Narottama däsa Thäkura, is a famous äcärya
[spiritual master], and his compositions are accepted as Vedic truth. In
the song he represents himself as a common man, as one of us. He
laments, appealing to Hari, Lord Krsna, hari hari biphale janama
goìäinu: “My dear Lord, I have uselessly spoiled my life, because I have
not worshiped You.”
People do not know that they are spoiling their life. They are thinking,
“I’ve got a very nice apartment, a very nice car, a very nice wife, a very
nice income, a very nice social position.” All these material attractions
make us forget the purpose of our life—to worship Kåñëa.
Why are such important things—wife, children,
money—illusion? Because although at the present moment you may
think everything is all right—you have a nice arrangement of home life,
apartment, wife, children, society, and position—as soon as your body is
finished everything is finished. You’re forced to leave everything and
move on to your next platform. And you do not know what your next
platform will be. Your next body may be that of a human being or a cat
or a dog or a demigod or anything. You do not know. But whatever it is,
as soon as you leave your present body you will forget everything. There
will be no remembrance of who you were, who your wife was, what your
home was like, how big your bank balance was, and so on. Everything
will be finished.
Everything will be finished in a flash, just like a bubble bursting in the
ocean. The thrashing of the waves in the ocean generates millions and
billions of bubbles, but the next moment they are all finished. Finished.
In this way material life is going on.
Narottama däsa Thäkura, representing us, is lamenting, “My dear
Lord, I have spoiled my life.” Why? Mänuñya-janama päiyä rädhä-kåñëa
nä bhajiyä: “This human form of life is meant for understanding Rädhä-
Kåñëa [the Lord and His energy] and worshiping Rädhä-Kåñëa. But
instead of making contact with Rädhä-Krsna, I am simply spoiling my
life in sense gratification.”
Then his lament goes on. Golokera prema-dhana hari-näma-saìkértana
rati nä janmilo kene täy: “Alas, why have I no attraction for chanting
Hare Krsna?” The chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra is a
transcendental vibration; it is not a material thing. It is imported from
the transcendental abode of Krsna. From there the transcendental
sound of Hare Krsna has come.
Narottama däsa Thäkura laments, hari-näma-saìkértana rati nä janmilo
kene täy: “Alas, why do I have no attachment for the chanting of Hare
Kåñëa?” Why should one be attached to this chanting? That is explained
in the next line. Saàsära-biñänale dibä-niçi hiyä jale juräite: “Chanting
Hare Krsna is the only remedy to relieve the heart from the burning
poison of sense gratification.” Hiyä means “heart.” Our heart is always
burning. Why? Because it is in touch with the sense-gratificatory
process. No sense-gratificatory process can give me satisfaction, even
though I try this way and that way, this way and that way.
all of us should follow in the footsteps of Narottama däsa Öhäkura.
The purificatory process is chanting Hare Kåñëa. And as soon as our
heart is purified, we will become completely convinced that Krsna is the
Supreme Lord and that we are His eternal servants. We have forgotten
this. We are serving, but instead of serving the Lord we are serving oursenses. We have never become the master. We are not the masters of our
senses; we are the servants of our senses. That is our position.
So why not become the servant of the Supreme Lord instead of
remaining the servant of your senses? Actually, you can become the
master of your senses only when you become the servant of Kåñëa.
Otherwise, it is not possible. Either godäsa or gosvämé: that is your
choice. A person who is the servant of his senses is called godäsa, and a
person who is the master of his senses is called gosvämé. He controls his
senses. When his tongue wants to eat something that is not offered to
Kåñëa, he thinks, “O tongue, you cannot taste this thing. It is not kåñëaprasädam
[food offered to Krsna].” In this way one becomes a gosvämé, a
master of his senses.
As soon as we are in Krsna consciousness, we give up our false
designations, and our seeing, touching, smelling, and so on become
nirmala, or purified, by being engaged in the service of Krsna. Then we
can immediately see Krsna everywhere. As long as our eyes are not
purified we cannot see Krsna, but as soon as they are purified by the
process of devotional service, we will see nothing but Krsna.
So, Cupid is one of the agents of the illusory, material energy, but if we
are perfectly in Krsna consciousness, Cupid cannot pierce our heart
with his arrows. It is not possible. A good example is Haridäsa Thäkura.
When Haridäsa Thäkura was a young man, a nicely dressed young
prostitute came to him in the middle of the night and revealed her
desire to unite with him. Haridäsa Öhäkura said, "Yes, please sit down. I
shall fulfill your desire, but just let me finish my chanting of Hare
Krsna." Just see! It's the dead of night, and in front of Haridäsa Öhäkura
is a beautiful young girl proposing to have sex with him. But still he's
steady, chanting Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare
Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare. But he never finished his
chanting, so her plan was unsuccessful.
So, Cupid cannot pierce our heart when we are fully absorbed in Kåñëa
consciousness. There may be thousands of beautiful women before a
devotee, but they cannot disturb him. He sees them as energies of Krsna.
He thinks, "They are Krsna's; they are meant for His enjoyment."
A devotee's duty is to try to engage all beautiful women in the service of
Krsna, not to try to enjoy them. A devotee is not pierced by the arrows
of Cupid, because he sees everything in relationship with Krsna. That is
real renunciation. He does not accept anything for his own sense
gratification but engages everything and everyone in the service of
Krsna. This is the process of Krsna consciousness.
I hope I am totally enchanted by Krsna, I hope you too are caught in the Love of Krsna, I hope we develop taste for chanting....n I most honestly hope- i start to see every relation in true perspective- how Krsna wants me to see it.....
Thank You !
PS: The writings are compiled from various articles in "The Journey Of Self-Discovery" by Sri. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
