Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev.
In 2nd Canto, Chapter 4 of Bhagavatam verses 12 - 23 there is nice mangalacharan (Prayers for Invoking auspiciousness) by the foremost of Bhagavatam Speakers, Srila Sukadev Goswami. In these prayers Srila Sukadeva glorifies Krsna, not just sentimentally but decorating each statement of his with reasons as to why the Supreme Absolute Truth, Krsna, is the only personality worthy of glorification. Listening about Krsna in such glorification, results in invocation of extraordinary auspiciousness for the hearers - tasmai subhadra-śravase namo namaḥ. Sukadev Goswami repeats this fact again and again in his prayers. The last verse of these prayers is very significant. Srila Sukadev prays:
bhūtair mahadbhir ya imāḥ puro vibhur
nirmāya śete yad amūṣu pūruṣaḥ
bhuṅkte guṇān ṣoḍaśa ṣoḍaśātmakaḥ
so ’laṅkṛṣīṣṭa bhagavān vacāṁsi me
May the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who enlivens the materially created bodies of the elements by lying down within the universe, and who in His puruṣa incarnation causes the living being to be subjected to the sixteen divisions of material modes which are his generator, be pleased to decorate my statements.
Reasons why Krsna is worthy of such glorification:
1. Krsna is ṣoḍaśātmakaḥ - the 'generator of sixteen material elements' which are meant for the enjoyment of the living entities. The sixteen principal creative elements, namely earth, water, fire, air, sky, and the eleven sense organs are created by Krsna.
2. Krsna is bhuṅkte guṇān - Furthermore, 'Krsna helps the living entity to enjoy His material creation' - without His sanction and mercy the living entities are incapable of doing any activity like breathing, seeing, hearing, tasting, walking, talking, touching, eating, digesting etc. He causes the living being to enjoy and/or be exploited by material elements and nature. He is the source of power and energy behind these gross and subtle sense organs. mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ - material nature which is one of His energies, is working under His super-intendence (Bhagavad Gita 9.10).
Knowing the above two reasons, we realize how dependent we are on Krsna for basic things that we otherwise take for granted. One of His names is dīna-nātha, 'the refuge of all the fallen souls' - because we have forgotten Him we are fallen. Nonetheless He still remains our refuge. He allows and assists us to have a separate existence from Him, although this kind of existence is condemned. He allows us to breath, He allows us to eat, He allows us to see, He allows us to hear. Therefore if nothing else, then the least we could do is fold our hands and express our gratitude towards Him.
Srila Sukadev, being the self-realized soul, knows perfectly well that he cannot speak about Krsna at all (let alone speak effectively) unless Krsna bestows His causeless mercy upon him. Sukadev therefore prays - so ’laṅkṛṣīṣṭa bhagavān vacāṁsi me - O Lord be pleased - to decorate (laṅkṛṣīṣṭa), my speech (vacāṁsi me)."
Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport, As a fully dependent devotee, Sukadev Goswami (unlike a mundane man who is proud of his own capability) invokes the pleasure of the Personality of Godhead so that his statements may be successful and be appreciated by the hearers. The devotee always thinks of himself as instrumental for anything successfully carried out, and he declines to take credit for anything done by himself. Sukadeva prays for the mercy of the Lord, not only for being helped personally in presenting the truth, but also for helping others to whom he would like to speak.
May Guru, Krsna and all the Vaishnavas bless us so that we may always be thankful for their causeless mercy. May they bless us so that we may also write and speak about Bhagavatam nicely for their pleasure - for on our own accord this would not be possible.
These prayers of Srila Sukadev Goswami are so nice. We are eternally indebted to our spiritual master for revealing to us many treasures like these buried in Srila Prabhupada' s Bhagavatam.
Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev,
Viraja Krsna das
Sydney.
Moderator's Note: HG Viraja Krsna Prabhu is one of the most inspiring devotees I have come across in my life. He is extremely kind-hearted and soft-spoken. His humility is very deep. Although he is so well-read with the scriptures and so expert in performing devotional service, he is very down-to-earth and does not 'show-off' his abilities. He silently goes about doing his service. He is a perfect model for neophytes like myself. It is only by his inspiration, guidance and moral support that we are able to run this Granthraj forum successfully so far. He runs the group in Sydney wonderfully and every year they conduct a huge Bhagavat-saptah for 7 days with nectarean discourses given by HH Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj attended by more than 800-1000 people.
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