The prayer you were taught to earn first
Most of us were handed a transactional model of worship before we were old enough to question it. Fast on the right day. Say the right number of names. Keep the vrat without breaking it. The implicit logic was always the same: make yourself worthy, and then the grace will come. The Padma Purana, one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, contains a story that dismantles this logic so completely it is almost rude.
