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"Prayers" of King Kulashekhara

Edited and Founded Under Direct Order of
His Divine Grace Sri Srimad Bhakti-Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada
by Goswami Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta

Delhi, Monday 20th October, 1958

Wordings:

Shri vallava iti barada it dayapara iti bhaktapriya iti bhava lunthna kobidaithi natha iti nagasayana iti jagannibasa iti alapinam pratidinam kuru mam Mukunda.

Translation:

Oh Mukunda my Lord! please do it unto me so that I can become a constant reciter of addressing you thus:-- Oh very dear to Laxmi (goddess of beauty and good luck), endower of benediction, causeless merciful, very dear to devotees, expert in plundering the status quo of repeated birth and death, the real lord who lies on the bed of serpent and the resort of the cosmos.

Explanation:

A devotee of Godhead is he who glorifies the personality of Godhead by transcendental ecstacy. This ecstacy is a by-product of profound love for the Supreme Lord which is also attained by the same process of glorification. In this age of quarrel and fight only such glorificatory chanting process, as is recommended here by the king Kula Shekhara, is the proper way of self realisation. Diseased persons infected with material attachment and thereby suffering from the pangs of repeated birth and death cannot realise the effect of such spiritual realisation by recitation of glories of the Lord, as much as a patient suffering from the disease of jaundice cannot relish the taste of sugar candy. Patient suffering from jaundice tastes sugar candy as bitter as any thing although sugar-candy by its very nature is as sweet as anything. Similarly the transcendental Name, fame, Attributes, Pastimes, Entourage etc. of the Personality of Godhead are sweet to those only who are recovered from the infection of material sufferings in respect of the gross body and subtle mind, in respect of dealings with other living beings, and in respect of our cosmic relations. On the other hand sugarcandy is the only medicine for a jaundiced patient. By regular doses of sugar-candy treatment one can gradually get relieved from the affection of jaundice and when he is perfectly cured -- the same sugar candy becomes as sweet as it is naturally. The whole world is now suffering from the jaundice of material diseases and they require the sugarcandy treatment of glorifying the Lord.

The mundane people in general, the so-called philosophers and religionists of different sects are in spite of all good will suffering from the threefold miseries of material existence. They are all after a peaceful condition of the world and the panch sheel propaganda is targeted to this end only. The only way of getting out of this entangling environment is transcendental chanting of glories of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is all spirit Absolute Truth and therefore His Name, fame etc. are non-different from Him. All of them are identical with one another and it is a question of realisation only. By chanting the holy Name of the Lord which are innumerable, one can actually associate himself with the Lord personally. And by such constant personal touch with the Lord, one can get himself spiritually realised which means to become qualified with all the good qualities of Gods. Unless there is individual awakening of the Divine consciousness -- there is no use of crying for world peace. Therefore the process of self-realisation, in this fallen age, by chanting the transcendental glories of the Lord is the most suitable procedure. This process is the only process because the people in general of this age are short-lived, slow in understanding the importance of spiritual value, unfortunate in material prosperity and specially prone to be misguided by false leaders. And to crown all the above, they are constantly disturbed in mind by unfavourable situation in life.

The king Kulashekhara, who is an ideal pure devotee of the Lord, shows us the way of offering prayers to the Lord by his own personal realisation. As he is a 'Mahajan' or the man in authority in the line of devotional services, it is our prime duty to follow his foot prints in order to achieve to the highest rank of devotional stage.

The first address of the Lord is that He is very dear to the goddess of beauty and prosperity called by the name "Shree" of whom the Lord is "Vallava" endearment. Therefore the goddess of beauty and prosperity is the consort of the Lord. The goddess is the same as the Lord but she is only the manifestation of his internal potency. By expansion of his internal potency, the Lord enjoys his spiritual paraphernalia. He is not an imperson or voidness in the highest spiritual realisation -- as it is conceived by different empiric philosophers with poor fund of knowledge. The actual position is that He is nothing of this material world but yet in His spiritual identity He is not merely a negation of material variedgatedness but also He is spiritually the positive enjoyer of everything which "Shree" or the internal potency is the fountain head.

The Lord is then addressed as "Baroda" because it is He only who can deliver the substance. By detaching ourselves from His association we are always in the midst of perpetual want and scarcity but as soon as we get into touch with Him, the gradual process of endowment of bliss begins.

The first instalment of such endowment is the clearance of the layer of dust accumulated in the heart by material association of lacs and crores of years. As soon as, however the dust is brushed aside the clear mirror of heart reflects the presence of the Lord and as soon as we can see Him we are automatically freed from the bondage of all sorts of aspirations and frustrations the two primary principles of material existence. We do aspire for what we have not and we lament for things in frustration. A liberated soul has nothing to do with such material aspiration or frustration. He is concerned with spiritual business. Following this endowment of spiritual bliss, full knowledge, full life and full satisfaction come in order, covering the total existence of perpetual want.

The Lord is then addressed as Dayapara or the compassionate. Actually there is nobody else who can become so causelessly merciful friend of us, except the Lord. He is called the friend of the needy. Unfortunately we seek our friendship in the flesh and blood without knowing a spiritual spark of the Lord cannt be happy in non-spiritual flesh and blood. A needy man cannot help another needy fellow. No mundane man thinks himself complete in every respect. Everybody is a needy fellow. Even the greatest of all rich men thinks himself needy because he is perpetually in search after spiritual bliss which is a missing clue. This missing clue is found out in the complete spiritual Whole the Lord of one's heart. Everything is evaluated as zero without the Lord. The Lord is the positive digit with which zero added the number becomes multiplied by ten.


[Please note: The articles in this series have been typed from copies of the original manuscripts which are sometimes unclear. As far as possible, every attempt has been made to reproduce them without change.]