A thought for today

There are many ways to be free. One of them is to transcend reality by imagination, as I try to do. -Anais Nin, writer (1903-1977)

Śrī Śrī Prema-Bhakti-Candrikā 36 (comm. by Śrī Anantadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja)

তুমি ত পরম দেবা,        নাহি মোরে উপেক্ষিবা,

শুন শুন প্রাণের ঈশ্বর ।

যদি করি অপরাধ,        তথাপিহ তুমি নাথ,

সেবা দিয়ে কর অনুচর ॥ ৩৬ ॥

tumi ta parama debā,        nāhi more upekṣibā,

śuna śuna prāṇera īśvara |

yadi kari aparādha,        tathāpiha tumi nātha,

sebā diye kara anucara || 36 ||

     You are truly the Supreme God; please do not reject me. Hear me, hear me, O Lord of my life! If I should commit some offense, still, you are my master. Please give me some sevā and make me your servant.

Prayer for Servitude

     Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: Filled with deep humility and sorrow, Śrīla Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura Mahāśaya desires dāsya (the mood of a servant) at Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet: tumi ta parama debā, nāhi more upekṣibā, śuna śuna prāṇera īśvara. Previously, a bhakta’s devotion to his chosen deity has been likened to a wife’s devotion to her husband. If a jīva’s devotion toward a deity is applied exclusively to the Supreme Deva, Śrī Bhagavān, the jīva can be blessed with genuine spiritual knowledge. If those who worship other devas think that by placing their faith in their respective worshipable deities they can attain true spiritual knowledge, they are mistaken. The reason is that as the result of forgetting Śrī Bhagavān’s lotus feet, the jīva, who is in fact an eternal servant of Parameśvara Śrī Bhagavān, acquires the worldly condition and wanders about, suffering various kinds of miseries like birth and death in the 8,400,000 different kinds of wombs. Other than by becoming Śrī Bhagavān’s servant through the performance of bhajana, there is no way for the jīva to obtain true spiritual knowledge. Though one may have faith in the worship of various devas and devīs, there is no possibility of attaining anything other than sensual enjoyment, wealth and so on in this world, or the enjoyment of heavenly pleasures in the next. Therefore, in the Bhagavad-Gītā, Śrī Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna, “Because all devas and devīs are within me, the worship of those devoted to other deities comes to me. Still, their devotees do not attain me because their worship is not according to scriptural injunctions, meaning, there is no system for attaining prema or service to Śrī Bhagavān’s lotus feet in that type of worship.” ye’py anya-devatā-bhaktā yajante śraddhayānvitāḥ, te’pi mām eva kaunteya yajanty avidhi-pūrvakam (B.G. 9.23).

     However, Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme God and is worshipped by even the best of the devas, beginning with Brahmā and Rudra. He is their deity. Not only that: divyantīti devāḥ. He is the greatest among even those who are transcendentally radiant or are composed of sac-cid-ānanda, meaning among Śrī Bhagavān’s various other forms. He is not an aṁśa (a part), he is the aṁśī (the whole). He is not a portion of the moon, he is the moon. He is not just a person, he is the Supreme Person. He is not just Bhagavān, he is Svayaṁ Bhagavān (the Supreme Lord Himself). Therefore, the word parama (the greatest) reaches its highest limit in him. Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya is saying, “Prabhu! Because you are Svayaṁ Bhagavān, the source of all forms of God, you cannot neglect me in any way. Rather, you, who are most compassionate, should give me your absolute attention.” We can understand from the bhakti-śāstras that for the jīva, the objective is not so much to attain Śrī Bhagavān or his sevā. The greater need is to find a jīva in the form of a bhakta who shows the way to Śrī Bhagavān. Those who have studied the second khaṇḍa of Śrīmat Sanātana Gosvāmipāda’s Śrī Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛtam are aware that when Śrī Gopakumāra went to Vaikuṇṭha, Śrī Nārāyaṇa personally told him that he (Nārāyaṇa) had come to him in the form of a bhakta, after having tried for a long time in various ways to get him in his presence or otherwise express his compassion. Śrī Nārāyaṇa also revealed that Gopakumāra’s arrival there fulfilled a long-cherished hope of his. Moreover, when Gopakumāra saw Śrī Kṛṣṇa in Goloka as he returned from the meadows, Śrī Kṛṣṇa lovingly embraced him, swooned in ecstasy and fell to the ground. Though we have heard many stories of how all forms of Śrī Bhagavān show extreme care and attention toward the jīva, and never show indifference, this quality is known to reach its highest limit in Svayaṁ Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

     Then Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya said, śuna śuna prāṇera īśvara. To draw Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s glance in his direction and to make him attentive, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya used the word śuna (hear me) twice. ‘Lord of my life’ means he is the soul of all, so he is always aware of the intentions in everyone’s heart. Nothing more needs to be said to him. Or, lord of my life means that worshipable truth who is dearer than millions of lives. If he is indifferent to the jīvas, what other shelter do they have? Or, lord of my life means that Vṛṣabhānu-nandinī Śrī Rādhā is truly the life of the Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇava sādhakas. Under her shelter, the Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇavas perform śrī-kṛṣṇa-bhajana. Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is dearer to her than her own life and who is the crest-jewel of all rasikas, is the lord of her life. It should be understood that, through this prayer, he is referring to the lotus feet of Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava in an indirect way. After this also, he has repeatedly expressed his prayers to their lotus feet. To make Śrī Kṛṣṇa listen to his prayer, he says, yadi kari aparādha, tathāpiha tumi nātha, sebā diye kara anucara. “If I should commit some offense, still, you are my master. Please give me some sevā and make me your servant.” In the previous verse, he said, yadi hai aparādhī, tathāpiha tumi gati, satya satya yena satī-pati. “Though I have committed many offenses, because your lotus feet are my only shelter, please forgive me and be satisfied, like a husband forgives the offense of his devoted wife and remains content with her.” If Śrī Kṛṣṇa says, “Okay. What if I forgave all your accumulated offenses? It is still your nature to commit them. What evidence is there that you won’t do it again?” Filled with extraordinary humility, he considers this and replies, “Prabhu, it is my nature to commit hundreds of offenses, so it is not that I won’t commit any more. Even though I may commit an offense, you are a nātha, a constant protector. Please always protect me from my offenses.” Or, nathṛ upatāpake. The word nātha has been derived from the verbal root nathṛ, which has many meanings, one of which is upatāpa, pain or burning. “O Lord! If I, your dāsa, commit an aparādha, purify me by pain or punishment and then accept me.” If Śrī Kṛṣṇa says, “Tell me what you want,” Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya replies, sebā diye kara anucara. “Prabhu! Please bless me with the gift of your sevā; I want nothing more. Let your sevā be the only possession of my life. As your attendant, I shall always remain close by to serve you. This is my greatest desire.” Or, the word anucara could mean, “You are the playful God of līlā. Wherever you may roam throughout Vraja, deeply absorbed day and night in various kinds of līlā-rasa with Śrī Rādhārāṇī, I shall always follow you, performing sevā, submerged in sevā-rasa. This is my desire.” Though in truth being the embodiment of prema, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has humbly prayed in this way, thinking himself to be an ordinary sādhaka plagued by anarthas. Because these words were spoken while he was absorbed in the mood of a sādhaka, they have been kept by the sādhaka community as an ideal precept of bhajana.