(1/7) Prayerful Meditation

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Krishna Janmastami Maha-Mahotsav
Kolkata-Worldwide, 12 August 2020, part 1

[While singing kirtans and before starting the next kirtan, His Divine Grace says:] We must pray to the Lord today. We must express what is our present position. Actually, we worship the Lord, but we must also express what is our position at this moment. We must pray to the Lord because we are in this situation at present—we are in this bondage. How can the Lord rescue us from this kind of situation? Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur sings a very nice song about it. This song is Sri Gopinath's song, it is a very nice song. Gopinath means Lord Krishna. [His Divine Grace then sings the first of the three parts of this song.]

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

"The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

Today is a very auspicious in our line. Today is the appearance day of Lord Sri Krishna. This year, I am not present at a large assembly or programme with Indian devotees at any temple because it is not allowed to gather many people in one place—if I go to any place, so many people will come and gather, and it is a violation of the law of the country; that is why I did not go to any temple today, I am staying in Kolkata. Here we also have a small temple, here is Gaura Nitai and some foreign devotees live here. I am staying and celebrating this festival with them today: the devotees are arranging a festival at this place of Gurudev—at the guesthouse Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Krishnanusilana Sangha Sevak Bhavan. Every year, I gather so many Indian devotees and local people on this day, and they are also making this festival in our every branch—devotees from many places asked me to come, but I did not go because of the current pandemic situation. However, in another way, I am also fortunate this year because in all previous years I could not be present at such a large assembly of foreign devotees on Janmastami—foreign devotees mostly always come to India starting from winter season (Param Guru Maharaj and Gurudev's Vyasa Puja time, after that Nityananda Prabhu's appearance, after that they stay or come a little later at Gaura Purnima time). I know they make Janmastami festival at every temple abroad, but I could not attend any programmes with them, that is why this year I am also fortunate in a way since at this moment, because of the pandemic situation, I have come today in front of you all. That is my great luck and fortunate to be able to see all the devotees' faces. You are waiting, you are chanting, etc...

Actually, I do not want to spend too much time on singing too many songs because there are so many songs that can be sung today. You sing the song 'Jaya Yasomati Nandana' every morning during the mangal arati, you sing it at noon during the arati, and today also we will sing it at the arati at midnight. What Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur writes in this song, is very beautiful. It is a very nice and sweet song. Gurudev always sang it.

যশোমতীনন্দন ব্রজবর নাগর
গোকুলরঞ্জন কান ।
গোপী-পরাণধন মদন মনোহর
কলীয় দমন বিধান ॥

yasomati-nandana braja-bara-nagara
gokula-ranjana kana
gopi-parana-dhana madana-manohara
kaliya-damana vidhana

"Sri Krishna, who is known as Kan, is Yasoda's darling son, Vraja's paramour, Gokula's delight, the gopis' life and wealth, the enchanter of Cupid, and the conqueror of Kaliya."

It is a very, very nice song. Sri Govinda Das also writes,

ভজহুঁ রে মন শ্রীনন্দ-নন্দন
অভয়-চরণারবিন্দ রে ।

bhajahu re mana sri-nanda-nandana
abhaya-charanaravinda re

"O mind, serve the son of Nanda's lotus feet, which make one fearless."

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur also wrote another song,

সর্ব্বস্ব তোমার চরণে সঁপিয়া
পড়েছি তোমার ঘরে ।
তুমি ত' ঠাকুর, তোমার কুকুর
বলিয়া জানহ মোরে ॥

sarvasva tomara, charane sapiya,
padechhi tomara ghare
tumi ta' thakura, tomara kukura,
baliya janaha more

"I have offered everything at Your feet and taken shelter in Your home. You are my Master; please consider me Your dog."

There are many prayerful songs in this our Gaudiya Gitanjali (Kirtan Guide). There are many very nice songs. You can read them and study their meaning. If you sing a song and read its meaning, you will feel much attachment and interest with the matter expressed in the song—you can sing it with much happiness. We sometimes sing some Bengali songs, but we cannot understand or do not know what their meaning is, but if you know the meaning of what you are singing, then you can remember the glorification. "Kirtana prabhave smarana haibe (কীর্ত্তন-প্রভাবে স্মরণ হইবে): chanting (kirtan) arouses remembrance (smaran)." You can remember everything through kirtan. When I am alone in my room and lie down, I sometimes sing some songs of glorification. Gurudev would also sit and sing to himself softly. It is very nice. When you sing songs about Krishna, when you sing prayerful songs about Gurudev, you can remember the Lord's or Gurudev's face...

We are servants of Gurudev. That is our main identity. This is how we can reach Lord Sri Krishna. Without service to the Guru, without the mercy of Gurudev, it is impossible to reach the Lord. You have heard in one of the songs, "Nitaiyer karuna habe Vraje Radha Krsna pabe (নিতাইয়ের করুণা হবে ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ পাবে): without Nityananda Prabhu we cannot get mercy of Radha-Krishna." By the mercy of Lord Nityananda Prabhu (Lord Nityananda Prabhu means Gurudev, He is non-different from Gurudev), you can reach Lord Sri Krishna and Radha-Krishna's combined form. They are our meditation (dhyan), we always worship Them, but we do not want to become sahajiyas. We do not like to sing, "Radhe Govinda! Radhe Govinda!"—there are so many people who do it, they think that it is very cheap, that you can get these things easily; but it is not cheap, it is the highest attainment! To get such highest things, such highest love, you must have surrender to Lord Nityananda Prabhu, Gauranga Mahaprabhu, then you can think about these things. Actually, it is not even necessary to think about it all. You can always meditate on Gurudev, on everything related to Gurudev, you can meditate on Lord Nityananda Prabhu, and you can realise all highest things automatically.

— : • : —

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Prayerful Meditation
2) Misconceptions about Lord Krishna's Appearance
3) Entering Another Plane
4) Approaching Krishna's Pastimes
5) Account of Krishna's Appearance
6) Devotees' Character
7) Always Remember, Always Serve