Answer
What they are saying is understandable. Because devotees are chanting the holy name, prayers offered by devotees can certainly be spiritually beneficial.
If someone is rendering service to the Lord in some way, we can sincerely pray for that person’s welfare. However, a Vaishnava generally does not pray in a way that dictates specific outcomes to the Lord.
There is a difference between praying for someone’s ultimate welfare and praying that a particular material desire must be fulfilled.
A proper Vaishnava prayer is: “My Lord, please do whatever is ultimately best for this soul.”
In many religious traditions people offer highly specific prayers, but the Vaishnava mood is different. We do not order the Lord or insist on a particular result. We pray for the person’s spiritual benefit and trust the Lord’s perfect intelligence.
For example, if a donor says, “My money is stuck somewhere. If I recover it, I will donate to the temple,” a devotee may pray:
“My Lord, if it pleases You, please allow this money to be released and guide this person in devotional service.”
The key phrase is “if it pleases You.” We place the decision entirely in the Lord’s hands.
Therefore, when people ask us to pray, we should pray with compassion, but always with surrender to the Lord’s superior will.
