The importance of prayers

Sri Swami Vishwananda explains why it is so important to pray regularly:

Sometimes some people asked the question “Why do we have to go to temples? Why do we have to go to prayers to pray?”
This is also a part of Sadhana. This is also why we go to pilgrimage places. These are places where all the energies are gathered in one place.
When you go to prayer or when you go to spiritual places, to holy places, you are always going to gain something. You are profiting from all the prayers, all the vibrations, which have been collected in that place. When you go there your sadhana gets amplified. It becomes more intense and more powerful. It’s the same thing: Let's say you sit down on a place everyday. The same spot, the same time, so you build up certain energy. You chant the same Mantra, the energy gets build up. Don’t think that when you get up from that place the energy is dissipated. The energy is always there. It’s solely defined at that place.