not flow from the tap despite the fact that one is keeping the tap open would be a very unnatural use of prayer, and the granting of such a prayer by Providence would also be considered totally abnormal. Just as the premature death is a result of causes which have previously been set in motion and therefore must take place, so the situation of being "motherless" is a result of causes previously set in motion. But when something has been done (which means it has happened) it cannot be undone; the death of the mother has occured and cannot be undone. But when what is done cannot be undone, does one think that, through prayer, one can make it undone? No wonder that many people, to a great extent, consider praying to be completely worthless; for they, to the same extent, have experienced not having their prayers granted (which means fulfilled by Providence.) What is it then, they have prayed for? Is it not precisely phenomena or situations which, if they were going to be created by Providence, would have had to be created from "nothing" or Providence would have had to make what is done undone? Just as it is useless to pray to Providence that the sun may rise earlier or later in the morning, it is also useless to pray to Providence that this or that situation, or event in the fate of a relative may or may not happen, the fate being just as predestined by conditions previously set in motion as the appearance of the sun over the continent in the morning.
      Thus prayer has its own laws, its own structure and its own specific purpose. Knowledge of prayer is a science in itself. Without this knowledge, prayer will, to a great extent, be used in situations and areas in which Providence cannot grant it; and, because of that disappointment, doubt and disbelief in Providence will arise in the suppliant's consciousness. He will therefore, at worst, become a denier of God. Wanting to use prayer for something for which it is not intended may thus give rise to rather serious consequences. How does one know, then, whether prayer is used in the right way or for the right purpose? Did Christ not say, "Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He (God) will give unto you"? There is no other condition but that the prayer should be "in the name of Jesus". Yes, it is true that this was written; but is it not obvious that it is implied that "whatsoever" does not mean "everything" in the absolute sense of the word? If anyone, in good faith, gets the idea to pray that the tilt of the earth's axis may be altered in favour of an eternal summer in our latitudes, does one then believe that such a prayer will be "granted" (which means fulfilled by Providence), even if it is in "the name of Jesus"? Does one believe that one can change the course of the sun or the orbit of the moon through prayer by putting "in the name of Jesus" in one's prayer? What does it mean then to pray for something "in the name of Jesus"? Well, is it not true that, by "the name of Jesus" one understands the spirit of Jesus? Can anything else concerning prayer be of interest in connection with this name? Can it be the physical body which disappeared in the grave? On the contrary, is it not the eternal "I" which arose glorified from the darkness of the grave and from whose countenance there sparkled across the spheres: "I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live"? Does one not believe that it is this aspect of his nature to which Jesus referred concerning the granting of prayers? Through this nature of his, he was one with the resurrection and the life (which means one with unselfishness, one with the Godhead), which is the same as being one with the "all-love", which in the shape of God's plan, will and manifestation reveals itself as the universe. This all-loving or unselfish being was thus the same as the spirit of Jesus or that "something" which was indicated by the name Jesus. Praying for something "in the name of Jesus" was the same then as praying for something in the spirit of Jesus. Praying for something in the spirit of Jesus will, therefore, be the same as praying for something in contact with all-love (which means unselfishness) and thereby in contact with the divine will and the Godhead's direct wish. Can a prayer possibly have a better wind in its back? No wonder that Christ was able to promise "all" who prayed to God in contact with this spirit or unselfish nature that their prayer would be granted. How could it be possible that a prayer so strongly in contact with the Godhead's own wish and will should not be granted?
      Consequently a prayer can manifest itself in two ways: that is, "in the name of Jesus" or in the spirit of the unselfishness, where one says, "Father, thy will be done, not mine"; or in the spirit of selfishness in which it is one's own wish that one definitely wants to come true, quite without regard to the cost or how much it may harm or inflict suffering, viewed collectively or from the point of view of the great divine-plan. In the former case the prayer is granted, whereas in the latter it cannot be granted. The great problem for the suppliant is, therefore, to learn how to pray "in Jesus' name", which again means in the spirit of all-love, the spirit in which the prayer never in any way can be anything but a great pleasure and blessing for everyone and an inconvenience or misfortune for absolutely no one.