You are busy portraying your devotion, and God is busy checking your actions.
This is the paradox of faith. Human beings are often caught up in the external display of religion — the rituals, the chants, the temple visits, the donations, the public shows of piety. We want to be seen as devoted, as if devotion were a performance measured by its audience.
But God, or the divine principle — whatever name we give it — is not an audience. God does not count the number of times you bow, nor does He measure the length of your prayers. What He sees are your actions: how you treat people who can’t repay you, how you respond when no one is watching, how you live when life doesn’t go your way.
It is easy to deceive society with devotion. It is impossible to deceive God with action.
The essence of true spirituality is not in the words you recite but in the life you live. Temples, churches, mosques, and rituals may help purify your mind, but they cannot substitute for compassion, honesty, humility, and kindness.
So the question to ask is not, “How do I look in God’s eyes when I pray?” but “How do I look in God’s eyes when I act?”
Because in the end, God is less interested in your posture of prayer and more interested in your practice of life.