Category: SrimadBhagavatam

As his mind was filled with indiscrimination, Yudhisthira had succumbed to infatuation and attachments and while bemoaning the death of all his kith and kin, said, “Oho, look at me! What a wretched being I am! My heart is totally filled with ignorance (ajnana). O Lord, in order to protect this physical body of mine, which is nothing but food for dogs and jackals, I have destroyed limitless akshohini armies (akshohini is a military army consisting of many 21870 elephants, 21870 chariots, 65610 horses and 109350 foot soldiers).

I, who have cheated children, Brahmins, relatives, friends, fathers, brothers and Gurus, will not obtain relief from hell even after suffering there for 10 crore years! Even after exhausting limitless births, my sins will not melt. I will be endlessly grieving. I have got stuck in the mire called sins. How many innocent persons I have killed! How many children grieve today because they have been deprived of fathers!  I have cheated them all. I have killed many persons who were steadily walking on the path of Brahma. I have killed my Gurus. I have sinned against my Guru. I have sinned against many mothers.

After all, this body made of flesh and bones will be destroyed one day or the other. Thereafter it is nothing but food for crows and dogs. Even if it is burnt, its bones can still be consumed by them. For the sake of this filthy terrible body, for the sake of the comforts it seeks, for the sake of these palatial kingly luxuries, in order to obtain others’ praise, to call myself an exalted emperor, I have committed heinous sins. Oh, what have I done!

A king does not incur any sin even if he kills the enemy in a righteous war that has been undertaken to protect his citizens, say our Shastras. O Lord, I fail to understand why these Scriptures preach in this manner? These scriptures state that we are exempt from the sufferings of hell even after killing enemies in righteous war. How is this possible? How can this war be titled righteous, O Lord? I am unable to understand anything.

By killing many of my relatives, I have offended many women. Such a grave sin cannot be atoned with the sacrificial rituals (yagna, yaaga) performed by house-holders. But O Lord, perhaps by performing these yagnas, I could earn some merit. That is possible, but in no way can I escape this bad karma that I have acquired.

I am ready the pay for all my sins, O Lord. I admit I am a sinner. But to pay for these sins of mine, I do not know how many crores and crores and crores of births I will have to take. This fact torments me a lot. I am not sure if those many births would even suffice to pay these sins. Such is my fate now. I will have to take endless re-births and suffer its consequences. Do I not have any chance for liberation, O Lord?

When this is my case, why do these Scriptures state that I am sinless? Why did they instigate me in this manner? Why did they respectfully encourage me to kill limitless number of people? Whom should I ask O Lord? Can I blame the scriptures? Can I blame You? I take the blame totally upon myself, O Lord. I have sinned terribly.

Within me, there is this feeling of ‘I’. That has still not gone away. Since this feeling of ‘I-ness’ (egoism) exists within me and since I have merged with the senses, I will have to suffer along with them too.

Muddy water cannot be purified using mud as a medium. Performing meritorious actions tainted with desires which are like mud, cannot purify sins. How can I ever get purified by performing such actions? O Lord, please tell. Just because clean water is unavailable, can the dirty vessels be cleaned using muddy water? Won’t the mud stick to these washed vessels? My condition is similar to that. If an action has emerged from a mistake, the same mistake cannot be used to rectify that action, isn’t it? Similarly, the sin of killing humans cannot be set off by performing yagnas (sacrifices), isn’t it, O Lord?” in this way Yudhisthira grieved profusely.

With this the 8^th chapter of the first canto comes to an end.

First Canto Ninth Chapter

In this ninth chapter, Yudhisthira and others approaching Bheeshma, initiation into the various dharmas (rules of righteousness) by Bheeshma, hymn on Srikrishna (stotram) and Bheeshma’s final departure are all covered.

Maharishi Suta continued, “With the intention of understanding the rules of righteousness (dharma), Yudhisthira, who was lamenting, went to the Kurukshetra battlefield, where Bheeshma was lying on the bed of arrows. After all Bheeshma was his grandfather (pitamaha)! He was equal to a Guru! He was equal to a father! He was equal to God!

Along with Yudhisthira, his four brothers also went to meet Bheeshma Pitamaha. Maharishis Vyasa, Dhoumya and others, mounted finest horse chariots and followed Yudhisthira. Krishna mounted Arjuna’s chariot and rode along with him. Yudhisthira, accompanied by all of them shone like Lord Kubera who was surrounded by all the Yakshas.

They neared the place where Bheeshma was resting. Their aristocratic appearance and their dignified conduct were amazing! The radiant Bheeshma Pitamaha who was resting there, appeared like a celestial fallen from sky! The Pandavas felt that a Devata who was flying in the sky had fallen down to earth and was lying there.

The Pandavas, along with Srikrishna, bowed down before him in reverence. They circumambulated and offered obeisance to him. He was after all an elderly person. Exactly at that moment, many eminent saints of different cadres such as, Brahma-rishis, Deva-rishis and Raja-rishis, arrived there to have the darshan of Bheeshma, the chief of the Bharata dynasty. At the time when Pandavas arrived, those saints too arrived.

Maharishis Parvata, Narada, Dhoumya, revered Vyasa, Bṛhadaśva, Bharadwaja, Paraśurama together with his disciples, Vashishta, Indrapramada, Trita, Gṛtsamada, Asita, Kakṣivānta, Goutama, Atri, Kouśika, Vishwamitra, Sudarshana, Śuka, Kasyapa, Angirasa and many other eminent saints arrived there together with all their disciples. In all, thousands of saints had assembled there!

Sriman Narayana.

Kunti Devi continues to pray,

Govinda go-dvija-surārti-harāvatāra

Yogeśvarākhila-guro bhagavan namas te

O Govinda! You have incarnated to relieve sufferings of the cows, of the Vedic scholars as well as the afflictions of the Devatas. O Lord of Yoga! O Lord of the universe! O Supreme Lord! I offer obeisance to You.” Kunti Devi prayed to Krishna in various ways. She praised Him very melodiously and sweetly.

After hearing all these praises, Krishna, at last, smiled gently. It was as if he was debating whether he should smile or not and that even if he smiles whether his smile should be mild or suppressed or visible. Should his smile come out of his lips? Or should it remain within? Or that smile which was already within, should it remain as is? No one knew his response. Then he suddenly said, “Ok”! That was all what he said! Only one word He uttered. After all her long endearing prayers, the Lord uttered only one word!

What was this ‘OK’ supposed to mean? Did it mean that he would save her from this illusory world? Or was this ‘OK’ supposed to mean that he would take her with him when he left? Or did it mean that he had agreed to remain in their place for some more time? Nothing was clear to them.

We are also not able to figure out the meaning of this ‘OK’. But what do we (devotees) do- we tend to clarify in great detail. “Swamiji, for which topic did you say ‘OK’? Was it for the first question, or was it for the second question? Was it for the unasked question? What is it that is Ok for you? Does this OK apply only to my question or does it apply to my partner’s question here?” In this way, devotees ask million questions. By then I would have forgotten the OK I had initially said. I now say, “What was it that I said? Did I say ‘OK’? No, I don’t remember saying that”. I am reduced to that state!

Let us suppose I initiate a person into a mantra. I am now flooded with questions (from him), “Swamiji, how many times should I chant this mantra? When should I chant? In which all places should I chant? Should I chant in the morning? Do you want me to chant in the evening?” Already in the first question the third question was built in. But yet they minutely question, “Should I chant in the morning? When should I chant? In which direction should I face when chanting the mantra? Can I sleep when chanting the mantra? Can I chant when I am travelling?”

This is the present situation. Whatever I say, people come back to me with 20 questions. Until then they will not leave me. All this happens because we are bound by our sense organs and intellect (buddhi). We are tied to our karmic bondages. Infatuation has enveloped us. For this reason we have so many doubts. In every aspect there is a doubt. Second reason for these doubts is in order to cross-question and bind me, “You only said like this Swamiji; you had only said this”.

“Swamiji, you asked me to come, so I have come; I came only because you asked me to come”- This is what people say. When had I originally asked you to come? I had asked you to come 10 years back and now you are coming. In other words it means you could find the time to come only after 10 years. Now that you have come you decide to pester me, “Swamiji, you asked me to come, see I have come”; Swamiji I have come.”

Such people are bound to their senses. ‘They are bound to their attachments and infatuations. They are bound to their karma. They are all trapped. Why then should I bind myself to them uselessly?’ I think. They try to bind me. The public are my teachers. Dattatreya had only 24 Gurus. But through these experiences of mine, I know that I have thousands of Gurus (teachers). Every day I am accosted by some new teacher or the other. I keep saluting them.

When I open my eyes I desire to see only the face of Lord Vishnu. I desire to see Lord Dattatreya. When I close my eyes I seek to mentally see Datta or think of Him only. I want to think of only Mother Goddess. I want to mentally chant ‘Narayana, Narayana, Narayana, Datta, Datta, Datta’ and so on. My birds blissfully chirp early morning ‘Datta, Guru,’ and so on. But these men, despite their intelligence, decide to behave foolishly. Birds, on the other hand, even though they don’t have any intelligence, act wisely. With such humans I am getting trapped, while with the birds I am enjoying bliss. The birds know only one thing- to learn what I teach. How beautifully they chirp, “Krishna, Rama”. Whichever divine name I teach, they repeat. They keep on repeating both the times.

Here, the Lord simply uttered ‘OK’. Because it was Kunti Devi, she was quiet. In these modern days if ‘abhaya’ (assurance of fear not) blessing is given, they will question, “What is this assurance for? Is it for the fulfillment of the desire that I had expressed during my last visit? Or is it for the fulfillment of my present desire? Or is it for some future desire of mine?” They demand as if it is their birth right to do so.

Krishna took leave of Kunti Devi and others. He proceeded to Hastinapura, took leave of Subhadra and others there. Just as He was about to leave for his city Dwaraka, Emperor Dharmaraja (Yudhisthira) lovingly stopped Krishna.

Yudhisthira had been deeply saddened and weighed down at the death of all his kith and kin in the war. Srikrishna, Maharishi Vyasa and other saints, who could understand the mind of the emperor, consoled him in various ways. Yet, even after all this Yudhisthira could not be at peace. He could not be convinced and he continued to grieve for them all.

As his mind was filled with indiscrimination, Yudhisthira was deluded by feelings of friendships and attachments. Here, the inherently wise man, who was naturally endowed with discrimination and who was an epitome of righteousness, was enveloped by feelings of indiscrimination and was glued to them totally. Feelings of infatuation and indiscrimination had overpowered him completely. He was totally trapped in such feelings. ‘I have killed so many of my relatives. I have brought about limitless grief. I caused a huge flow of blood everywhere. Of what use is this kingdom now?’ he lamented.

Arjuna had developed such feelings in the initial stages of war. Now after completion of the war, Yudhisthira developed such feelings. Perhaps in the middle of the war such feelings would have arisen in him, yet the war cannot be stopped once its begun, isn’t it? War goes about in great speed. It is easy to start a war but once it is begun, to stop it is an extremely difficult task. For this reason great caution should be exercised in the initial stages itself. There should be sweetness in speech. Rashness of speech or speaking in a way that instigates others should be avoided during gatherings. It appeared as if Emperor Yudhisthira now came to his senses. In fact indiscrimination had enveloped his discriminatory capacities totally and he was completely submerged in this grief.

Sriman Narayana!

Kunti devi prays, “O Lord, only those devotees who daily without fail, read, listen, study, recollect and praise Your divine glories and derive the resultant bliss, are able to obtain the vision of your lotus feet! O Lord, only those who, thus have been blessed with the darshan of your holy feet, will be able to exit from this cycle of births and deaths!

These repeated births and deaths is a terrible vicious cycle. Did we not discuss earlier that it was like a dangerous whirlpool? The one who is stuck in a whirlpool can never swim back to safety! Likewise, a person who is sucked into this whirlpool called repeated births and deaths can never ever exit from it. He continues to rotate endlessly in it.

Moreover, it appears as if no person wants to attempt to exit from it! Even if at all he attempt, he fails. Perhaps only when he adheres to the certain specified disciplines he may exit from it, who knows? It is very very rare for a person to exit from this terrible cycle. It is so rare that it can almost be said that there is none who has ever exited from it.

It is the nature of this cycle of these births and deaths (janma chakra). It is that cycle which causes fear in the being. It is that cycle which causes him to be born again and again. It is that cycle which forces him to perform action. This cycle is like a chain of events that are all inter-connected.

Only those who think of You at all times, who follow You, who see You as existing in everything, who pray to You, who read Your stories at all times and who narrate Your stories to others are able to exit from this cycle of births and deaths! They exit from this cycle called illusion (māya). This is possible only because, O Lord, Your benevolent grace has fallen upon them!

O Lord, O Ishwara, who fulfills the desires of all devotees! Why do You seek to leave us and go away, your true friends who have implicitly placed faith in You and have sought shelter in You? At all times You are our sole refuge night and day! O Lord, who else is there for us apart from You?

In all situations and at all times, be it in our joys, in our sorrows or in our difficulties, we see only You, O Lord. Even in our sorrows and difficulties we are seeing only Your miracles, O Lord!

We think, “Because of this sorrow that we are going through, such and such karma has been removed from us.” This is what we believe. At times of happiness we think, ‘God has given us this happiness in order to test us. He seeks to check whether I am arrogant or not. Hence I should be extremely vigilant. I should hold on to satsang with even more rigidness”.

At all times we glorify You. Even when we are seething in anger, we laugh. We think, ‘Our Lord has caused this anger in us’. With such thoughts we discard anger.  At times of sorrow we think, ‘Our Lord has given us this sorrow’. With such thoughts we stop grieving. At times of happiness we exercise extreme vigilance and with such feelings we surrender the happiness to You by saying ‘Krishnārpaṇam’.

Every moment we talk about the words that had been uttered by You. When sitting, standing, walking, sleeping we think or talk about You. When eating we offer to you every morsel of food as naivedya. ‘The Lord seated within me is eating this food’ we think.

O Lord, we believe that You are the food we eat, You are the one who is eating, the hand is You, the mouth is You, the God who is within is You and so on. In this way we see You in everything. Why then are you giving us this sorrow of separation? When we consider You as everything, then wherever You stay we should be there only, isn’t it? Then why can’t you take us? Why are You now distancing us? I fail to understand this”.

Kunti Devi continues, “O Lord, we have brought limitless grief to many kingdoms and their lineages. Due to us many kingdoms got destroyed.

If closeness with the Self (atma) is lost, then what will be the fate of the senses? You are our Self (atma), do you know this? If Self goes far away, then how can these senses of ours function? In your absence we will be reduced to living corpses. Now in Your absence our condition will be similar to that of the senses without the Self.

We Yadavas and Pandavas have fame and prosperity. All this prosperity of ours illumines only because of Your presence! O Lord, it is because of You that we are happy. It is because of You that we experience sorrows. It is because of You that we perform the supreme meritorious deeds.

Swami! If You are not there, then of what use are these luxuries? Why these riches, this power and these kingdoms for us when You, Our Lord is not there with us? What will we do with this fame and all this wealth? What will be the fate of our sense organs in Your absence? Today they function only because of Your presence. In our foolishness and imagination, we presume that we are making everything function.

That being the case, O Lord, now if You desert us and go away, we will lose our mental balance. O Lord who holds the mace! The kingdom of Kuru is shining resplendently in an unprecedented manner, only because of the impressions of Your lotus feet which shine everywhere. Your footprints are like glowing lotuses. Since You have placed Your foot on the lotus it is glowing brightly. Now if your foot is removed, what will happen to that lotus? Will its radiance not be lost? It will simply wither away.

It is because of Your compassionate glance that these mountains, plains, kingdoms, oceans, rivers are all calm and peaceful, O Lord! They are flourishing. With bountiful crops, trees laden with full fruit, flowers, lotuses all these mountains and water bodies are thriving. The surroundings are so beautiful and serene, O Swami! Prosperity and happiness is seen in all quarters. Everywhere one sees, one only finds happiness and bliss. What will be the fate of all these when you leave?

O Jagatpati! O Vishwamurti! If at all You are determined to leave, then please cut this bondage called deep attachment that I have towards these Yadavas and Pandavas. That is all I seek. Please pull me out of this cycle. Please shred this bondage called attachment that I have.

O Lord of Yadavas! Also kindly ensure that this intellect (buddhi) of mine remains eternally focused upon You in total devotion! Please ensure that it does not deviate towards other unnecessary matters. I beg of You, O Lord.

I have always been caught up in this web of difficulties in life. ‘My son is unwell. Things are not working out in favour of that one. This kingdom is lost; that kingdom is in trouble. This person dear to me has lost his leg. That one has lost his hand. Someone known has lost his life’ in this manner I worry endlessly and wastefully. Please shred all these bondages, O Lord. I pray to You.

Hey Srikrishna! Arjuna mitra! Yadu vamsa tilaka! Destroyer of the foes of Mother Earth! You have eliminated from earth the lineage of all those kings who unjustly cheated Mother Earth. Such is Your supreme valour! Such is Your greatness! I offer obeisance to You!

Govinda! Govinda! Govinda! Sriman Narayana!

Kunti devi continued to praise Srikrishna, “O Krishna! To those who have had your darshan, the question of re-birth does not arise. You bless even a poor unfortunate person with your darshan.  The person, who becomes conceited due to his opulence, education, power, position or due to his birth in a good lineage, loses even the eligibility to call out Your name.

To the poor, You are their wealth, O Lord! This illusory world does not touch You. Untouched by these feelings of likes-dislikes, You remain eternally in the Parabrahma state enjoying supreme bliss. I offer obeisance to You, who bestows liberation! I consider You to be the eternal time and the all-pervading Lord who is without beginning and end. You are the Supreme Paramātma!

Even though the living beings fight amongst themselves, O Lord, You forever remain equally within everyone. O Supreme Lord, like an ordinary human being, You engage in action (karma) and in your pastimes. How can anyone understand your divine transcendental pastimes? How can anyone understand your intentions?

There is none who is extremely dear to you. At the same time, there is none whom You despise. But human beings imagine that You are partial towards some and that you maintain differences.

You are the one whom everyone seeks. You reside in every heart. There is nothing that touches You. ‘These people I should favour, those people I despise’ such feelings do not touch You. It is due to the individual devotion or arrogance that either they could attract you or distance from You.

O Vishwatma (universal being)! You are beyond birth and action! We, the living beings, have birth and action! You have descended to incarnate amongst animals, humans, saints and taking on the forms of Varaha, Srirama, Vāmana and Matsya (fish), have sportily completed all your actions therein.

In the waters, You incarnated as a fish. There too You enacted your play. Thereafter You took the form of a boar (Varaha). Then You incarnated as a tortoise. Incarnating in those forms, you enacted all the actions associated with them. All this is nothing but your play. None of these actions touch You.

In Your childhood You broke the pot of milk. In order to punish You, Mother Devaki, who was angered with this deed of yours, went to fetch a rope to tie you with. You shed such profuse tears that the kohl (kajal) from your eyes was washed away. Either to test your mother’s feelings or to soften her heart you enacted this play. How can anyone tie You, O Lord? Is it possible? You are the rope, how then can you be tied with a rope? When those profuse tears flowing down your cheeks washed away the kohl (kajal) from your eyes, You bent your head in fear. What more can be said about your plays, O Lord!

I am deeply drawn towards these childhood activities of Yours. The truth is that fear is afraid of you. You are fear to fear itself! It runs away from you as it is terrified of you. How then can You shed tears as if you are scared? How can You bend your head and stand as if you are petrified? What divine plays You enact, O Lord!

You inherently are birthless! But people say that in order to enhance the glory of the King Yadu, who is very dear to You, just as the sandalwood tree emerges in the Malaya Mountain, you took birth in his family. It is said that nothing, not even a thorny bush, grows in the Malaya Mountain. In such a mountain like a sweet smelling sandalwood tree you emerged. How could you have birth?

Devaki  and Vasudeva, in their previous birth, had prayed that You should be born as their son. Although You are birthless, for the well being of the world and for the destruction of the demons, you have taken birth as their son. This is what people say.

Some others say that when Lord Brahma prayed to reduce the load of Mother Earth, You decided to take birth.  By taking this divine birth, you caused different feelings in different people.

Some others are of the opinion that, to give a chance to people, who having been born on this earth are trapped in the vicious cycle of frutitive actions (karma) and are suffering due to it, You decided to take birth. This birth thus is to enact divine plays so that these suffering people get a chance to listen to your divine stories and recollect them.

All those innocent devotees who ought to be helped, all those people whose sins should be cleansed, all those who have obtained your grace have all been uplifted. Through this incarnation, You have demonstrated innumerable divine sports. Through this birth, ignorance (ajnana) has been washed away in many. So many persons have transformed into divine beings, during this birth of yours. They have attained oneness with you.

O Lord, only those devotees who, daily, without fail, read, listen, study, recollect and praise Your divine glories and derive the resultant bliss, are able to obtain the vision of your lotus feet! Unknowingly many study your glories. Many unknowingly think about you. There are many who help others considering them to be You. This is such a strange play, O Lord.  How many of your divine plays can I narrate, O Lord? They are endless”.

Deciding to return back to Dwaraka, Srikrishna took leave of the Pandavas. He worshipped Vyasa and other Maharishis. In turn, they too reverentially worshipped Srikrishna. Along with Satyaki and Uddhama, He sat in the chariot and was just about to leave when he noticed Uttara, daughter of King Virata and wife of Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu, rushing towards him in great fright. She prayed to him in the following manner:

Pāhi pāhi mahā-yogin deva-deva jagat-pate

Nānyaṁ tvad abhayaṁ paśye yatra mṛtyuḥ parasparam

O Maha yogi! O Deva deva! O Lord of this universe! Kindly protect me! In this world where people kill each other, there is none apart from You who can offer me protection! O Prabhu! O Ishwara! A burning iron arrow is heading towards me. I do not mind if it were to kill me, but O Lord, it should not harm the baby in my womb.”

Listening to this prayer of Uttara, Srikrishna, the Supreme Lord who considers devotees as his children, instantaneously realized that this arrow had been launched by Ashwatthama, the son of Drona. He further understood that in order to eliminate the entire lineage of Pandavas from earth, Ashwatthama had directed the weapon towards them.

Exactly at that moment, 5 fiercely burning arrows were rapidly coming towards the Pandavas. For self protection, the 5 Pandavas immediately took up their bows and arrows. Noticing this plight of the Pandavas, who had utmost devotion towards Him, Srikrishna at once used his weapon the Sudarshana chakra (discus) and protected them.

In order to protect this last descendent of the Kuru lineage Srikrishna, who is the Self (atma) within every being and who is the Lord of all Yogis, entered into Uttara’s womb and enveloping the fetus with his power of illusion (maya shakti), protected it.

Brahmāstra is an undefeatable weapon. Even then, this supremely powerful weapon was neutralized and pacified in front of Vishnu’s power and radiance. It retracted from Uttara’s womb and went away.

Shounaka, please do not consider this to be an extremely astonishing event as this Lord is the storehouse of all miracles! To that Supreme Lord who is devoid of birth and who, with His power of illusion (maya shakti) creates, sustains and absorbs this entire material creation, this is not at all an extraordinary deed!

Kunti Devi observed her sons, the Pandavas as well as their wife Draupadi, being saved from this Brahmastra. She now addressed the Lord, who had accomplished such a supreme deed and who was about to begin his journey, in the following manner:

Namasye puruṣaṁ tvādyam īśvaraṁ prakṛteḥ param

Alakṣyaṁ sarva-bhūtānām antar bahir avasthitam

O Krishna! You are the original being (ādi Puruśa). You are the energy that monitors all the planes of existence. You are beyond illusion (māya shakti). You are beyond the understanding of the senses. You reside not only within the hearts of all beings but also outside of it. I offer obeisance to You, O Lord!

Due to the spiritual ignorance (ajnana) of people, You appear as if you are covered by the veil of illusion. However in reality You are beyond the grasp of direct visible proofs (pratyakṣa pramāṇa i.e. firm knowledge that emerges when a subject is grasped directly through the senses)”.

Here the Lord has not covered Himself with a veil. The illusion of the people has put a veil upon Him. People are covered with a veil of illusion. When they remove this veil of illusion, He will shine.

“O Lord, how then am I to realize or understand You, who are indestructible? A foolish man cannot recognize an actor who is in his costume. Likewise the human being who has an egoistic attachment towards the body and who is infatuated towards it cannot recognize You as the Supreme Paramātma.

Even the best yogis who are at the highest state of enlightenment, who have an inner mind that is totally pure and who possess supreme discriminatory capacities, worship You through the path of devotion (bhakti yoga). This incarnation of Yours is solely for this purpose. How can we, the ordinary women, realize and understand Your original true form, which even supreme Yogis fail to understand in totality?

You have saved us from the terrible weapon that had been thrown by Ashwatthama. Only due to this protection given by You, O Lord, we are still alive. O Lord, who has preached the Bhagavad Geeta! O Lord of this Universe! We pray that at all times difficulties should land upon us. This is because during difficulties, we will be having your darshan”.

Swamiji explains: Do you understand this? Real devotees never pray that difficulties should be taken away from them. Praying that all hardships be taken away, means true devotion is lacking in the person. It means he is attaching a value to his devotion. It is trading. It ends with that transaction. True devotees pray that troubles should come to them. Even in Purandaradasa keertana, this is seen, “O Lord, it is enough if I have your compassion. Nothing else matters”, he says.

Om Sriman Narayana!