PRAYERS when uttered loudly do for the time being work like a lever in lifting the mind upward and bring about a sobriety, but as we do not understand their proper value and significance, these do not help in preparing the ground for raising the spiritual super-structure. On the contrary we often feel entangled in public applause and approbation. The result, more often than not, is that we fall an easy prey to self-deception. As these do not come from the depth of the soul, they sound hollow without a single true ring in them. They may be used to capture the imagination of an audience for the moment, but do no ultimate good to those engaged in it, either as performers or as listeners. These at times create physical sensation and bring about a trance but do not lead to Conscious Awareness, which can only come with Self-knowledge. God cannot be cowed down by loud and strong words nor does He need them. He is the very soul of our soul and can hear the faintest and feeblest tread of an ant. He knows our wants even more than we do, and long before we even feel them. The riches of spirituality do not at all come with loud professions or protestations. A prayer in the deep silence of the mind and uttered with the tongue of thought alone is capable of bearing any fruit. The rest is all in vain.

Call upon thy God in all humility and in all silence.
You need not shout, for He knows everything.
                                                                              KORAN

He hears an ant's call before he does the trumpet of an elephant. 40
                                                                                           GURU GOBIND SINGH