39/ Prayers by Akrira

Akrira offered his prayers as follows: “My dear Lord, I here pay my
respectful obeisances unto You because You are the supreme cause of all
causes and the original inexhaustible Personality, Narayana. From Your
navel a lotus flower grows, and from that lotus, Brahma, the creator of this
universe, is born. Since Brahma is the cause of this universe, You are the
cause of all causes. All the elements of this cosmic manifestation—earth,
water, fire, air, ether, ego and the total material energy, as well as nature,
the marginal energy, the living entities, mind, senses, the sense objects and
the demigods who control the affairs of the cosmos—are all produced from
Your body. You are the Supersoul of everything, but no one knows Your
transcendental form. Everyone within this material world is influenced by
the modes of material nature. Demigods like Lord Brahma, being covered
by the influence of material nature, do not exactly know Your transcen-
dental existence beyond the cosmic manifestation of the three modes of
material nature. Great sages and mystics worship You as the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, the original cause of all living entities, all cosmic
manifestation and all demigods. They worship You as all-inclusive. Some
of the learned brahmanas also worship You by observing the ritualistic
ceremony of the Rg-veda. They offer different kinds of sacrifices in the
names of different gods. And there are others also who are fond of wor-
shiping transcendental knowledge. They are very peaceful and wish to give
up all kinds of material activities. They engage themselves in the philoso-
phical search for You, known as jfidna-yoga.

“There are devotees also known as Bhagavatas who worship You as the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. After being properly initiated in the
method of Paficaratra, they decorate their bodies with tilaka and engage in
worshiping Your different forms of Visnu mirti. There are others also,
known as Saivites, followers of the different acaryas, who worship You in
the form of Lord Siva.”

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