Will a human achieve an enlightment/ moksha in Hinduism if he does not follow the daily prayers but believe in karma and God?

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This is a beautiful painting that illustrates the Hindu relationship with karma. The elephant, Gajendra, is a former king that was reborn an elephant after disrespecting a great sage. Gajendra was taking a bath when Huhu, the crocodile, takes hold of his leg. Legend has it that Gajendra cried out in pain for a thousand years before he thought to ask Vishnu for help. He offers a lotus flower to Vishnu and Vishnu cuts Huhu’s head off. (Some stories have the Garuda, the winged human, cut off Huhu’s head.)

The problem with just relying on the belief in karma and God is that people are imperfect and forget themselves. In forgetting, they continue the cycle of doing awful things and getting punished for them.

The prayers are to help deliver us from this state of affairs. We can’t escape the cycle alone, but we can if we appeal to the divine. In theory a perfect person would never incur karma and thus never get reborn into this hellish world. But that’s just theory, and we aren’t perfect.

The prayers are there to remind you that you have access to a source of limitless power and wonder that you can appeal to. Gajendra and all of his friends could not dislodge Huhu on his own, but Vishnu did it with a single toss of the Sudarshana Chakra.

All spirituality’s purpose is to keep us in an enlightened state where we incur no karma. The Christian concept is ‘walking with God’. It only works as long as you are able to actually receive divine wisdom. Once you forget, the second you step off the divine path, that’s when you start doing things that you will have to atone for later.

If you think you’re above prayer, then the only thing you’re setting yourself up for is another lifetime where you have to learn the lesson again. You certainly can’t walk with God if you’re afraid to pray. And you’ll never get Vishnu to cut off the head of your crocodile if you never think to ask.