Hare Krsna
Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Narada muni prays to Nara-Narayana rshi beautifully in the 5th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam (SB 5.19.15):
tan nah prabho tam kukalevaraarpitaam
tvan maayayaaham mamataam adhokshaja
bhindyaama yenaashu vayam sudurbhidaam
vidhehi yogam tvayi nah svabhaavam iti
"Therefore, O Lord, O Transcendence, kindly help us by giving us the power to execute bhakti-yoga so that we can control our restless minds and fix them upon You. We are all infected by Your illusory energy; therefore we are very attached to the body, which is full of stool and urine, and to anything related with the body. Except for devotional service, there is no way to give up this attachment. Therefore kindly bestow upon us this benediction."
Narada muni's prayers to Nara-Narayana rshi actually starts from 5.19.12 and this verse is the conclusion of the previous four verses. Hence this verse actually starts with 'Therefore', which is a conclusion of the previous verses.
The reason for not able to perform devotional service is attachment to family, friends, wealth and ultimately our own body. Due to the attachment, we are fully absorbed in the thoughts of how to maintain them and how to protect them. Narada muni analyses that our own body is full of stool and urine (kukalevaraarpitaam) and all these other paraphernalias are an expansion of this body which means they are also abonimable. However we are still not able to give up this attachment because our mind convinces us that without these paraphernalias we cannot be happy. In addition to this, it is also restless. Because the mind is absorbed in impermanent objects, it becomes restless, as Arjuna too complains to Krishna in the battlefield that it is impossible to curb this restless mind. This restless mind can find peace only at the lotus feet of the Lord and that is possible only through intense devotional service. In other words, the mind should always be trained to think of nothing but how to please the Lord, how to serve the Lord and His devotees. This way the mind can be positively engaged in the transcendental service. svabhaava is translated by Prabhupada as "which is symptomized by a steady mind". Our svabhaava is to serve the Lord eternally without any motive and the symptom of which is a steady mind. However, steadiness of mind is possible only if we sincerely pray to the Supreme Lord to take us out of the attachments and absorb us in devotional service. Everything is possible only by the sanction of the Lord, more so for devotional service, which is the only means of associating with the Lord and pleasing Him.
When Dhruva Maharaj was requested to ask for a benediction by Kuvera, he could have asked anything and Kuvera, being the treasurer of the demigods, could have given all the wealth in the world. But Dhruva Maharaj only asked for the benediction that he must have unflinching faith in the Lord and constant remembrance of His glories. This is how a devotee behaves - even though one is allured to ask for material benedictions from some superior personalities like demigods, still they do not budge away from their focus on serving the Lord without motive.
Let us learn from these prayers and great personalities like Narada muni, Dhruva Maharaj etc and somehow or other try to practice devotional service without any motive to the best of our ability.
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