”The Supreme Lord who created the laws for the performance of fire sacrifice and other purifying functions, in whom all the Brahmanas concentrate with their mind and use their intelligence to please Him, who is filled with knowledge, who is beyond any comparison, who is the greatest, who is all pervading, who is all cognizant, the original progenitor of every entity and the God of all the gods, to Him, one should certainly pray extensively as a daily function.”

yunjate mana uta yunjate dhiyo
vipra viprasya brhato vipascitah
vi hotra dadhe vayunavid eka
inmahi devasya savituh paristutih

PURPORT BY SRI KRSNA BALARAM SWAMIJI

Human beings are called prarthi meaning a solicitor or a wooer before the superior. The Lord is called prarthita meaning the Personality to Whom everyone prays to for favors or the One who is solicited. The medium of the communication process between both is called prarthana or prayer. Unless a solicitor is genuinely humble in their prayer the solicited does not fulfill the desire of the solicitor. As it is stated in the Sakuntalam, utsarpini khalu mahatam prarthana, “The genuine and sincere plead from the heart for mercy is called prayer.” A Genuine Spiritual Master knows the art of praying. If the Spiritual Master is scripturally authentic and well versed in the scriptures and the student is genuinely interested then the prayers will surely bear fruit. If the Spiritual Master is perfect and scripturally authentic but the student is not genuinely situated then prayers will not work, and if a student is serious and sincerely interested but the Spiritual Master is not scripturally authorized then again prayers will not bear fruit. Therefore Guru and disciple must both be perfect and qualified in their respective status, and then the Lord listens to the prayers. The Lord is seated in the heart and knows every thought, that is why the scriptures state that prayers must be scripturally authentic, sincere, and from the heart.

[Svetasvatara Upanisad, 2.3, KBS0013]