What gift would you like to receive from God?
“Krsna!! Can You hear me? I need a Deity of You and Radharani that are a replica of Your physical appearance. Because You are non-different from Your Deity, this Deity should play mesmerizing notes on vamsi that You play for the gopis. It would be an eye feast to gaze at Your handsome form and soul feast to listen to the intoxicating music of Your flute. I hereby submit that I have no other desire except this.
Do You feel I asked for the impossible? Nothing is impossible for You.” (Meera)
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu mentioned explicitly, “O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers. I only want Your causeless devotional service, birth after birth.” Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura had also frankly expressed, “I do not mind being born again even as an insect in the home of a devotee.” Following in the footprints of acaryas, I pray to the Supreme Lord Govinda that I may receive a boon from Him to serve the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Krsna for millions of years, birth after birth. I do not want liberation, because liberation will free me even from my routine devotional duties to the Lord. (Syamasundara Dasa, Chennai)
Given a choice I would like to meet Krsna personally to worship Him and praise His glory forever. In case He still insists, my final choice would be peace in the family and in the world. (John F. Williams, Gurgaon)
As a gift, I would like to get my spirtual master’s blessing’s so that I can get more into Krsna consciousness, hear about Krsna, do my regular rounds of japa more carefully, learn all the songs and cook prasada for Him and ultimately try to get Krsna-prema which is the goal of life. I would also like to get benediction for my children so that they can get shelter under His lotus feet. (Madhava Priya Devi Dasi, Jabalpur)
Everyday of my life I receive so many gifts from the Lord. All my needs are fulfilled in their own course by His mercy. However, these gifts that aid my life in the material world make me anxious that they are perhaps gifts that will mislead me to consider staying in the material world. Thus, I always pray to Lord Krsna to protect me from being waylaid by these material gifts and to give me the greatest gift of His remembrance and darsana at the time of death. I sincerely and genuinely hope for this gift from Him. (Tarini Radha Devi Dasi, Chennai)
Well, you must be joking when you ask me what gift I wish to receive from God. One of the first lessons I learned when I came to Krsna consciousness was that we should not ask the Lord for anything and that He is not our order-supplier. So how can we ask gifts from Him? Isn’t our day-to-day survival, in spite of us forgetting to thank or sincerely remember Him each day, a great gift of the Lord?
Anyway, as is His nature of chappar phar ke dena (to distribute magnanimously), it would compel me further to ask Him to let my inner self(a bouquet of anarthas, which I have carefully preserved and always wanted everyone to admire(be cleansed. Thus, I may be a colorful, majestic, attractive, pleasurable polished, and a loved gift that even the Lord would want to open, treasure and deal with. (Geeta Dodeja, Mumbai)
99% of my public image is 100% what I am not. And one of the big pretense I always make is that I never ask Krsna for anything but there are so many things that I desire from Krsna. I ask for love of ordinary people, but never asked for treasure of love that holy name holds. I ask for delicious food and gossips but not for taste in chanting. I ask for company of influential people but never asked for association of Vaisnavas. I ask for so much philosophical worldly knowledge but never asked for a realization that “Who am I?” and “What am I doing here?”
So the present I would like to ask Krsna is that may He give me a realization that I need to go out of this material world and go back to Godhead. And may He give me faith that the only way to achieve this is to hold on to the holy name and serve Vaisnavas for their mercy. (Manish Goel, Mumbai)
The gift I would like to receive from God is association of devotees. Devotee association is one of the most important thing that keeps us in spiritual path. The sastras say that devotee association is the greatest benediction and being away from devotees is the most painful moment. Devotees inspire us, engage us in service of the Lord and they keep us going in Krsna consciousness. In Srimad-Bhagavatam, we see how Dhruva Maharaja, after seeing the Lord face to face, prays for devotee association: “O unlimited Lord, kindly bless me so that I may associate with great devotees who engage in Your transcendental loving service constantly, as the waves of a river constantly flow” (S.B. 4.9.11). So I pray to the Lord from the core of my heart to gift me devotee association, the greatest benediction. (Ramarajya Dasa, New Delhi)
The only gift that I wish to receive from the God is: “O son of Maharaja Nanda [Krsna], I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. Please pick me up from this ocean of death and place me as one of the atoms at Your lotus feet.” (C V V Bhadram, Hyderabad)
I would like to get only this present(association of devotees. Even great personalities in the bhava stage get nourishment in the association of devotees. All scriptures confirm that a moment’s association with a pure devotee gives all perfection. As Krsna says, “I am not in Vaikuntha nor in the hearts of the yogis. I remain where My devotees engage in glorifying My activities.” Constant association of devotees gives one the benediction to earn the real wealth consciously, moment after moment, that cannot be lost. (Jivana Gaurahari Dasa, Chennai)
As a mother, I will ask from the Lord to give me a gift in the form of blessings from His devotees so that I will train my child in Krsna consciousness, make him a warrior in Prabhupada’s movement and send him back to the lotus feet of Krsna as a return gift. (Vina Iyer, Mira Road)