সদা সেবা-অভিলাষ, মনে করি বিশোয়াস,
সর্বথাই হইয়া নির্ভয় ।
নরোত্তম দাসে বোলে, পড়িলু অসৎ-ভোলে,
পরিত্রাণ কর মহাশয় ॥ ৩২ ॥
sadā sebā-abhilāṣa, mane kari biśoyāsa,
sarbathāi haiyā nirbhaya |
narottama dāse bole, paḍilu asat-bhole,
paritrāṇa kara mahāśaya || 32 ||
Always maintain a desire for sevā, remain faithful and be fearless in all respects. Narottama Dāsa says, “O Kṛṣṇa! I have fallen into a state of illusion. Please rescue me.”
Desire for Sevā
Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: After renouncing the misery-filled sense-enjoyment of the material world and settling in Vraja, if one worships Śrī Govinda by always hearing and chanting śrī-kṛṣṇa-kathā and śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāma in the association of the great souls who have taken shelter there, one is blessed with a taste of the sweet rasa of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s name, form, qualities and pastimes. This has been described in the previous verse. In this verse, he is saying that by establishing firm faith in the above-mentioned practices, abandoning any other desires and always nurturing his desire for sevā, a sādhaka who has taken shelter at Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet in Vraja becomes fearless in all respects.
Such faith makes him eligible for bhakti or bhajana: śraddhāvān jana haya bhakti-adhikārī (CC. Madhya 22.64). Faith comes from faith. śraddhā-śabde–biśvāsa kahe sudṛḍha niścaya (CC. Madhya 22.62). “The word śraddhā means firm faith, free from doubt.” Even though the words śraddhā and viśvāsa are synonymous, śraddhā is the initial state of faith and viśvāsa the subsequent state. Therefore, although it has been indicated that faith is the only cause of eligibility for bhagavad-bhajana, faith mixed with realization of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is obtainable by the power of that bhajana, has been kept as an essential ingredient.* Moreover, śaraṇāgati (taking shelter) also appears along with śraddhā or viśvāsa because śraddhā and śaraṇāgati mean the same thing. In his Bhakti-Sandarbha (374 Anuḥ), Śrīmat Jīva Gosvāmipāda has written, śraddhā-śaraṇāpattyor aikārthyaṁ labhyate, tac ca yuktam. śraddhā hi śāstrārtha-viśvāsaḥ. śāstraṁ ca tad-aśaraṇasya bhayaṁ tac-charaṇasyābhayaṁ vadati. tato jātāyāḥ śraddhāyās tac-charaṇāpattir eva liṅgam iti. “It is logical to say that śraddhā and śaraṇāgati are one in meaning because according to śāstra the meaning of śraddhā is firm faith. Śāstra has also taught us that those who have not taken shelter of Śrī Bhagavān will be fearful, while those who have taken shelter will feel no fear. Therefore, according to the meaning given in śāstra, śaraṇāgati is a sign of the appearance of firm faith.” Regarding the fearlessness of those who have taken shelter, we see the following in the prayers of Śrī Devakī Devī in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.3.27:
martyo mṛtyu-vyāla-bhītaḥ palāyan
lokān sarvān nirbhayaṁ nādhyagacchat |
tvat-pādābjaṁ prāpya yadṛcchayādya
svasthaḥ śete mṛtyur asmād apaiti ||
“O Primeval One, a mortal runs in all directions in fear of the black cobra of death, but nowhere can he be free from fear. From highest to lowest, all are being swallowed by time. If, as the blessed result of associating with some great soul and receiving his mercy, one gets shelter at your lotus feet, that person sleeps peacefully and death runs away forever.” By this it is understood that if a sādhaka takes shelter of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and does bhajana with faith, he will remain fearless in all circumstances. The kṛṣṇa-bhakta, however, does not desire to be fearless; this is only an incidental result of bhajana. The attainment of sevā to one’s beloved is the true intention of bhajana. Therefore, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has said, sadā sebā abhilāṣa. The desire to obtain the direct sevā of his beloved must always remain awake in the sādhaka’s heart. The meaning of bhakti is sevā, or service. bhaj ity eṣa vai dhātuḥ sevāyāṁ parikīrtitaḥ. The verbal root bhaj means ‘to serve,’ and from it the word bhakti is derived. Therefore, service to Śrī Bhagavān is called bhakti. Śrī Bhagavān also desires that the longing for sevā always remains in the bhakta’s heart. It is an act of mercy that Śrī Bhagavān causes the desire for sevā to awaken in the bhakta and then blesses him with that cherished sevā. anukampā ca pūrṇe’pi svasmin nija-sevādy-abhilāṣaṁ sampādya sevakādiṣu sevādi-saubhāgya-sampādikā bhagavataś cittārdratāmayī tad-upakārecchā (Prīti-Sandarbhaḥ 84 Anuḥ). Śrī Bhagavān’s compassion is shown in his softhearted wish to help his servants by awakening their desire to serve him and then blessing them with that sevā, though he is by nature complete and satisfied within himself. Now, it is understood that the actions of Śrī Bhagavān and bhakti are meant to establish in the sādhaka’s heart the desire to serve Śrī Bhagavān. The sādhaka also must keep the desire to serve Śrī Bhagavān awake by always restraining his enjoyment-seeking mind and heart and expelling the desire for anything other than Śrī Kṛṣṇa. When the sādhaka’s bhajana-sādhana matures, this desire for service causes an intense longing to awaken in his heart and blesses him with the gifts of prema and direct sevā. This is the hidden secret of the statement sadā sevābhilāṣa.
Then Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya says, narottama dāse bole, paḍilu asat-bhole, paritrāṇa kara mahāśaya. Even though Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya is the direct embodiment of prema, because of his deep humility, he considers himself to be an ordinary sādhaka affected by anarthas. He says he is asat-bhole, meaning that he has fallen under the spell of the asat and is unable to sustain the desire for sevā that had awakened in his heart. Whatever is not sat is asat. That which exists eternally is sat. All that does not exist eternally, meaning the perishable body and things related to it, is asat. Having succumbed to the allurement of this asat, the jīva, though being the eternal servant of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, has forgotten the sat: the immortal, everlasting truth, the embodiment of condensed transcendental joy, Śrī Govindacaraṇa or his sevā. The enticement of the transitory, perishable, worldly objects of this manifest universe is also not insignificant. Even very intelligent, highly qualified and learned people, unable to avoid the influence of this temptation, have been carried by its strong current toward the ocean of misery. It is as though extensive study of śāstra and extensive hearing of good instructions both become useless in the presence of this temptation. Its origin is Śrī Bhagavān’s powerful māyā-śakti, consisting of the three modes of nature. Therefore, the insignificant jīva-śakti is unable to free himself from the grip of this allurement by his own effort. For this reason, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya says, paritrāṇa kara mahāśaya. In his commentary, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartipāda has translated the word mahāśaya here as ‘O Kṛṣṇa!’ mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (Gītā 7.14). Without Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, no one has the power to avoid the allurement of the sensual enjoyments of this illusory phenomenon. Therefore, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has prayed to Śrī Kṛṣṇa for deliverance from the enticement of the worldly sense objects or asat-bhola.
By using the word mahāśaya, he suggests that Śrī Kṛṣṇa has a very generous heart. Śrī Kṛṣṇa knows how the insignificant jīva-śakti falls under the delusion of his extremely powerful external māyā, becomes intoxicated by the worldly pleasures and loses his power to practice sādhana-bhajana. If he doesn’t bestow his causeless mercy and rescue the jīva, meaning if he doesn’t give the jīva a little taste of his own bhajana-rasa and deliver him from asat-bhola in the form of absorption in worldly rasa, the jīva has no other means of salvation. Moreover, because of that, the most magnanimous, high-minded Śrī Kṛṣṇa also shows no miserliness in the giving of his mercy: guru-rūpe ghare ghare, dīkṣā deya sabhākāre, baiṣṇaba-rūpete deya śikṣā. śāstra-rūpe kahe jñāna, ātmā-rūpe adhiṣṭhāna, dekha tāṅra kāre bā upekṣā. “In the form of guru, he gives dīkṣā to the devotees in the various lineages. In the form of the Vaiṣṇavas, he gives instructions. In the form of śāstra, he teaches knowledge, and in the form of the Self, he gives guidance. Consider this: does he in any way neglect anyone?” dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ yena mām upayānti te (Gītā 10.10). “I give the understanding by which they can come to me.”
*This seems to mean, in a nutshell, that faith is the only qualification for beginning the process of bhakti and it becomes stronger as we gain realization. It is not that faith is useful only in the beginning and abandoned later on. As we have many times heard, ‘Life comes from life,’ or ‘Bhakti comes from bhakti,’ it appears also that ‘Faith comes from faith.’
