As I was chanting the Holy Names today, I was trying to pray to Their Lordships to deliver me from my fallen situation. A thought came – Should we as devotees pray to the Lord to be delivered from miserable situations, or should we just desire service to the Lord? Hasn’t Shrila Prabhupada given us that meditation?
Recently, HH Bhakti Prema Swami Maharaja gave a very nice illustration to explain how mukti is included in bhakti. If we are in prison, and there are two options given, the first being we are given freedom from jail, and the other is we are being engaged in the service of the king. Which one will we choose? In serving the king, freedom is implied. But just desiring freedom, who knows if anyone will hire us or not, or we may have to live simply begging.
Similarly, mukti is included is bhakti. Mukti means freedom, and bhakti means engagement in service. How can we serve if we are bound?
In the same lines, I was pondering, if we are just desiring for service, then the desire for getting freed from the material situations in life is already included.
And if we are at all desiring to mention our fallen condition, that can definitely be done, as that is a sign of one’s humility, or our wanting to take a humble position. Therefore, in the Siksastaka prayers, Mahaprabhu mentions about his unfortunate situation. Along with that, He also desires to serve.
ayi nanda-tanūja kiṅkaraṁ
patitaṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau
kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-
sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya
“My dear Lord, I am Your eternal servant, but somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of this material world. Kindly pick me up and fix me as a speck of dust at Your lotus feet.” (Śikṣāṣṭaka 5)
We must not simply be satisfied asking for our deliverance. We must ask for some service also. Actually, the antidote for our indulgence in maya is engagement in Krishna’s service. This fact is very nicely stated by Bhaktivinod Thakur.
He mentions,
bisaya pipasa-prapidita dase
deho’ adhikar jugala-vilase
Your servant is very much diseased with the thirst for material sense gratification, so he’s asking You to kindly give him the capacity to assist in Your divine conjugal pastimes.
And yes, a devotee must be very clear in mentioning to the Lord what he or she does NOT want. Mahaprabhu emphatically mentions,
na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ
kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye
mama janmani janmanīśvare
bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi
“O Almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor to enjoy beautiful women. Nor do I want any number of followers. What I want only is the causeless mercy of Your devotional service in my life, birth after birth.”
Prthu Maharaja is repeatedly mentioning that he doesn’t want the misery of merging in the impersonal brahman. In the song prabhu tava pada yuge, Bhaktivinod Thakura states what he does NOT want in the very first lines of the song.
prabhu tava pada-yuge mora nivedan
nāhi māgi deha-sukha, vidyā, dhana, jan
O Lord! This is my humble submission at Your lotus feet. I do not ask from You sensual pleasure, learning, wealth, or followers.
nāhi māgi swarga, āra mokṣa nāhi māgi
nā kori prārthanā kono vibhūtira lāgi’
I do not beg for residence on the celestial planets, nor do I wish liberation from this mundane existence. Nor do I pray for the attainment of any mystic powers.
Therefore, devotees are intelligent to mention to the Lord what they don’t want, they are humble enough to reveal their miserable situation, and they are eager to request the Lord to engage them in His service.
