Thursday 8 September 2011

R' Cordovero on meditation and prayer

Pardes Rimonim, Shaar HaKavanna, ch. 1, p. 78b:
"The prayers of one who utters his words without kavanna, deep meditative concentration, are not heeded by the King from within His palace. Instead, it is like a mortal king who hears the incoherent cries of one of his subjects standing outside the palace walls and making noise. The king can respond only indirectly. He will forbid the man entry to his palace, preferring to send one of his servants to attend to such a one's needs. Similarly, prayer without kavanna simply cannot ascend into the palace of the King of Kings. Prayer without kavanna lacks wings to fly through pure and holy air, and cannot break through the refined firmament and heavenly hosts.

One who prays with kavanna, however, affixes wings to his prayers and they will be guided heavenward. His prayers will ascend all the way to the palace of the King. There they will be received within the palace, and their ascending influence will be answered by the King Himself with a reciprocal descending influence, earthward from Heaven".
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