\\psf\Home\Desktop\Krsna Book 1970\KB 1970 1_39.TXT
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KB 1970-1-39 / Prayers by Akrura
39 / Prayers by Akrura
Akrura offered his prayers as follows: "My dear Lord, I here
pay my respectful obeisances unto You because You are the
supreme cause of all causes and the original inexhaustible
Personality, Narayana. From Your navel a lotus flower grows,
and from that lotus, Brahma, the creator of this universe, is
born. Since Brahma is the cause of this universe, You are the
cause of all causes. All the elements of this cosmic
manifestation -- earth, water, fire, air, ether, ego and the
total material energy, as well as nature, the marginal energy,
the living entities, mind, senses, the sense objects
and the demigods who control the affairs of the cosmos -- are
all produced from Your body. You are the Supersoul of
everything, but no one knows Your transcendental form. Everyone
within this material world is influenced by the modes of
material nature. Demigods like Lord Brahma, being covered by
the influence of material nature, do not exactly know Your
transcendental existence beyond the cosmic manifestation of the
three modes of material nature. Great sages and mystics worship
You as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original cause
of all living entities, all cosmic manifestation and all
demigods. They worship You as all-inclusive. Some of the
learned brahmanas also worship You by observing the ritualistic
ceremony of the Rg-veda. They offer different kinds of
sacrifices in the names of different gods. And there are others
also who are fond of worshiping transcendental knowledge. They
are very peaceful and wish to give up all kinds of material
activities. They engage themselves in the philosophical search
for You, known as jnana-yoga.
"There are devotees also known as Bhagavatas who
worship You as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. After being
properly initiated in the method of Pancaratra, they decorate
their bodies with tilaka and engage in worshiping Your
different forms of Visnu murti. There are others also, known as
Saivites, followers of the different acaryas, who worship You
in the form of Lord Siva."
It is stated in the Bhagavad-gita that worship of demigods is
also indirectly worship of the Supreme Lord. But such worship
is not orthodox, because the worshipable Lord is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, Narayana. Demigods such as Brahma and
Siva are incarnations of the material qualities, which are also
emanations from the body of Narayana. Actually, there was no
one existing before the creation except Narayana, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. The worship of a demigod is not on the
level with worship of Narayana.
Akrura said, "Although the minds of those who are devotees of
the demigods are fixed on a particular demigod, because You are
the Supersoul of all living entities, including the demigods,
worship of demigods indirectly goes to You. Sometimes,
after flowing down from the mountains during the rainy season,
small rivers fail to reach the sea; some reach the sea and some
do not. Similarly, the worshipers of the demigods may or may
not reach You. There is no guarantee. Their success depends on
the strength of their worship."
According to Vedic principle, when a worshiper worships a
particular demigod, he also conducts some ritual for Narayana,
Yajnesvara, for it is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita that
demigods cannot fulfill the desires of their worshipers without
the sanction of Narayana, or Krsna. The exact words used in the
Bhagavad-gita are mayaiva vihitan hi tan, which means that the
demigods can award some benediction after being authorized by
the Supreme Lord. When the demigod worshiper comes to his
senses, he can reason as follows: "The demigod can offer
benediction only after being empowered by the Supreme Lord, so
why not worship the Supreme Lord directly?" Worshipers
of the demigods may come to the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, but others, who take the demigod as all in all,
cannot reach the ultimate goal.
Akrura continued to pray: "My dear Lord, the whole world is
filled with the three material modes of nature, namely,
goodness, passion and ignorance. Everyone within this material
world is covered by these modes, from Lord Brahma down to the
immovable plants and trees. My dear Lord, I offer my respectful
obeisances unto You, because You are beyond the influence of
the three modes. Except for You, everyone is being carried away
by the waves of these modes. My dear Lord, fire is Your mouth,
the earth is Your feet, the sun is Your eye, the sky is Your
navel, and the directions are Your ears. Space is Your head,
the demigods are Your arms, the oceans and seas are Your
abdomen, and the winds and air are Your strength and vitality.
All the plants and herbs are the hair on Your body; the clouds
are your hair, the mountains are Your bones and
nails, the days and nights are the twinkling of Your eyelids;
Prajapati (the progenitor) is Your genitals, and the rains are
Your semina.
"My dear Lord, all living entities, including different grades
of demigods, different grades of overlords, kings and other
living entities, are supposed to be resting in You. As part
and parcel of the big unit, one cannot know You by
experimental knowledge. One can simply understand Your
transcendental existence as the great ocean in which
different grades of living entities are included, or as the
fruit kadamba, out of which small mosquitoes come. My dear
Lord, whatever eternal forms and incarnations You accept and
which appear in this world are meant for relieving the living
entities from their ignorance, illusion and lamentation. All
people, therefore, can appreciate the incarnations and pastimes
of Your Lordship and eternally glorify Your activities. No one
can estimate how many forms and incarnations You have, nor can
anyone estimate the number of universes that are existing
within You.
"Let me therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto the
incarnation of fish, who appeared in
devastation, although Your Lordship is the cause of all causes.
Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Hayagriva
incarnation who killed the two demons, Madhu and Kaitabha; let
me offer my respectful obeisances unto You who appeared as the
gigantic tortoise and held up the great mountain Mandara, and
who appeared as the boar who rescued the earth planet which
had fallen into the water of Garbhodaka. Let me offer my
respectful obeisances unto Your Lordship, who appeared as
Nrsimhadeva, who delivered all kinds of devotees from the
fearful condition of atheistic atrocities. Let me offer my
respectful obeisances unto You who appeared as Vamanadeva and
covered the three worlds simply by expanding Your lotus feet.
Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto You who appeared as
the Lord of the Bhrgus in order to kill all the infidel
administrators of the world. And let me offer my respectful
obeisances unto You who appeared as Lord Rama to kill demons
like Ravana. You are worshiped by all devotees as the chief of
the Raghu dynasty, Lord Ramacandra. Let me offer my respectful
obeisances unto You who appeared as Lord Vasudeva, Lord
Sankarsana, Lord Pradyumna and Lord Aniruddha. Let me offer my
respectful obeisances unto You, who appeared as Lord Buddha in
order to bewilder the atheistic and demoniac. And let me offer
my respectful obeisances unto You, who appear as Kalki in order
to chastise the so-called royal order degraded to the
abominable condition of the mlecchas, who are below the
jurisdiction of Vedic regulative principles.
"My dear Lord, everyone within this material world is
conditioned by Your illusory energy. Under the impression of
false identification and false possession, everyone is
transmigrating from one body to another in the path of fruitive
activities and their reactions. My dear Lord, I am also no
exception to these conditioned souls. I am falsely thinking
myself happy in possessing my home, wife, children, state,
property and effects. In this way I am acting as if in a
dreamland because none of these are permanent. I am a fool to
be always absorbed in such thoughts, accepting them
as permanent and truth. My dear Lord, due to my false
identification, I have accepted everything which
is nonpermanent, such as this material body, which is not
spiritual and is the source of all kinds of miserable
conditions. Being bewildered by such concepts of life, I am
always absorbed in thoughts of duality, and I have forgotten
You who are the reservoir of all transcendental pleasure. I am
bereft of Your transcendental association and am just like a
foolish creature who goes in search of water in the desert,
leaving the water spot which is covered
by water-nourished vegetables. The conditioned souls
want to quench their thirst, but they do not know where to find
water. They give up the spot where there is actually a
reservoir of water and run into the desert where there is no
water. My dear Lord, I am completely incapable of controlling
my mind, which is now driven by the unbridled senses and is
attracted by fruitive activities and their results.
My dear Lord, Your lotus feet
cannot be appreciated by any person in the conditional stage of
material existence, but somehow or other I have come near Your
lotus feet, and I consider this to be Your causeless mercy upon
me. You can act in any way because You are the supreme
controller. I can thus understand that when a person becomes
eligible to be delivered from the path of repeated birth and
death, it is only by Your causeless mercy that he further
progresses to become attached to Your
causeless devotional service."
Akrura fell down before the Lord and said, "My dear Lord, Your
transcendental eternal form is full of knowledge. Simply by
concentrating one's mind upon Your form, one can understand in
full knowledge everything that be, because You are the original
source of all knowledge. You are the supreme powerful,
possessing all kinds of energies. You are the Supreme Brahman
and the Supreme Person, supreme controller and master of the
material energies. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You
because You are Vasudeva, the resting place of all creation.
You are the all-pervading Supreme Personality of Godhead, and
You are also the Supreme Soul residing in everyone's heart and
giving direction to act. Now, my Lord, I am completely
surrendered unto You. Please give me Your protection."
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Thirty-ninth
Chapter of Krsna, "Prayers by Akrura."
\\psf\Home\Desktop\Krsna Book 2013\VB2013_KB40.TXT
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KB 40: Prayers by Akrura
CHAPTER FORTY
Prayers by Akrura
Akrura offered his prayers as follows: "My dear Lord, I offer
my respectful obeisances unto You because You are the
supreme cause of all causes and the original inexhaustible
personality, Narayana. From Your navel a lotus flower grows,
and from that lotus Brahma, the creator of this universe, is
born. Since Brahma is the cause of this universe, You are the
cause of all causes. The elements of this cosmic
manifestation -- earth, water, fire, air, ether, ego and the
total material energy, as well as nature, the marginal energy,
the living entities, the mind, the senses, the sense objects
and the demigods who control the affairs of the cosmos -- are
all produced from Your body
.
"You are the Supersoul of everything, but no one knows Your
transcendental form. Everyone within this material world is
influenced by the modes of material nature. Even demigods like
Lord Brahma, being covered by the influence of material nature,
do not exactly know Your transcendental existence beyond the
cosmic manifestation of the three modes of material nature.
Great sages and mystics worship You as the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, the original cause of all living entities, all
cosmic manifestation and all demigods. They worship You as all-
inclusive. Some of the learned brahmanas also worship You by
observing Vedic ritualistic ceremonies. They offer different
kinds of sacrifices in the names of different gods. And there
are others also, who are fond of worshiping transcendental
knowledge. They are very peaceful, and after giving up all
kinds of material activities, they engage in the sacrifice
known as jnana-yajna, the philosophical search for You.
"There are also devotees, known as bhagavatas, who
worship You as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. After being
properly initiated in the method of Pancaratra, they decorate
their bodies with tilaka and engage in worshiping Your
different forms of visnu-murti. There are others also, known as
Saivites, followers of different acaryas, who worship You
in the form of Lord Siva."
It is stated in the Bhagavad-gita that worship of demigods is
also indirectly worship of the Supreme Lord. But such worship
is not orthodox, because the worshipable Lord is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, Narayana. Demigods such as Brahma and
Siva are incarnations of the material qualities, which are also
emanations from the body of Narayana. Actually, there was no
one existing before the creation except Narayana, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. The worship of a demigod is not on the
same level as worship of Narayana.
Akrura said, "Although the minds of those who are devotees of
the demigods are fixed on a particular demigod, because You are
the Supersoul of all living entities, including the demigods,
worship of the demigods indirectly goes to You. Sometimes,
after flowing down from the mountains during the rainy season,
small rivers fail to reach the sea; some reach the sea and some
do not. Similarly, the worshipers of the demigods may or may
not reach You. There is no guarantee. Their success depends on
the strength of their worship."
According to the Vedic principles, when a worshiper worships a
particular demigod, he also conducts some ritual for Narayana,
Yajnesvara, for, as it is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita, the
demigods cannot fulfill the desires of their worshipers without
the sanction of Narayana, or Krsna. The exact words used in the
Bhagavad-gita are mayaiva vihitan hi tan, which mean that the
demigods can award some benediction after being authorized by
the Supreme Lord. When a demigod worshiper comes to his
senses, he can reason as follows: "The demigods can offer
benedictions only after being empowered by the Supreme Lord, so
why not worship the Supreme Lord directly?" Such a
worshiper of the demigods may come to the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, but others, who take the demigods as all in all,
cannot reach the ultimate goal.
Akrura continued to pray, "My dear Lord, the whole world is
filled with the three material modes of nature, namely
goodness, passion and ignorance. Everyone within this material
world is covered by these modes, from Lord Brahma down to the
nonmoving plants and trees. My dear Lord, I offer my respectful
obeisances unto You because You are beyond the influence of
the three modes. Except for You, everyone is being carried away
by the waves of these modes. My dear Lord, fire is Your mouth,
the earth is Your feet, the sun is Your eye, the sky is Your
navel, and the directions are Your ears. Space is Your head,
the demigods are Your arms, the oceans and seas are Your
abdomen, and the winds and air are Your strength and vitality.
All the plants and herbs are the hairs on Your body, the clouds
are the hair on Your head, the mountains are Your bones and
nails, the days and nights are the blinking of Your eyelids,
Prajapati (the progenitor) is Your genitals, and the rains are
Your semen.
"My dear Lord, all living entities, including different grades
of demigods and different grades of overlords, kings and other
living entities, are resting in You as parts
and parcels of the big unit. One cannot know You by
experimental knowledge. One can simply understand Your
transcendental existence to be like the great ocean, in which
different grades of living entities are included, or like the
udumbara fruit, out of which small mosquitoes come. My dear
Lord, whatever eternal forms and incarnations You accept when
You appear in this world are meant for relieving the living
entities of their ignorance, illusion and lamentation. All
people, therefore, can appreciate the incarnations and pastimes
of Your Lordship and eternally glorify Your activities. No one
can estimate how many forms and incarnations You have, nor can
anyone estimate the number of universes that are existing
within You.
"Let me therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto the
fish incarnation, who appeared in the ocean of
devastation although Your Lordship is the cause of all causes.
Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Hayagriva
incarnation, who killed the two demons Madhu and Kaitabha; let
me offer my respectful obeisances unto You, who appeared as the
gigantic tortoise that held up the great mountain Mandara and
who appeared as the boar that rescued the earth planet, which
had fallen into the water of the Garbhodaka. Let me offer my
respectful obeisances unto Your Lordship, who appeared as
Nrsimha-deva to deliver all kinds of devotees from the
fearful condition of atheistic atrocities. Let me offer my
respectful obeisances unto You, who appeared as Vamanadeva and
covered the three worlds simply by extending Your lotus feet.
Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto You, who appeared as
the Lord of the Bhrgus in order to kill all the infidel
administrators of the world. And let me offer my respectful
obeisances unto You, who appeared as Lord Rama to kill demons
like Ravana. You are worshiped by all devotees as the chief of
the Raghu dynasty, Lord Ramacandra. Let me offer my respectful
obeisances unto You, who appear as Lord Vasudeva, Lord
Sankarsana, Lord Pradyumna and Lord Aniruddha. Let me offer my
respectful obeisances unto You, who appear as Lord Buddha
to bewilder the atheistic and demoniac. And let me offer
my respectful obeisances unto You, who appear as Kalki
to chastise the so-called royal order degraded to the
abominable condition of the mlecchas, who are below the
jurisdiction of Vedic regulative principles.
"My dear Lord, everyone within this material world is
conditioned by Your illusory energy. Under the impression of
false identification and false possession, everyone is
transmigrating from one body to another on the path of fruitive
activities and their reactions. My dear Lord, I am no
exception among these conditioned souls. I am falsely thinking
myself happy in possessing my home, wife, children, estate,
property and friends. In this way I am acting as if in a
dreamland, because none of these are permanent. I am a fool to
be always absorbed in thoughts of such things, accepting them
as permanent truths. My dear Lord, due to my false
identification, I have accepted as permanent everything which
is nonpermanent, such as this material body, which is not
spiritual and is the source of all kinds of miserable
conditions. Being bewildered by such concepts of life, I am
always absorbed in thoughts of duality, and I have forgotten
You, who are the reservoir of all transcendental pleasure. I am
bereft of Your transcendental association, being just like a
foolish creature who leaves a water hole
covered by water-nourished vegetation and goes in
search of water in the desert. The conditioned souls
want to quench their thirst, but they do not know where to find
water. They give up the spot where there is actually a
reservoir of water and run into the desert, where there is no
water. My dear Lord, I am completely incapable of controlling
my mind, which is now driven by the unbridled senses and is
attracted by fruitive activities and their results. Therefore,
my intelligence is very miserly. My dear Lord, Your lotus feet
cannot be appreciated by any person in the conditioned stage of
material existence, but somehow or other I have come near Your
lotus feet, and I consider this to be Your causeless mercy upon
me. You can act in any way because You are the supreme
controller. I can thus understand that when a person becomes
eligible to be delivered from the path of repeated birth and
death, it is only by Your causeless mercy that he comes
nearer to Your lotus feet and becomes attached to Your
devotional service."
Akrura fell down before the Lord and said, "My dear Lord, Your
transcendental, eternal form is full of knowledge. Simply by
concentrating one's mind upon Your form, one can understand in
full knowledge everything that be, because You are the original
source of all knowledge. You are the supreme powerful,
possessing all kinds of energies. You are the Supreme Brahman
and the Supreme Person, supreme controller and master of the
material energies. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You
because You are Vasudeva, the resting place of all creation.
You are the all-pervading Supreme Personality of Godhead, and
You are also the Supreme Soul residing in everyone's heart and
giving direction to act. Now, my Lord, I am completely
surrendered unto You. Please give me Your protection."
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Fortieth
Chapter of Krsna, "Prayers by Akrura."
Number of differences: 32
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