Hare Krsna,
There is no doubt that no one can offer prayers to the Lord without His causeless mercy. When a living entity desires to serve the Lord in transcendental loving service, the Lord helps the devotee in so many ways as the caitya-guru, or the spiritual master within, and thus the devotee can perform many wonderful activities beyond material estimation. By the mercy of the Lord even a layman can compose prayers of the highest spiritual perfection. Such spiritual perfection is not limited by material qualifications but is developed by dint of one’s sincere endeavor to render transcendental service. Voluntary endeavor is the only qualification for spiritual perfection. Material acquisitions of wealth or education are not considered. (SB 3.9.38 P)
But this does not mean that one should not compose prayers in glorification of the Lord. If we are sincere in our desire and endeavor, the Supreme Lord will help us. The best example is Dhruva Maharaja. He was a young boy of five years. He did not know how to worship Lord Visnu. But seeing His determination and endeavor, the Lord instructed Narada Muni to guide and teach young Dhruva Maharaja. By following the instructions of Narada Muni, Dhruva Maharaja performed intense austerity and penance for many months. Pleased with his efforts, the Supreme Lord appeared in front of Him. The Lord touched Dhruva Maharaja with His conchshell. Immediately Dhruva Maharaja became completely self-realized and started to compose beautiful prayers to the Lord. This shows that only by the mercy of the Lord can one compose prayers.
There is a beautiful purport by Srila Prabhupada on this topic of offering prayers to the Supreme Lord.
SB 4.7.24: Although the mental scope of even demigods like Brahmā was unable to comprehend the unlimited glories of the Supreme Lord, they were all able to perceive the transcendental form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead by His grace. Only by such grace could they offer their respectful prayers according to their different capacities.
Purport: It is not possible for any ordinary living entity to understand or to glorify the unlimited Personality of Godhead, but one can offer prayers or service to the Lord according to one’s particular capacity. This capacity is increased by the service spirit. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau means that the service of the Lord begins with the tongue. This refers to chanting. By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, one begins the service of the Lord. Another function of the tongue is to taste and accept the Lord’s prasāda. We have to begin our service to the Unlimited with the tongue and become perfect in chanting, and accepting the Lord’s prasāda. To accept the Lord’s prasāda means to control the entire set of senses. The tongue is considered to be the most uncontrollable sense because it hankers for so many unwholesome eatables, thereby forcing the living entity into the dungeon of material conditional life. As the living entity transmigrates from one form of life to another, he has to eat so many abominable foodstuffs that finally there is no limit. The tongue should be engaged in chanting and in eating the Lord’s prasāda so that the other senses will be controlled. Chanting is the medicine, and prasāda is the diet. With these processes one can begin his service, and as the service increases, the Lord reveals more and more to the devotee. But there is no limit to His glories, and there is no limit to engaging oneself in the service of the Lord.
This means that if we continue to engage in devotional service to the Lord through the main processes of hearing and chanting, we will be able to compose prayers to the Lord just as Lord Brahma did.
From my personal example, I could see that the forum posts that I write are nothing but mercy of the Lord. I have personal realizations that there are days when I struggle to meditate and write on a particular forum topic. I chant my japa not meditating on the topic but praying to the Lord to help me write something. When I do so and start typing in the mood that the Lord will help me from within, I see that thoughts begin to flow spontaneously and these thoughts beautifully get transformed into words. I have written many forum posts in this way. This clearly shows that without Lord’s mercy and empowerment, we cannot write anything.
Therefore Lord Brahma’s prayers are not mere prayers. They are a manifestation of Lord’s sweet mercy being pleased with Brahma’s many years of meditation, penance, and austerity.
The prayers offered by Brahma cannot be chanted by anyone who desires to fulfill his own sense gratification. Such prayers can be selected only by a person who wants to satisfy the Lord in His service. The Lord certainly fulfills all desires in regard to transcendental loving service, but He cannot fulfill the whims of non-devotees, even when such casual devotees offer Him the best of prayers. (SB 3.9.40)
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Krsna Katha 