Prahlāda continued, “O Puruśottama! O protector of dharma (righteousness)! In Kali-yuga You remain invisible. Since You manifest visibly only in the three Yugas (eons), You are known as Triyuga.

O Lord of Vaikunṭha! My mind is polluted due to my impure sinful deeds. It is wicked and lacks humbleness. It is agitated due to desires. It is saddened due to happiness, sorrows, fears and desires which rule it. It is lamentable that due to such impure mind I could never focus upon subjects relating to You.

O Achyuta! My tongue, which does not know contentment, is attracting me towards delicious food. My organs of reproduction drag me towards sexual desires. My skin pulls me to associate with soft objects. My stomach drags me towards more food. Ears pull me towards music and other sounds loved by it. My nose attracts me towards smells it loves. Eyes want me to focus only on those scenes that they find attractive. As such, these senses are trying to cheat me and are finding ways by which they can drag me away from you and cause me to fall to lower levels.

Even though I seek to rise spiritually, I continue to chase these worthless desires. I am falling to lower and lower levels due to them. Hands and other limbs pull me towards worldly tasks. Just as the house-holder is pulled in various directions by his various wives, these senses of mine are pulling me in various directions.

O Lord who exists beyond these worldly bondages! The ignorant living entity has thus, due to his attractions to the senses, fallen into the River Vaitariṇi (the river which sinful persons fail to cross in their journey after death)”.

**It is imperative that the senses be distanced from sinful activities! We should never fulfil the desires of the senses and should not run along with them. Sense organs never obtain contentment! Time and again they seek fulfilment of the same desire! They seek newer tastes. This tongue is never satisfied with a single taste. It wants variety. ‘I want to taste something unique and different. I want different experience’- with such feelings each sense organ drags the person in different direction. **

“As these repeated births and deaths keep coming sequentially and continually, the ignorant human being who is trapped in experiencing the results of his own past fruitive activities, remains petrified not knowing what to expect in any given birth.

O Lord, with feelings of compassion please uplift this foolish person who has attachment towards his body while having feelings of enmity towards other bodies. You are the father for the entire universe. For those in distress You are the relative. You, who are the cause of creation, sustenance and annihilation, can effortlessly uplift living entities. Please uplift us, who are trapped in Your illusion.

The compassion of Mahatmas eternally flows upon the foolish people. This flow of compassion is solely to protect these dull-witted persons and to bestow knowledge upon them. It flows in the form of their messages and blessings. However, we who serve Your ardent devotees, have no need for such blessings. We only seek Your blessings, O Lord. There is nothing apart from that which I seek.

O Paramatma! My mind is swimming in the nectar called singing Your divine glories. I do not fear River Vaitarini, which is impossible to cross over. I do not worry about the efforts needed to cross it. However, I deeply worry about these foolish living entities who, with their intellect which is distanced from nectar, get trapped into worldly bondages purely for enjoying the illusory sensory pleasures”.

Even after obtaining this knowledge, these foolish people continue to hamper after thoughts such as ‘I and mine’.

“O Supreme Lord, Maharishis who eternally seek liberation live in isolation practicing mouna (silence). Yet they are not inclined towards uplifting others. Unlike them I do not seek liberation while leaving all these foolish people behind. O Lord, no matter how hard I search I am unable to find another protector for these foolish people who are trapped in this repeated cycle of re-births.

Sexual gratification can be compared to rubbing the two hands so as to relieve the itch. Although initially it appears to give happiness it ultimately leads towards sorrows and grief. What to say of the pitiable condition of these living entities who do not tire from sense gratification? Despite knowing the truth they choose to cling to their desires. They are unable to exit from that pit. Just as a wise person withstands the need to itch, the knowledgeable person withstands and curtails the sensual desires”.

Govindāya namah