Why should we praise the Lord?

Last week we were passing by a church while driving and my eight year old daughter read the board in front of the church – “Praise the Lord”. She asked me, “Dad, does God gets pleased when we praise Him?”

I always feel delighted whenever the young ones show some spiritual inquisitiveness. With a smile on my face, I answered, “My dear, God is not a personality that gets pleased when you praise Him or that gets annoyed when you begin to ignore Him or curse Him – just like humans. We should praise God for our own good. The omnipresent God, that resides everywhere and in your own heart, is eternal, conscious and blissful energy - The Sat-Chit-Ananda. When we praise God, His supreme peace, supreme knowledge and supreme happiness begins to flow within our own heart.”

After a brief pause, I said, “Otherwise also, when we praise someone we feel better ourselves. And when we curse someone, we aggravate ourselves. Isn’t that right, dear?”

“That’s right Dad. So, you should always praise me”, she answered playfully.

A burst of laugh hovered in our car.

Later I thought that almost all the religions of the world praise God in the form of singing bhajans, Qawwali, kirtan or singing other form of devotional songs. We get deeply touched when we hear the praise of God in the musical form. It is one of the secret of inner happiness – to praise the one that is absolutely worthy of all the praise, during all times – God. When we look at the rising sun or the dark sky during full moon day or the beautiful flowers or the chirping birds or a happy child or any other form of natural magnificence, we shouldn’t miss the chance to remember the God, thank Him and praise Him. When we remember and praise God, the divine blessing gets showered upon us instantaneously – in the form of inner peace, inner satisfaction and inner happiness.