Category:Asking God
Theme Analysis
The concept of asking God for benedictions highlights the critical difference between basic piety and pure devotional service. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that while approaching God for material necessities—such as praying for one's "daily bread"—is pious and far superior to atheism, it remains a neophyte stage of religion. The Supreme Lord is the omniscient maintainer of all living entities, providing sustenance even for the millions of animal species who do not go to a church or temple to ask for it. Therefore, a pure devotee realizes that bothering the Lord for material things is foolish—akin to asking a vastly wealthy king for a pinch of ashes. This analysis traces the spiritual evolution of prayer: from the pious begging of the beginner, to the realization of God's universal maintenance, and finally to the unalloyed standard of pure devotion. In this ultimate stage, exemplified by exalted devotees like Dhruva Mahārāja and Prahlāda Mahārāja, the soul asks only for the privilege of rendering uninterrupted, loving service to the Lord.
- The Pious Approach: Approaching God to ask for daily bread or the alleviation of distress is recognized as pious because it acknowledges the Supreme's authority, but it lacks the purity of unmotivated love.
- The Omniscient Provider: The Lord naturally maintains all species without them asking; similarly, He is present in the heart and knows the necessities of His devotees, making material prayers redundant.
- Asking for Ashes: Requesting material opulence (wealth, family, or even liberation) from the Supreme Lord is considered a display of foolishness, exchanging the highest spiritual treasure for temporary bundles of matter.
- The Diamond of Satisfaction: When pure devotees actually encounter the Lord, they feel so completely satisfied that they have no desire to ask for anything material, having found the ultimate spiritual diamond.
- The Pure Prayer: The only acceptable request in pure devotional service is to ask for the Lord's mercy to continue serving Him and His servants, birth after birth.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: What We Should be Asking God For.
Subcategories
This category has the following 9 subcategories, out of 9 total.
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Pages in category "Asking God"
The following 129 pages are in this category, out of 129 total.
A
- A devotee is not interested in any of these (dharma, artha, kama and moksa). In the Christian religion, people pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," but a pure bhakta does not even ask for his daily bread
- A devotee of the Lord never prays to the Lord to appear for the sake of the troubles the miscreants cause for him, and he never bothers Him by asking for protection
- A first class devotee of the Lord never asks for anything from the Lord. He is always ready to offer something to the Lord - oh Lord! Take whatever I possess from me. pranair arthair dhiya vaca (SB 10.22.35)
- A pure devotee always engages in the service of the Lord without demanding anything. The Lord is present everywhere and knows the necessities of His devotees; consequently there is no need to disturb Him by asking Him for material benefits
- A pure devotee knows that there is no need to ask the Absolute Truth for any material necessities. Therefore, while informing the Lord about their distress in being attacked by Vrtrasura, the demigods apologized for offering prayers for their safety
- A pure devotee never asks the Lord for any undue favor
- A pure devotee never asks the Lord for wealth, followers, or even a beautiful wife. He simply prays for uninterrupted engagement in the Lord's service. That should be the motto of life for all prospective students in devotional service
- A pure devotee of Lord Narayana, or Mukunda, is not at all afraid of any circumstance that may befall him. Despite all difficulties, therefore, such a pure devotee asks nothing from the Lord on his own account
- A pure devotee of the Lord is ashamed to ask anything in self-interest from the Lord. But the householders are sometimes obliged to ask favors from the Lord, being bound by the tie of family affection
- A pure devotee will not ask anything from the Lord. He simply offers the Lord his respectful obeisances, and the Lord is prepared to accept whatever the devotee can secure to worship Him, a leaf, flower, fruit or water
- A sincere devotee who is not very intelligent may ask some material benefit from the Lord, but the Lord, being omniscient, does not generally give material rewards but, on the contrary, takes away whatever material facilities are being enjoyed
- A student or neophyte devotee could not possibly understand why Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was chanting the name of the gopis, nor should the student have asked the Lord about the potency of chanting gopi gopi
- A Vaisnava is not interested in asking any benediction from the demigods, nor is he interested in asking benedictions from the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- Although he (Prahlada Maharaja) did not ask anything for his personal self, but he asked the Lord, prayed that, "One thing I request." - What is that
- Although Krsna is always very satisfied by nature, when Maharaja Yudhisthira asked this question the Lord became even more satisfied because this question and its answer would bear a great meaning for the entire Krsna conscious society
- An inexperienced man generally does not know what to beg from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Everyone is under the jurisdiction of the created material world, and no one knows what benediction to ask when praying to the Supreme Lord
- Anasuya, the wife of Rsi Atri, prayed before the Lords Brahma, Visnu and Siva as follows: "My lords, if you are pleased with me, and if you desire me to ask from you some sort of blessings, then I pray that you combine together to become my son"
- Anyone who is engaged in the loving service of the Lord should never ask for material prosperity from the Lord. The awarding of material prosperity simply depends on the stringent rules and regulations of the external energy
- Anyone who is going to church and asking God for bread, he's thousand times better than that rascal, who is not going to church, because he is, after all, approaching God
- As a resident of Vrndavana, Krsnadasa Kaviraja offers his respects to the Deities in these temples and requests God's favor: "My progress in spiritual life is very slow, so I'm asking Your help" - CC Intro
- Atheistic men sometimes criticize a devotee by saying, "If you do not want to take any benediction from the Lord and if the servant of the Lord is as opulent as the Lord Himself, why do you ask for the benediction of being engaged as the Lord's servant?"
B
- Both Indra and Visnu are worshiped by yajna performances. But here (in BG 8.2) Arjuna asks who is actually the Lord of yajna (sacrifice), and how is the Lord residing within the body of the living entity. BG 1972 purports
- Brahma is the trustworthy representative of the Supreme Lord. Therefore when he again asked for the treasure of Vedic knowledge, the Lord fulfilled his desire
- By worshiping Lord Visnu one can get whatever he desires, but a pure devotee never asks Lord Visnu for any material profit. Instead he serves Lord Visnu without material desires and is therefore ultimately transferred to the spiritual kingdom
E
- Even the birds and beasts get their bread without having to go to church to ask God for it. Similarly, our bread is also provided, whether we go to church or not
- Even the great sages and saints cannot see You (God). What is my profit? I (Dhruva) left my home to find merely some scraps of glass and rubbish, and instead I have found a very valuable diamond. Now I am satisfied. I have no need to ask anything of You
F
- First class means ahaituki, without any cause. Not that "I shall go to church, I shall go to mosque, I shall go to temple for asking something from God." That is not first class. That is good in this sense, that these rascals have at least come to pray
- For the Lord's service we can ask for His grace and mercy a hundred times, but for our sense gratification we cannot pray or ask anything - that is pure devotion
G
- Gajendra says, "My dear Lord, I have no experience in the transcendental bliss derived from Your devotional service, so therefore I have asked from You some favor"
- Generally a pure devotee of the Lord or a pure disciple of a bona fide spiritual master does not ask any favor either from the Lord or the spiritual master
- Generally, if anyone has material desires to be fulfilled, he can ask Visnu instead of going to the demigods. Those who worship demigods are not very intelligent
- God is described here as paribhuh, the greatest of all. No one is greater than or equal to Him. Other living beings are described here as beggars who ask goods from the Lord. The Lord supplies the things the living entities desire
- God is giving bread to the eight million other living entities. Birds, beast, tigers, elephants, they are not going to the church for asking bread. But they are getting it. So if God is supplying everyone food, why He shall not supply you?
H
- Haridasa Thakura asked Advaita Prabhu why He was doing something which might jeopardize His position in brahmana society. Advaita Prabhu replied that He was feeding millions of first-class brahmanas by offering the food to Haridasa Thakura
- He (Dhruva Maharaja) said, svamin krtartho 'smi varam na yace: (CC Madhya 22.42) My dear Lord, I am fully satisfied with whatever You have given me or not given me. I have nothing to ask from You, for I am fully satisfied to be engaged in Your service
- He (Dhruva) wanted to acquire the throne of his father - or attain an even better position - but when he was actually in the presence of the Supreme Lord, he forgot everything. He said, "My dear Lord, I do not wish to ask any benediction."
- He (Prahlada Maharaja) asked Nrsimhadeva, "Kindly engage me in the service of Your servant, Narada, by whom I have got this instruction." He never said, "Let me serve my father." No
- He (Prahlada Maharaja) asked the Lord to engage him in the service of His servant Narada Muni. This is the symptom of a pure devotee
- He (Prahlada Maharaja) did not ask any benediction that he might have asked, but he prayed that his atheistic father might be liberated. He never cursed any of the persons who engaged in torturing him at the instigation of his father
- He (Sandipani Muni) consulted with his wife about what to ask from Them. He and his wife had already seen the extraordinary potencies of Krsna and Balarama and could understand that the two boys were the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- He (the Supreme Personality of Godhead) appears when pleased by the worship of a devotee. A devotee may ask the Lord to appear as her son
- He did not want to ask the Supreme Lord for anything material. Material opulence means riches, a nice family, a good wife and many followers, but an intelligent devotee doesn't ask the Supreme Lord for anything material
- He is also person. I am also person. What is the difference? Eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman. That one maintains all these innumerable living entities. Therefore in the Bible you go and ask God, "Give us our daily bread." He is maintaining
- Hiranyakasipu was envious of his little son Prahlada, but Prahlada Maharaja asked a benediction for the benefit of his father
I
- If anyone goes to God for asking some benefit, he's also pious man. But he's not a devotee. He may be counted in the list of pious men because he recognizes God, the Supreme. But he has not developed the highest principle of religion, love of God
- If anyone goes to Lord to pray something with purpose, that is also good. But that is not pure. Pure devotee never asks anything from the Lord. That is pure devotion
- If one must ask for benediction, he must ask (the Lord) for unlimited benediction
- If one seeks the favor of a devotee instead of directly asking favors from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one is very easily successful
- If one takes shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or is elevated to the supreme state of love of Godhead, he has nothing more to aspire to. Although such devotees can attain whatever they desire from the Lord, they do not ask anything from Him
- If the Lord is pleased with someone, what is left for him to achieve? If one has been recognized by the Lord, even if he does not ask the Lord for anything, the Lord, who is within everyone, supplies him whatever he wants
- In Christian theology, the individual goes to the church and prays God, "Give us our daily bread." Why he's asking God?
- In the Christian world they go to the church, "O God, give us our daily bread." But higher philosophy is that we should not or we need not ask God for our bread. That is already there. We should approach God, how to love Him
- In the same Hayasirsa Purana, after Nrsimhadeva wanted to give benediction to Prahlada Maharaj, Prahlada did not accept any material benediction and simply asked the favor of the Lord to remain His eternal devotee
- In this connection, Prahlada Maharaj cited the example of Hanuman, the eternal servitor of Lord Ramacandra, who also set an example by never asking any material favor from the Lord
- Indirectly, the Lord (Narayana) regretted that the demigods did not ask for pure devotional service
- Intelligent devotee, they do not ask like the unintelligent devotee go to the church and pray to God, "Give us our daily bread." He's God's servant, and He will not get your bread? You have to ask from God? No
- It (CC Madhya 5.89) was not for that reason that the young brahmana went to Vrndavana to ask the Supreme Personality of Godhead to act as a witness
- It doesn't matter whether it is Christian religion or Hindu religion. No. If the followers are trained up how to love God, how to serve God, that is perfect. That is being taught here. In this KC movement, there is no such teaching to ask from God. No
- It is My pastime to fulfill the desires of all living beings, and therefore you may ask from Me any benediction that you desire to be fulfilled
- It is not that by some method you can ask God, "Please come. I will see You." No, God is not your order carrier
- It is the duty of the son to depend upon his father without asking anything from him. The good son has faith that the father knows best how to benefit him. Similarly, a pure devotee does not ask anything from the Lord for material benefit
J
- Just like in Christian Bible there is, "Father, give us our daily bread." That is good, they are accepting the Supreme Father. But grown-up children, they should not ask from the father, but they should be prepared to serve the father. That is bhakti
- Just like the birds or beast, they are getting their bread without going to the church. They do not go to the church for asking God, "Give us our daily bread." The bread is there in the tree. They go and take as much bread as they like
K
- Kapiladeva said to His mother, "My dear Mother, those who are My pure devotees, who have no desire for material benefit or philosophical speculation, have their minds so much engaged in My service that they are never interested in asking Me for anything"
- (Kardama Muni said) Although I know that nothing material should be asked from You, I nevertheless desire to marry a girl of like disposition
- King Mucukunda thought it wise, however, to identify himself to the Lord first; otherwise he had no right to ask the Lord's identity
M
- My dear Lord, You are the best of the demigods who can offer benedictions. Why, therefore, should any learned person ask You for benedictions meant for living entities bewildered by the modes of nature?
- My Guru Maharaja used to say that if we ask from God for some material benefit, it means that I am asking from a king a pinch of ashes
N
- Narada Muni advised that even for religiosity, economic development, sense gratification or liberation, one should approach the SPG, offer prayers and ask for the fulfillment of one's desire at the lotus feet of the Lord. That is real intelligence
- Needy pious men pray to God to improve their economic condition because all they know is sense gratification, while those in difficulty ask Him to free them from a hellish life of tribulations. Such ignorant people do not know the value of human life
- No one has to pray to God to ask for anything, and he who does so is foolish because he does not know that the all-knowing God is within his heart and is well aware when he is in distress or in need of money
- Nondevotees want to ask the Supreme Lord for sense gratification; therefore nondevotees come under the influence of maya, the illusory energy
O
- O Lord Mukunda! I (King Kulasekhara) bow down my head to Your Lordship and respectfully ask You to fulfill this one desire of mine: that in each of my future births I will, by Your Lordship's mercy, always remember and never forget Your lotus feet
- O Lord of lords, so fierce of form, please tell me who You are. I offer my obeisances unto You; please be gracious to me. I do not know what Your mission is, and I desire to hear of it. BG 11.31 - 1972
- Of course, he should not be foolish, that "God is giving me everything without asking, so why should I bother God, asking?" That is advanced devotion. Therefore pure devotee, they do not ask anything from God. They simply want to give service
- On seeing this smiling of the Lord, all the goddesses of fortune who were attending the Lord became very curious and asked Lord Narayana why He was smiling
- Once they understand their relationship with God, people generally believe that God is the father, and the son's business is to ask Father for whatever he needs. But that is really a lesser relationship
- One is going to God for asking something, and jijnasuh, jnani, is eulogized because they do not ask anything. To ask anything from God is not higher standard of bhakti
- One should not ask the Lord to fulfill any materially tainted desires
- Ordinarily the living being does not know what to ask from the Lord, nor which post to seek
- Out of affection they (the devotees who want some benefit) ask the Lord for some material benefit, and when they get it they become so satisfied that they also advance in devotional service. BG 1972 purports
P
- People are advanced in education and knowledge. They think that "If I have to ask bread from God, so why shall I go to God? Let me earn money very nicely, and I can purchase bread. Why shall I go to church"
- Prahlada Maharaja did not ask for anything for himself; rather, he prayed for the Lord to excuse his demoniac father. This is the attitude of a Vaisnava, who always thinks of the welfare of the entire universe
- Prahlada Maharaja replied, "Please engage me in the service of Your servant. This is all I want. I do not want anything else." In this way a devotee never asks for anything material from the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- Prahlada Maharaja replied, - I was born into a family of demons and was inclined toward material enjoyment. I have seen my powerful father, who was feared even by the demigods, annihilated within a second. Why should I ask for anything
- Prahlada Maharaja said that, - I have seen my father, such a powerful man, finished. What benediction I shall ask, this material world? Don't allure me. Better engage me as the servant of Your servant
- Prahlada Maharaja was thinking, "My father is so sinful and so much opposed to God consciousness that he might not be liberated." After Lord Nrsimha killed Hiranyakasipu, Prahlada Maharaja told the Lord, - My dear Lord, may I ask one thing from You
- Prasuti was asking the favor of Lord Visnu in an affectionate mode; since she was His aunt, she sought some special favor
- Pure devotee, they do not ask anything from God. They simply want to give service. Why shall I ask? God knows my necessities
- Pure devotees ask the Lord only for the privilege of serving Him. This is our real independence. If we want anything else, it is a sign of our misfortune
- Pure devotees do not ask anything from the Lord for their personal benefit. Even if offered personal benefits, pure devotees do not accept them, because their only desire is to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead by transcendental loving service
S
- Since Kardama Muni was advanced in spiritual life, why then did he not ask the Lord for liberation? Why did he want to enjoy material life in spite of his personally seeing and experiencing the Supreme Lord?
- So this is our foolishness. When God comes to give us some benediction, we simply ask Him to load us down again with all these material bundles. We ask Him for more material things, for a happy family, for a large amount of money, a new car or whatever
- Some of the pastimes of the Lord appear contradictory, even to such pure devotees, and thus Uddhava asked the Lord about some of the contradictory incidents in His pastimes
- Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has taught us how to approach the Supreme Lord and ask Him for the ultimate benediction
- Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura used to say that asking God for mukti or anything else other than bhakti is like going to a rich man and asking for ashes
T
- The ants and the elephants, they do not go to the church for asking God, "Oh, give us our daily bread," but still, they are getting. Then the next question is that "What is our duty?" Our duty is to feel obliged to God and try to serve Him
- The bhakta, he does not desire anything. Therefore peacefulness is for him, because he does not desire anything. He does not ask God anything. That is sunyam. Anyabhilasita-sunyam (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.1.11) - no motive
- The father knows what is the necessity of the child. So this is not very good business to ask God, "Give me this, give me that." Why shall I ask? If God is all-powerful, He knows my wants, He knows my necessities, and that is also confirmed in the Vedas
- The karmis, they . . . karmis, real karmis, they do not forget. The upstarts, the rascals, they forget. Karmis also . . . just like they go to church or to go to temple, they ask some favor from God
- The Lord is like a desire tree. Anyone can have whatever he desires from the Lord, but people in general do not know what kind of benediction they should ask from Him
- The Pracetas planned to ask the Lord for something that has no limit. The Lord's pastimes, qualities, forms and names are all unlimited. There is no limit to His name, forms, pastimes, creation and paraphernalia
- The priests were a little ashamed that King Nabhi was performing a great sacrifice just to ask the Lord's benediction for a son. The Lord could offer him promotion to the heavenly planets or the Vaikuntha planets
- There is a position where, instead of asking, "O God, please give us our daily bread," you can instead think that God will die if you do not supply bread to Him. This is the ecstasy of extreme love
- There is a story of Narada Muni, who was once asked by a brahmana: "Oh, you are going to meet the Lord? Will you please ask Him when I'm going to get my salvation?" "All right," Narada agreed. - I shall ask Him
- There was no need for the Pracetas to ask any benediction from the Supreme Lord because the devotees are simply satisfied by the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- They (the queens) fanned Him (Krsna) nicely, offered Him fragrant essential floral oil, decorated Him with flower garlands, dressed His hair, asked Him to lie down to take rest, bathed Him personally and fed Him palatable dishes
- This (associating with devotees life after life) is the best benediction that a devotee can ask of the Supreme Lord. This is also confirmed by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu: sthane sthitah sruti-gatam tanu-van-manobhih - SB 10.14.3
- Those who have got background of pious life. So even one goes to the church, "God, give us our daily bread," he's not ordinary person. He's pious man. He has gone to God to ask. He has not gone to anyone
U
- Unalloyed devotees have nothing to ask from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but Gajendra, the King of the elephants, was circumstantially asking for an immediate benediction because he had no other way to be rescued
- Under the circumstances, the Lord's various expansions, such as Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Candra and Indra, all thought - Gajendra is not asking our help. He is asking the help of the Supreme, who is above all of us
W
- What about the brahmana?- Narada asked. "He will have to remain there for a number of births. I do not know when he is coming." Narada Muni was astonished, and he finally said, "I can't understand the mystery of this." "That you will see," Narayana said
- What is the difference between God and ourself? God is also a living entity like us, but He's the chief living entity. He's maintaining all others. Therefore we have to ask God, "Give us our daily bread." He's the maintainer
- When a devotee is actually engaged in the service of the lotus feet of the Lord, his engagement in itself is so perfect that there is no need to ask for further benediction
- When a devotee prays to the Lord, it is not to ask for material benefits but to ask the Lord for His favor; he prays that he may be engaged in the service of the Lord's lotus feet birth after birth
- When Dhruva Maharaja saw the Lord in his presence, he said, svamin krtartho'smi varam na yace: (CC Madhya 22.42) "My dear Lord, I have nothing to ask from You. Now I am completely satisfied
- When Dhruva Maharaja saw the Lord, he had no desire to ask the Lord for any benediction. Indeed, simply by seeing the Lord, Dhruva Maharaja felt so satisfied that he did not want to ask the Lord for any benediction - CC Madhya 22.42
- When Lord Brahma saw that Prahlada Maharaja and Vindhyavali had already approached the Lord to ask mercy for Bali Maharaja, he joined them and recommended Bali Maharaja's release on the grounds of worldly calculations
- When Narada Muni went to the Vaikuntha planets, he fulfilled their request and asked Narayana (God) about the salvation of the brahmana and the cobbler, and Narayana replied, - After leaving this body, the cobbler shall come here to me
- When Prahlada was asked by the Supreme Lord what benediction he desired, Prahlada Maharaja replied, - My dear Lord, why should I ask for some benediction simply because I have suffered for You? You are supremely powerful, & whatever I get, I get from You
- When Prajapati Daksa saw the Supreme Lord in his presence, he simply fell flat, unable to speak or ask Him for anything
- When the Lord was present before Dhruva Maharaja, Dhruva did not want to take any material benefit from the Lord: svamin krtartho 'smi varam na yace (CC Madhya 22.42). As a pure devotee, he could not ask the Lord for any material benefit
- When there is a need, the chief personalities in the universe approach Brahma, who approaches Visnu to ask that He reduce whatever the burden is. Then Visnu or Krsna appears as an incarnation
- Why shall I bother God? He is supplying everyone food, why shall I ask Him food? My food is also there. Let me serve Him - That is his higher intelligence
Y
- You are asking God's mercy, so God's mercy is also God, the Absolute. So how can you disrespect a thing which is given by God? You cannot produce rice. You cannot produce bread. It is given by God
- You have come to give spiritual knowledge, and you are a direct representative of Kapiladeva, the incarnation of God and the plenary portion of knowledge. I am therefore asking you, O spiritual master, what is the most secure shelter in this world?