So Narottama dasa Thakura, he is offering his prayers to the Lord, haha prabhu nanda-suta, vrsabhanu-suta-yuta: "My dear Lord, the son of King Nanda..." Krsna's foster father's name was Nanda Maharaja. So He is very much pleased when He is addressed as "the son of Nanda." [break] He is the original person. He has no father. But He accepts His devotee as His father. He accepts His devotee as mother. He is full in Himself, but still, He awaits the affection of father and mother. This is the beauty of Krsna. So He takes pleasure when He is addressed as Nanda-suta, as Radha-ramana, like that. So Narottama dasa Thakura is addressing, "My dear Lord, the son of Nanda," and vrsabhanu-suta-yuta, "and present with the daughter of King Vrsabhanu..." Radharani's father was Vrsabhanu. He was also a king. So Krsna and Radha is combined, and the devotee is addressing, "My dear son of Nanda, You are now united with the daughter of Vrsabhanu." Karuna karaha ei bara: "Now You bestow Your mercy upon this fallen soul." Narottama dasa kahe. This prayer is offered by Narottama dasa Thakura, a great acarya of the Vaisnava-sampradaya. He is saying for himself, "My dear Lord, don't kick me away." Narottama dasa kahe, na theliho ranga paya: "Don't kick me away. Accept me in the service of Your lotus feet." Toma bina ke ache amara: "I have no other shelter than Yourself." This is the sum and substance of all prayers. If you submit to the Lord that "I have no other shelter than Yourself," then He takes at once charge of you. But if you think that "My dear Lord," or "My dear God, I come to You for my daily bread, and as soon as You give me my daily bread, my business is finished with You..." No. That is also very good, but this is not love. This is business. The Krsna wants lover not for any business.

When Prahlada Maharaja was offered benediction by the Lord, "My dear Prahlada, now whatever you want you can ask from Me," Prahlada Maharaja said, "My dear Lord, You are so opulent and I am so poor. And I am addicted to this material enjoyment. You are offering me, 'Whatever you want, you can take from Me.' " Just imagine. Suppose I am a poor man, and if a rich man says, "Swamiji, whatever millions of dollars you want, you can ask from me," then I shall put my claim, a big, very big amount: "Oh, here is a great opportunity." But Prahlada Maharaja refused. Prahlada Maharaja said, "My dear Lord, it is my duty to render service unto You not in exchange of something, gain. Oh, I am not a merchant that I am doing this." Vanig-vrtti. So the Lord was very satisfied. That is the way of pure devotion. That was taught by Lord Caitanya. Na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagad-isa kamaye: [Cc. Antya 20.29, Siksastaka 4] "My dear Lord, I do not ask from You any amount of wealth," na dhanam na janam, "neither any number of followers." Because every one of us, we want to be the richest man in the world, the greatest leader of the world, and to have a very beautiful wife... This is our heart's desire in the material world, to control over a vast mass of peopleI want to be prime minister, president, or political leader, Hitler or Gandhi, like thatand to amass vast amount of wealth. But Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, "No, no, no. I don't want all these things." This is prayer. Na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagad-isa kamaye [Cc. Antya 20.29, Siksastaka 4]. "Then what for You have come to Me?" Mama janmani janmanisvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi: "My dear Lord, I pray that birth after birth I may have unconditional, causeless devotion unto You." Not devotion for some purpose. That is not pure devotee. If you have got some purpose to... That is, of course, accepted in the Bhagavad-gita, that if anyone goes to Lord to pray something with purpose, that is also good. But that is not pure. Pure devotee never asks anything from the Lord. That is pure devotion. So Prahlada Maharaja was a pure devotee. Therefore he does not make any business with God, that "I offer You my prayer to take something from You." We shall discuss these prayers of Prahlada Maharaja one after another, and in none of the paragraph you will find that Prahlada Maharaja is asking something, "Give me this for my sense gratification." No. This is the sign of pure devotion.

So he says, mahi grnami: "I shall simply..." You can pray. Anyone can pray. It does not require any education. If you simply feel, "Oh, God is so great. Oh, He has created the sun. He has created this moon. Oh, He has created the ocean. He has created this air. He has created so many fruits, so many flowers." Go on. You don't require any education. Simply try to understand how great God is. There is no other education required. In the Bhagavad-gita the Lord says, prabhasmi sasi-suryayoh. He says that "I am the taste in the water." Who does not take water? Water is our life. So when you take water, quench your thirst, you can immediately thank God because that taste is God. So immediately you can remember, "O my dear Lord, You have created so nice thing, water. Oh, I am so thirsty. It is quenching my thirst. Thank You." Is it very difficult? But the nonsense, they will not do even this. They'll say, "Oh, God is dead." Therefore we are suffering. We are so ungrateful that we even do not give thanks. In the ordinary way, if somebody gives me a glass of water when I am thirstyit is etiquetteI say, "Thank you." And God has given us so vast mass of water in the ocean, in the sea, in the sky. Without water we cannot live. There is no thanksgiving. There is no thanksgiving. Rather, we say, "God is dead." There are so much profuse light. For this electric light you are paying bill to the electric company, and God is supplying so much light, in the night there as moon, in the daytime as sun. Prabhasmi sasi-suryayoh. Sasi means moon, and surya means sun. So He is supplying so much light, everything, whatever we require, and there is no thanksgiving. So only one has to become grateful. Prahlada Maharaja says that "I don't require to be very educated or a learned scholar in Sanskrit or any other language and very poetic so that I have to offer my prayers in a beautiful language and God may be pleased by the poetic idea." Just like some mundane poet thinks that they imagine some poetic ideas and thereby God is pleased. No. Bhaktya tutosa bhagavan gaja-yutha-paya: "The God can be pleased only by the feelings of your love." That is required. But anyone can do that, provided he feels the gratitude that "God is so kind."

Prahlada Maharaja said, nico 'jaya guna-visargam anupravistah puyeta yena hi puman anuvarnitena. Now, God is so kind that He is giving you light, air, everything that you require for your existence. Either you give Him thanks or you do not give Him thanks, the supply will be there. But somebody says, "Then what is the use of giving Him thanks?" The use is for yourself. What is that? Prahlada Maharaja said, puyeta yena puman anuvarnitena: "If I give thanks to Lord, then I become purified." God does not wait for your thanks. He has already created. But if you give thanks, then you become purified. What is that purification? The purification is that gradually you become liberated from the influence of the materialistic modes. There are three modes of material nature. Somebody is in the modes of goodness; somebody is in the modes of passion; somebody is in the modes of ignorance. But in the Bhagavad-gita it is said, mam cavyabhicarini bhakti-yogena yah sevate: "Anyone who is engaged in transcendental loving service," sa gunan samatityaitan [Bg. 14.26], "he transcends the influence of these modes of material nature, and" brahma-bhuyaya kalpate, "he becomes Brahman realized." We are already Brahman, but we have to realize. And as soon as you realize... Brahma-bhutah prasannatma [Bg. 18.54]. As soon as we realize Brahman, immediately we become anxiety-less, prasannatma.

So it is for me. We are always suffering with anxiety. Beginning from President Johnson down to the small ant, or beginning from the greatest living creature, Brahma, down to the ant, everyone is anxious. That is material consciousness. And to become free from anxiety is to become Krsna conscious. So if you want to be benefited, what is that benefit? The benefit is to become anxiety-less. That's all. Just like this little child, he is anxiety-less because he is confident that there is his father, his mother, and they will protect him. He doesn't care for anybody. He is free. So that is the stage of Krsna consciousness. Not that you shall become a foolish, but the Krsna consciousness is so nice that you will be happy. You will be happy in the feeling, "There is my protector. There is my protector." There is one nice prayer by Yamunacarya. He says, apaharsayisyami sa-natha-jivitah. Mano-rathena... I... Exactly I don't just now remember. Sa-natha-jivitah. Kadapaharsayisyami sa-natha-jivitah. Bhavantam evam caran nirantaram prasanta-nihsesa-manantaram. He says, bhavantam eva caran nirantaram: "My dear Lord, when I shall be always engaged in Krsna consciousness?" Bhavantam eva caran nirantaram. Nirantaram means incessantly, without any partition that "This much I am worldly conscious, and this much I am Krsna conscious." No. Simply Krsna conscious. Bhavantam eva caran nirantaram. How you can be so Krsna conscious? Now, prasanta-nihsesa-mano-rathantaram: "I shall finish altogether all concoction of my mind." Everything is creating different consciousness by the concoction of mind. Sometimes I am feeling, "Oh, I shall become a great businessman," "Oh, I shall become the president," "I shall become the minister," or "I shall become this and that," so many. The mind is always agitating: "I shall possess that thing. I shall possess that thing. I shall kill him. I shall finish him." So these are called mental hallucination. So one has to become completely free from this mental hallucination or craziness. Then one can be fixed up in Krsna consciousness.

So bhavantam eva caran nirantaram prasanta. Prasanta means prakrsta-rupena santah. Santah means peaceful, completely peaceful. Bhavantam eva caran nirantaram prasanta-nihsesa-mano-rathantaram, kadaham aikantika-nitya-kinkara. This can be achieved when we constantly engage ourselfour mind, our body, our action, our wordssimply for Krsna. Simply for Krsna. If you talk, you talk for Krsna. If you eat, you eat for Krsna. If you sleep, you sleep for Krsna. If you work, you work for Krsna. Always. Bhavantam eva caran nirantaram prasanta-nihsesa-mano-rathantaram, kadaham aikantika-nitya-kinkarah. Nitya means eternally. Kinkara means servant. Praharsayisyami. Oh, you are becoming servant? How you can be happy? "Yes." How one can be happy by servant, becoming servant, there are many instances. Suppose you are working in a private firm. Fortunately you get a very good job in the government service where there are so many regulations. You get pension, you get this, that. So everyone aspires to get some government service. And he becomes satisfied. So if you can become satisfied by becoming a government servant, how much satisfied you will be, just imagine, by becoming the servant of the supreme government, Krsna. What is this government? A tiny government. But don't you know how big government is this? This planetary system is running on: the sun is rising in due course; the moon is rising in due course; there is seasonal changes; there are so many demigods, innumerable living entities; their foodstuff is being supplied; it is being produced in different planets, different varieties. So there is a huge, big government of Krsna. So if you become a servant of that big government, how much you will be satisfied, just imagine. If you can become satisfied by serving this tiny government, why not become satisfied being the servant of the supreme government? So to become servant of Krsna, or God, is the supreme satisfaction. It is not that that service is very valuable service. Sa-natha-jivitah. Sa-natha-jivitah means that service is not ended, only few minutes' notice. Just like government servant cannot be dismissed simply by saying, "Oh, don't come, come tomorrow. We don't want." So if government service cannot be terminated so whimsically, how Krsna's service can be terminated whimsically? No.

So as soon as you become servant of Krsna you get full satisfaction. Sa-natha-jivitah. Sa-natha-jivitah means you will understand that "I have a master who is so full, who is so complete, who is so competent, who is so faithful, and who is so nice, there is no injustice." Therefore, those who are mendicants, they are so much confident that "Krsna will provide for my subsistence. Krsna will..." Abhayam. Therefore they are not fearful. Abhayam sattva-samsuddhih. In the Bhagavad-gita you will find that one has to attain to that stageno fearfulness. Fearfulness is due to our absorption in the material consciousness. Bhayam dvitiyabhinivesitah syad isad apetasya viparyayasmrtih. Because we have got a different consciousness, therefore we are fearful. If you are Krsna conscious, then we can never be fearful. Narayana-parah sarve na kutascana bibhyati: [SB 6.17.28] "One who is in Krsna consciousness, he is not afraid of anything." Several times I have given you this example: especially Lord Jesus Christ, he was not fearful. When he was punished to be crucified, he never cared for it. So these are... There are many examples in the history, in the scriptures, that those who are Krsna conscious or God conscious, they are not fearful. Prahlada Maharaja himself. He was five-years-old boy, and his father was teasing him, "Oh, you cannot become Krsna conscious. Who is Krsna?" Atheistic: "You cannot do that. It is my order." He several times pleaded, "My dear father, why you are talking like this? You are also servant of Krsna." So he never cared for it. Ultimately he wanted to kill his five-years-old boy, and Lord Nrsimhadeva appeared. And this prayer is in connection with that.

So Prahlada Maharaja is beginning his prayer:

So we shall discuss next meeting. Any question, you can ask. Hare Krsna. Yes?