Fortunate is the portion of whoever knows how to arrange the praises of his Master in the proper place. Up to this place [until one completes the third Amidah blessing "Atah Kadosh"] there is devotion, blessings, and sanctification as one with the forefathers [in the first three blessings of the Amidah prayer, corresponding to each of their attributes in turn - chesed, gevura, and tiferet.]

From this place [after the first three blessings] onward, there are entreaties and petitions [in the intermediate blessings]. Man must first ask to know the matters of his Master [thus the next request is for bestowing knowledge] in order that he be able to show his passion for Him, to not be separated from Him. For a man should participate in the sanctification of the high and Holy Name [in the 3rd blessing], to be adorned by It. And the name of the blessings and sanctifications is kaf-vav-zayin-vav, which is the secret of the Holy Name, Yud and Hei and Vav and Hei, which is most sacred, and these letters produced the other letters [for each letter of KVZ"V follows Y'K'W'K in the alef-beit]. The combination of these [two Names] resembles the joining of male [Havayah] and female [KWZ"W, formed by the letters following those of the former].

These holy supernal names are the secret of sanctification. These following letters [KWZ"W] are called 'tal', the dew of heaven, which is the secret of the reckoning of its letters [their gematria total that of the word Tal, 39] for down below [in malchut] all words are counted; there is no reckoning save that for the moon [the secret of malchut]. For that reason, one needs to be connected with the sanctification of his Master, and not to be separated from Him. When one makes requests, one should ask first to know one's Master, and show that his passion is turned towards Him. From then on, one may become separated [from G‑d by making materialistic requests] little by little, and request whatever is needed.

All his asking should be after he arranges this order [of unification in the first 3 blessings] as we said. In the same manner, all his petitions should be by way of entreating and beseeching before his Master [that he knows that he is undeserving and asks as for a gift] and he must not justify himself as if he were worthy of it. Fortunate is whoever knows this sequence by which to go in the proper straight path.

As fire [inner gevura] is united with water [chesed] and water with fire, south with north [gevura with chesed in an outer sense] and north with south, as east and west [tiferet with malchut] west and east, so all are together and the unison is completed by each other.

All those who know how to arrange their prayer properly, to include all these chambers within each other and connect them to each other, such a man is joined with them, and approaches them to be included within them. He asks and his petition is granted. Fortunate he is in this world and in the World to Come.

BeRahamim LeHayyim: There is a great synchronicity between this Zohar and the companion one above concerning proper intention during prayers. Above we focused on the blessings on food, Birkat Hamazon, and the like. Below we are given contemplations to use during the Amidah/Standing prayer. The secret to having one's prayers answered too is given. Our requests must not be haphazard; rather an ordered path of ascent is preferred.

It is a tough balance: we must have fixed prayers, but so too do we need renewed concentration. To just have routine will take us to bored lip service; to have only direction of the heart without any formulaic articulation, while certainly "service of the heart", will leave many bases untouched. Two sides of the same coin need to be balanced together and brought to oneness for successful prayer to be evoked.

[Bracketed annotations from Metok Midevash and Sulam commentaries]