Śrī Śrī Prema-Bhakti-Candrikā 93 (comm. by Śrī Anantadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja)

দেহে না করিহ আস্থা,        মরিলে সে যম শাস্তা,

দুঃখের সমুদ্র কর্মগতি ।

দেখিয়া শুনিয়া ভজ,        সাধু-শাস্ত্র-মত যজ,

যুগল-চরণে কর রতি ॥ ৯৩ ॥

dehe nā kariha āsthā,        marile se yama śāstā,

duḥkhera samudra karma-gati |

dekhiyā śuniyā bhaja,        sādhu-śāstra-mata yaja,

yugala-caraṇe kara rati || 93 ||

टीका—देहे ना करिह आस्था–देहेऽस्मिन् आस्थां मा कुरु । देहाभिमानं मा कुर्वित्यर्थः ।

     Do not place your hopes in the body; when you die, Yama will chastise you. The result of karma is an ocean of misery. After seeing and hearing all this, perform loving devotional service at Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet according to the instructions of the saints and the scriptures.

Devotion to Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s Lotus Feet

     Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: To teach his own mind about yugala-bhajana, the venerable author first describes the suffering of a person who identifies with his body. dehe nā kariha āsthā, marile se yama śāstā, duḥkhera samudra karma-gati. Placing one’s hope in this transitory body made of five elements is not reasonable. The mind of a person engrossed in the body and things related cannot be engaged in hari-bhajana. Faith, care, refuge, reliance and attention are synonyms of the word āsthā. Śrī-bhagavad-bhajana is not possible unless these attitudes toward the material body are abandoned. It is inappropriate to maintain faith in the body. Many people think, “I am now in my youth; I will live for many years. Let me happily enjoy my senses for now, and when I am old, I will worship Śrī Hari.” It is improper to keep this kind of faith toward the perishable body because it can expire at any moment. There is no doubt about this. We must always be prepared for our death. It is nothing but a great folly when a person resolves to perform hari-bhajana in old age, after passing his energetic youth engaged in sense enjoyment, keeping faith in a transitory body that will meet death in the blink of an eye. Śrī Prahlāda Mahāśaya said to the demon boys, kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha, durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.6.1). “O friends! Intelligent people should practice bhāgavata-dharma from childhood because this human birth is very difficult to obtain, and though transitory, it bestows the highest truth.”

     Moreover, āsthā means that it is improper to give excessive care to the body. If the mind becomes absorbed in the affairs of the body, it cannot be absorbed on the spiritual path. No matter how much care is given to this frail body, someday it will die. Therefore, one should care for the body only as much as is needed to maintain it. Always keep this in mind: Take care of your body in order to stay alive and use your life for bhajana, not for sense enjoyment. Hence, the body should be cared for appropriately with the understanding that it is an instrument for bhajana, not for enjoyment.

     Another meaning of the word āsthā is refuge. An intelligent person should never waste the precious moments of human life by taking refuge in the perishable body and thus neglecting bhajana. An intelligent person should always bear in mind the stories and discussions about the unfortunate condition of the jīva who has fallen into the well of material life. A man entered a dense forest to go hunting and suddenly fell in a hidden well. He grabbed clumps of grass on each side of the well (which represent the span of his life) and remained about halfway down. Below, a monstrous snake (hell) awaits him, and above, a tiger (heaven), both with their mouths gaping, ready to devour him. Moreover, two mice, one white and one black, are chewing on the roots of the two clumps of grass that support him. (The mice are the days and nights of his lifetime.) Though understanding his dreadful situation, he drinks a drop of honey (sense enjoyment) dripping from a beehive near the clump of grass. Intoxicated by tasting the honey, he thinks himself to be happy and without a care. Though looking at death, he does not see it. Ah! What great power illusion has!* Therefore, an intelligent person will never be carefree by taking shelter of this body.

     The word āsthā can also mean reliance. Many people think, “The renunciation, indifference to the world, adherence to rules, firm faith and so on required for bhajana make it very difficult. Thus, is it even possible for me to perform bhajana?” Even though they have some interest, they are unable to take shelter of the path of bhajana because of their reliance on the body. After observing them, a mahājana said, “Do not lose this golden opportunity for bhajana due to fear born of dependence on the body.” Why should you not rely so much on the body? One day it will die. Therefore, if you spend the precious moments of this perishable body engaged in bhajana, you will be blessed.

     Yet another meaning of āsthā is attention. Though having entered the path of bhajana, some people cannot advance because their attention is toward the body and things related. Their minds remain absorbed in mundane sense enjoyment. Even if one practices bhajana in accordance with the precepts as far as possible, if done inattentively, it is mechanical bhajana. As a result of this, there is no progress in bhajana, even after a long time. Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya’s extraordinary eloquence is such that through this two-syllable word (āsthā), he has given mankind many valuable instructions.

     Then he says, marile se yama śāstā. Human forms are difficult for even the gods to obtain and are well-suited for bhajana. Those who have human bodies but do not engage in bhajana will inevitably suffer Yama’s punishment after death. The ways in which Yama’s punishments are dreadful can be known from the description of hell in the fifth canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which by reading or hearing makes one’s body and mind shudder. But there is no promise that Yama’s punishment is the end: duḥkhera samudra karma-gati. After suffering the miseries of hell, one takes birth according to his karma in the miserable wombs of ferocious snakes, tigers and other creatures. These births are endless and all are filled with suffering. Therefore, they are like an ocean that is difficult to cross. In this way, the consequence of karma is great misery. 

     Therefore, dekhiyā śuniyā bhaja, sādhu-śāstra-mata yaja, yugala-caraṇe kara rati. After seeing the mortality of the human body and the miserable condition of the jīvas in various wombs, and after hearing from sādhu and śāstra about the necessity of performing bhajana in this well-suited human body, an intelligent person will take shelter of a great soul and engage in devotional service according to his or her instructions. An intelligent person should particularly serve the lotus feet of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa in the yuga of Śrīman Mahāprabhu. This yugala-bhajana is distributed only once in a day of Brahmā, or after nearly eight thousand yugas, through the incarnation of Śrīman Mahāprabhu. Though difficult to be obtained by Brahmā, Maheśvara, Lakṣmī and Uddhava in other yugas, in this particular kali-yuga, this rare yugala-bhajana can by the mercy of Śrīman Mahāprabhu be relished even by the wretched jīvas. Therefore, true success in life for a person in the kali-yuga of Mahāprabhu is taking shelter of this unprecedented path of yugala-bhajana. For this reason, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya said, sādhu-śāstra-mata yaja, yugala-caraṇe kara rati. After collecting all the scriptural statements in support of their own doctrines, the sādhus of Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s sampradāya have given instructions on yugala-bhajana. The people of this kali-yuga should perform devotional service in accordance with these instructions, always keeping their attachment for Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet.

*Author’s note: There is an illustrated description worth seeing in the book Bhaba-Kūpe Jībera Gati composed by my most worshipable Śrīla Guru Mahārāja (Śrī Kuñjavihārī Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja).