A friend of mine has a beautiful daughter who is very young. By her innocent antics, she entertains all. Once she went in front of the picture of Radha and Krishna and reverentially folded her hands in front of the Lord. She stood there for few minutes. All of us were pleasantly amused, her mother was very excited. She embraced the little child and then said something which was although not shocking but saddening. Taking the little girl on the lap, she instructed her in a serious tone, “Always pray to Krishna so that He makes you an IAS officer. Do not pray to him for any other thing. This should be the only prayer throughout your life till you achieve your coveted goal.”
Such demands from God are not uncommon. People mostly knock at the doors of God with their wish list and ask him to fulfil all of them. It’s just like the way we place our order to a waiter in a restaurant. As the waiter is obliged to bring everything which we had asked him for, similarly we want that God should also be on his toes to fulfil all our desires. And the same thing we teach to the younger generation.
Why should we pray to God for material positions and possessions? And whenever we stand in front of God then why should we always ask for something from him. Why don’t we go in front of him to simply share our feelings with him, to express our love, to thank him for all the beautiful things he has given to us? God being our maintainer and sustainer takes care of all our basic necessities. Before a child is born, he arranges milk for the child. He gives us food, air, oxygen to breathe, water and everything which is required in our life. It is other thing that we humans never cared for these invaluable gifts and exploited the natural resources. God always takes care of all our needs.
How would a father or a mother feel, if their child always comes to him only to ask for something. Give me money, buy me a bike, a laptop, an iPad, a fancy mobile, a trendy dress etc. And once the demand is fulfilled he turns his back towards his parents. But if the demands aren’t met then the child starts accusing the parents for callousness. How much pain it would cause to the caring mother and father? But if the child simply embraces them with love then how much joy the parents would experience.
Do we ever think that how God, our father, would be feeling when we go in front of him with our demand list. Holy books and holy men have taught us what to ask and what not to ask from God. In Sistastakam prayer, Lord Chaitanya teaches us how to pray to God: “O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers. I only want your causeless devotional service birth after birth.” This is how we should approach God – not for any worldly things but to selflessly serve and offer our love to him.
