Prayers by Mahārāja Pṛthu

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto 4: The Creation of the Fourth Order

SB 4.20: Lord Viṣṇu’s Appearance in the Sacrificial Arena of Mahārāja Pṛthu

Text 23 - 31

Text 23

pṛthur uvāca

varān vibho tvad varadeśvarād budhaḥ

kathaṁ vṛṇīte guṇa-vikriyātmanām

ye nārakāṇām api santi dehināṁ

tān īśa kaivalya-pate vṛṇe na ca

My dear Lord, You are the best of the demigods who can offer benedictions. Why, therefore, should any learned person ask You for benedictions meant for living entities bewildered by the modes of nature? Such benedictions are available automatically, even in the lives of living entities suffering in hellish conditions. My dear Lord, You can certainly bestow merging into Your existence, but I do not wish to have such a benediction.

Text 24

na kāmaye nātha tad apy ahaṁ kvacin

na yatra yuṣmac-caraṇāmbujāsavaḥ

mahattamāntar-hṛdayān mukha-cyuto

vidhatsva karṇāyutam eṣa me varaḥ

My dear Lord, I therefore do not wish to have the benediction of merging into Your existence, a benediction in which there is no existence of the nectarean beverage of Your lotus feet. I want the benediction of at least one million ears, for thus I may be able to hear about the glories of Your lotus feet from the mouths of Your pure devotees.

Text 25

sa uttamaśloka mahan-mukha-cyuto

bhavat-padāmbhoja-sudhā kaṇānilaḥ

smṛtiṁ punar vismṛta-tattva-vartmanāṁ

kuyogināṁ no vitaraty alaṁ varaiḥ

My dear Lord, You are glorified by the selected verses uttered by great personalities. Such glorification of Your lotus feet is just like saffron particles. When the transcendental vibration from the mouths of great devotees carries the aroma of the saffron dust of Your lotus feet, the forgetful living entity gradually remembers his eternal relationship with You. Devotees thus gradually come to the right conclusion about the value of life. My dear Lord, I therefore do not need any other benediction but the opportunity to hear from the mouth of Your pure devotee.

Text 26

yaśaḥ śivaṁ suśrava ārya-saṅgame

yadṛcchayā copaśṛṇoti te sakṛt

kathaṁ guṇa-jño viramed vinā paśuṁ

śrīr yat pravavre guṇa-saṅgrahecchayā

My dear highly glorified Lord, if one, in the association of pure devotees, hears even once the glories of Your activities, he does not, unless he is nothing but an animal, give up the association of devotees, for no intelligent person would be so careless as to leave their association. The perfection of chanting and hearing about Your glories was accepted even by the goddess of fortune, who desired to hear of Your unlimited activities and transcendental glories.

Text 27

athābhaje tvākhila-pūruṣottamaṁ

guṇālayaṁ padma-kareva lālasaḥ

apy āvayor eka-pati-spṛdhoḥ kalir

na syāt kṛta-tvac-caraṇaika-tānayoḥ

Now I wish to engage in the service of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and to serve just like the goddess of fortune, who carries a lotus flower in her hand, because His Lordship, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the reservoir of all transcendental qualities. I am afraid that the goddess of fortune and I would quarrel because both of us would be attentively engaged in the same service.

Text 28

jagaj-jananyāṁ jagad-īśa vaiśasaṁ

syād eva yat-karmaṇi naḥ samīhitam

karoṣi phalgv apy uru dīna-vatsalaḥ

sva eva dhiṣṇye ’bhiratasya kiṁ tayā

My dear Lord of the universe, the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, is the mother of the universe, and yet I think that she may be angry with me because of my intruding upon her service and acting on that very platform to which she is so much attached. Yet I am hopeful that even though there is some misunderstanding, You will take my part, for You are very much inclined to the poor, and You always magnify even insignificant service unto You. Therefore even though she becomes angry, I think that there is no harm for You, because You are so self-sufficient that You can do without her.

Text 29

bhajanty atha tvām ata eva sādhavo

 vyudasta-māyā-guṇa-vibhramodayam

bhavat-padānusmaraṇād ṛte satāṁ

 nimittam anyad bhagavan na vidmahe

Great saintly persons who are always liberated take to Your devotional service because only by devotional service can one be relieved from the illusions of material existence. O my Lord, there is no reason for the liberated souls to take shelter at Your lotus feet except that such souls are constantly thinking of Your feet.

Text 30

manye giraṁ te jagatāṁ vimohinīṁ

varaṁ vṛṇīṣveti bhajantam āttha yat

vācā nu tantyā yadi te jano ’sitaḥ

kathaṁ punaḥ karma karoti mohitaḥ

My dear Lord, what You have said to Your unalloyed devotee is certainly very much bewildering. The allurements You offer in the Vedas are certainly not suitable for pure devotees. People in general, bound by the sweet words of the Vedas, engage themselves again and again in fruitive activities, enamored by the results of their actions.

Text 31

tvan-māyayāddhā jana īśa khaṇḍito

yad anyad āśāsta ṛtātmano ’budhaḥ

yathā cared bāla-hitaṁ pitā svayaṁ

tathā tvam evārhasi naḥ samīhitum

My Lord, due to Your illusory energy, all living beings in this material world have forgotten their real constitutional position, and out of ignorance they are always desirous of material happiness in the form of society, friendship and love. Therefore, please do not ask me to take some material benefits from You, but as a father, not waiting for the son’s demand, does everything for the benefit of the son, please bestow upon me whatever You think best for me.