I pray the Lord’s Prayer which comes from Jesus in the gospels at least once a day, usually when I first wake up. For me it is a simple and powerful practice to get into the spirit at the start of my day. First I want to show you the standard translation and the translation from Aramaic, then I will explain how I do the prayer and what I think, feel and focus on as I do it!
Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, On earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, The Power and The Glory Forever, Amen.
The next translation is by Neil Douglas- Klotz from Aramaic, in his book The Aramaic Jesus. Aramaic is the language that Jesus almost certainly spoke in his time, and this is his mystic interpretation of what the words of the prayer mean.
Abwoon d’bwashmaya
O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos/ you create all that moves in light.
Nethqadash shmakh
Focus your light within us–make it useful: as the rays of a beacon show the way.
Teytey malkuthakh
Create your reign of unity now–through our firey hearts and willing hands.
Nehwey sebyanach aykanna d’bwashmaya aph b’arha.
Your one desire then acts with ours, as in all light, so in all forms.
Habwlan lachma d’sunqanan yaomana.
Grant what we need each day in bread and insight:
subsistence for the call of growing life.
Washboqlan khaubayn (wakhtahayn)
aykana daph khnan shbwoqan l’khayyabayn.
Loose the cords of mistakes binding us,
as we release the strands we hold of others’ guilt.
VWela tahlan l’nesyuna
Don’t let us enter forgetfulness
Ela patzan min bisha.
But free us from unripeness
Metol dilakhie malkutha wahayla wateshbukhta l’ahlam almin.
From you is born all ruling will, the power and the life to do,
the song that beautifies all, from age to age it renews.
Ameyn.
Truly–power to these statements–
may they be the source from which all my actions grow.
Sealed in trust & faith. Amen.
When I sit or kneel down to pray the Lords Prayer I first focus on my heart. “Our Father Who Art In Heaven” I focus on the right side of the chest where the spiritual heart is said to be. Thinking of the Paratman or the great soul of God in the very heart of all beings. It is said to be smaller than one one-thousandth the tip of a hair, yet greater than all the worlds. I remember the formless aspect of the universe, called the Father, that aspect from which all things come and which can also be called emptiness, boundlessness, or the void. This reminds me of my essence, that all beings contain this essence and that nothing is really happening at all in this space. All is well.
“Hallowed Be Thy Name” In The heart I am reminded of the holy name of Ram, Of Jesus or of my Guru Neem Karoli Baba, and the ancient teachings on the power of the sound (Naad), name (Naam) and holy vibration (AUM/OM).
“Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done” Help me surrender Alex’s thoughts, feelings and actions to the soul. Let me become a fully whole and integrated being. Let me not think of myself as a separate actor or doer, but rather let God or Guru guide be. Help me fully surrender or come as close to this as possible. The great Saint Ramana Maharshi was asked “If I surrender myself, is no prayer to God necessary? He said “Surrender itself is a mighty prayer.”
“On Earth as it is in Heaven” May what is held in the deepest part of my being, of my soul, be expressed into this outer world of forms. May I make it closer to the true heaven within.
“Give us this day our daily bread” Please grant me spiritual sustenance, and everything I will need both inner and outer to do your will today and come closer to realizing the Self.
“And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” I like how the Aramaic translation says loose the cords of mistakes binding us as we release the strands of others guilt. We are asking that our karma from this lifetime and so many before, also known as our sin, be forgiven and washed away. This may also come through challenges and practices meant to purify, but we are asking now that whatever form it must take we are willing and want this “forgiveness” or purification. By forgiving others we release and heal the energetic cords that are binding both us and them, so both of us can move closer to freedom. We know the heavy pain and baggage that resentment, ill thoughts and anger carries in our spirit and to get to God we want to let it go.
“Let us enter not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” I love how the Aramaic translation says free us from forgetfulness. In the Eastern spiritual traditions this round of samsara, endless suffering on the wheel of birth and death is due to forgetfulness. Forgetting one’s true nature. Forgetting who we really are. Once we enter upon our spiritual path and have woken up to the true nature of reality we will still fall back asleep often. However over time as our sadhana deepens this forgetfulness and ignorance becomes less and less. We remember quicker and come back to ourselves. We want to be free from outer temptation it seems, but ultimately all temptation comes from within our own mind, so this is what we are truly asking for. We are ultimately asking to not let thought arise, not let agitation of mind, desire, clinging and craving spring up so that we can rest in pure being or awareness. When I say the prayer instead of saying deliver us from evil, I often say deliver us from EGO. Ego is the attachment to I, me and mine, to the sense of separateness that binds us and creates new karma. Help free me from this, and what freedom it is when we taste even a little bit of it!
“For Thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory forever” I focus on my heart and think of the light of Christ Consciousness, like a giant Sun in my Heart. Neem Karoli Baba said the heart never grows old. The kingdom, the power and the glory forever, meaning the eternal kingdom of spirit, the infinity of the soul and the pure Christ light of our true nature. When we say this prayer we imagine pulling that light into our hearts and awakening it from within. This is similar to what the Hindu’s call Sat-Chit-Ananda – Absolute Consciousness, Absolute knowledge and Absolute Bliss.
“Amen” As in all light, so in all forms. So Mote It Be, And with a solemn humility, determination, love and understanding you begin another day on the path.
