Śrī Śrī Prema-Bhakti-Candrikā 37 (comm. by Śrī Anantadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja)

কামে মোর হত চিত,        নাহি মানে নিজ-হিত,

মনের না ঘুচে দুর্বাসনা ।

মোরে নাথ অঙ্গীকুরু,        ওহে বাঞ্ছা-কল্পতরু,

করুণা দেখুক সর্বজনা ॥ ৩৭ ॥

kāme mora hata cita,        nāhi māne nija-hita,

manera nā ghuce durbāsanā |

more nātha aṅgīkuru,        ohe bāñchā-kalpataru,

karuṇā dekhuka sarba-janā || 37 ||

     My heart and mind have been ruined by lust. I never consider what is good or bad for me. Harmful desires never leave my mind. O Lord, you who are like a tree that grants all wishes, please accept me and show your mercy to all beings.

Desire Tree

Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: Thinking that his heart and mind have been ruined by lust, and feeling overwhelmed by these extremely harmful desires, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya says with deep humility, kāme mora hata cita, nāhi māne nija-hita, manera nā ghuce durbāsanā. The jīva’s subtle body is created to bear his inner faculties of mind, intellect, heart, ego and so on. This subtle body is the first covering of the jīva and the gross body composed of the five elements the second. Countless karma-saṁskāras remain fixed within a person’s subtle body. Though the gross body is repeatedly destroyed, the subtle body remains until one’s release from māyā. Bearing his previous karma-saṁskāras in his subtle body, the jīva enters a gross body corresponding to that karma. As long as the jīva remains under the authority of māyā, he remains bound within the same subtle body. Therefore, it is understood that the saṁskāras left by the desires and intentions of endless births remain bound in a person’s citta-koṣa, that which surrounds and serves as a vessel for the heart and mind. This citta, the inner faculty possessed of an inquisitive nature, has been called kāma-janmā, or born of desire. The meaning is that desires manifest from this citta according to one’s previous saṁskāras, and when those desires become fully developed in the mind and intellect, they create and sustain agitation in the body and senses. Therefore, he says, “My citta has been ruined by desire. The citta has vanquished and dissipated my ability to distinguish real from unreal. nāhi māne nija-hita. Having considered what is beneficial or harmful to myself, I am unable to give up the harmful and accept the beneficial.” 
     The purport is that a person’s citta, the inquisitive inner faculty, is searching for the ultimate saṁskāra of bhagavad-bhajana. If that bhajana-saṁskāra is established in one’s citta through the association of devotees, the citta abandons all wickedness, becomes righteous and attains sufficient power to distinguish the real from the unreal. On the other hand, if wicked desires are established in one’s citta through the association of non-devotees, the wicked citta, being engrossed in corrupt matters and extremely weak, falls down and loses its power to distinguish the real from the unreal. The condition of a citta devoid of knowledge of what is beneficial and what is not has been likened to death.

  Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya then says, manera nā ghuce durbāsanā: “The bad desires do not pass from my mind.” If one’s citta is corrupted, harmful desires gradually develop in his mind. The inner faculty of mind, characterized by certainty and doubt, accepts and rejects various kinds of bad desires or desires for sense enjoyment. Because of its connection to those bad desires, it becomes extremely wicked and loses the power to contemplate matters of truth or to remain focused on anything regarding reality. Psychologists have made statements about the immeasurable capabilities of a thoughtful or powerful mind. For example, in the world of natural sciences, people have now brought the power of electricity under their control and are producing many amazing results. These are actions that, for a very long time, no one was able to accomplish. Now, however, like a slave, this power of electricity is very quickly providing us with endless kinds of useful or convenient services. Compared to all the powers that man has brought under his control, whether individual or combined, his own power is without doubt greater. This is undeniable. If that were not true, he would not be able to maintain his command over them. A person’s mind is the instrument of his dominance over other powers. A human’s psychology or power of thinking is greater than all others. If, as a result of taking shelter of Śrī Bhagavān in the association of bhaktas, a human’s mind or power of thinking gets the assistance of the powerful cit-śakti (spiritual energy) or bhakti-śakti, that human soul, which is more powerful than unlimited electricity, is undoubtedly taken to the spiritual kingdom and forever blessed with the gift of experiencing bhagavat-rasa. Sunk in the mud of bad desires, a human’s most formidable mind or power of thinking is the cause of his suffering the miseries of 8,400,000 different kinds of wombs and various terrible hells such as Kumbhīpāka and so on. How can there be a greater misfortune than this for a person? manera nā ghuce durbāsanā.

  Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya then says, more nātha aṅgīkuru, ohe bāñchā-kalpataru, karuṇā dekhuka sarba-janā. “O Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, you who are like a tree that fulfills all desires, please accept me as an eternal servant at your lotus feet and show your compassion to everyone in the world.” Śrī Kṛṣṇa has been called a desire tree who fulfills the longings of his bhaktas. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.38.22, Akrūra says,

na tasya kaścid dayitaḥ suhṛttamo
na cāpriyo dveṣya upekṣya eva vā |

tathāpi bhaktān bhajate yathā tathā
sura-drumo yadvad upāśrito’rtha-daḥ ||

  “Although Śrī Bhagavān neither favors, despises, befriends, hates or ignores anyone, he still gives results corresponding to the worship of his devotees, just as a desire tree gives fruit to those who have taken shelter of it.” Here, the example of the desire tree giving fruit to only those who have taken shelter of it is partial because even though the tree gives fruit to those people, it is never subservient to them. Moreover, Śrī Bhagavān shows friendship toward those who are friendly to his bhaktas and enmity toward those who are inimical. This is not possible for a desire tree. Again, the desire tree only gives the fruit wished for by those who have resorted to it; it doesn’t consider whether that fruit may be good or bad for them. But Śrī Bhagavān doesn’t give things that would be harmful, though the bhakta may want them. Instead, he gives him prema, the highest benefit or fifth goal of life. Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya is praying for the prema-sevā of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is like a tree that fulfills all desires. It should be understood that Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s gift of his own prema-sevā is genuine proof of his compassion. Therefore, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya said, karuṇā dekhuka sarba-janā.