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A prayer
By HH Satsvarupa das Goswami
From the book 'My relationship with Lord Krishna"
Submitted by Manoj
My dear Lord Krishna, You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. All glories to You! The Vedic literature praises Your glories, but it can never come to the limit of Your greatness. Other world religions also praise You. Only fools-those who think themselves God-and atheists do not praise You. The atheists think that the cosmic manifestation was created by chance, but nothing happens by chance. Everything is under Your control.
Dear Lord, I am dependent on the scriptures and on my spiritual master to tell me about You, yet each of us can know You by perception. We perceive our own consciousness, which is an expansion of the supreme consciousness. Our individual consciousness is ruled by a higher source, and that is You.
I am speaking these philosophical words just to fend off the atheist within me. But I wish to approach You, not just argue in favor of Your existence. The best kind of prayer is to ask for pure devotional service. 0 Lord Krsna, 0 energy of the Lord, Hare, please engage me in Your service. I am already serving You, but now I ask to serve You in love. Please enlighten me. Make me more fit to serve You and not my own senses.
We are small. Therefore, we become stuck in our pitiful condition. We have heard of Your blissful nature and Your abode, but we are still somehow bound by the material body and the material concepts of fear, repulsion, attachment, and the desire to lord it over and enjoy this world. Will you release us from this entanglement? We cannot release ourselves.
Devotional service is the best boat for crossing the ocean of nescience, but I seem to be moving so slowly. I don't know how far I'll get before death comes. After death, I will no longer make progress in this body. I will have to pause for six months. If human life is next, I'll wake up in the womb. I don't know when again I will be so well situated, with my guru as the captain of the ship, my human body chanting and hearing, and the favorable winds of sastra comprehensible to me. This is a rare opportunity for good sailing, but I am so slow.
Dear Krsna, I pray to You to rescue me. I have read Your statement in Bhagavad-gita, " . . . those who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, 0 son of Prtha-for them I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death" (Bg. 12.6-7). You can deliver me, Lord. You say, "Chant Hare Krsna and that will attract Me," so I do:
Hare Krsna Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna Hare Hare/ Hare Rdma Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare.
Dear Lord, You bring a devotee back to You provided he is fully engaged in Your devotional service. I ask you to adjust my own program so that it is more pleasing to You. I may not say these words with full sincerity, but I want to be sincere. If You make it clear to me what I have to do to please You, I could direct myself toward Your instruction and surrender. Please direct me, or at least inform me. You are caitya-guru, and I await Your order. My spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, is already directing me, but I need strength to carry out his order. He approves that we turn to You for help.
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