পতিত-পাবন নাম, ঘোষণা তোমার শ্যাম,
উপেক্ষিলে নাহি মোর গতি ।
যদি হই অপরাধী, তথাপিহ তুমি গতি,
সত্য সত্য যেন সতীপতি ॥ ৩৫ ॥
patita-pābana nāma, ghoṣaṇā tomāra śyāma,
upekṣile nāhi mora gati |
yadi hai aparādhī, tathāpiha tumi gati,
satya satya yena satī-pati || 35 ||
O Śyāma! You are known by the name Patita-Pāvana, the savior of the fallen. If you reject me, I have no other refuge. Though I am an offender, you are still truly my only shelter, like a husband is for his devoted wife.
The Name Patita-Pāvana
Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: At the awakening of such deep humility, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya considers himself an extremely fallen, wretched person and desires exclusive shelter at Śrī Bhagavān’s lotus feet: patita-pābana nāma, ghoṣaṇā tomāra śyāma, upekṣile nāhi mora gati. “O Śyāma! You are known around the world by the name Patita-Pāvana, the savior of the fallen, and I am an extremely fallen person. Therefore, if you reject me, I have no other shelter.” By addressing Śrī Kṛṣṇa as Śyāma, he has placed a little esoteric teaching in the prayerful words of this verse. In the dictionary, one meaning of the word śyāma is written as follows: śyāyate gacchati mano’sminn iti śyāmaḥ. “That to which the mind goes is called śyāma.” But everyone’s mind does not naturally go toward Śyāma. Everyone’s mind frequently goes to topics regarding the happiness and ease of the body and things related, such as wealth, followers, vanity, reputation and so on. If everyone’s mind would have naturally gone to Śyāma (Śrī Kṛṣṇa), then what would be the need for so much sādhana-bhajana? Such a question, of course, can arise in our minds. If we consider this calmly, we can surely understand that the mind of every jīva in the world is rushing toward joy. The jīvas want happiness or joy, and the condensed form of that joy is Śyāma: raso vai saḥ (He is indeed rasa.); ānandaṁ brahma (Brahma is joy.); rasānāṁ rasatamaḥ (He is the greatest of all rasas). Therefore, though all our minds are in fact running toward Śyāma, many of us cannot catch him. Ānanda radiates from him and a mere particle of its glow has been deposited in the material forms, flavors and so on of the world. By accepting that tiny particle, we become intoxicated and continue to ignore Śyāma. Those who, by the mercy of Śrī Guru and the Vaiṣṇavas, are eager to experience Śrī Jagannātha’s transcendental beauty, charm, form, flavor and so on, and who ignore or forget the world are blessed to taste Śyāma’s mādhurī when their sādhana-bhajana matures. If those who have forgotten the world, meaning they have given up their pride in the body and things related, are not truly patita (fallen), it will be very difficult for them to get the friendship of Patita-Pāvana. Śrīla Narottama Ṭhākura Mahāśaya is saying, “It has been proclaimed in the world that your name is Patita-Pāvana, the savior of the fallen, and I truly am extremely fallen. Therefore, if you neglect me, it will be a stain on your name because you will not find another person in this universe as fallen and lowly as I.” If Śyāma says, “If I neglect you, a stain will be on my Patita-Pāvana name. So be it; why do you care?” In response, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya says, “If you neglect me, I’ll have no other support or shelter anywhere.”
Alternatively, this half-verse can also be explained in this way: “O Śyāma! Your names, such as ‘Kṛṣṇa,’ ‘Govinda’ and so on, have been proclaimed everywhere in this world to be the saviors of the fallen. Though I am lowly and fallen, I have taken shelter of your name and thus have no other shelter. You cannot neglect me.” Though Śrī Kṛṣṇa is Patita-Pāvana, this quality is most thoroughly manifest in his names. This has been described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the story of Ajāmila. Though he was a great sinner and about to die, because he merely uttered the name of his son, ‘Nārāyaṇa,’ the viṣṇudūtas arrived, drove away the yamadūtas and protected him. At the appropriate time, they then took him to Vaikuṇṭha. In this story, we find the following statement (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.2.9-10), spoken by the viṣṇudūtas to the yamadūtas:
stenaḥ surāpo mitra-dhrug brahma-hā guru-talpa-gaḥ |
strī-rāja-pitṛ-go-hantā ye ca pātakino’pare ||
sarveṣām apy aghavatām idam eva suniṣkṛtam |
nāma-vyāharaṇaṁ viṣṇor yatas tad-viṣayā matiḥ ||
“The chanting of Śrī Viṣṇu’s names is the best and most sacred penance for all kinds of sinners, whether one may be a thief, a drunkard, one hostile to his own friend, a killer of brāhmaṇas, one who shares the bed of his guru’s wife, one who kills a woman, a king, a father, or a cow, or so many other kinds of great sinners. Śrī Viṣṇu’s attention remains upon one who chants his names.” The purport is that even though sins are destroyed by other forms of prāyaścitta (atonement), the sinner’s heart is not purified or contemplation of Śrī Bhagavān is not awakened in his mind. Rather, the concept that ‘I am free from sin’ arises within him. The greatness of prāyaścitta in the form of śrī-nāma-kīrtana is that even by nāmābhāsa (a faint or indistinct presence of nāma), unlimited deadly sins are immediately burned to ashes like a cotton ball in a raging fire and the citta contaminated by the desire to sin is also purified. The reason is that by nāmābhāsa, though there is no search for Śrī Viṣṇu in the heart of the person pronouncing nāma, meaning there is no intention to chant the holy name of Śrī Viṣṇu (like Ajāmila addressing his son as Nārāyaṇa), Śrī Viṣṇu still remembers the speaker’s words and thinks, “He is my servant; I must always protect him.” Therefore, Bhagavān’s names have the quality or power of being the savior of the fallen; this is not possible anywhere else.
Śrī Bhagavān could say, “Those qualities of nāma, such as being the savior of the fallen, are displayed toward an offenseless person, but nāma is not pleased by an offender.” In response, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya says, yadi hai aparādhī, tathāpiha tumi gati, satya satya yena satī-pati. Though being the embodiment of prema, because of his deep humility, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya thinks himself to be a great offender. He says, “O Lord, a husband will no doubt forgive his devoted wife if she somehow offends him because the husband is the only shelter for his wife. If he doesn’t forgive her, to whom shall she go? In the same way, though I am indeed an offender, you are my only shelter. If you don’t forgive me, I have nowhere else to go.”
The meaning here is that if a devoted wife commits some offense at the feet of her husband, the husband will undoubtedly forgive her. But if the wife is an adulteress, the husband abandons her and never forgives her. In the same way, those who are single-mindedly and exclusively devoted to Śrī Hari, meaning those who have faith in some particular form of Śrī Hari, such as Vrajendranandana, don’t worship other devas and devīs. There is no place in their hearts for anything other than the desire for prema-sevā. If, by the influence of asat-saṅga (bad association) or asat-saṁskāra (a bad impression on the mind), they accidentally commit an offense at Śrī Hari’s lotus feet, Śrī Hari certainly forgives them. But if the desire to worship other devas or the desire for anything other than Kṛṣṇa is present in their hearts, Śrī Hari abandons them like an adulterous wife. Or, after fixing his mind on Śrī Bhagavān, if someone commits an offense while engaged in sevā, Śrī Bhagavān forgives him. But if someone becomes attached to another’s wife and commits adultery with her, though he may be engaged in activities of service to Śrī Bhagavān, Śrī Bhagavān does not forgive him or even accept his sevā. Still, it should be understood that if some performer of exclusive bhajana becomes attached to another’s wife as the result of powerful asat-saṅga or asat-saṁskāras, if he then feels deeply repentant, abandons her and sincerely takes shelter at Śrī Hari’s lotus feet, Śrī Hari is satisfied and forgives him. For this reason, in the Gītā it has been said, kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā śaśvac-chāntiṁ nigacchati, kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati (B.G. 9.31). “He quickly becomes righteous and attains eternal peace. O Kaunteya, you must understand that my devotee never perishes.”
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