Lord of the universe, I do not desire material wealth, materialistic followers, a beautiful wife or fruitive activities described in flowery language. All I want, life after life, is unmotivated devotional service to You.

Sri Siksastakam Verse Four
Reflections, by Braja Sevaki Dasi

“I want nothing.” That’s what this verse is saying. I want absolutely nothing, except shelter, service at Your lotus feet, birth after birth. How can I honestly say I want nothing but this? Can I utter this prayer with complete sincerity, willing to embrace the consequences of asking for nothing, wanting nothing, expecting nothing, except to be the surrendered servant of the Supreme Lord, birth after birth?

Na dhanam—no riches; na janam—no followers; na sundarim—a beautiful wife (or husband). The world is turning these days on the pursuit of wealth, adoring family or followers, and beauty. Pick up any book or magazine, check out any movie, it’s all you see: movie stars whose fame covers the globe and who earn 20 or 30 million dollars a movie; ordinary working folk trying to get ahead—a bigger car, better house, more more more; plastic surgery escalating at an alarming rate. Beauty sells, fame sells, wealth sells.

So what does it actually mean to want to deny that? For what? Believing these things bring us any happiness means we have the depth of a puddle, in reality! We all pursue a quality of life that simply isn’t attainable in this world. Whether we are captains of industry stripping the earth for profit, or earth-loving environmentalist recyclers, we’re all still looking for a quality of life that simply doesn’t exist in the material plane. From the austere to the opulent, everything belongs to Krishna, everything emanates from Krishna. You want to be an ascetic? No one did it better than Krishna. You want opulence? No one beats Krishna for opulence. Wisdom? Beauty? Strength? All of them are possessed in full by Krishna. Some people might have a little of one quality; some a little of another. But only He possesses all of them, in full. In other words, unless we serve the owner of these qualities, we can never really experience what they mean. What point is there in even pursuing something for the paltry little return we can eke out of this material realm?

But our conditioning runs so deep. To actually say in all sincerity that you want to renounce any wealth, opulence, beauty, adoration, followers…that’s a tough call. It’s enough to start with this: “I want to want it.” I want to be able to pray like this, and know that within that prayer is the acknowledgment to Krishna that yes, I desire these things: wealth, following, adoration, distinction; but I want not to desire them, because they will hinder my path to You.” One by one, to take them apart and question their position on my “priorities” list takes a pretty heavy dose of honesty. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura wrote that the only distance between us and Krishna is how much we are attracted to or repelled by the things this world has to offer—things like wealth (dhanam), followers (janam), or beauty (sundarim)—all of them temporary, all of them tiny and insignificant in comparison to the absolute splendor of the opulences of Krishna.

Examining our hearts with honesty, ensuring we are free from motive in our approach to the Lord—this is the highest form of bhakti (devotion to the Lord). But it starts with wanting to want it.

ISKCON’s founder, Srila Prabhupada, says of this verse of Siksastakam, “The conclusion is that the pure devotee should not aspire after any material benefit from devotional service, nor should he be enamored by fruitive activities or philosophical speculation. He should always be engaged favorably in the service of the Lord. That is the highest perfection of life.”

… the perfect place to begin to pray.