The Prayers of An Enlightened Being

A concise summary of Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 3 Chapter 9

Lord Brahma after doing penance for several years gets the vision of the Supreme Lord. He feels pity for the condition of the living entities. He says that it is unfortunate that the living beings under the influence of God’s illusory energy are unable to understand the real nature of God which I have come to realize after years of penance. That is the true nature of God-realized being. He feels compassion for the other living beings who are unable to realize what he has realized which is the complete state of pure eternal bliss.

He describes the real nature of God as he experienced as follows:

• One becomes freed from ignorance and develops intelligence as soon as one gets the vision of all-spiritual and the most beautiful Lord’s form; which is the source of hundreds of incarnations. God's form had existed even prior to the creation and exists forever

• The Supreme Lord’s form is the source of all other spiritual godly forms and the unconscious material forms but it maintains its independence

• The Supreme Lord, Narayana manifests only his form to his devotees in their meditation but not to those who meditate on impersonal energy of his. A devotee gets the taste of Lord’s form through his contact with Murti’s (deities) and meditates on that image in his mind, which ultimately results in the direct experience of God’s form

• A devotee should also regularly hear various activities and descriptions of the Lord to enhance his meditation

• As soon as a devotee gets the direct vision of God's divine form, he becomes free from the false sense of prestige that comes from wealth, assets and friends. Someone who is not a devotee will continue to live with the sense of false prestige and is satisfied with little pleasure that he gets combined with sorrow

• Although a devotee becomes free from sorrow, he feels pain to see others who are suffering from bodily and worldly disturbances. Thus a devotee wants to share with others his journey of God realization with the others to help them become free from suffering.

  • It is clear that a Hindu approach of preaching is based on compassion rather than to increase followership. A devotee has opportunities to direct people to temples, profound literature like Bhagavad Gita and moral stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata to get people on the journey of God realization. A devotee doesn’t need to create anything new but rather leverage the spiritual assets that have existed for millenia which are validated by hundreds of great saints

• Material miseries are realities for every living being. However, one can get relief from those miseries when one starts to hear about your playful activities (leelas)

• The Supreme Lord, Narayana is One but he manifests himself in whatever authorized form a devotee meditates on him through the process of hearing about Lord’s activities and chanting Lord’s names

• The Lord is everything but he is also outside of everything. He is not expecting any rich offerings but only a simple heart which is free from the following misconceptions:

  • The Lord form is imperfect

  • There is God’s manifestation that is higher than Narayana

  • The living being becomes God after liberation

• The Lord never forgets any little thing a devotee offers

• The Lord has no name but his names signify his activities, incarnations and attributes. The Lord is not attributeless. For example:

  • Devaki Nandana: The Lord who appeared as the son of Mother Devaki

  • Krishna: All-Attractive

  • Sarvajna: Omniscient

  • Kamsari: The killer of the demon, Kamsa

• The Supreme Lord is the source of three manifestations Brahma (I), Vishnu and Shiva to direct various aspects of the material creation

• The Supreme Lord is Purushottma because he is the top most among all the souls i.e. Super Soul

• When the Supreme Lord is pleased, he can give any power that makes one look powerful, intelligent, desirable etc. However, a devotee doesn’t seek any of those things

• The Supreme Lord takes incarnations without losing his spiritual qualities and by retaining his full spiritual power. His full incarnations are always accompanied by his own energy, Maha Lakshmi while he rules the universe through his illusory energy, Durga

The Supreme Lord spoke to Lord Brahma as follows:

• When a person meditates on my form, one will also see me as the SuperSoul in everyone and I am in every part of the creation. I am in everyone and everything just like fire dormant in the wood

• When one gets the vision of my form, one is also able to gets the vision of his own pure Spiritual Self

• When one’s mind is firmly fixed on my form, one is able to carry on his activities without being impacted by the passion. The misdirected passion leads to sorrow

• As an Absolute Spirit, I am attributeless but I am also full of attributes as a Supreme Person simultaneously

• It has been the opinion of expert spiritualists for thousands of millennia that the ultimate goal of public service, penance (tapasya), sacrifices (yajnas), Yoga and Meditation is Me. I am the SuperSoul (Paramatma) of all living beings

• I will never let down anyone who loves me with devotion