A Pause for Prayer

O Supreme Lord, the living entities in this world are bewildered by Your illusory energy. Becoming involved in the false concepts of "I" and "my," they are forced to wander along the paths of fruitive work. I too am deluded in this way, O almighty Lord, foolishly thinking my body, children, home, wife, money, and followers to be real, though they are actually as unreal as a dream. Thus mistaking the temporary for the eternal, my body for my self, and sources of misery for sources of happiness, I have tried to take pleasure in material dualities. Covered in this way by ignorance, I could not recognize You as the real object of my love.

Just as a fool overlooks a body of water covered by the vegetation growing in it and chases a mirage, so I have turned away from You. My intelligence is so crippled that I cannot find the strength to curb my mind, which is disturbed by material desires and activities and constantly dragged here and there by my obstinate senses.

Being thus fallen, I am approaching Your feet for shelter, O Lord, because although the impure can never attain Your feet, I think it is nevertheless possible by Your mercy. Only when one's material life has ceased, O lotus-naveled Lord, can one develop consciousness of You by serving Your pure devotees.

– Sri Akrura

Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.40.23–28