'Shree Krishna Sharanam Mama' (શ્રીક્રુષ્ણ શરણંમમ) is a prayer and there is no objection in reciting this prayer. It means, O God, you are my refuge and sanctuary. There must be constant Bhavna (concept, sincerity, desire) in the heart with living awareness while reciting this prayer. There should not be an image of idol or imagination arise in the mind while mentioning the word 'Shree Krishna'. Instead there should be presence of a kind of Bhava (love, affection, faith) in the heart. As soon as they utter the word Shree Krishna, many people have the vision of Shree Krishna with many cows or Shree Krishna playing the flute and many such forms due to old impressions in the mind from seeing such photographs or hearing about it previously. This is not good for us. Heart is the place where Bhava is produced and if we want to experience that state without the support of any kind, then we should not be indulging in the game of imagination. If such thing happen to someone, it is helpful to such person. We should not confuse such person and such a step is not proper for us. For that reason, 'Shree Krishna' is abstract and as soon as we utter the word, our mind, intellect, chitta, prana, all our major and minor limbs and heart, we should have the living and creative Bhavna that all these are taking refuge and shelter in Shree Krishna. We should live in such Bhavna. When we utter the word 'mama', we must have living and creative awareness and knowledge that this is my-our duty. We must practice this while reciting the prayer with heartfelt sincerity. Prayer is a kind of Dhyana only. Prayer is with form and Dhyana is without form. There is no support in Dhyana but we take the support of prayer to increase the Bhava as a sadhak. The result is same for both. We must be in meditative condition. The secret of Prayer is 'Bhavna is transformed into Bhava'.
Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sandesh
Edition 3; Pages 12 - 13.
