Prahlad Prayers 1 Krishna’s glorification is for our purification not our glorification

Narasimha Chaturdashi meditation on Srimad Bhagavatam 7.9.12

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Hare Krishna, we will discuss on the occasion of Narasimha Chaturdashi five classic prayers from Prahlad Maharaj which illustrate in various important ways the glory of bhakti and various aspects of the practice of bhakti so these will be, these prayers are from the 9th chapter of the 7th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam which is entitled Prayers by Prahlad Maharaj and let us begin with one of the prayers now, this is 7.9.12 tasmad aham vigataviklav eeshwarasya sarvatmanam ahigranam yatha maneesham incho ajaya guna visargamanu pravishtah puyet yena hipoman anuvarnitena tasmad aham therefore I vigataviklav eeshwarasya giving up hesitation coming from the idea that I am unfit eeshwarasya oh supreme lord sarvatmanah sarvatmanah with my full heart, with my entire being mahigranam yatha maneesham oh your mahima, mahima means glory granami, I will speak it I will utter it, I will contemplate it yatha maneesham yatha maneesham as is my capacity, as is my intelligence, as is my maneesha, maneesha refers to that with which we control the mind that is the intelligence, so as much as is my intelligence, I will speak that incho ajaya guna visargamanu pravishtah incho, I am fallen I am fallen because I am lowborn I was born in the demoniac family ajaya and I have got ignorance guna visargamanu pravishtah and in the material world where visarga, the creation happens according to the modes anupravishtah, I have entered into this material world in a low birth and when I glorify you anuvaranitena anuvaranitena by your mercy oh lord, I will become purified anuvaranitena so here we see Prahlad Maharaj is telling that I will not hesitate thinking that I am unqualified but I will glorify you for my purification the background is that Prahlad Maharaj is has done successfully what no one else could do when Narasimhadev was furious because because of the fight with Hiranyakashipu and he had killed Hiranyakashipu but still his anger did not abate the devatas came and offered various prayers but he was not satisfied with those prayers because he felt what are your words now actions speak louder than words and your actions were that when my dear devotee Prahlad was being tormented at that time you neither protected him nor protested against this torment and now you are offering flowery words the lord is not pleased by those flowery words and then Prahlad comes and Prahlad offers prayers and actually even before he starts offering prayers the lord who has been roaring like a ferocious lion starts purring like a gentle loving cat and that means the devatas that means what the devatas could not achieve the lord Prahlad has already achieved and yet we see Prahlad Maharaj’s humility he doesn’t delight in thinking I have done something which no one else has done he focuses primarily on saying oh lord oh lord please enable me please accept my prayers and the previous verses he has said actually I am unqualified and you your bhakti is glorious but I don’t even have bhakti and you don’t need bhakti you are complete it is we who become benefited by offering bhakti to you and therefore he is saying in this verse that therefore oh lord I will no longer hesitate normally when there is a cultured person the person hesitates to do something which is which might step on other people’s toes so if say in a particular forum a senior person is supposed to expected to speak and then a junior person is given an opportunity is asked to and a junior person does that well then the junior person if they are arrogant then they will then they will just snub their nose at supposedly bigger people but otherwise if they are cultured, if they are sensitive, if they are respectful then they will actually make sure that those who have been those whom they have in one sense dethroned they are not dishonored, they will offer proper respect Prahlad Maharaj offers proper respect by saying actually these devatas are born in sattva guna and I am born in lower mode I am low born and because I am low born oh lord I have no capacity if they so he says that he says he says the words of the devatas were like a flow of nectar and if that flow of nectar did not satisfy you then I who am low born how can I satisfy you oh lord so therefore he says that my dear lord the only thing I can do is that it’s not that I am more qualified it is that actually he doesn’t say that I am materially more qualified I am low born materially and spiritually also he doesn’t say that I have got devotion but he says that actually oh lord you are satisfied by devotion and actually you don’t even need devotion you are complete in yourself for those sadhakas whose devotion is unsteady so so for those who do not have devotion when they honor you it is they who are benefited it is they who are purified it is they who are elevated and he says therefore for my own purification for I will not consider my disqualification but rather I will focus on my glorification on your glorification so giving up my hesitation about glorifying you by contemplating my impurity my impurities my disqualifications my inferiority I won’t bother about such things what will I focus on is that so the person who glorifies you becomes purified oh lord by describing your glories this is a very sobering meditation for us when we think of how we should glorify Krishna quite often because we live in a competitive world and because we have come from a competitive culture now to a devotional culture we often bring the competitive mentality with us into the devotional culture and say if we start sharing Krishna consciousness with others if we start sharing bhakti wisdom with others then we often compare and compete oh how many people are coming for my lecture how many people are coming for their lecture how many people are laughing at my jokes oh many more people are laughing at their jokes oh and like that we start competing and because of this competitive mentality often our focus shifts from Krishna whom we are glorifying to how people are appreciating our glorification of Krishna the purpose of our glorification is to assist people in their recollection of Krishna it is not to increase people’s it is not that we want to gain glorification for ourselves for glorifying Krishna so well actually the if we keep our purpose in mind that my purpose is primarily to purify myself now seeking purification might seem like a selfish purpose that means when we are going and speaking before people it is not that we are really concerned about benefiting people are we concerned only about purifying ourselves no we are definitely we want to help people by sharing Krishna’s message in a way that is accessible, intelligible, appealing for them at the same time our goal is not popularity our goal is purity so when we have that goal clear in mind then we focus on speaking that which will benefit ourselves and benefit others huye tayye nahi pumanan uvarite na so Krishna’s glorification is not for our glorification it is for our purification and rather when we focus on the idea that so there can be two extremes one is where we are too self-centered thinking how fallen we are too self-absorbed thinking how fallen we are or we are too self-absorbed thinking how great I am so if I am too self-absorbed thinking how fallen I am then I may think that I may never speak Krishna’s glories and by so doing I will miss out on the enormous opportunity for purification that is there by speaking Krishna’s glories yes I am fallen but how will I rise from my fallen state by serving Krishna one of the most important ways of serving Krishna is glorifying him so if we are too focused on our fallen condition we may lose the opportunity to come out of the fallen condition by glorifying Krishna and if we are too self-absorbed in the other sense wherein we focus on thinking how great I am and my speaking about Krishna should reveal to the world how great I am then we go to the other extreme and we may speak about Krishna and others may appreciate Krishna’s greatness by our speaking about him but we will not appreciate Krishna’s greatness because we are obsessed with thoughts of our own greatness and thus we will again cheat ourselves of the purification and the elevation of consciousness that is latent in glorification of Krishna and by remembering so when we start feeling unqualified we can remember that Krishna is so merciful that he accepts service even from us and therefore we should not bother about unqualification lack of qualification we should focus on serving Krishna and when we feel too inflated at that time we can remember that actually even if people appreciate my glory, appreciate me as a very clever preacher or whatever still that is not going to satisfy my heart ultimately it is love for Krishna, it is absorption in Krishna that is going to satisfy my heart and therefore let me strive for that absorption while speaking about Krishna and know, I will know and I can meditate that even if I cannot be absorbed right now, if I just cultivate if I keep glorifying Krishna the glorification will purify me and the purification will gradually increase my absorption in Krishna. Thank you.
Hare Krishna.