Most Indian homes have a prayer room or altar. A lamp is lit and the Lord worshipped each
day. Other spiritual practices like japa - repetition of the Lord’s name, meditation,
paaraayana - reading of the scriptures, prayers, and devotional singing etc are also done
here. Special worship is done on auspicious occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, festivals
and the like. Each member of the family - young or old - communes with and worships the
Divine here.
The Lord is the entire creation. He is therefore the true owner of the house we live in too.
The prayer room is the Master room of the house. We are the earthly occupants of His
property. This notion rids us of false pride and possessiveness.
The ideal attitude to take is to regard the Lord as the true owner of our homes and us as
caretakers of His home. But if that is rather difficult, we could at least think of Him as a
very welcome guest. Just as we would house an important guest in the best comfort, so too
we felicitate the Lord’s presence in our homes by having a prayer room or altar, which is, at
all times, kept clean and well-decorated.
Also the Lord is all pervading. To remind us that He resides in our homes with us, we have
prayer rooms. Without the grace of the Lord, no task can be successfully or easily
accomplished. We invoke His grace by communing with Him in the prayer room each day and
on special occasions.
