Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Siddhaswarupananda - Practical Wisdom

One material mind prays to another material mind (both of whom are being eternally and equally afflicted by three kinds of miseries) for relief or help. Its prayers are but hankerings after enjoyment and are always caused by want, fear and anxiety. There is no material mind whether of a king or a tenant, a lord or a servant, a master or a pupil, the strong or the weak, the rich or the poor, the scholar or the dunce, which can ever be relieved of want or fear; whereas the spiritual mind never prays for daily bread, any sort of material relief, worldly prosperity, a life devoid of all miseries, a life in heaven dipped in celestial bliss or a peaceful existence in the kingdom of God. He has no such prayer, but is ever suppliant before the Supreme Lord and insists on the continuity of his loving service which is never at an end. As soon as he perceives the wicked and inimical activities of the material mind, he supplicates thus before a Vaishnava who has no want, fear or terrors of birth and death and is powerful enough to deliver all spiritual minds from the clutch of the material mind: Vaishnava Thakur, the ocean of kindness, I take shelter at thy lotus-feet. Have mercy on me, your humble servant, and purify me with the cool shade of your holy feet. Check my proneness to pollute myself by (1) using offensive and hurtful language to others, (2) floating adrift with various frivolous and despicable passions, (3) using harsh words, (4) coveting palatable things, (5) giving loose to my appetite, (6) hankering after lasciviousness; - rid my grovelling self of the six evils of (1) putting by things in excess, (2) going against devotion by adhering to that which is forbidden and abhoring that which is favourable, (3) indulging in useless idle gossips, (4) retarding devotional progress and accelerating the contrary, (5) keeping company with the non-devotees and remaining aloof from the devotees, (6) floating with changeable views and transfuse into me the six virtues of (1) eagerness for walking in devotional ordinances, (2) firm conviction and sincere faith, (3) patience and perseverance in devotion, (4) adherence to the favourable enjoinments and abhorrence for prohibitions in devotion, (5) forsaking the company of the effeminate tied to a woman's apron-strings and the impious, (6) following the footsteps of the righteous men. I have been waiting for your company, bereft of which I am totally powerless to sing the name of the Supreme Lord (Krishna); so be kind enough to instil in me reverence and enrich me with the wealth of the Lord's (Krishna's) name as Krishna is yours and you can give Him to me - a beggar, bereft of all worldly wealth and following you chanting 'Krishna', 'Krishna'. Vaishnavas are the wealth of this world. They who serve the Supreme Lord under his (Vaishnava's) guidance, walk in the commandments of the Lord and follow His observances, the rest live and die in vain. The best ornament of our head should be the dust of their feet, the best food, the remnants of their dish and the best drink, the water that washes their holy feet - these and only these can renew devotional love in us. Who but a Vaishnava will save our blinded selves from being led by the blind and from the onsets of ever-increasing insatiable lusts, anger, covetousness, illusion and egotism? We are groping in the dark labyrinth of this world and know not whither lies our way.