আন কথা আন ব্যথা, নাহি যেন যাই তথা,
তোমার চরণ-স্মৃতি সাজে ।
অবিরত অবিকল, তুয়া গুণ কল কল,
গাই যেন সতের সমাজে ॥ ৪০ ॥
āna kathā āna byathā, nāhi yena yāi tathā,
tomāra caraṇa-smṛti sāje |
abirata abikala, tuyā guṇa kala kala,
gāi yena satera samāje || 40 ||
Where there are discussions of topics other than Śrī Kṛṣṇa, there will also be other troubles. I don’t go there. The memory of your lotus feet always shines in my heart. I shall continuously sing of your qualities with a sweet voice and undistracted mind in the company of great souls.
Singing of Śrī Bhagavān’s Qualities
Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: In this verse, the most revered author is offering his prayer at Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet that, after abandoning his connection with other subject matters and agitations from which obstacles arise, he may be intoxicated by the constant singing of Śrī Hari’s qualities in the association of great souls and sink deeply into the rasa of contemplating the Lord’s lotus feet. First, he prays that he may give up his attachment for any topics unrelated to Śrī Kṛṣṇa: āna kathā āna byathā, nāhi yena yāi tathā. It must be understood that wherever there is worldly talk or any discussion other than kṛṣṇa-kathā, there will also, no doubt, be troubles unrelated to Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Hearing and speaking about topics other than Śrī Kṛṣṇa, which means discussing news regarding the body and things related to it rather than Śrī Bhagavān and his devotees, causes the citta to become scattered or distracted, more so than by any other means. The reason is that the citta, like a mirror, bears a reflected image of the objects before us, and a saṁskāra (impression) of each of those objects is established in the citta. In a manner corresponding to the saṁskāra, a person continually thinks of worldly sense-objects, becomes attached and develops the desire to enjoy them. If those desires are obstructed, anger is aroused. From anger comes delusion or a lack of judgement as to what is to be done and what is not. From delusion comes loss of memory or impairment of intellect, and from that comes utter ruin or destruction, which means that one suffers the pain of repeatedly wandering through 8,400,000 kinds of wombs and various kinds of hells. This is the poisonous fruit of contemplating the sense-objects, as seen in Śrī Bhagavad-Gītā 2.62-63:
dhyāyato viṣayān puṁsaḥ saṅgas teṣūpajāyate |
saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ kāmāt krodho’bhijāyate ||
krodhād bhavati sammohaḥ sammohāt smṛti-vibhramaḥ |
smṛti-bhraṁśād buddhi-nāśo buddhi-nāśāt praṇaśyati ||
In this way, when one indulges in other topics, other terrible or frightful troubles appear. Śrī Bhagavān is the only worthy recipient for the rāga or attachment in our hearts. But when we come into contact with other kathās, the rāga in our hearts is turned toward the sense-objects. It then becomes polluted, the true propensities of our hearts are stolen and we are left impoverished. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.14.36, we find the following:
tāvad rāgādayaḥ stenās tāvat kārāgṛhaṁ gṛham |
tāvan moho’ṅghri-nigaḍo yāvat kṛṣṇa na te janāḥ ||
Śrī Brahmā said, “O Kṛṣṇa! As long as the jīva does not become lovingly devoted to you, the affection and attachment in his heart are thieves, his home a prison and his infatuations like shackles.” In the Vaiṣṇava-Toṣaṇī commentary on this verse, the following is written: tatra nirupādhi-premāspadasyātmano’py ātmatvena tvam eva rāgasya svābhāvika-parama-yogyāśrayaḥ. atas tal-lakṣaṇa-nija-svāminam anupalabhyeva bhramann asau janānāṁ śubha-vāsanā-rūpāṁ tad-bhajana-sāmagrīṁ haraṁś caura eva tatas tad-anuvartino’pi tādṛśāḥ. atha gṛhamayo viṣayo’py avaśiṣṭa-daṇḍanāyaiva kārāgārī-kṛtaḥ syāt. tat-pādānusmaraṇa-virodhi bodha-pradatvāt. moho’py asau tena tenāvasthā-vaiśiṣṭyaṁ prāptas tatra svayaṁ nigaḍāyate. Brahmā said, “O Lord! You are the soul of the jīva’s soul, which is the receptacle for pure love, and you are the only suitable recipient of that love. Therefore, when restless, wandering people are unable to get such a master for themselves, their attachments steal like thieves the ingredients for worshipping you (in the form of their desires for auspiciousness) and leave them impoverished. When those attachments are pursued, charity, kindness and other functions of the heart become polluted. The dark well of household life, filled with harmful sense-enjoyments, becomes for them a place to suffer punishment, like a prison, because household life gives them a mentality that is inimical to remembrance of you. Having obtained such a peculiar condition, their infatuations also bind them like iron fetters.” All this shall be understood to be the poisonous result of contact with information about topics unrelated to Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Āna kathā means giving up discussions about sense-objects in the company of those attached to worldly pleasures and continuously hearing and chanting about topics related to Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the company of devotees. By doing this, the sādhaka receives troubles related to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, which are praiseworthy and desirable, instead of āna byathā, or terrible, unbearable worldly troubles. This means that soon after obtaining love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet, if the sādhaka does not see Śrī Kṛṣṇa or get his direct sevā, he is blessed with the pain of separation. Even though externally the pain of separation from Śrī Kṛṣṇa appears to be agony, if one considers the matter carefully, he will instead understand it to be most pleasing. For this reason, the heart longs to suffer the pain of kṛṣṇa-viraha. This is because prema has two forms: one is union; the other, separation. The premika devotees always remain submerged in the joy of union with Śrī Kṛṣṇa as well as in the great ocean of misery caused by separation from Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Worldly happiness and misery cannot give any realization of this transcendental happiness and misery. The reason is that the joy and suffering of the world are mutually competing things. At the time of joy, there is no experience of suffering; at the time of suffering, there is no perception of joy. The premika-bhaktas simultaneously relish the joy of union with their beloved Śrī Kṛṣṇa and suffer the burning pain of separation from him. bahir biṣa-jvālā haya, antara ānandamaya, kṛṣṇa-premāra adbhuta carita (Śrī Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 2.50).
Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya then says, “Wherever there are other discussions and other troubles, nāhi yena yāi tathā: I don’t go there.” He describes the simple, natural way to avoid contact with subject matters other than Kṛṣṇa: tomāra caraṇa-smṛti sāje. “O Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa! The memory of your lotus feet always shines in my heart.” Later on, in verse sixty-one, he says, manera smaraṇa prāṇa. Remembrance of Śrī Bhagavān is the life of the mind; without it, the mind is as though dead. Jackals, dogs and so on will not go near a living body, but they will gladly eat a lifeless one. In the same way, lust, anger, greed or topics unrelated to Śrī Kṛṣṇa cannot disturb the mind occupied by the remembrance of Śrī Hari, but they will gladly carry off the mind that does not remember him. Therefore, the following has been written in Śrī Garuḍa-Purāṇa:
ekasminn apy atikrānte muhūrte dhyāna-varjite |
dasyubhir muṣitenaiva yuktam ākrandituṁ bhṛśam ||
“People cry piteously if all their possessions are stolen by thieves. In the same way, it is proper for a sādhaka to cry if he forgets Śrī Hari for even a moment.” By saying that remembrance of Śrī Hari is the life of the mind or its be-all and end-all, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has asked that the splendor of his own heart and mind be increased.
After praying to be blessed with attachment for singing of Śrī Hari’s qualities in the association of great souls, he says, abirata abikala, tuyā guṇa kala kala, gāi yena satera samāje. “O Lord! Please be merciful and allow me to continuously sing of your pastimes and qualities with a sweet voice and undistracted mind in the company of great souls.” It should be understood that to be blessed with service to the great souls who sing melodiously about Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes and qualities, which are by nature a sweet and always delicious elixer for the heart and ears, is an even greater thing than getting Śrī Bhagavān himself. The reason is that by doing this, the sādhaka is blessed with Śrī Bhagavān’s incomparable compassion along with the compassion of the great souls. In the gopī-gītā of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the vrajadevīs have given the name bhūridā (magnanimous) to one who sings of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes. The poet Śrī Jagadānanda has written that Śrī Rādhārāṇī promises, āmāra kathā bale yei, āmāra matana haya sei, basiyā kahinu bṛndābane: “Whoever tells my stories becomes like me and resides in Vṛndāvana.” At the end of Śrī Bhagavad-Gītā (18.68-69), Śrī Kṛṣṇa said the following to Śrī Arjuna:
ya idaṁ paramaṁ guhyaṁ mad-bhakteṣv abhidhāsyati |
bhaktiṁ mayi parāṁ kṛtvā mām evaiṣyaty asaṁśayaḥ ||
na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priya-kṛttamaḥ |
bhavitā na ca me tasmād anyaḥ priyataro bhuvi ||
“Whoever teaches this most esoteric śāstra to my bhaktas undoubtedly attains the highest devotion and comes to me. Therefore, among mankind, no one on earth has been, is now or shall in the future be more dear to me.” By this, it has been demonstrated that one who speaks or sings to the bhaktas about Śrī Bhagavān’s names and pastimes is the most worthy recipient of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s love.
