Shanti Shanti Shanti

The cry of "Shanti, Shanti, Shanti" is familiar to anyone who has read the novel Children of Men, or it's film adaptation. In the ancient language of Sanskrit these are known as adhi-daivikam, adhi-bhautikam and adhyatmikam.

Adhi-daivikam means "mental disturbances that come from God". Adhi-bhautikam means "disturbances that come from the world". Adhyatmikam means "disturbances that come from the self". The cry of Buddhists chanting the Om Shanti are cries for peace in each of these areas, much as we Christians would seek it as well.

The mental disturbances beyond our control, aren't mental in the sense that we would consider them here in the West. It's natural disasters, things that are totally beyond our control. The first Shanti is a plea to God for the things that we can't control and an acknowledgment of His power and sovereignty over our world.

The disturbances of the world are more mundane. An annoying neighbor being loud, a mosquito bite, the ringing of a phone, etc. These are all things we have control over to an extent; we can call the cops on a neighbor eventually at night, we can buy some bug spray, and we can turn off or unplug a phone. The second Shanti is a prayer to be protected from people and surroundings that might damage us.

The disturbances of the self are the only category that we truly have control over. This is aversion in some Buddhist teachings, but in Christian circles, it has a much more powerful term to it...Sin. The third Shanti is the prayer to God to remove inner obstacles.

Every single day, we are tempted to sin against ourselves and against others. It is a poison that rots us from within and separates us from almighty God. We all know what our major weaknesses are, but do we know how to combat them? I'm not really sure that we do, not entirely.

When I was at the theology on tap equivalent we hold every two weeks, we discussed our prayer lives. I do a Hail Mary for five souls every morning: Felix V. my old health teacher, Thomas H. my old history professor, Frank P. my ex's poppy (I promised to pray for him daily, and I keep my word), Pete W. & Catherine W. my uncle's parents who returned to the Church at the time of their respective deaths. I pray a decade of the Rosary a day for my physical, spiritual, and emotional healing and for my success in my studies. Last amongst the structured prayers of my day is a Divine Mercy Chaplet for my grandmother's comfortable passing; we were told she'd not live to see July, and now we approach November.

My freeform prayers tend to be mostly for others. Every time I tell someone online that I'll pray for their intention, I do it before I do anything else, lest I forget. Every time I tell someone that in the offline world, I write it down to pray it later. When I walk the cemetery, it's for the graves I've "adopted" so to speak, and the repose of their souls.

My prayer for myself in the morning is my concession to praying for me when I feel others need my prayers, but do I need to pray more for myself? I think I do, because it's a form of hubris to think one doesn't need prayer. Is that the same for everybody though? I really don't think so.

Each of us is unique, each of us has different ways of combating the temptation to sin. We just need to pray, to read the Bible, to listen to the advice of others, and to find it.

Shanti, Shanti, Shanti. May the Lord watch over us, may He guide us, not only through the troubles and annoyances of the world, but also from our own sinful temptations.

Our Father...