Tag: prayer

Start your day by remembering Krishna, the Supreme Lord | Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.1

Srila Vyasadeva begins Srimad Bhagavatam by remembering Krishna and offering his prayers to him.  In his prayer, the great sage says that Krishna, the son of Vasudeva, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.  There are many great personalities in the universe who are extremely powerful.

We have demigods like Indra, the king of heavens, Surya, Chandra, Vayu and so on. Then there is four headed Lord Brahma, the creator of this material universe. And we also have the Supremely powerful Lord Shiva, who plays the role of annihilating this universe.

But above all of them is Lord Krishna. He is the original creator, maintainer and destroyer of this universe.  Though Brahma creates but he is not the primary creator but the secondary creator.  The knowledge and ability to do this comes to him from Sri Krishna. Brahma is the first living being of this universe. He is born from the lotus flower which emanates from the navel of Garbhodakshayi Vishnu. And this Vishnu form is the plenary expansion of Krishna who resides in Goloka.  

So, Brahmaji in his prayer to Krishna says that he is the cause of all the causes – sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam. Sri Brahma Samhita 5.1

We see how as a child when Krishna opened his mouth then mother Yashoda saw the entire universe within the mouth of Krishna. And surprisingly she also saw herself looking inside the mouth of Krishna.

Lord Krishna pervades the entire universe. He is also within your and mine heart, in fact in the heart of all the living beings – sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo, Bhagavad Gita 15.15

Srimad Bhagavatam helps to always remember Krishna

Vyasadeva is writing Srimad Bhagavatam to tells us the glories of Krishna who resides in everyone’s heart. The book teaches us who is Krishna, our relationship with Krishna and how much it is important to get connected with Krishna.

This is why among all the Vedic literatures written by Ved Vyasa, Srimad Bhagavatam is called purest and topmost – śrīmad-bhāgavataṁ purāṇam amalaṁ, Srimad Bhagavatam 12.13.18.

Since he is now going to tell us in detail about Lord Krishna, so the great sage first seeks the blessings of Krishna so that his endeavour is successful.  And indeed, he was successful in describing in detail the activities of Krishna and how living beings like you and me will be utterly benefitted if we establish our relationship with Krishna.

This great literature is helping us to reunite with Krishna

The sage is also teaching us that whatever activity we begin first we should pay our obeisances to Krishna. If we do so, then result will be glorious and also spiritual.

Three Reflections

1. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
2. He is the original father of all the living beings.
3. Endeavour to remember Krishna.

Ask Yourself?

• Am I remembering Sri Krishna & offering my prayers to him before starting any work?

Action Item

• As soon as you get up in the morning remember Lord Krishna.
• Before starting any work in the day offer prayer to Lord Krishna.

Prayer which Krishna likes is

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

What to pray to Lord Krishna on this auspicious day of Janmashtami?

On this special day of Janmashtami, people pray to Krishna so that their life becomes auspicious. Many of us pray to Krishna asking him to fulfil our material desires. We think that once Krishna sanctions our material wishes then we will be able to live happily.  

And what are our desires? We want a beautiful house to live, sufficient money in the bank account so that we feel financial security, loving and helping spouse, obedient children, happy family members. And also, good health so that we can enjoy all this.

Everyone’s material needs are taken care.

But for all these material desires, is it so important to go to Krishna? If we look around us, we will find that those who are not worshipping Krishna also has all these. Not just that even atheist or those who dislike Krishna has lots of material facilities. When we read scriptures, we find that all the demons were rich, powerful and had good family.

Ravana’s Lanka was made of gold and his wife Mandodari was extremely beautiful and chaste. Not just that Ravana had many other beautiful wives. Similarly, Kamsa was very powerful, had complete control on his kingdom and his wives were beautiful and chaste.

In present times also there are people who speak bad about the Lord but still they are not being deprived of any material necessities. What to speak of humans, even animals have the facility to satisfy their hunger and quench their thirst.

Scriptures say that in this world we do not plan for suffering but still suffering comes. Similarly, even if we do not plan for good fortune, still good fortune will come if its there in our karma.

So, now the question is if Krishna is providing everything required for living in this world, then why should we ask it from Krishna?  

What pure devotees pray to Krishna?

If we read the lives of great devotees, we find that they did not ask anything from the Lord so that they can live happily in this world.

After hearing Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna completely understood that Krishna is the Supreme Lord. But we never find Arjuna praying to Krishna to make him victorious in the war and help him in getting the kingdom. Uddhava never prayed to Krishna for anything material. When the demon, Hiranyakasipu, was torturing Prahlada then Prahlada did not pray to the Lord to kill the demon and protect him.

What did they ask from Krishna?

Arjuna said to the Lord that I will act as per your wishes – kariṣye vacanaṁ tava, Bhagavad Gita 18.73.

Uddhava desired to become a blade of grass in Vrindavan so that he can smear his entire body with the dust of the lotus feet of the gopis.

And Prahlada boldly said to Lord Narasimhadeva, “I do not want anything from you, my Lord. Also I do not care whether I am in hell or heaven because wherever I am, I will always remember you and chant your names.”

So, we see that all these devotees while worshipping Krishna, while praying to Krishna, while chanting the names of Krishna never wanted anything of this world from Krishna for their personal enjoyment. But they always wanted to serve Krishna and be always with Krishna. Suffice to say that they wanted only Krishna in their life.

3 questions we should ask ourselves

• Are we convinced that nothing in this world can give us happiness?
• Have we realized that the more material desires we have the more miserable we become?
• And does our heart always desire to have Krishna in our heart?

For most of us the answer to the above three questions will be in negative. For me its in negative.

And this is the reason that still you and me are suffering in this world.

If we develop the desires like the pure devotees, then we will never be miserable in this world. But if we carry material desires in our heart then we will never feel satisfaction and joy in our heart.

Can anyone or anything make us happy here?

In this world everything is flickering – power, position, wealth, health and relationships. We always look for loving reciprocation from others. But we find that sometimes people reciprocate with our feelings and sometimes do not.

Sometimes people like us, sometimes dislike us. Sometimes people love us, sometimes hate us. Sometimes people appreciate us, sometimes ignore us. This is how all the relationships are there in this world. Why to think others are being unfair to us. Others may also think that we have been unfair to them. And it could be possible too. Because we are minute, and we may not be able to please everyone. 

So, in this world neither anyone can make us happy, nor we can make others happy.

But it is only Krishna who can always reciprocate with our desires and satisfy our hearts always. Krishna is always there with us. He never leaves us. In rasa lila pastime of Krishna, we see that Krishna was simultaneously present with all the gopis and each of the gopis experienced great bliss.

Similarly, each of the cowherd friends (gopas) always felt that Krishna is always with them and they enjoyed every moment of their life.

What to pray to Krishna this Janmashtami?

This Janmashtami, let us offer following prayers to Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

1. Let us pray to Krishna this Janmashtami that we give up all our material attachment and do our best to develop attachment with Krishna.
2. Let us pray to Krishna to purify our consciousness so that we are always conscious of Krishna.
3. Let us pray to Krishna to give us intelligence so that we stop looking for bliss in material accomplishments or material relationships but should seek bliss in doing something for Krishna and developing relationship with Krishna.
4. Let us pray to Krishna to give us determination so that we stop serving our mind and senses but start serving Krisna wholeheartedly.
5. Let us pray to Krishna to give us spiritual strength so that we utilize all our talent and skill in serving Krishna.
6. Let us pray to Krishna on this wonderful day of Janmashtami to bless us so that we use every moment of our life in serving Krishna.

Nothing in this world belong to us. Even our body does not belong to us, so we should always be prepared to give up everything material.

But we should never be prepared to give up anything related to Krishna.

Our relationship with Krisna is eternal. Our devotion to Krishna is eternal. We do not belong to this world, but we belong to Krishna.

On this wonderful day of Janmashtami, let us repeat this beautiful prayer composed by Srila Bhaktivinod Thakura.

marobi rakhobi-jo iccha tohara/nitya-dasa prati tuwa adhikara – Slay me or protect me as You wish, for You are the master of Your eternal servant.

My Prayer to Lord Krishna on Janmashtami

Dear Lord Krishna,

On this auspicious occasion of Janmashtami, I pray at your lotus feet that I develop deep love to serve your lotus feet.  In this world no matter how best we try to please others we always fail not because others are bad but because we do not have the ability to satisfy others.

What to speak about others, we are not able to even please ourselves in this ephemeral world. Here we are taught that we should orchestrate our life in such a way that we attain lots of material success. It is said by mundane scholars that once we attain the coveted goal of our life then all our senses will experience great joy. The problem with material success is that it is very difficult to achieve and even if we achieve it, its pleasure giving potency to our senses is very limited and is temporary.

But in spite of knowing this and experiencing this my attraction to gratify my senses is not going way. To some extent I can say that it has reduced but has not gone completely.  I am pulled by my senses here and there and I find no solace anywhere.

Vedic scriptures call you by the name Hrishikesh which means who controls everyone’s senses, one who is the owner of all the senses and one who directs the senses.  On this day of your appearance day, I beg you to completely take control of my senses. I have tried multiple times to gratify my senses but each time I have failed miserably.

In Bhagavad Gita, you have already described in detail how sense gratification causes bondage and becomes the cause of suffering.

“An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery, which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kuntī, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them.” Bhagavad Gita 5.22

So, you advise that a sane man should not succumb to sense gratification.  You describe the benefit of sense control.

“The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: O Pārtha, when a man gives up all varieties of desire for sense gratification, which arise from mental concoction, and when his mind, thus purified, finds satisfaction in the self alone, then he is said to be in pure transcendental consciousness.” Bhagavad Gita 2.55

But unfortunately, in spite of knowing this truth, I am not able to muster courage to say no to the demands of my senses. I am not sure since when, but I have been indulging in sense gratification since several lifetimes.  This is the reason that I am not able to now control by uncontrolled senses.

I know that you have given us free will and you do not interfere with anyone’s free will. But I beg you to please take away my free will which is keeping me away from you. What is the use of this free will which is becoming the main cause of bondage and suffering?

Just like maya devi binds a conditioned soul and keeps him in this world. Please bind me with ropes and take me to the spiritual world and keep me there forever. Even if I desire to come to this world seeking pleasure, please do not send me here. Keep me always under your shelter.

If a master gives too much freedom to a dog, then it will run away from the house. So, the master puts a rope around dog’s neck and ties him to a chair or table. The dog may think that the master is cruel but that is for the benefit of the dog only.

I am also like a two-legged animal not aware about my welfare. So, please put a rope around my neck and bind me to your lotus feet. By remaining under the shelter of your lotus feet I will be able to save myself from all the sufferings which keeps on popping in this world. Just like stars are countless, similarly sufferings in this world are countless.

But if I attain permanent residence at your lotus feet then I will never have to suffer. And just by remaining there my senses will also get purified and I will lose all hope and all taste for material sense gratification. 

Today in the morning, I was hearing one lecture of Srila Prabhupada. In that lecture Prabhupada was saying that without Krishna Consciousness there can be no peace and no happiness. Also, Prabhupada was saying that Krishna Consciousness will help us to attain immortality. None of us want to die but everyone has to die. None of us want any calamity in life but at any moment disaster strikes us and knocks us down.  So, Prabhupada out of compassion for us was again and again pleading us to take your shelter so that we can protect ourselves from all the sufferings. 

You appeared on this auspicious day of Janmashtami for us to show us the glimpse of the spiritual world and invite us there.  In Bhagavad Gita, you describe your spiritual abode and you assure us that once we go there then we will not have to come back here again. 

“That supreme abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by fire or electricity. Those who reach it never return to this material world.” Bhagavad Gita 15.6

Dear Lord Krishna, on this auspicious day of Janmashtami I again and again beg you to purify my senses and give me strength and determination so that I do not indulge in any sort of sense gratification.  I should not succumb to lust, greed and anger which you describe as gateway to hell. I know that these anarthas will torment me, torture me and entice me but please dear Krishna give me strength to not become a victim of these life threatening anarthas. I will be able to fight with these anarthas only by your mercy. Other than you no one can help me.

Please give me sufficient intelligence so that I always remain under your shelter, chant your names daily and serve you every moment of my life.

The purpose of human life is to love and serve you and your dear devotees. This I have understood but because of not being pure I am not able to serve you properly. So, please purify my life so that I dedicate every moment of my life to you.  Please do consider my plea, dear Krishna.

Your eternal servitor

Purushottam Nitai Das

My prayer to Lord Krishna on his appearance day, Janmashtami

Dear Krishna, the day when you appeared in this world is celebrated as Janmashtami all over the world. This year, 2021, we are celebrating Janmashtami on 30^th August. In Bhagavad Gita 8.15, you say that this world is duhkhalayam, abode of miseries. But still you appear here in every millennium because you feel pain when you see us in pain.

But unfortunately, people like me who have chosen to live here do not realize that we are in pain. In fact, our consciousness is so blunted that many times we consider pain as pleasure. Just like a hog who considers stool as a palatable food.

In spite of trying my best I have hardly experienced any happiness in this world. Any success or achievement we get here is always accompanied with fear and anxiety.  So, in reality there is no happiness. But in spite of these experiences, I hope again and again of finding happiness in this material world.

My mind is always full of desires. And with a shame I want to admit that all my desires are material. And this is the root cause of all my sufferings.

My wrong desires making me miserable

I do not have desire to take your shelter. Although in Bhagavad Gita 18.66 you say to me through Arjuna that if I take your shelter then you will free me from all my past sins and thus I won’t suffer here. “Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.” Bhagavad Gita 18.66.  

In fact, by taking your shelter I will be freed from all the fear of this world. But still, I fail to follow your instructions. It is because my mind is always overflooded with material desires.

Many times, I have tried to purge all worldly cravings from my mind but again and again I have failed.

You say in Bhagavad Gita that you reciprocate with us as per our desires – ye yathā māṁ prapadyante/tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham. “As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly.” Bhagavad Gita 4.11.

But as I said earlier Krishna, all my desires are wrong desires.  And this is the reason that I am living here all alone away from you.

Why I am not able to see you, Krishna?

Although I voluntarily decided to not live with you but you never abandoned me.  Right now also you are present in my heart as Supersoul, Paramatma. But because of my contaminated consciousness I cannot see you. A blind person sees darkness everywhere even when the sun is shining bright. Similarly, a spiritually blind person like me fails to see your beautiful effulgent transcendental form although you are here in my heart.

How unfortunate I am. My anarthas (vices) – lust, greed, pride, anger, envy, illusion – is separating me from you. I do not have the power to free myself from these anarthas. Honestly speaking I also do not have much desire to free myself from these anarthas.

Krishna, you are most merciful

Dear Krishna, please be merciful upon me. You have been merciful even to the demons who came to kill you. Putana came to give you poisonous milk, but you removed all the poisons from her milk and gave her the position of a mother in your spiritual kingdom. Who can be more merciful other than you?

Because of my wrong desires my mind has become poisonous and is now not allowing me to devote my life to you. It has made me insane. Although I try to serve you but my powerful mind does not allow me do so.

But why should I blame my mind?

It is me who have misused my free will and allowed the mind to enjoy the so-called pleasures of this world.

Unfortunately, I forgot to control my mind

In the journey of my life I forgot to control my mind. And now my mind controls me. I do not remember the exact date when my mind started overpowering me. But if I try to look back I find that I have always been under the subjugation of my mind. I have been in this material world for many lifetimes.  And in each life I have just tried to enjoy the material pleasures through my mind and senses. 

And now my mind has become so strong that it refuses to listen to me. It disobeys me. It controls me. I am a puppet of my mind. But I do not want to suffer anymore because of my mind. I am going through these sufferings because of my unholy desires. I know that as soon as I develop the desire to serve you all my misfortune will go away from my life.

All the miseries will disappear just as darkness disappears as soon as the sun appears.

My prayer to Lord Krishna

On this auspicious occasion of Janmashtami I beseech you Krishna to purify my desires. Shower your mercy upon me so that I develop spiritual desire, the desire to constantly serve you. I beg you to purify my heart of all the anarthas which is separating me from you.  Dear Lord Krishna, please consider my prayer. I am an ignorant person who does not know what is good for me.

Like a madman in the mental asylum thinks that he is the king of the whole world. Afflicted by my material madness I think I can control my life. But the fact is that I am just a puppet, and you are the puppeteer.

Please take control of my mind and make me your puppet.  

Dear Lord Krishna, my prayer at your lotus feet on this auspicious occasion of your appearance day is that please purge my mind of all material thoughts. Let my mind only think of you. Let my mind experience joy in always singing your glories. Let my mind develop distaste for the illusionary pleasures of this temporary world.

Let my mind have only one desire – the desire to serve you every moment of my life, life after life.