I have found Healing Prayers to be a deep insight into the need and practice of prayer. As St. Francis of Assisi once said, 'The result of prayer is life. By practicing the principles in Healing Prayers devotees can find new life in their devotional practice. Bhakti Vijnana Gosvami primarily examines the teachings of Kunti Devi as found in the eighth chapter of the first canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam.
Maharaja reveals Kunti Devi's prayers to be an existential cry that recitation and study of manifests as an echo in the heart of the devotees. These prayers express a heart song relevant for seekers on the devotional path and particularly important for aspiring Vaisnavas. Many devotees are not aware of the depth of attachment felt by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada for these verses. One of his earliest disciples Brahmananda Prabhu describes:
Even before founding ISKCON in 1966, during Srila Prabhupada's beginning times in New York City, he had recorded himself singing Kunti's prayers.
These prayers are the only section of verses Srila Prabhupada ever recorded from the Srimad Bhagavatam. He was living alone in what was an office on West 72nd Street in New York during the winter of 1965-66, after having come to New York from Butler, Pennsylvania. These were difficult days. Not only was Srila Prabhupada alone, but his quarters offered no shower or kitchen. To bathe and to cook his meals at Dr. Mishra's apartment-cum-yoga studio, Prabhupada had to walk seven blocks in the frigid cold, tolerating the howling winds blowing off the Hudson River onto Riverside Drive. Although Srila Prabhupada had an overcoat and a sweater, his clothes were the thin cloth he had worn from Vrndavana and suited for hot, tropical climates, and not New York winters.
It was in those difficult times that Srila Prabhupada found solace in the prayers of Kunti Devi. Later, on the 31st of June in 1967, Srila Prabhupada had a stroke. At that time, he requested three things from his young disciples. He asked them to bring a painting of Lord Narasimhadev; he instructed them to chant the prayers to Lord Narasimha and do Hare Krishna kirtana for him; and thirdly he asked his servant to recite the prayers of Queen Kunti to him.
A few years later in August of 1974, while in Vrndavana, Srila Prabhupada had another health crisis. At that time, he developed a high fever and collapsed. Many doctors came, but none of them were able to heal Srila Prabhupada. Once again, Srila Prabhupada requested devotees to pray to Lord Narasimha, and chant Hare Krishna, and once again he requested his ser-vant Brahmananda Prabhu to recite to him the prayers of Queen Kunti. Srila Prabhupada later wrote a letter to Brahmananda commenting on that experience:
I thank you for your concern for my well-being. Actually I was very ill. I was falling down. But, by your prayers Krishna has kindly made me recover. Because you have prayed to Krishna, therefore I have recovered. Just like Srimati Kunti Devi, when there was difficulty, she prayed to Krishna. That is Krishna consciousness. Not that when there is difficulty I shall forget Krishna. Whatever the material condition may be, we should just cling to Krishna's lotus feet. Written from Mayapur.
7 October 1974 In Healing Prayers, Bhakti Vijnana Gosvami illuminates these important verses spoken by Kunti Devi through the lens of commentaries by the previous acaryas as well as the poems of contemporary Christian saints. Maharaja begins in a classical way by examining the three types of prayers described by Srila Rupa Gosvami in his Bhakti-rasamṛta-sindhu and explains the first category known as samprarthana as: '... the sincere, fervent prayer for complete surrender and for overcoming the abyss that separates us from God. It is where true bhakti begins because it is a prayer from a heart that has realized its indif-ference and disconnection from God. This painful truth is our starting point.'
It is samprarthana prayers which Maharaja later explains as, 'articulating the call of a divided heart for undivided love.' Which he explains as, 'the main topic of Queen Kunti's prayers and her conclusion.'
This book is a classic. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to go deeper into a life of prayer.
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