এ সংসার বাটোয়ারে, কামফাঁসি বান্ধি মারে,
ফুকার করহ হরিদাস ।
করহ ভকত সঙ্গ, প্রেমকথা রসরঙ্গ,
তবে হয় বিপদ-বিনাশ ॥ ১১৬ ॥
e saṁsāra bāṭoyāre, kāma-phāṅsi bāndhi māre,
phukāra karaha haridāsa |
karaha bhakata saṅga, prema-kathā rasa-raṅga,
tabe haya bipada-bināśa || 116 ||
When, like a bandit, this material world binds you with a noose of desire and tries to kill you, call out the name of a Vaiṣṇava. Associate with bhaktas and relish discussions about prema-rasa. Then your troubles will be over.
टीका—असच्चेष्टा-कष्टप्रद-विकट-पाशालिभिरिह प्रकामं कामादि प्रकट पथपातिव्यतिकरैः । गले बद्ध्वा हन्येऽहमिति बकभिद्वर्त्मपगणे कुरु त्वं फुत्कारानवति स यथा त्वं मन इतः ॥
Removal of Adversity
Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: In the previous verse Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya instructed the sādhakas who desire bhakti to abandon attachment to things other than Kṛṣṇa, to practice the nine types of bhakti headed by saṅkīrtana in the sādhaka-deha, and to perform bhajana internally by contemplating one’s sevā and so on in the siddha-deha. It seems that people have an irresistible attraction to material objects such as the body and things related, which is an addiction of the material mind. Can the ordinary sādhaka give these things up and develop exclusive devotion to Kṛṣṇa? In this verse, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya teaches the sādhaka how to remove the desire for sense-enjoyment and obtain freedom from it.
He first says, e saṁsāra bāṭoyāre, kāma-phāṅsi bāndhi māre, phukāra karaha haridāsa. “A bandit in the form of saṁsāra has tied a noose in the form of desire on your neck and is preparing to kill you. If you loudly call out the name of a Vaiṣṇava, this bandit will become fearful and run away.” Saṁsāra means having an attitude of “I and mine” regarding the material body and things related. Although the jīva is naturally cognizant, joyful and eternally existent, he forgets his eternal lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. As a result of the desire for mundane sense-objects, he develops an “I and mine” mentality toward his body and things related, which are gifts of the external energy. He forgets his own blissful spiritual nature and wanders through various wombs while suffering the three kinds of unbearable miseries,* including birth, death, disease, grief and so on. The “I and mine” mentality toward the material body and things related is the root cause of this worldly sickness. This, therefore, is the jīva’s saṁsāra. Like a bandit, it binds the jīva with the rope of material hopes and desires and steals the treasure of virtue from his heart. Just as a bandit, fearful of being caught, kills the travelers after stealing everything from them, this bandit in the form of saṁsāra steals everything from the jīva, ties a rope of desire around his neck and begins to destroy him. If a traveler is about to be robbed of everything by a gang of outlaws, he cries out to the powerful servants of the king for protection. Hearing this, the bandits get scared and run away. In the same way, if sādhakas on the path of bhakti loudly call out the name of a Vaiṣṇava, the saṁsāra-bandit will flee in fear. Śrīla Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmipāda has written the following in the fifth verse of his Manaḥ-Śikṣā:
asac-ceṣṭā-kaṣṭa-prada-vikaṭa-pāśālibhir iha
prakāmaṁ kāmādi-prakaṭa-patha-pāti-vyatikaraiḥ |
gale baddhvā hanye’ham iti baka-bhid-vartma-pa-gaṇe
kuru tvaṁ phutkārān avati sa yathā tvāṁ mana itaḥ ||
“‘In this world, the bandits of desire have bound my neck with the dreadful, torturous ropes of impure actions and now torment me as they wish.’ Saying this, O mind, you must cry out to the Vaiṣṇavas who guard the path to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, so they may protect you from the grasp of these enemies.” When one calls out to the Vaiṣṇavas, attachment to the saṁsāra, which is the root of sin, will be removed. Moreover, the following is stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.19.33:
yeṣāṁ saṁsmaraṇāt puṁsāṁ
sadyaḥ śuddhyanti vai gṛhāḥ |
kiṁ punar darśana-sparśa-
pāda-śaucāsanādibhiḥ ||
“If a person merely remembers a Vaiṣṇava, then his body, home and so on are immediately purified. How much more so if one sees, touches and welcomes such a Vaiṣṇava and washes his feet?”
Then Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya said, karaha bhakata saṅga, prema-kathā rasa-raṅga, tabe haya bipada-bināśa. Someone may think that although the saṁsāra-bandit temporarily flees when one calls out a Vaiṣṇava‘s name, he can still attack again at another time. For this reason, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya advises us to continuously hear and sing about the topic of prema in the association of bhaktas. If, instead of walking alone on a forest path, a traveler is in the company of many people, then various kinds of conversations will occur and the bandits cannot come near. In the same way, if a person spends his life engaged in bhajana in the company of Vaiṣṇavas, saṁsāra can no longer exist in his heart. A sādhaka focused on bhagavad-bhajana in the association of bhaktas is gradually elevated to the kingdom of prema. Concomitantly, all the sādhaka’s anarthas are gradually destroyed and qualities such as freedom from desire, disinterest in anything other than Kṛṣṇa, humility, decency and so on manifest in him. By the illuminating association of powerful and merciful mahābhāgavatas, even a heart covered by the darkness of ignorance is brightened by the radiance of bhakti. If even an ordinary person constantly observes the pure, bhajana-filled activities of the devout, clear-minded mahābhāgavatas, the desire for sense-objects is removed from his mind and heart and he is quickly blessed with prema-bhakti. Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has also previously said in verse seven, mārjana haya bhajana, sādhu-saṅge anukṣaṇa, ajñāna abidyā parājaya. “By continuously performing bhajana in the association of advanced devotees, one becomes purified and conquers illusion and ignorance.”
*Ādhyātmika—miseries born of one’s own mind and body; ādhibhautika—miseries related to other beings; ādhidaivika—miseries caused by natural events
