For all its faults, _Entering the Life of Prayer_ is fervent. I am not so fervent now. I am almost urbane about my inability to pay attention to the holy name. The dictionary defines fervent as “ardent: passionate. Very hot.” How do you become like that? You can’t just turn it on.
Nothing should be imitated. That’s why I so much value the quality of honesty. What if I am honestly not fervent?
Pure fervent prayer is desirable. Raghunatha dasa Gosvami prayed:
“O my uncomprehending inner self, my dear brother mind, I humbly prostrate myself before you. Taking hold of your feet, I beseech you, please give up all pride and surrender fully to Sri Guru, to the spiritual abode of Vraja-dhama, to the residents of Vraja, to all the Vaisnava devotees of the Lord, to the sattvika-brahmanas, to the holy name of the Supreme Lord, and to the ever-fresh and youthful divine couple of blossoming beauty, Sri Sri Radha and Krishna, and in this way quickly develop sublime attachment to Them.” (Manah-siksa, Verse 1)
(_Begging for the Nectar of the Holy Name_)
JAPA POEM
I give praise to _Entering the Life of Prayer_
as being fervent.
And I say I have lost that quality.
I quote Raghunatha das Gosvami’s fervent
Manah-siksa, Verse 1:
He falls prostrate
before his “dear brother mind”
and beseeches it
to give up pride
and surrender to Sri Guru,
the abode of Vraja, etc.,
and to Radha-Krishna, and
thus develop quick attachment
to Them. His prayers
are so powerful.
I read them frequently
and yearn to internalize them.