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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."

 
 
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."
 