श्रीमद्भागवतपुराणकथाः - कुन्तीस्तुतिः ३

गोप्याददे त्वयि कृतागसि दाम तावद्
या ते दशाश्रुकलिलाञ्जनसम्भ्रमाक्षम् ।
वक्त्रं निनीय भवभावनया स्थिततस्य
सा माम् विमोहयति भीरपि यद्बिभेति ॥1.8.31
गोपी — the cowherd lady (Yasoda)
आददे — took up
दाम — rope
त्वयि — on You
कृतागसि — creating disturbances (by breaking the butter pot)
तावत् — at that time
ते — Your
या दशा — that situation
अक्षम् — eye
अञ्जन — ointment (disturbed)
अश्रुकलिल — being flooded with tears
सम्भ्रम — perturbed
वक्त्रम् — face
निनीय — downwards
भयभावनया — by pretentions of fear
स्थितस्य — standing
भीः अपि — (and ) even ‘fear’ personified
बिभेति — is afraid.
यत् — of whom
सा— that (plight of yours)
विमोहयति — bewilders
माम् — me
Krishna pretends to be afraid when his mother threatens with punishment after upsetting all the butter pots. In this aspect of being afraid, He can only pretend to be overcome with fear since He knows not what fear may actually feel like… Isn’t he the Lord who grants ‘अभयम्’ to all those surrender unto Him? Kunti is very amused by Krishna’s display of fear, all the more, because even fear personified is afraid of Him and his devotees.

श्रीमद्भागवतपुराणकथाः - कुन्तीस्तुतिः २

जन्मैश्वर्यश्रुतश्रीभिर्एधमानमदः पुमान् ।

नैवार्हत्यभिधातुं वै त्वामकिञ्चनगोचरम् ॥1.8.26

पुमान् - the person

जन्म-ऐश्वर्य-श्रुत-श्रीभिः - (who) by the possession of birth, opulence, education and beauty

एधमानः - (and) progressively increasing

मदः - intoxication

वै - certainly

न एव - never

अर्हति - deserves

अभिधातुं - to address

त्वां - You

अकिञ्चनगोचरम् - who is easily approachable for the materialistically famished

Says Kunti, It is not possible for the self-important person, who is materially satiated, to remember the lord with as feeling and sincerity as the impoverished and suffering. Hence Kunti prays for calamities to beset her so that she may always remember the lord with total sincerity and a feeling of helplessness.

श्रीमद्भागवतपुराणकथाः - कुन्तीस्तुतिः

Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas was one of Krishna’s aunts. Needless to say she loved Krishna, as Devaki or Yashoda might love Him. Apart from her मातृभावः, she had, early on in her life, begun to look up to Sri Krishna as the savior of her sons, Pandavas and Draupadi and their progeny. The Lord was with them, at all major instances, as the story unfolded. Here it was, after the war when Yudhishtira was proclaimed king. Just as the Lord was preparing to leave for Dwaraka after the Mahabharata war, He yet again, saved the unborn son of Uttarakumari, daughter-in-law of Arjuna, on whom the powerful brahma missile was released by Ashwattama. Kunti, overcome by emotion on hearing that their savior Sri Krishna had saved the unborn offspring of the Kuru dynasty, praises him with words of gratitude.

विपदः सन्तु ताः शश्वत्तत्र तत्र जगद्गुरो ।

भवतो दर्शनम् यत्स्यादपुनर्भवदर्शनम् ॥ 1.8.25

जगद्गुरो - O lord of the Universe

सन्तु - let there be

विपदः - calamities

शश्वत् - again and again

तत्र तत्र - here and there

भवतः - your

दर्शनम् - meeting

यत् - that

स्यात् - which is

अपुनः - not again

भवदर्शनम् - seeing the repetition of birth and death

In this verse, which is a part of Kunti’s stuti of Sri Krishna in Canto 1, Chapter 8 of श्रीमद्भागवतम्, she asks the Lord for more calamities in her life, since calamities give her the opportunity to see the Lord more often.

It may seem a contradiction that Kunti asks for more calamities in her life, since every being wishes for happiness in his/her life, but in Kunti’s case, she who has tasted the bliss of the Lord’s presence through each and every calamity, the word calamity loses its bitterness and implies that SriKrishna’s sweet presence would instead take its place.

वैराग्य पञ्चकम् - 1

क्षोणीकोणशतांशपालनकलादुर्वारगर्वानल
क्षुभ्यक्षुद्रनरेन्द्रचाटुरचनाधन्यान् न मन्यामहे।
देवं सेवितुमेव निश्चिनुमहे योऽसौ दयालुः पुरा
धानामुष्टिमुचे कुचेलमुनये दत्ते स्म वित्तेशताम्॥1॥

क्षोणीकोण = Small part of the earth, शत अंश = one-hundredth (of that part), पालन कला = art of protecting, दुर्वार = uncontrollable, गर्व अनल = arrogance like fire, क्षुभ्यत् = agitated, क्षुद्र नरेन्द्र = small king, चाटु रचना = praises, धन्यान् = honoured ones, न मन्यामहे = we do not consider, पुरा = once, यः असौ = he who, दयालुः = kindhearted, धाना मुष्टिमुचे = for a hand-full of dry puffed rice, कुचेलमुनये = to the sage Kuchela, वित्तेशताम् = Status of Kubera, दत्ते स्म = gave, देवम् सेवितुम् एव = only to salute that lord, निश्चिनुमहे = we decided.

Sri Vedanta Deshika illustrates why we should pray to Lord Krishna.
Sri Desika says, "We do not bother ourselves with uncontrollable kings, who are very arrogant (like fire), due to the power of ruling a bit of the earth. We (the learned ones) will praise only that god, who gave the status of Kubera, the lord of wealth, to the sage Kuchela, in exchange for just one handful of flattened rice."

In those days, scholars would honor gods rather than beg from kings even in dire circumstances. Although we pray to Krishna only for moksha, worldly riches can be attained automatically by worshipping him.