Prayers of Kunti in Srimad Bhagavatam

[Onkar]

The prayers of Kunti are one of the most important prayers in Srimad
Bhagavatam. They are spoken by a woman, a mother. Even greatest
scholars of Vedanta, the greatest paramhamsas, sannyasis who have
rejected everything of this world for the loving service of the Lord,
they all fall at the feet of Queen Kunti to hear her prayers. These
prayers are their life and soul.
Last sloka of the stotra: O Lord of Madhu, as the Ganges forever flows
to the sea without hindrance, let my attraction be constantly drawn
unto You without being diverted to anyone else.
Previous verse : She prays in the previous verse: O Lord of the
universe, please sever my tie of affection for kins.
What is it mean? She did not leave her family and take sannyas. But
she is praying to sever the tie of affection for kinsmen and Pandavas.
She wanted to sever that tie of that illusion of I and mine within the
heart. That this is my children, this is my family, this is my
dynasty, this is my caste. This is all an illusion and one can not
love you as long as one is caught up in this wave of illusion. Let me
love them only because they are part and parcel of you Lord. If I love
you that means I love all your parts and parcels only because of their
relationship with you and for no external reason or designation.
Because as long as we are attached to any of these external
designations we can not love Krishna. So how to develop that one
pointed love and affection towards Sri Krishna. Queen Kunti explains
by keeping her consciousness always with him. There are nine process
of devotional service by which we can always keep our consciousness
connected to Krishna. And through that association naturally our love
for Krishna awakens. By coming to the temple, by associating with
Krishna’s devotees. Why do we associate if we understand that the
devotee that they are Krishna’s representatives in my life, love for
them is love for Krishna. Love for Guru is love for Krishna. As long
as Krishna is always in the centre of our relationship love for our
family members is love of Krishna as long as Krishna is in centre in
all of our interactions and the service to Krishna is the object of
our relationship then love for them is love for Krishna. But if our
affection for them diverts us from the will of Guru and Krishna then
our so called love for them is only attachment. It is the cause of
bondage. So in every situation of life we can really learn how to love
one another, how to impose that natural affection which is our nature
amongst each other by keeping Krishna in the centre.

[Onkar]

Kunti's Prayer in full

Kuntî said: 'My obeisances unto You, the Purusha, the Original
Controller of the Cosmos who is invisible and beyond all existing both
within and without. (19) Covered by the deluding [material] curtain,
being irreproachably transcendent and not discerned by the foolish,
You are like an actor dressed up as a player. (20) You appear for the
sake of the advanced transcendentalists and philosophers who can
discriminate between spirit and matter, in order to execute the
science that unites them in devotion. But how must we, the women, then
exercise respect for You? (21) Therefore I offer You my respectful
obeisances, You the Protector of the cows and the senses, the Supreme
Lord, the son of Vasudeva and Devakî, the One of Nanda and the cowherd
men of Vrindâvana. (22) My respects for You, who has a lotuslike
depression in His abdomen, who is always decorated with lotus flowers,
whose glance is as cool as a lotus flower and whose footprints show
the mark of lotus flowers. (23) You are the master of the senses and
have released the distressed Devakî [mother of Krishna] from being
imprisoned for so long by the envious [uncle] King Kamsa. And o
Lordship, You have protected me and my children against a constant
threat. (24) Saving us in the past from poison, a great fire, man-
eaters, a vicious assembly, sufferings from exile in the forest and
against weapons in battles with great generals, You have now fully
protected us against the weapon of the son of Drona. (25) I wish we
would have more of those calamities, o Master of the Universe, so that
we can meet You again and again, because meeting You means that we no
longer see the repetition of births and death. (26) The ones
intoxicated by striving for a good birth, opulences, education, and
beauty will never ever deserve to address You, who are easily
approached by the ones destitute. (27) All honor to You, the wealth of
the ones living in poverty, who transcendental to the emotions one has
with the material modes, are the One self-contented and most gentle;
all my respect for You who are the master of beatitude. (28) I
consider You the personification of Eternal Time, the Lord without a
beginning or an end, the All-pervasive One distributing Your mercy
everywhere equally among the beings who live in dissent with each
other. (29) O Lord, no one understands Your pastimes, that appear to
be as conflictuous as the exploits of the common man; people think You
are partial, but You favor or dislike no one. (30) O Soul of the
Universe, with Your vital energy taking birth although You are unborn
and acting although You are inactive, You manifesting Yourself with
the animals, the human beings, the wise and the aquatics, are
veritably bewildering. (31) It is bewildering for me to see that at
the time the gopî [Yas'odâ, the cowherd foster mother of Krishna] took
up a rope to bind You because You were naughty, You were afraid and
cried the make-up off Your eyes, even though You are feared by fear in
person. (32) Some say that You, like sandalwood appearing in the
Malaya Hills, are born from the unborn for the glory of the pious
kings or the pleasure of the family of dear King Yadu. (33) Others say
that You descended from the unborn for the good of Vasudeva and Devakî
who prayed for You and for the demise of the ones envious with the
godly. (34) Still others say that You, like a boat on the sea, came to
take away the burden of extreme worldly grief and were born from the
prayers of Lord Brahmâ. (35) And yet others say that You appeared for
the ones suffering from desire and nescience in the materially
motivated world so that they may perform in hearing, remembering and
worshiping You. (36) Those people who take pleasure in continuously
hearing, chanting and remembering Your activities, certainly very soon
will see Your lotus feet, who put the recurrence of rebirths to an
end. (37) O Lord, with all that You did for us, You, today going to
the kings engaged in enmity, are leaving us behind. Us, Your intimate
friends living by Your mercy alone in dependence on Your lotus feet.
(38) We, without You, will, along with the Yadus and Pândavas, be
without the fame and name, like a body is without the senses after the
spirit has left. (39) The land of our kingdom will no longer appear as
beautiful as it does now, being dazzled by the marks of Your
footprints. (40) All these cities and towns, because of Your glances,
flourished more and more with their wealth of herbs, vegetables,
forests, hills, rivers and seas. (41) Therefore, o Lord of the
Universe, o Personality of the universal form, cut my tie of deep
affection for my kinsmen the Pândavas and the Vrishnis. (42) Make my
attraction to You pure and continuously overflowing, like the Ganges
flowing down to the sea. (43) O Krishna, friend of Arjuna and chief of
the Vrishnis, annihilator of the rebellious dynasties on this earth,
with Your unrelenting bravery You relieve the distressed cows, the
twice-born and the godly, o Lord of Yoga incarnate, universal
preceptor and original proprietor, unto You my respectful obeisances.'
"