Jyotirmukha, the Vanara prays to Hanuman through the following hymn-
Matprārthanā phala midam mama janmana chha
Nechhāmi kinchi-daparam hanuman! mahatman!
Tva ddāsa dāsajana pada rajōniketam
Asmadditam bhavatu sevaka-pārijāta.
Meaning- O Mahatma Hanumanta! You are the most-supreme Parijata flower (night flowering jasmine) amongst all devotees of the Lord. In this birth, there is only one reward that I seek for all my prayers – may the dust from the feet of those devotees who are offering service at your lotus feet, bring about auspiciousness to me. There is nothing other than this that I want.
Here the Vanara seeks to offer services to a servant who is a servant of another servant of the true devotee (it means to offer services to that devotee of the Lord who is at the bottommost position in the hierarchy of devotees offering services), with the faith that serving such an ardent devotee of the Lord should bring about auspiciousness to him.
This hymn composed by Jyotirmukha contains within it the complete essence of Bhagavatam! All traditions endorse that God is to be revered and worshipped. However, the Bhagavata Sampradaya elicits that, along with the Supreme Lord, His ardent devotees too should be worshipped. This is why in Bhagavatam, all the pure and saintly devotees of the Lord beginning with Prahlada are remembered through the hymn Prahlada, Narada…
Worshipping the Supreme Almighty bestows liberation. Liberation, in turn, is dependent upon acquisition of the true ripened knowledge by the individual. To create this ripened knowledge, the Supreme Lord arranges for a friendship between the individual and the supreme saints and/or supreme devotees (bhaktas). This spiritual association (satsang) increases faith and dedication in the person and through this gradually causes ripening of his knowledge. Every person should therefore earnestly seek such satsang with saints.
Lord Narasimha asked little Prahlada to seek any boon, Prahlada did not ask for his father to be brought back to life. Instead he sought jeevanmukti (liberation when alive). The Lord offered Prahlada emperorship over the land. He insisted that Prahlada should seek any boon. None of them were appealing to Prahlada. “I do not want even a trace of these worldly enjoyments to come near me, O Lord. If I become an emperor, my ego is only bound to shoot up. I will be distancing myself from you. Therefore I seek nothing.
Everything that you will bestow is only transitory in nature and will perish with the passage of time. I find that in this world, everything is of fleeting in existence, be it riches, fame, authority, power and the like. What will I do with such earthly acquisitions that are bound to perish? If at all you truly desire to bless me, then grant me association with holy people. Let me enjoy the friendship with your divine devotees”.
Prahlada sought such holy satsang. He opined that it yielded invaluable and unimaginable fruits; the value of which could not even be assessed.
Says another great saint, “Na lage mukti ani dhana sampada. Sant sangat deyi sadaa’ – I do not even seek to be bestowed with liberation. However I deeply aspire to associate with your devotees and saints’. This means to be in the holy presence of the Lord, to speak about the Lord at all times, to sleep in His presence, to enjoy the association of saints and holy persons and to serve them at all times. Every objective in this world is achieved through this.
With our limited understanding we believe that Prahlada let go off a golden opportunity to claim the best worldly accomplishments. But the truth is, by seeking eternal satsang Prahlada sought the best that one could claim.
