Bhakti Wisdom

Praying to the Lord is something that has always attracted me in the practice of bhakti yoga. Observing saintly devotees while they are praying or chanting is something that gives me great inspiration and joy. 

Over the years, I have developed my own prayers with which I approach the Lord. Be this during times of difficulties in my life or problems that other devotees are dealing with, I always seek guidance from the Lord through prayer.

Sometimes the response from the Lord takes a long time, while at other times the response is instant. Sometimes the result of my prayers is that difficulties become even greater, while at other times the challenges disappear almost immediately after I approach the Lord. 

The idea of having a personal relationship with the Lord was the reason that I became a devotee of Krishna. Due to ignorance and forgetfulness, we often forget the reasons why we became devotees. We often forget the feeling we had when we met devotees for the first time or chanted our first round of the Maha mantra. We often forget the moments in which Krishna responded to our prayers in a very magical way.

A couple of weeks ago I found myself having serious back pain, and for days it did not go away. After trying many different things to remove the pain, my only hope was to offer a prayer to the Lord. 

While doing puja, I asked the Lord if He could remove the pain so that I could serve Him better. After offering this prayer, I continued with my daily activities. The next day, a dear friend came to see me. For the last six months, he was traveling with his spiritual guru and was eager to meet and share his experiences with me.

After sharing stories and realisations, he said that his spiritual guru had sent a gift for me. Even before he gave me the gift, I already had an idea in my mind what it could it be. Maybe a special piece of prasadam or a special piece of cloth from the deities. Maybe some dust from the holy places or remnants from the sadhus. The gift that came out of his bag not only touched my heart but also increased my faith and attachment to the Lord. My friend showed me what his spiritual guru had sent – a cream for lower back pain! 

Had his spiritual guru known about my health problems, this would not be anything extraordinary. But he did not know! He sent this gift to me because he had an extra one, he recognised that it was a good quality cream and he thought that it may be useful for me in the future.

After I received this gift, I immediately remembered the prayer that I offered to the Lord the day before. The Lord fulfilled my prayer in such a way to help me to solve my back pain while also increasing my faith in Him.

Reflecting on that experience I realised difficulties in life can be turned into our greatest adventures, if we choose to involve the Lord. 

Srimad Bhagavatam 4.24.44-My dear Lord, I wish to see You exactly in the form that Your very dear devotees worship. You have many other forms, but I wish to see Your form that is especially liked by the devotees. Please be merciful upon me and show me that form, for only that form worshiped by the devotees can perfectly satisfy all the demands of the senses.