Question: Is it wrong to pray to the Lord to help us in the situation that we are placed in? Is that considered totally material and why does it sometimes feel that the Lord does not reciprocate? Is it some shortage from our side? How do we react to such situations?
Answer by Romapada Swami: It is certainly not wrong to pray to the Supreme Lord; it is the natural inclination of a devotee. We see how when the residents of Vrndavana were put in repeated difficulties, or when Draupadi was in a dire predicament due to the untimely arrival of Durvasa Muni and later at the vicious assembly of Kurus, their immediate response was to call out to Krishna.
Gajendra also took shelter of Krishna in great difficulty, although he later regretted having called to the Lord for merely a selfish purpose. Of course, praying to the Supreme Lord for material arrangements is not the most intelligent or elevated position. Devotees like Ambarish Maharaja or Haridas Thakur were so surrendered and faithful of Krishna’s protection that even under great distress they never asked for personal protection. Yet while living in this material world we are repeatedly placed in awkward and dangerous situations and as aspiring devotees we are recommended to practice seeing Krishna as our only Maintainer and Protector under all situations. Therefore, it is very nice to take shelter of Krishna in even ordinary, day-to-day affairs and difficulties. The qualifying factor is that we do so in a mood of surrender, seeking the Lord’s favor on His terms, not on ours. Srila Prabhupada taught us how to petition the Lord, “My dear Lord Krishna, if you so desire, then kindly fulfill this prayer if it will enhance my attachment and service to You.”
A heartfelt prayer to the Lord from any condition is never ignored by Him and He does reciprocate, but His reciprocation may not take the same form as we expected. Krishna is such a loving master that He does not grant our wishes that may not really be beneficial for us, just like a mother strictly refuses to give candy to a sick child despite repeated entreaties. Also, sometimes the Lord may seem unreciprocative, simply to increase the intensity of our dependence on Him; indeed the very purpose of difficulties and disturbances in this material world is to make us realize our dependence on the Lord. Unfortunately, because we do not understand this we sometimes become baffled when nothing seems to happen or even the opposite of what we wanted happens. Therefore it is essential to understand how Krishna protects and reciprocates with His devotee by hearing from saintly persons and to cultivate the faith that however the Lord chooses to reciprocate our prayers is in our best and absolute interest.
