Prayers by Indra, the King of Heaven 181

onslaught of material qualities like passion and ignorance. If someone
thinks that when You come within this material world You accept the
modes of material nature, he is mistaken. The webs of the material quali-
ties are never able to touch You, and You certainly do not accept them
when You are present within this world. Your Lordship is never condi-
tioned by the laws of material nature.

“My dear Lord, You are the original father of this cosmic manifestation.
You are the supreme spiritual master of this cosmic world, and You are
the original proprietor of everything. As eternal time, You are competent
to chastise offenders. Within this material world there are many fools like
myself who consider themselves to be the Supreme Lord or the all in all
within the universe. You are so merciful that without punishing their
offenses, You devise means so that their false prestige is subdued and they
can know that You, and none else, are the Supreme Personality of God-
head.

“My dear Lord, You are the supreme father, the supreme spiritual
master and supreme king. Therefore, You have the right to chastise all
living entities whenever there is any discrepancy in their behavior. The
father, the spiritual master, and the supreme executive officer of the state
are always well-wishers of their sons, their students and their citizens
respectively. As such, the well-wishers have the right to chastise their
dependents. By Your own desire You appear auspiciously on the earth in
Your eternal varieties of forms; You come to glorify the earthly planet
and specifically to chastise persons who are falsely claiming to be God. In
the material world there is regular competition between different types of
living entities to become supreme leaders of society, and after being
frustrated in achieving the supreme positions of leadership, foolish persons
claim to be God, the Supreme Personality. There are many such foolish
personalities in this world, like me, but in due course of time, when they
come to their senses, they surrender unto You and again engage them-
selves properly by rendering service unto You. And that is the purpose of
Your chastising persons envious of You.

“My dear Lord, I committed a great offense unto Your lotus feet, being
falsely proud of my material opulences, not knowing Your unlimited
power. Therefore, my Lord, kindly excuse me, because I am fool number
one. Kindly give me Your blessings so that I may not act so foolishly again.
If You think, my Lord, that the offence is very great and cannot be
excused, then I appeal to You that I am Your eternal servant; Your
appearance in this world is to give protection to Your eternal servants and
to destroy the demons who maintain great military strength just to burden
