Bhagavad Gita 4.10

vītarāga-bhaya-krodhāḥ

man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ

bahavo jñāna-tapasā

pūtā mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ

 

“Free from passion, fear, and rage,

In devotional service to me, the wise engage.

Through knowledge and penance diligent,

They reach my being, pure and effulgent.”

 

My dear Lord, please help me to avoid the many misconceptions that prevent me from surrendering to you. The first and most common obstacle is materialism, which fills me with so much attachment that there’s no mental space left for you. If I somehow break free  from materialism, I may still be caught in the misconception of nihilism. In this state, I start thinking that nothing is real or substantial—neither in this world, nor in any world beyond. Please, O Lord, protect me from this toxic illusion, which strips all of existence of all meaning. Otherwise, it will fill me with an existential rage.

The forces of illusion are so relentless, my Lord, that they may still catch me with a third misconception that this world is entirely false while only the spiritual world is real. This is the misconception of impersonalism, in which I reject all personhood, including my own and even yours, my Lord, the Supreme Divine Person. I end up living in the constant fear of being trapped by temptation. Please, my Lord, purify me with your words of wisdom, revealing that this material world is real and is meant to function as a real pathway to the higher reality of the spiritual world, your eternal abode. Help me my lord to serve you diligently in this world so that I can continue to serve you perennially in the next world.

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04.10 Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became purified by knowledge of Me – and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me.