Usually, people ask for material benefits while praying to Krishna. Like please make me rich, or please help me get a car etc. But this is not what we should ask for while praying because it's useless.
Material benedictions can give you temporary happiness but in order to get eternal happiness, we should ask for something eternal. What is eternal?
According to Narada bhakti sutra, in the third sutra, it is stated that:
janma karma ca me divyam evaà yo vetti tattvataù tyaktvä dehaà punar janma naiti mäm eti so 'rjuna (BG 4.9)
Meaning the pure love of god is eternal. When a person attains to the perfectional stage of love of Godhead, he becomes liberated even in his present body and realizes his constitutional position of immortality.
Here the Lord says that any person who simply understands His transcendental activities and His appearance and disappearance in this material world becomes liberated and that after quitting his present body he, at once reaches His abode. Therefore it is to be understood that one who has attained the stage of love of God has perfect knowledge, and even if he may fall short of perfect knowledge, he has the preliminary perfection of life that a living entity can attain. To conceive of oneself as being one with the Supreme is the greatest misconception of self-realization, and this misconception prevents one from rising to the highest stage of love of God. But a person who understands his subordinate position can attain the highest stage of loving service to the Lord. Although the Lord and the living entities are qualitatively one, the living entities are limited, while the Lord is unlimited. This understanding, called amåta-svarüpa, makes one eligible for being eternally situated.
In the Srimad-Bhägavatam (10.87.30) the personified Vedas pray to the Lord, "O supreme eternal, if the living entities were equal with You and thus all-pervading and all-powerful like You, there would be no possibility of their being controlled by Your external energy, mäyä."
Upon attaining love of God, a person immediately becomes immortal and no longer has to change his material body. But even if a devotee of the Lord has not yet reached the perfectional stage of love of Godhead, his devotional service is considered immortal. Any action in the stage of karma or jïäna will be finished with the change of body, but devotional service, even if not executed perfectly, will continue into the next life, and the living entity will be allowed to make further progress.
Sutra 4:
yal labdhvä pumän siddho bhavaty amåto bhavati tåpto bhavati
Upon achieving that stage of transcendental devotional service in pure love of God, a person becomes perfect, immortal, and peaceful.
The living entity is part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, and if he performs the duties of the part and parcel, without proudly thinking he is one in all respects with the Supreme Lord, he attains real perfection and becomes peaceful.
So what should you pray for?
You should pray to him to give you never-ending eternal love for him. You should pray for devotional service. Don’t ever be selfish and ask him to send you to heaven after death. Just ask him to allow you to serve his lotus feet. Ask him to let you not get bewildered by maya.
Something like “I know I am the most sinful person, but I seek refuge to your lotus feet. Oh, Damodar please allow me to serve your lotus feet for eternity”.
- Suyash Dubey
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