The Monk's Podcast with Chaitanya Charan
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · 2025
Chapters
Introducing the guest and topic
Hare Krishna recording in progress. My humble obeisances. Thank you so much for joining the Lang's podcast. It's been a long cherished aspiration for me to have you here.
The blend of analytical rigor and devotional depth that you bring in your talks and your uh writings. It's something that I have deeply appreciated.
Also, many of the devotees who appreciate my classes? They also find a lot of inspiration and uh deep analysis in your classes.
So in general, that blend of head and heart together. Not so easy to achieve because one tends to go in one or the other extreme. So uh grateful not just for what you are doing but for who you are.
I'm very fortunate that I have this opportunity to be of service to you today with uh I
I came to know about this book on healing prayers that you have written. We could discuss the broad topic of prayers and with a specific focus on what you have done in this book. Welcome once again, Maharaj.
Thank you very much. I'm happy to be with you this evening or whatever time of the day it is. And yes, I also appreciate your talks. I listened to some of them and I read your book on reincarnation.
So uh we have mutual respect even though we never interacted personally before the
title itself it's healing prayers so now was there any particular reason you chose that particular title this book is translated from Russian and the Russian title much better reflects the original idea behind the title, but English title to a certain extent also conveys the same idea, not the same but almost same idea.
The title itself, the meaning of the title is explained in the book. In the beginning of the book, I describe three types of prayers which are described in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.
And I analyze these three types of prayers as the prayers suitable for different stages of our devotional development. And the initial, the beginning prayer is called samprārthanātmikā. Mika.
Prārthanā, of course, means prayer, and sam is coming from Sanskrit samyak, which means completely or
yeah, so samprārthanā is the prayer uh is the type of prayer where we want to completely surrender to the Lord by surrendering our thoughts, our speech, and our actions.
So, this idea of completeness or which is expressed in the prayers is there in the Russian title where healing is equated with the restoring the wholeness, restoring the completeness of our being.
What happened in our life due to our previous karma, we are divided.
We are not whole in a sense because a part of us, the spiritual part, the real part, wants to be closer with God, wants to re-establish the relationship or wants to recreate this connection with the Lord.
And then there is another part of us which pulls us in a different direction, the material part, our previous habits, previous impressions of sinful life, and so on and so forth, so our attachments, not necessarily sinful, but just attachments to material existence.
So that makes us divided, and saṁprārthanā-tāṭmika, as I try to explain, I give this explanation, is the prayer to restore the wholeness, to restore the completeness of our being, to heal the dividedness, so to speak, to heal this divided nature. So that's the idea behind the book.
And um uh we can all uh uh kind of understand this or relate to it because we feel that there is something wrong with us.
Uh there is this uh internal problem which we all experience and healing means restoring our robust or Health, which basically means restore our wholeness or yeah, something like this.
So again, English title is not hundred percent accurate to Russian title, but it's pretty much reflects the idea. Yes, my deck. Thank you. This is a beautiful theme.
Actually when you're speaking with I just remembered and it seems that healing and whole they come from the same English roots.
The word healing comes from the old English word healing, which means to make whole, cure, save, store to help. Yes.
And the word whole comes from the old English word hull which also comes from ultimately same root as healing. Yeah. Means untired, unhurt or unbroken.
Yeah and but basically basically the idea behind this healing is to restore wholesomeness of our nature. You know, we should become wholesome again. And that's that's the idea of the title.
The prayer for restoring our uh wholesome nature or wholesomeness. Insightful that is also about offering the whole being. Yeah.
Often the focus comes on offering the whole being, but before we can offer the whole being in one sense, the whole being has to become a whole. Yes. Has to become integrated. Exactly.
So that's basically sampratha natmika are the prayers of surrender, but to surrender completely is not easy because we are not complete.
So we're surrendering part of us which wants to surrender, and there are some other parts which don't want to surrender, and it's very difficult to surrender them because they don't want to surrender.
So before we have to reassemble ourselves in our completeness, and then we can sincerely pray for this. So that's the prayer to restore this, to be able to surrender fully.
That's interesting nowadays in English there's a phrase put together. That person appears quite together. I think they're composed, collected, integrated. That togetherness, wholeness.
That's quite a interesting and uh yeah, or interesting for the word Yeah, another word for this English word is integrity, which also uh conveys the same ideas.
So to restore the integrity of our being uh that's that's the idea yes. To be together is a good uh expression too. It must have integrity called an integration. Yeah. Two point forty one basis be one pointed.
Those are not fragmented almost unlimited things. Exactly.
Material versus spiritual prayers
Exactly. Maharaj, to the Indian point, the word healing and prayers has a particular connotation that in India there's a lot of concern about conversions happening.
To some extent, the religion is like a marketplace and whoever does better marketing will get people. So but in some cases the marketing can be a bit unscrupulous.
So there are these claims of miraculous healing which some Christian evangelical preachers do. And then that captivates people's hearts.
So now when we talk about healing, we are talking more about spiritual healing, not so much physical healing. Yes, of course. Is that to be our problem? Yes, we are not talking about the physical healing.
Of course, the physical disease is an indirect result of unwholesomeness of our nature too, so the physical healing may take place when we reintegrate ourselves and become also more wholesome in a sense but that's not the idea.
The idea is about spiritual healing. You are exactly right. I definitely not I'm definitely not trying to introduce into Vaishnava tradition miraculous healing prayers and and uh all this uh all this crap.
So this uh brings to a broader topic of prayers. In general we talk about praying for spiritual growth. For most people, they feel the need to pray when something is wrong in their material life.
And even for devotees, I was in I was in UK, and one devotee had come and talked with me that their baby was very sick. And one baby, she was born and came through an IC unit.
And they said that baby is sick and I feel I should pray to Krishna.
But is praying for the health of my baby a material prayer? So and should I not pray like that? But if I don't pray like that, that's what is occupying my mind the most right now. That's what's on my heart.
If I don't take what is on my heart to Krishna, so then I give some explanation, but I would like to hear your perspective. I said that the word material it encompasses a lot of things.
And there is sättvik, rājasik, and tāmasik. So when something is tāmasik, like say I want to destroy someone else because I am jealous of them, I pray to God for that. That kind of prayers are completely anti-devotional.
And there are prayers which are for I want to become more famous, I want to become more wealthy. Those are more rājasik prayers.
And generally, when we are talking about material and we try to stay away from the material is more this rājasik and tāmasik. It is quite pro-devotional?
It is that it can be somebody can say, I am seeking wealth so that I can serve Krishna. But often the desire for the wealth becomes much more than the desire for serving Krishna.
But then it's our responsibility, it's our karma to take care of our child and praying at that time to be able to do our dharma better. But that is not entirely outside the ambit of bhakti.
And so I mentioned that one principle is pure devotional service, another principle is Yena Kena Prakāreṇa Manaḥ Kṛṣṇe Niveśayet. Somehow or other fix the mind on Krishna. So this is definitely pro-devotional.
So how do you see this difference between material and spiritual prayers? I completely agree with this analysis.
Sattva-guna is an important springboard to achieve pure devotion, and before we achieve pure devotion, we have to be established in Sattva-guna, which means dharma.
And if our prayers are in context of our Dharma, with the idea of bringing us ultimately closer to God, that's fine, that's harmonious. But I think there is a slightly different angle uh to this uh uh idea uh that is uh
uh if see we are human beings. We naturally have emotions. We have desires. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that to be alive means to have desires. Only a stone doesn't have desires.
But if we connect these desires or how Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say dovetail these desires with our devotion, then these desires are not if they are compatible in general with our devotion, then they will not definitely hamper our devotion.
So if you have this very strong desire within your heart, you're preoccupied, your child is sick or you are very sick or whatever then there's nothing wrong to include it into prayers provided you
keep very strongly in your mind the devotional aspect of it, and Śrīla Prabhupāda gave the formula for this. He said, if you so desire, my dear Lord, if you so desire.
So this, if you so desire means that we put the desire of the Lord first, the prime.
And then our desire, and if the Lord, if our desire is compatible with the desire of the Lord, if it is harmonious with the desire of the Lord, then the prayer is okay.
And if not, I give complete freedom to the Lord not to fulfill my desire because I understand that ultimately He is in control.
And in this way my prayer does not interfere with my understanding and position as a servant of the Lord. So that's another angle which could be this this problem could be seen from. So that's that's what it is.
My dear Lord, if you so desire, please. This is something which is very important and I cannot get rid of it. And then uh then uh you know, but if you so desire that's an important element of uh this kind of prayer. Yeah.
I think that gives a good amount of you could say breathing space also for devotees, like for individuals. This is important. At the same time, we accept the ultimate will of the Lord.
The main point of the main point of the prayer is to be able to invest the heart.
What is the use if I formally pray for pure devotion, which is not relevant to me at this moment of my life and I cannot invest my heart into this, but I repeat this mechanically.
There is no use, but uh if uh if I can if if something is my heart is is earning for something very important, uh it's very uh beneficial to connect it with our pursuit of bhakti and to pray by investing our heart into this prayer.
That's a such important point that when we are praying, unless our heart is invested, prayer ultimately is the language of the heart where the human heart connects with the divine heart.
So if we are praying for something that really doesn't have a prominent place in our heart, at least at that particular point. And the prayer itself will be a bit superficial. So yes, Maharaj.
So going ahead from there, now when you have chosen to focus on the prayers of Queen Kuntī. Was there any particular reason you chose these prayers?
Context of Kunti's prayers
And do we see these as again very exalted pure emotional prayers? Some of them are seem to be at a very exalted level.
So how do you see the relevance of these prayers at a at the level of investing the heart which you mentioned? I definitely have chosen this topic because I think it's relevant, and the particular reason
why I have chosen this topic was that I I gave this this first this book appeared from the seminar which I gave and the seminar which I gave was in front of the audience which experienced traumatic conditions, traumatic events in the history of their country.
I don't want to be too specific in this regard, but basically, it was in front of Ukrainian audience and
I could feel that I had to reciprocate with the feelings which they have, the feelings of bewilderment, confusion, at the same time, desire to understand what is happening, why it is happening to us, why it is it happening on this scale?
It's not about the present events but the events of little past, but of the same nature.
So, this seminar which I gave to them was exactly to address their emotional state and perhaps to answer some of the questions which were there in front of their minds, in the minds of my listeners.
And even though, of course, Queen Kunti is praying from a very elevated state of consciousness, and her elevated state of consciousness is clearly reflected in your prayer in her prayers. Still, I think every one of us can relate to her prayers because every one of us can relate to the difficulties she had to undergo.
Sometimes we think that our life is very difficult. For that, we have the examples of great devotees in the scriptures whose life was much more difficult than ours.
But in this sense we can relate to them and if we try to understand the emotional state and how this emotional state gave birth to the prayers which they offered to the Lord, it will be easy for us also to cope with the difficulties which we undergo
and to teach us how to accompany our life and our difficulties with the prayers to the Lord without turning our face from the Lord.
Because you know, to be honest, many people, including devotees, have a crisis of face when severe circumstances come to their life.
They really sometimes shaken in their face and they don't know what to do with the circumstances, how to explain what is it.
You know, I'm supposed to be serving the Lord and this is the reward of all my servings, of all of all my service which I have done. So that's uh that that is the framework which every one of us can relate to.
And yes, and I was actually writing this book when I first decided to turn this seminar into a book form. And of course, book is much more elaborate than the seminar which I gave before.
I was also in some critical situation in a sense and reflection on what is going on within my heart and in my life also found some place in this book.
So again it's you're right, it's very elevated prayers, but still they are very relevant to us.
And if we understand how to relate to these difficulties which will fall on every one of us and how to really undergo these difficulties in a very noble way, in a very dignified way, then it will be a great help in our life.
This is inspiring that you could take Kuntī's prayers and make them relevant for the audience.
So if can you share maybe some part of any any particular prayer which could address say people's feelings of abandonment or bewilderment, what you mentioned, or some aspect.
But so because one thing is that the prayer seems to be saying a particular thing, and in the acharya, even Prabhupada has given a particular ambit to the meaning of the prayers.
So to some extent when we make it relevant, sometimes we can find ourselves or our position expressed either in the explicit word of the prayers or the explicit word of the commentaries within the prayers. But sometimes we may need to expand the ambit of that particular prayer so that it relates with us.
So in my, I write on the Gita every day. I relate much more with the Gita than any other book.
So I have also been asked, you know, how much can you stretch the ambit? So could you do an example, say, of a feeling of bewilderment or or something like that which we feel in our level
and how some prayer from some aspect of Kuntī's prayers can help us at that time? Well, in the very beginning, uh Queen Kuntī, Kuntī Maharānī, she she's in front of Krishna.
Krishna is sitting on the chariot, He is about to leave Hastināpura. And Queen Kuntī is running towards Him and starts expressing her gratitude.
But from the very beginning, she, being the aunt of Krishna, being a very close associate of Krishna, relative of Krishna, she says, I cannot understand you. You know what to speak about us?
We don't see Krishna in front of us. Of course, we theoretically know that we are related to Him, but sometimes our bondage with Him seems to be quite questionable, even to us.
And it was very clear to Kunti that she is bonded with him and he is bonded with her and he is her wellwisher. But still she says, I'm bewildered. I don't know what you are doing.
And rightly so, because Krishna's dealings are mysterious.
He saved, uh, He saved Arjuna, He saved Mahārāja Parīkṣit, but He didn't save Abhimanyu, son of Arjuna and, uh, no, grandson of Arjuna and grand-grandson of Kuntī, uh, He, uh, He — no, son, yes, uh, but, uh, He didn't save the sons
of Draupadī from five brothers, Pandava brothers, even though the battle was over and they were celebrating the victory. So Queen Kunti, she's right there, she's looking at Krishna's face,
Praying to gain understanding
Krishna is smiling, and she's coming to Him with the tears in her eyes, and she expresses the gratitude to him despite everything, but then she says, I can't understand why you're doing this and how you're doing this. But then after that she starts offering the prayers and in the course of prayers it's become transparent that she understands it better and better and better while praying.
So, in one sense, the Kuntī's prayers are example of how to understand what is happening with us in our life by offering prayers.
And when we are offering prayers, our heart is purified and when our heart is purified it becomes much more easy to understand why it happens, why it happens and so on so forth.
And it is easier to come in terms with it to become more peaceful. Everyone knows this calming effect of prayers. When we pray, initially it's usually from a very agitated frame of mind. Oh my lord, what's going on?
Please tell me, please explain to me. But then at the end we become a little more peaceful. Of course, it may not last long but um uh but still for the time being uh it has a healing effect.
This is one striking point that you mentioned that praying can be a means of understanding. Yes.
Many times we think of if we think of praying as a means of solving the problem or praying as like a surreptitious means of getting God to do our will.
Then happens that sometimes there's one devotee who is telling me that I am afraid of praying because if my prayer is not fulfilled, my faith in Krishna will get shaken.
So I was telling him that the praying is like one of the limbs of bhakti and focus of praying as Prahlāda explains about the nine forms. No, we are not praying to get something. Just like we are not hearing to get something. We're not speaking about Krishna to get something. It's just for connecting with Krishna.
Yeah, it's not a second.
So when we connect with Krishna, I think that that result of peace or that that calming presence of Krishna which we feel, sometimes even when we don't get the problem solved. We assure us that Krishna is present, Krishna is in charge, that itself gives us a sense of relief.
Most of the time we don't get the problem solved, but the problem solved in a different way. It's solved because the problem is the condition of our heart. And if the condition of our heart has become more positive and beneficial, then the problem is solved.
It's not solved externally, but it is solved on a different level. Yeah, beautifully with condition. So we think the problem is the condition of the world out there.
Yes. But the bigger problem is the condition of the heart. Yeah. That can be solved. Yes, Maharaj. So now regarding this uh extending the ambit
of prayers to some extent, uh if we see something in a words which relates with us, I can't understand you now in one sense that can refer to the principle of how Krishna is both personal and impersonal.
Krishna is all all the all pervasiveness of Krishna. But I think a much more relatable aspect of that we can't understand Krishna is and what is Krishna doing in my life.
That that particular example that you made, that Krishna's protected one generation, protected the two generation, one generation after that, but it seems to it's keep protection for one generation.
So if not Krishna, so in that sense, not understanding Krishna can also mean that for the most more relatable meaning of not understanding Krishna is that the way Krishna works in our lives is something which we can't understand.
That uses it's understanding that even great souls are not understood, you have the greater sense of acceptance for our inability to understand also.
Expressing understanding before petitioning
Actually, this is the point which I am making in the book. If we analyze the prayers of Kuntī we can see that she gives a very long introduction before she really asks Krishna for something.
She does ask Krishna for this for restoring her wholesome nature. But at the very end, but before that she is expressing her understanding.
In the beginning she says, I cannot understand you, but then she starts expressing her understanding, how she understands him, and it becomes very clear that actually she has a very profound understanding of Krishna and his dealings.
And the idea here is that before we ask something from somebody we have to let him or her know that we understand him or her.
If if we just approach somebody and immediately ask him or her, please give me this we may get our desire fulfilled or may not get the desire fulfilled, but it will not give satisfaction neither to us nor to the person whom we are begging or praying from.
So the idea is that prayers, as you rightly said, is our way to enter relationship with God. And to enter relationship with anyone means to understand somebody to understand his feeling, to understand his nature.
And unless we express this that we understand the person, uh it it will be very rough and impolite to ask him something.
But if we understand if we let him know that we understand him, then it's very legitimate to ask because we know it in our own experience.
When we feel that somebody understands us, then we're ready to give everything to this person, we are ready to reciprocate with him. Because reciprocation means mutual understanding of who we are.
So that's uh that's what it is, that's what's going on. Uh so before asking something, uh Kuntī uh expresses her understanding of Krishna, his dealings, his nature, and because
it's such a deep understanding, then the prayer which she asks in the very end is legitimate in a sense, not uh I mean it it will be definitely very efficient and uh it will be also very satisfying because uh you know sometimes the uh when somebody is just mm uh bothering you by mm begging you something give me, give me, give me, give me, i it doesn't give any satisfaction to you, but the prayer is our way to satisfy the Lord.
And the prerequisite of it, the important condition for it is to express how we understand him and how we appreciate him.
So very striking point that when in almost all the prayers that we see in the Bhagavatam, it seems there's a very long prelude before the actual thing you ask.
So what the way you explained it is that it is we expressing our understanding of what the Lord's purpose is, and then we convey after that, okay, within your purpose, this is how I think what I need. It can fit it. Yes.
So then otherwise it will become even if the Lord fulfills it, it just okay, it's more like somebody's bugging the car with some demand, you give it to them for them to get rid of them.
Yeah, just to get rid of this of this butteration in our life, yes. And uh this would be a fascinating exercise
to see many of the prayers and the bhagavatam from that perspective, then in my understanding was also that that when all these prayers are offered before somebody comes to actually asking the Lord, that there is that common saying, don't tell God how big your problems are, or tell your problems how big God is.
So often the prayers that are talking about God's position that is like our way of reminding ourselves that God is big and He's big enough to deal with these problems, and He has dealt with far bigger problems in the past.
Yes.
That sense it's like a it's more of a personal reminder of the Lord's position, but it's also a very beautiful way of I think it fits more in the mood of the prayer that the personal reminder can be done in our mind also. But when you're offering it as a prayer, then it is showing that we understand the Lord and His mission.
Yeah, see it's very important to put our understanding in the proper perspective. And because we have the tendency always to see the world or reality from improper perspective.
It's natural, it's understandable in one sense because we are little tiny spirit sparks.
And you know when we see it from our perspective, we see something exaggerated according to our emotional state of mind, something downplayed which is important in reality.
So before praying, it's important to bring the proper perspective to the to our vision of reality. And that's exactly what Kuntī is doing.
She's doing this and we have to remind again and again and again ourselves that this is who we are and this is what reality is, and it will always be like this.
It will never be the way we want it to be or the way we see it. So yeah, to remind us the proper perspective of reality. That's one of the functions of proper prayers. That's interesting.
In the 10th chapter of the Gita, mat-cittā mad-gata-prāṇā bodhayantaḥ parasparam, Prabhupāda says intelligence means to see things in proper perspective.
So here now we are saying that uh one of the results for purposes of prayer is that it helps us to see things with proper perspective.
So you know in that same tenth chapter later on Krishna says, If you are having bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakaṁ, if you are affectionately connected with me, then I'll give the intelligence. So in one sense, it can be both.
Prayer itself begins with remembering that the Lord is bigger than the world, but through the act of praying, also that that understanding becomes more deeply imprinted or deeply situated within us. Yeah. Exactly.
Beautiful.
Making scriptural prayers personal
Continuing with this theme, that uh there are scriptural prayers and personal prayers.
So sometimes we feel that the prayers that we we compose based on our particular situation, they are maybe more spontaneous expressions of our heart.
So how much is the importance for of prayers is the importance of scriptural prayers and how much is the room for offering personal prayers in our tradition? Any prayer should be personal.
There is no impersonal prayers. So even if we repeat prayers who somebody else prayed before the prayer who somebody else pronounced before us. It has to become our personal prayer. That's the prerequisite.
If we if it didn't become our personal prayer, then it's not a prayer, it's
a just a parrot repetition of some words of some verse of Sanskrit, so if we want to repeat we should learn from great devotees how to offer prayers. There is a certain etiquette.
I'm also talking a little bit about this in the book. Uh, certain etiquette how we should pray properly so the prayers are efficient, but so in the beginning we just try to learn how to do it properly.
And even in these cases, we should try to understand the emotional condition of the person who is praying not just repeat the words but try to connect it with the same emotions or at least similar emotions which he or she experiences.
But then when we learn what it means to pray properly, then we can compose our own prayers and do it spontaneously. So but in any case both prayers should be personal prayers not impersonal prayers.
Impersonal prayers are of no use. Yeah.
And uh now we see Prabhupada also composed prayers, for example, in Śrīla Prabhupāda's prayers, that gives us a very moving glimpse into his heart, which we do not necessarily get in his writings as much.
So we get it, but at least I find that a very moving prayer, the way Prabhupada pours out his heart directly to Krishna.
So does it seem that if the scriptural prayers are in Sanskrit and the Vaishnava songs that are in Bengali, it is a Prabhupada's prayers, some some of the prayers which are written in vernacular language, which are a little more recent prayers, you could say if you use it from the deity perspective, take them a little more relatable the the The scriptural prayers they seem to be a little more philosophical,
Role of commentarial tradition
so philosophical that they have a little more orbiting to relate with. So it did primarily because of the language or the nature of the text where they come.
Like say devotees can very happily sing Vaishnava songs and feel a sense of connection. But But with Bhishma's prayers or Kunti's prayers, the feeling of connection may seem a little more difficult.
I don't say it has to be.
But uh have you sensed any dynamic like this yeah you're absolutely right of course it's more difficult to relate to their prayers because of the language barrier because of cultural barriers. The more recent prayers it's definitely they are more easy to relate to, no doubt about it.
But that's the job of the commentator to make these prayers relevant to remove this language barrier and cultural barriers and so many other barriers which are there.
It's not only with the prayers in general it's difficult for us to relate to a sacred text. You know the culture is different, the time is different. So many things are completely different.
But the commentator what he does, he just he understands the relevance of this particular text and he explains it to the readers. So, yes, absolutely, you're right.
But still, because the original text is so multifaceted, there are so many dimensions in the original text, especially if it's in Sanskrit.
It's important for us to uh to apply to to apply some endeavors or how you call it it's more difficult it's the labor is harder to understand prayers in Sanskrit, but the reward is also greater in a sense because if we understand the depths and the multi-dimensional nature of the Sanskrit verses then it will be very satisfying to our heart.
Sanskrit verses are very profound by its very nature. And therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda was so emphatic, therefore, he translated each and every word in his translations and then gave the elaborate purports.
So he was trying his best to remove the barriers and we are lazy and sometimes we say no I cannot relate to it. But it's because we are lazy. We're not laboring hard enough to get deeper into this text.
And as you know, when you when we go deeper, you said, and I know that you are writing this book about the prayers in Bhagavad-gītā.
When we go again and again and again read the verses of Bhagavad-gītā, Gita, they reveal some meanings which we know which we didn't know before, some new angles of vision and some dimensions of these verses. It's almost a miracle.
Uh you go to a text which you know, you know by heart, you read it, and again you read it and you find something completely new in this text.
That's the nature of the scripture, and especially scripture in Sanskrit written. Whereas vernacular languages they are much more much less profound in a sense.
In Sanskrit, just one word may mean so much and it may have so so many different implications. The modern languages, vernacular languages like Bengali or Hindi or English and they are much less profound so to speak.
The meaning is more more Yeah, it's just just on the surface. And therefore Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Mary. This is actually in some ways, here you have two things that I found striking.
One is you in one way addressed the earlier question about the ambit of the verse. How much can we expand it? In one sense, if you want to make the scriptural personal, after all, all prayers are meant to be personal.
And then if there are some obstacles, the commentator's job is to remove the obstacles. So now the Prabhupāda has both removed certain obstacles and we could say shown us the example how to remove obstacles.
So we live say 50-70 years Bhakti Prabhupada wrote his books. And now in today's world, some other obstacles might come in the way of the scriptural becoming personal.
So, in that sense, you could say that it is the job of us who are trying to ask, understand, and share scripture, to see what obstacles are either preventing us or preventing others from developing that personal connection, personal investment in scripture and then we see how that can be removed.
Yeah. Otherwise this thank you very much for that otherwise the scripture will remain just a museum artifact and museum.
You know, you you sometimes go to museum and you look at this artifact it's in a you know in a plastic box or in a glass box and uh it's dusty and it's old. And you can't relate to it. You just.
yes, oh, very old, very nice. But then your heart is not touched by this artefact in the museum. So it's very easy.
I read some translations of Bhagavad-gītā or some other scriptures done by academic quote unquote uh scholars. And uh oftentimes it it has this uh uh feeling that this is something which uh uh definitely uh has nothing to do with your life. It has nothing to do with you. So that's why this is the main duty of the commentator to bring the relevance into the words of scriptures. And that's ongoing job.
And therefore the scriptures they're living only in the commentarial tradition. That's the life of the scriptures. The scriptures without commentaries they immediately lose their meaning.
So the commentaries have to be written again and again and again with the passage of time, making the eternal words of scriptures relevant to the audience.
The profound way Prabhupada said, the spiritual master lives on, and the spiritual master lives on through the disciples, the follower lives through.
The spiritual master lives on through the words, scripture lives on also through the living tradition. That's a beautiful point though, Maharaj.
Maybe one or two last questions I also don't or to not take too much of your time.
Maintaining integrity of intent
Um when we talk about um the living tradition continuing on in prayers. So sometimes in trying to find relevance, you know, when are we actually reading something from the scripture that was there and we had missed?
Or when are we reading something into the scripture which is not there at all. So I may be looking for something and I am reading something into the scripture.
Say, for example, there's a commentator on the Gita who presented the Gita as a book supporting its ideology of non-violence. So not tradition.
But now there are few scattered references to non-violence, but that's by no means the central teaching of the Gita. So in are there some guidelines about the boundaries about seeing relevance?
Well for that you need to pray because the uh the human tendency the human tendency is of course invest something which is there in your mind into the scriptures.
As Prabhupada used to say that people they exploit the words of Krishna for their own interest.
Most of the commentators do this, they want to prove their point, but because they're not as important as Krishna is, they are trying to use or exploit Krishna to prove their points.
But Krishna is not there to be exploited by us.
Krishna is there to enlighten us and therefore Srila Prabhupada said this is Bhagavad-gītā as it is, Bhagavad-gītā Yatharūpa. So this integrity of the initial intent is very important.
I want to follow, I don't want to show my own erudition and scholarship. I don't want to impose my own ideas into the scripture. So that's that's a question of integrity and to obtain this integrity again we need to pray and that's the explanation of the title of the book, the prayers which bring about integrity which help us to restore the integrity.
Other ways, yes. The temptation is there to invest our own ideas into the scriptures, to put our own ideas in into Krishna's mouth. But I don't think Krishna will be very happy because he
likes to eat sweets cooked by Mother Yaśodā, but not uh thoughts which cooked in our mind or thoughts Okay. Prayer itself will understand how to pray and how not to pray also.
Closing reflections and summary
So I you would you like to add concluding words Maharaj about your book or about the broad topic of prayers.
This has been a very illuminating discussion for me personally and I'm sure illuminating for all the viewers and if you inspired to uh read the book we'll give the description of the book the link where it can be got also in the YouTube description.
Yeah. Yeah as I said this book is written in in Russian, Russian is my mother tongue. I'm much more comfortable when I'm speaking in Russian and especially when I am writing in Russian.
And this is the first um translated book translated into English so uh uh I'm kind of holding my breath I don't know how it will be received but I I hope that it will be received kindly by the readers.
I did get some positive reviews. Uh so yeah uh uh yeah I uh what what can I say I I I wrote it again because I I felt very deeply that this is a uh important topic for us to reflect upon and to go deeper into.
And of course, any topic in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is of this nature.
And one thing I can say for sure that writing this prayers of Queen Kuntī very much enhanced my own understanding and it gave me a lot of positive emotions when I was writing it.
And I really hope that a little reflection of this uh positive uh emotions will be there with the readers when they read the book. And if you find some faults in it, well okay
I I fully uh admit that I'm just yeah. What what else can can you expect from me but if something good will come I'll be very happy. Basically that's what it is.
Almost everyone who is who in this in our movement has given glowing reviews of the book that comes right in the front only.
The future, this book will illuminate many devotees, arts and heads that they can connect more with Krishna. Generally at the end of a podcast, I try to summarize what was discussed. Sure.
So then we discussed about broadly the topic of prayers and the fascinating connection between healing and wholeness.
So we come disconnected from our spiritual core and healing is in that sense becoming whole and when you become whole our existence also becomes wholesome.
That in in Russian the word is more related, but in English also, if you go to the roots, that relationship is there.
Then when we talk about healing prayers, we are not so much talking about physical healing in terms of miraculous uh removal of diseases, but spiritual healing.
And of course, if somebody has some serious issues in their life, then it's the dharma to take care of that issue. Then that's not incompatible with bhakti.
It's hard to make for protecting our dharma in certain way, we just need to make sure that we conclude the way Prabhupada said, that if it is your will, that if you so desire my Lord, then so that rather than differentiate with prayers between spiritual, we can say how they are connected with Krishna ultimately.
And you mentioned that in response to my question about how these prayers of Kunti were selected seem to be so exalted that you addressed devotees who were in a very desolate and disturbed and disoriented state. And from that the book came out in Russian and came out in English afterwards.
So the fact that Kunti Maharani, although she is right in front of Krishna and she has a personal bond with Krishna, still she feels that Krishna, I can't understand you.
But that is something which we can relate with in our feelings of incomprehension about what is happening in our life.
And even if God is far greater than us, we go through such feelings. And then rather than seeing, thinking of praying as a means to get God to do our work.
You know, through praying we can gain understanding of what is happening.
And that way, through praying, we become you mentioned that uh the Vedic prayer, the Sanskrit prayer seem to have a lot of long introduction. The introduction is before the actual request that is made
as Kunti does. So that's to make sure that one tells the Lord, and I understand you. Otherwise, our prayers just simply become a botheration. Give me this, give me this.
And then it becomes a very transactional kind of relationship. We don't come closer to the Lord.
So when we show that we understand the Lord and then our understanding of the Lord's mission and uh mood we position our prayer then
that brings us the lot brings us closer to the Lord to that prayer also. Then we discussed about the how much can we expand the ambit of prayers.
So you mentioned that ultimately prayers are of no use unless there's otherwise there's just some vanity.
So prayers have to be uh that investment of heart, helping in helping uh devotees to do that is the responsibility of the commentator. What obstacles are there, what barriers are there, and how they can be removed.
Śrīla Prabhupāda has done that for us and we need to carry on that tradition.
And that way, then prayer will become personal for us, that you will personally connect with that prayer and then when we talked about how the how far can we stretch the ambit to know whether we are reading something hidden in the prayer or we are bringing something hidden in our mind into the prayer.
Into the scripture, it is we need to ask as we pray. I like the word you the integrity of intent which we should have, and through that prayer
we will learn and you know this is I think the way you you wrote the book in Russian but now it is manifesting in English. It is itself a journey. So I am looking forward to reading the book myself.
I look forward to having some more interactions if possible with you, Maharaja. This has been very stimulating and illuminating discussion. Thank you so much for your time. Do you want to add any concluding words?
Thank you very much, and Chiran Prabhu for inviting me. And yes, uh it's uh it's always it's always nice to uh to To discuss Krishna consciousness or the philosophy of Krishna consciousness with devotees who are thoughtful.
And I I really liked your questions. They're very thoughtful and not formal at all. So I I feel some joy in my heart, and I'm grateful to you for inviting me to this podcast.
Thank you so much, Maharaja. Thank you, Hare Krishna.