Five People Who Offer Prayers In Bhagavata Purana

“Our dear Lord, You are appearing as the best of the Yadu dynasty, and we are offering our respectful humble obeisances unto Your lotus feet. Before this appearance, You also appeared as the fish incarnation, the horse incarnation, the tortoise incarnation, the swan incarnation, as King Ramachandra, as Parashurama, and as many other incarnations.” (Demigods praying to Krishna in the womb of Devaki, Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vol 1, Ch 2)

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The Sanskrit word is vandanam. It is one of the nine implementations of bhakti-yoga, devotional service, as mentioned by Prahlada Maharaja in a response to his antagonistic father, Hiranyakashipu. Vandanam is offering prayers, and it is a practice practically synonymous with religion itself.

Studying the difference between the living being, jiva, and the Supreme Being, Paramatma, a person may be skeptical as to the need for prayer. More specifically, they are puzzled as to the preponderance found within the tradition itself, which is the Vedas. The mentality goes something like the following:

“Why should prayer be offered to someone who has everything? If Paramatma knows all of my thoughts already, why do I need to express them? If I have placed an order with a restaurant through a food delivery app, why should I need to speak to anyone? What can be clearer than options selected in a predesigned menu?

“If Paramatma has direct access to what I am thinking, with the perfect database management system to retain everything in memory, am I not covered on all sides? What gap is there left to fill? What vulnerability needs to be addressed?”

As a single sacred text such as Bhagavata Purana has prayers found throughout, it can serve as a point of reference to attempt to decipher the root cause, through an honest academic exercise. We take some of the well-known instances of prayer and see if there is any sufficient justification.

1. Prahlada Maharaja to Narasimha

The foolish, the less intelligent, and the envious will say that religion in the sense of dharma is fanatical or strictly based on blind faith, with corresponding figures who are imaginary. This is one of the skeptical views of religion, that it makes people afraid for no reason. They follow out of a sense of obligation, you see, for fear of retribution in the afterlife.

From a single incident described in Bhagavata Purana, we see that the dealings with God in the personal form are full of subtlety, irony, contrast, suspense, thrill, and even humor. Every kind of embellishment that ornaments a brilliant artistic presentation can be found within historical narratives forever preserved in Sanskrit shlokas.

Prahlada Maharaja, a boy of five years of age, offers prayers to Narasimhadeva. This is a unique avatara of Lord Vishnu, who is the Personality of Godhead. The setting is such that everyone else watching is scared to death. They are afraid, based on what has just transpired.

Narasimha, who is a half-man/half-lion figure, has ripped apart one of the worst characters to ever grace this earth. Narasimha split in half the Daitya leader named Hiranyakashipu. There was sufficient justification, who happened to be standing nearby.

Hiranyakashipu was like the worst abuser of children. The victim happened to be his own son. Prahlada managed to survive the lethal attacks, in succession, and was not bothered by them. He maintained his allegiance to Vishnu, which was the external justification for the violence from the father.

The irony to the situation was that Prahlada was the one person without any fear. Narasimha was still presenting a ferocious image. It made sense that people were a little scared. Prahlada offered the nicest prayers in that setting, with a cool head and steady consciousness.

नाहं बिभेम्यजित तेऽतिभयानकास्य-
जिह्वार्कनेत्रभ्रुकुटीरभसोग्रदंष्ट्रात् ।
आन्त्रस्रज: क्षतजकेशरशङ्कुकर्णा-
न्निर्ह्रादभीतदिगिभादरिभिन्नखाग्रात् ॥

nāhaṁ bibhemy ajita te ’tibhayānakāsya-
jihvārka-netra-bhrukuṭī-rabhasogra-daṁṣṭrāt
āntra-srajaḥ-kṣataja-keśara-śaṅku-karṇān
nirhrāda-bhīta-digibhād ari-bhin-nakhāgrāt

“My Lord, who are never conquered by anyone, I am certainly not afraid of Your ferocious mouth and tongue, Your eyes bright like the sun or Your frowning eyebrows. I do not fear Your sharp, pinching teeth, Your garland of intestines, Your mane soaked with blood, or Your high, wedgelike ears. Nor do I fear Your tumultuous roaring, which makes elephants flee to distant places, or Your nails, which are meant to kill Your enemies.” (Prahlada Maharaja, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 7.9.15)

2. The demigods to Devaki’s womb

When Vishnu sent out word that He was planning to appear in the manifest realm as Shri Krishna, the demigods eagerly anticipated the event. They could see Vishnu in the womb of mother Devaki. The devas took the opportunity to offer prayers.

This was a kind of ornamentation to a grand arrival. Like a presenter at an awards function inducting a nominee into a particular status. The devas felt compelled to proceed in this direction, in spite of their well-known access to Vishnu in the ability to travel to the Vaikuntha realm.

3. Brahma to Krishna

In this instance, the original deva felt remorse. He had done something regrettable. He leveraged his position as creator of the material realm to play a trick on Krishna, who was still a child at the time. Brahma secretly stole Krishna’s closest friends and favorite animals, the cows.

ज्ञाने प्रयासमुदपास्य नमन्त एव
जीवन्ति सन्मुखरितां भवदीयवार्ताम्
स्थाने स्थिता: श्रुतिगतां तनुवाङ्‌मनोभि-
र्ये प्रायशोऽजित जितोऽप्यसि तैस्त्रिलोक्याम्

jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva
jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām
sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir
ye prāyaśo ’jita jito ’py asi tais tri-lokyām

“O my Lord Krishna, a devotee who abandons the path of empiric philosophical speculation aimed at merging in the existence of the Supreme and engages himself in hearing Your glories and activities from a bona fide sadhu, or saint, and who lives an honest life in the occupational engagement of his social life, can conquer Your sympathy and mercy even though You are ajita, or unconquerable.” (Lord Brahma, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 10.14.3)

Resolution did not take place until an entire year had passed. Krishna was not affected by the incident, but Brahma eventually realized his mistake. He approached Krishna directly and offered kind prayers in contrition.

4. Indra to Krishna

If casting judgment, Indra’s mistake might have been worse. He tried to devastate an area with rain. He knew that innocent people were there. Those people were actually the target. Indra wanted them to learn the vital lesson to not insult the leader of heaven, especially at the direction of a young child named Krishna.

The mistake was a blessing in the sense that it led to the auspicious vision of Krishna lifting Govardhana Hill and using it as an umbrella. It further highlighted the transcendental glories, gunas, of the one whose abilities are beyond measure, adhokshaja.

“’My dear Lord,’ Indra said, ‘being puffed up by my false prestige, I thought that You had offended me by not allowing the cowherd men to perform the Indra-yajna, and I thought that You wanted to enjoy the offerings that were arranged for the sacrifice. I thought that in the name of a Govardhana sacrifice, You were taking my share of profit, and therefore I mistook Your position.’” (Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vol 1, Ch 27)

Feeling regret over what transpired, Indra offered prayers directly to Krishna. The incident was not held against him, due to Krishna’s all-knowing nature. There were many vital lessons provided through that first Govardhana Puja.

5. Queen Kunti to Krishna

Remembering God is always good. It is always beneficial, bhala. There is nothing lost in the process. Whatever tastes we are looking for through other endeavors, which are rooted in forgetfulness, are accounted for in the direct connection to the one who is the greatest well-wisher to the Pandava family.

Queen Kunti came upon an interesting realization. She noticed that whenever her family was in trouble, Krishna was there. It was as if the trouble were the catalyst for the direct connection. They felt closest to the Supreme Lord whenever they were suffering through the direst of calamities.

विपदः सन्तु ताः शश्वत्
तत्र तत्र जगद्-गुरो
भवतो दर्शनं यत् स्याद्
अपुनर् भव-दर्शनम्

vipadaḥ santu tāḥ śaśvat
tatra tatra jagad-guro
bhavato darśanaṁ yat syād
apunar bhava-darśanam

“I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we could see You again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and deaths.” (Queen Kunti speaking to Lord Krishna, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 1.8.25)

Kunti therefore prayed to have the calamities repeat. Let it perpetually rain, so to speak; especially when the sunshine otherwise makes us forget the causeless mercy we receive from the husband of Lakshmi.

In Closing:

Compelled to feel,
Towards making appeal.

Then kindly to pray,
But why that way?

Since God already knows,
But Bhagavatam shows.

How from varied and true interactions,
Prayer to highlight Divine attractions.