Prayers by Queen Kunti
As Lord Krishna prepared to depart from Hastinapura for His kingdom of Dwaraka after the conclusion of the great war, the entire city was plunged into a state of grief mingled with gratitude. Krishna had been the supreme protector of the Pandavas throughout their entire ordeal - from the time of their birth when He had saved them from the plots of their jealous cousin Duryodhana, through the years of exile and humiliation, through the terrible war, and in every moment of crisis. Now, as the time for His departure approached, many souls wanted to express their love and gratitude to Him. Among all the people of Hastinapura, it was Queen Kunti, the venerable mother of the five Pandava brothers and Krishna's own paternal aunt, who stepped forward to offer prayers of extraordinary spiritual depth and devotion.
Kunti was not a simple woman, though she appeared in that role. She was born as the daughter of Shurasena, a powerful king, and was known as Pritha in her youth. Through divine grace, she had been blessed with the ability to invoke celestial beings through mantras and had earlier used this power to call upon various devas (demigods) to bear her children - Dharma (who became Yudhishthira), Vayu (who became Bhima), and Indra (who became Arjuna). Yet despite her mystical powers and her elevated birth, she understood one truth above all others: that these abilities and achievements meant nothing compared to the mercy of Krishna. She approached the Lord with complete humility, not as a queen or as the mother of powerful sons, but as a simple soul standing before the Supreme Personality of Godhead, her heart filled with love and gratitude too deep for elaborate words.
The prayers that flowed from Kunti's lips, which became known as "Kunty-uvaca" in the Bhagavatam, stand among the most celebrated and quoted devotional expressions in all of Vedic literature. In these prayers, Kunti glorifies Krishna as the ultimate controller of everything that exists - the creator of creation itself, the maintainer of all beings, the one who orchestrates the movements of every atom in the cosmos. She acknowledges that although Krishna appears as a human being in the form of her nephew - with a material body, moving about on foot, wielding weapons like an ordinary warrior - this form is only His causeless mercy, His choice to make Himself accessible and relatable to His devotees. In reality, Kunti says, Krishna is the unborn, eternally existing Lord, completely beyond material nature, not subject to the laws of karma or time. He is the soul within all souls, the consciousness animating every living being from the smallest insect to the mightiest deva, yet simultaneously completely transcendent and beyond all material conditions.
Most remarkably - and this is the prayer that has inspired millions of spiritual seekers throughout the ages - Kunti prays for continued difficulties and calamities in her life. She expresses her desire that the same misfortunes that had afflicted her family in the past would continue to occur repeatedly. This shocking prayer reveals the profound wisdom that Kunti had developed through her spiritual practice and her intimate relationship with Krishna. She explains her reasoning with perfect clarity: "I wish that all those calamities that constantly befell us in the past would happen again and again, so that we would continuously be forced to think of You and remember You. Because to see You, to remember You constantly, to be always conscious of Your presence and Your protection - this means we will be delivered from the cycle of repeated birth and death forever. No material happiness, no amount of comfort, can compare with the benefit of constant remembrance of Your lotus feet."
This teaching represents a complete revolution in spiritual perspective. The material world teaches us to pursue comfort, security, and the absence of difficulties. Yet Kunti understood that comfort itself can become a spiritual liability - when everything is pleasant, the mind naturally becomes complacent, the heart forgets God, and we imagine that we have achieved something through our own efforts and intelligence. But when difficulties arise, when we face situations beyond our control and beyond our ability to solve through material means, then the mind involuntarily turns to the Lord. Hardship becomes a merciful reminder that we cannot control our lives, that we need to surrender, and that only by depending on Krishna can we find real security. Kunti's prayer teaches that from a spiritual perspective, calamity can be more valuable than comfort if it drives the consciousness toward God-realization.
Kunti also prays specifically for Krishna's blessings on her grandson Parikshit, who had been miraculously saved in his mother's womb by Krishna's intervention when Ashvatthama released the brahmastra. She requests that Krishna always remain the guide, protector, and supreme well-wisher of the Pandava dynasty and all beings who take shelter in His lotus feet. She then makes a final prayer that reveals the ultimate fruit of all her spiritual practice: "Let my attachment be only to Your lotus feet, only to Your devotees who have surrendered completely to You. Let me never become attached to material possessions or family relationships. Whether I experience happiness or distress, prosperity or poverty, let my consciousness always remain fixed on serving You. This is my only desire and my only prayer."
The chapter concludes with Krishna's response to these unprecedented prayers. The Lord, being supremely pleased with Kunti's perfect expression of devotion and her transcendental wisdom, blessed her with His personal assurance. He assured her that not only would the Pandavas be protected eternally, but that all those who hear these prayers of Kunti with sincere faith would also receive Krishna's protection and grace. The prayers would serve as a bridge connecting countless future souls to Krishna consciousness. These prayers demonstrate the ideal relationship between a devotee and the Lord - pure love uncontaminated by material motivation, wisdom that sees beyond material concepts of happiness and suffering, and a longing for the Lord's association that transcends all other desires. Through Kunti's example, we learn that true spirituality is not achieved through rejecting material life while harboring material desires, but through redirecting the heart completely toward Krishna consciousness, so that every experience - whether joyful or sorrowful - becomes an opportunity for remembrance and service.