Date: November 21, 2025
Venue: Sri Aurobindo Society
As part of the 2025 edition of Sri Aurobindo Society’s Annual Women’s Council Seminar (November 20-22, 2025), Dr. Beloo Mehra was invited to give a talk on Friday, November 21. The seminar’s theme for 2025 was Significance of Prayer, so Dr. Mehra spoke on the topic – The Ultimate Value of Prayer.
Dr. Mehra began with reciting a prayer given by Sri Aurobindo to a disciple and requesting that all participants concentrate on that prayer for a few moments. She then opened her talk with a few stories that demonstrate the various ways in which prayer helps connect the devotee with the Divine. She briefly narrated the stories highlighting how the prayer can act as a bridge between the finite and limited human individual and the Infinite and Omnipotent Divine.
The ultimate value of prayer, Dr. Mehra emphasied, lies in its ability to connect the individual with the Divine, aligning the human consciousness with higher truths and fostering a transformative relationship with the universal force. Prayer is not merely a petition for external outcomes; it is a profound act of aspiration, surrender, and communion with the deeper essence of existence.
She added that as far as the psychological and spiritual value of a prayer is concerned, prayer concentrates the mind and heart on the Divine, cultivating a sincere aspiration for growth, guidance, and transformation. It calms the restless mind and vital emotions, creating a space of stillness where clarity and insight can emerge. Prayer can provide strength in times of difficulty, helping individuals face challenges with courage and equanimity.
Dr. Mehra then emphasised that prayer also opens the being to the descent of divine grace, which can uplift, heal, and transform the inner and outer life. True prayer arises from the depths of the soul, or psychic being, and strengthens its influence over the mind, life, and body. Dr. Mehra went back to the stories she had narrated at the start of the session to demonstrate how each of these aspects of prayer can be seen in them.
She read out Sri Aurobindo’s prayer in Alipore prison to highlight that his was a prayer of complete self-giving for a selfless cause. Prayer, when practiced with sincerity and depth, can enable the individual to transcend egoic limitations and progressively lead him or her to profound inner transformation.
Dr. Mehra reminded the audience that Sri Aurobindo and the Mother emphasized that prayer should not be mechanical or driven by fear or selfish desires. Instead, it should emerge from a genuine aspiration for truth, beauty, and unity with the Divine. In its highest form, prayer is not a request but a state of being—a silent communion with the Divine Presence.
Prayer, as understood in the light of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother’s teachings, is a dynamic and transformative practice that can take various forms depending on the individual’s inner state and aspiration. Explaining how a true and sincere prayer must ultimately become an aspiration for a constate state of being, Dr. Mehra said that we find examples of such prayers in Mother’s Prayers and Meditations. She concluded her session with reading one prayer of the Mother.