One of the important goals of prayer is to instill in us a sense of gratitude, for it is gratitude that brings us more abundance in our lives. The word Pooja means "that which is born out of gratefulness". This is why, in eastern traditions during a "Pooja", various items such as fruit, flowers, milk etc are offered to God. This is saying "Dear God - I am grateful for so much you have given me in my life - please accept a humble offering from me in return. Thank you". This is very much like small children borrowing money from their parents so that they can buy a gift for their parents birthday - whatever we are offering to Him was after all given by Him. However this helps to cultivates a sense of gratitude. Unfortunately people pray to tell God what is not working in their life - the focus is inherently on lack. That sort of complaining to God does not help to bring more abundance in our lives.

And then some others pray saying "God, give me what I want, and I shall do this in return." Some people offer God a portion of future income earned, some others offer him a few coconuts in exchange for a large profit. If you want to give to God, give out of gratitude, as He has given you everything you have. If you want to ask guidance from God, ask with sincerity. Making your giving conditional to your receiving is not prayer - it is doing business with God. That is being ignorant of the fact that God is your own consciousness - even before a thought rises in your mind and you become aware, He already knows it! He knows your intentions - so it's best to not make deals with Him. Prayer can also be done to ask for forgiveness and to seek guidance from God. Asking God for what we want can work wonders, if we ask from a state of gratitude, contentment and joy, instead of frustration, despair, powerlessness etc. Ask and it is given - this is very much consistent with the law of attraction.

The practice of Bhakti Yoga in eastern traditions or offering prayer in other religious traditions is an attempt to be in a state of devotion. A mind that is turned to the Lord in devotion loses itself. Such is mind is free from egocentric desires. Action done without egocentric desires does not accumulate any new vasanas (mental impressions), and existing vasanas are burned. A mind with lesser vasanas is less agitated and more contemplative. Lesser the vasanas, more the contemplation, and higher the realization. The burning of vasanas means the strong thrust that the vasanas had on our mind and intellect loses its grip.

Karma is both action we do, and the fruits of the actions we enjoy. Going to the roots, our vasanas, which manifest as our mental impressions of strong likes and dislikes, is itself our Karma. Why is this? Desires springs from our likes and dislikes. Our actions springs from our desires. All of us are doing actions in such a way that we move towards what we like, and move away from what we do not like. This is the autobiography (Karma) of every life on this planet. Consequently anything we do on the spiritual path such as selfless service, meditation, prayer etc changes our Karma - sincere prayer burns the seeds of our Karma - which is our vasanas.