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Prayer and Aspiration, Part 2 · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  For a spiritual seeker, there is a major difference with regard
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  to prayer and aspiration. Prayer is generally and in many
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  cases, a more formalized external activity primarily
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  based in the outer nature. Aspiration is centered in the
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  soul or psychic being and represents the spiritual flame
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  that motivates the seeker to practice his spiritual path.
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  The mother provides clarity on the differences between the two
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  as well as between different types of prayer that the seeker
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  may utilize. She distinguishes between prayer
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  that is at its basis egoistic and self-centered in nature and
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  prayer that is an expression of the psychic aspiration taking
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  the form of non selfish aims and expressing gratitude and
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  devotion. The mother observes.
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  Quote, for instance, if you have done something you regret having
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  done, if that has unhappy consequences which disturb
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  things and several people are implicated, you do not know the
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  reactions of the others. But you yourself wish that what
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  has been done may take a turn for the best, and that if there
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  is a mistake it may be understood.
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  And that no matter what the mistake, this may be for you An
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  opportunity for a greater progress, a greater discipline,
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  a new ascent towards the divine, a door open on a future that you
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  want to be more clear and true and intense.
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  So all this is gathered here, pointing to the heart like a
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  force, and then it surges up and rises in a great movement of
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  ascent, and at times without the shadow of a formulation, without
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  words, without expression, but like a springing flame.
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  That indeed is true aspiration that may happen a hundred 1000
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  times daily if one is in that state in which one constantly
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  wants to progress and be more true and more fully in harmony
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  with what the Divine will wants of us.
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  Prayer is a much more external thing, generally about a precise
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  fact and always formulated, for it is the formula that makes the
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  prayer. One may have an aspiration and
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  transcribe it as a prayer, but aspiration goes beyond prayer in
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  every way. It is much closer and much more
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  as it were, self forgetful, living only in the thing one
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  wants to be or do, and the offering of all that one wants
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  to do to the Divine. You may pray in order to ask for
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  something. You may also pray to thank the
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  Divine for what He has given you, and that prayer is much
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  greater. It may be called an act of
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  Thanksgiving. You may pray in gratitude for
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  the aspect of kindness the Divine has shown you, for what
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  He has done for you, for what you see in Him, and the praise
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  you want to offer Him. And all this may take the form
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  of a prayer. It is decidedly the highest
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  prayer, for it is not exclusively preoccupied with
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  oneself. It is not an egoistic prayer.
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  End Quote. Reference Sri Aurobindo and the
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  Mother Powers within Chapter 9, Aspiration and Prayer, pages 85
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  to 86.