Narada, one of Krishna's close friends, set out one day to the palace to give Krishna a message. But as he approached the huge palace, a palace guard stopped him and sternly said: "You cannot enter here". "What do you mean I cannot enter? I am Narada. I have access to Krishna's bed chamber". Which was true. Narada was so close to Krishna that he had permission to come anytime, anywhere, to see him. The guard, however, was adamant and replied: "I know who you are, but on this particular occasion you must remain here. The Lord Himself has ordered me to stop anybody from meeting him just now".
"What do you mean by saying 'on this particular occasion'? What is it that the Lord is doing that I can't go to see him?" The guard said: "He said he wanted to pray". "Pray? My Lord is praying? To whom does he pray? Who is greater than my Lord?" Thus demanding answers, Narada accused the guard of blasphemy. The dutiful guard stuck to his guns and refused to let Narada enter, saying: "I am only telling you what he told me. He said he wanted to pray and that I should not let anyone in because he did not want to be disturbed while he is praying". Narada had no choice but to wait, and all sorts of confused thoughts were going through his head... Narada simply could not understand why the Lord should pray and wondered who he addressed his prayers to.
After half an hour or so, Krishna came out of his room and saw Narada waiting outside the door. He greeted Narada warmly but Narada was so agitated that he made only the most perfunctory of greetings. "What's wrong?" Krishna asked. "You seem upset". Narada was so upset, in fact, that he totally forgot about the message he had come to deliver; he actually forgot that that was why he had come in the first place. Narada blurted out: "The palace guard said you were praying and that you were not to be disturbed". "Yes, that is so", Krishna affirmed.
"But to whom do you pray?" asked Narada, whose confidence in the Lord was shaken by Krishna's admission. Narada was worried, too. Why should Krishna, the All-Knowing One, have to pray, and for what? As though reading Narada's thoughts, Krishna laughed. "Do you really want to see to whom I pray? Come with me". And Krishna led Narada to his prayer room. "Here, here is my God", Krishna said.
And what did Narada see? He saw little figures, images of Krishna's mandali. There was a little figure of Narada, of Arjuna, of all the close ones. "These are the ones i pray to", Krishna explained. "I pray to my lovers. You see, the whole purpose of Creation was so that my love might flow. I eternally love my creation, but periodically i take birth to receive the love of my lovers. My lovers worship me and i worship their love for me".
A chastised Narada began to understand that it was the Lord's humility and infinite love that made him so lovable and approachable.