SB 7.9.8 The feeling that we are disqualified makes us qualified

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. So, this is the first of the prayers of Prahlad Maharaj to Narasimha Dev.
And he is starting by being conscious and being honest about expressing his disqualification. So, he says that prior to him, in this particular pastime, the various devatas have come and offered prayers to try to pacify Lord Narasimha Dev, but none of them have succeeded. So, Prahlad Maharaj is praying over here.
Brahma, Daya, Surya, Gana, Munna, Yodha, Siddha All the great souls, the siddhas like Brahmaji and others, they are situated in sattvaikatan, situated in goodness. gathayo vacchisam pravahai Their words are like the flow of nectar. naraditum purvanai radhunapi pitru But still, if they were not able to satisfy you, then how can I satisfy you? kim taustum arati same harirubhrajate So, if they were not able to satisfy, then how can I satisfy when I was born in a body that was in lower modes? ugrajate So, actually when we chant the holy names, our feeling that we are qualified makes us disqualified.
And our feeling that we are not qualified will make us qualified. What does this mean? When we feel that we are qualified and we like to chant the holy names, we tend to take the chanting very casually and nonchalantly. Yes, the holy name is there.
If I don’t chant attentively today, I’ll chant tomorrow. If not, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year. So, the holy name, when we think that it’s always there, the holy name is just there for the picking.
Anytime I want to pick it up, I can pick it up and I can start chanting. At one level, it’s a fact that Krishna is always there for us. He is ever available, waiting for us in our hearts.
But at the same time, it is a matter of great fortune and great intelligence that people turn towards Krishna. So, if we are among the few, among the very, very few people who have the opportunity to chant the holy names, who have got the fortune and the intelligence to chant the holy names, then that is a privilege. And this privilege has come to us not because of our own any qualification, but it has come by the grace of Guru and Krishna.
And when we recognize that even the holy name, the opportunity to chant the holy name, by which we can become purified, is an undeserved blessing, then we will take it wholeheartedly. Just as if there is a sickness and nobody knows what the medicine is for the sickness. And if people are suffering terribly because of that sickness and suddenly they come to know about the medicine and they start taking the medicine wholeheartedly because they see that it cures.
On the other hand, there are others who know about the medicine for all time and they think anytime I can take the medicine. What is the big deal? So, what happens because of such a lackadaisical attitude is that the medicine is available and the sickness is there, but the medicine is not allowed to act on them and cure the sickness because they don’t take the medicine seriously in a disciplined and regular way. So, now, of course, the holy name is not just a dead object like a medicine.
The holy name is non-different from Krishna. And Krishna is not obliged to manifest himself if we are not chanting sincerely, attentively or hardly. And that’s why to the extent we remember that just as Parailaad Maharaj feels that he is not qualified to glorify Lord Narasimhadev, we are not qualified to chant the holy names.
And the opportunity that we have been given is a blessing. Then, that feeling of being unqualified will make us qualified to take shelter of the holy name and thereby relish Krishna’s mercy and potency manifesting as the holy name.