Prayers by Queen Kunti- Verses 1.8.23-24 - Gratitude

Verses 23-25 are especially instructive for us - through these verse we see how Kunti viewed the various dangerous events of her life . How she was full of gratitude for the Lord for helping them and saving them from various dangerous situations and how because he personally came in each of those situations to save them, she wished that those difficult situations would repeat themselves.
In this post we will take inspiration from the mood of gratitude that she expresses in the verses 23 and 24 and see how we can practically apply this in our lives

1.8.23
yathā hṛṣīkeśa khalena devakī
 kaṁsena ruddhāticiraṁ śucārpitā
vimocitāhaṁ ca sahātmajā vibho
 tvayaiva nāthena muhur vipad-gaṇāt

SB 1.8.23 — O Hṛṣīkeśa, master of the senses and Lord of lords, You have released Your mother, Devakī, who was long imprisoned and distressed by the envious King Kaṁsa, and me and my children from a series of constant dangers.

1.8.24

viṣān mahāgneḥ puruṣāda-darśanād
 asat-sabhāyā vana-vāsa-kṛcchrataḥ
mṛdhe mṛdhe ’neka-mahārathāstrato
 drauṇy-astrataś cāsma hare ’bhirakṣitāḥ

SB 1.8.24 — My dear Kṛṣṇa, Your Lordship has protected us from a poisoned cake, from a great fire, from cannibals, from the vicious assembly, from sufferings during our exile in the forest and from the battle where great generals fought. And now You have saved us from the weapon of Aśvatthāmā.

No Bitterness and No Complains

One can get very bitter in ones outlook of life and of people if one has gone through a very difficult life.Usually such people also lose faith in God. Reading Kunti Dev's prayers we see that she has absolute no bitterness about any of the trials and tribulations she had to face that in spite of being a very elevated devotee of the Lord. She did not think why did the Lord put us through so much when we are such nice devotees of the Lord? Why should we have to face any difficulty if the Lord is always by our side?

Instead Kunti devi offers her gratitude "thank you Lord for being there with us in all the difficult situations and protecting us and giving us strength. We are fortunate that there were so many difficulties - because of which you always came to protect us and we got to see You."

Gratitude:

Queen Kunti is thankful to the Lord for His presence and protection in all the difficult situations she and her family went through. Through these verses she has expressed that the Lord was constantly with them in every situation of their life and she is extremely grateful for that.

• In spite of losing her husband at a very young age and raising five children alone she considers herself more fortunate than Devaki. Devaki lost 6 of her children and she also did not get to live with her sons Lord Krishna and Lord Balarama. However Kunti Devi had all her five sons with her inspite of all the dangerous situations
  
•  Also Devaki did not get association of her own Son- Lord Krishna  but Lord Krishna was always present with Kunti Devi and her sons in all their good times and bad times.