The Cosmic Idol, and one God for all

Something definite to hold

The Foreword names the book's boldest device: "The Cosmic Idol is a grand concept of the Infinite and Invisible made finite, tangible, and visible. Nature, man, mind, and all visible objects are taken as materials to build a magnificent Divine Idol on which we can concentrate easily."

This is why the prayers are so physical — oceans as drum-beats, dawn as an opening lotus, the sky as a temple ceiling. The imagery is scaffolding for attention.

"Visualize Him as formless, yet with form; silent, yet with voice as well," the Key to Demands advises. Both halves are needed: form for the heart, formlessness for the truth.

Father, Mother, Friend, Beloved

God is addressed throughout in whichever relationship the devotee can actually feel. "When the Almighty is spoken of as the Divine Mother, try to feel the same devotion to God, the Universal Mother, as a loving child feels toward its mother."

Hence whole sections of demands to the Divine Mother, and prayers like "I Will Be the Naughty Baby of the Divine Mother" — intimacy rather than ceremony.

There is a section of invocations calling on the Guru, Christ, Krishna, Swami Shankara, Moses, Mohammed and Buddha, each in his own character.

One highway of realization

The universality prayers are unusually direct: one asks God to be "the President of the United States of the World"; another says, "Make me anything: a Christian or a Hindu — anything to realize Thee."

Another asks that "the showers of Thy love flood through the walls of color, class, and race prejudice," and another prays to be saved from religious bigotry.

The Foreword's claim follows from this: "The followers of all religions can drink from this fountain of universal prayers."

Watch this teaching

Swami Kriyananda on why the saints of every tradition point to the same truth.

The Saints Are the True Custodians of Religion