Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaches us, ayi nanda-tanuja patitaṁ kiṅkaraṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau (CC Antya 20.32, Śikṣāṣṭaka 5): "My dear Lord, Nanda-tanuja, son of Nanda Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa, I am Your eternal servant. Somehow or other, I am now fallen in this material ocean." Ayi nanda-tanuja patitaṁ kiṅkaraṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau. Viṣame: "Very ferocious danger, ocean of this material existence, I am fallen. Although I am Your servant, some way or other I have forgot. I have fallen down." Then, ayi nanda-tanuja patitaṁ kiṅkaraṁ māṁ viṣame bhava, kṛpayā: "Now I am seeking Your mercy." Kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya: "Now take me again. Pick me, and make me the one particle of dust of Your lotus feet." This should be our prayer, no other prayer. No other prayer. Caitanya Mahāprabhu does not teach any other. Na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye (CC Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4).
People generally pray for material benefits, "O God, give us our daily bread. Give me nice position. Give me nice wife. Give me nice following or this or victory," so on, so on, so on, simply for material existence. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that if we pray to God for all these nonsense things, it is just like a man goes to a king and the king says: "Whatever you want you can ask from me," and if the man says: "Kindly give me a pinch of ashes." It is like that. If we ask from God for some material benefit, it means that I am asking from a king a pinch of ash. When king says that, "You ask whatever you want," he can say: "So give me half the kingdom."