(2/2) Siksastakam in Nutshell

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, 15 December 2020, morning, part 2
Translated from Bengali

When Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur composed songs in purport to Siksastakam, he first wrote:

পীতবরণ কলিপাবন গোরা ।
গাওয়ই ঐছন ভাববিভোরা ॥

pita-varana kali-pavana gora
gaoya-i aichhana bhava-vibhora

'Golden Gora, the saviour of the Age of Kali, sings this, overwhelmed with divine love.'

(Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

চেতোদর্পণ-মার্জ্জনং ভব-মহাদাবাগ্নি-নির্ব্বাপণং
শ্রেয়ঃকৈরব-চন্দ্রিকা-বিতরণং বিদ্যাবধূ-জীবনম্ ।
আনন্দাম্বুধি-বর্দ্ধনং প্রতিপদং পূর্ণামৃতাস্বাদনং
সর্ব্বাত্ম-স্নপনং পরং বিজয়তে শ্রীকৃষ্ণসঙ্কীর্ত্তনম্ ॥

cheto-darpana-marjanam bhava-mahadavagni-nirvapanam
sreyah-kairava-chandrika-vitaranam vidya-vadhu-jivanam
anandambudhi-vardhanam prati-padam purnamrtasvadanam
sarvatma-snapanam param vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam

'Sri Krishna-sankirtan cleanses the mirror of consciousness, extinguishes the raging forest fire of material existence, shines moonlight on the evening lotus of good fortune, is the life of the divine knowledge—the life of souls enlightened with paramour love for the Lord, expands the ocean of ecstasy, is the taste of full nectar at every moment, and soothes the entire self. May Sri Krishna-sankirtan be supremely victorious!'

(Siksastakam, Verse 1)

If you keep a mirror in a room and it gets dusty, you cannot see anything in it. It is necessary to wipe the mirror, then you can see yourself in it. Our hearts are also like mirrors. If our hearts are not clean, we cannot understand who we are, neither can we give place to the Lord in our hearts then. You can build a room, but if you keep sacks of rice, dal and other things in it, then the Lord will have no place to sit. If you keep a room nicely, devotees can come and sit in it nicely and do kirtan. You must worship the Lord externally, and you must also keep place for the Lord in your heart. You must remember this. You must make room for the Lord. Even if you have a poor house, even if the walls of your house are not plastered, it does not matter – the Lord will still live there as long as you care for Him. I have gone to see how they keep the altar room here to see what the devotees in this house practise, and I have seen that they keep a nice altar, a bed and a mosquito net for the Deities. I remember one time, when I went to the market to buy small mosquito nets, the seller asked me, 'Why are you buying this children's mosquito net? Whose children are you buying it for?' I told him, 'I have Gaura-Nitai, I am buying it for Them.'

The second verse of Siksastakam is 'Namnam akari bahudha'. After that, the third verse is 'Trnad api sunichena'.

শ্রীকৃষ্ণকীর্ত্তনে যদি মানস তোহার ।
পরম যতনে তঁহি লভ অধিকার ॥

sri-krsna-kirtane yadi manasa tohara
parama yatane tanhi labha adhikara

'If you are intent on chanting the Name of Krishna, then, with great care, become qualified to do so.'

তৃণাধিক হীন দীন অকিঞ্চন ছার ।
আপনে মানবি সদা ছাড়ি অহঙ্কার ॥

trnadhika hina, dina, akinchana chhara
apane manabi sada chhadi' ahankara

'Give up your false ego, and always consider yourself lower than grass, poor, needy, and mean.'

(Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

The fourth verse is 'Na dhanam na janam':

প্রভু ! তব পদযুগে মোর নিবেদন ।
নাহি মাগি দেহ-সুখ, বিদ্যা, ধন, জন ॥
নাহি মাগি স্বর্গ, আর মোক্ষ নাহি মাগি ।
না করি প্রার্থনা কোন বিভূতির লাগি’ ॥

prabhu tava pada-yuge mora nivedana
nahi magi deha-sukha, vidya, dhana, jana
nahi magi svarga ara moksa nahi magi
na kari prarthana kona vibhutira lagi

'O Lord, I am appealing at Your holy lotus feet—I do not pray for bodily pleasure, learning, wealth, or followers. I do not pray for heaven, I do not pray for liberation, and I do not pray for any supernatural powers.'

(Sri Siksastakam, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

What do outside people say? 'Give me wealth', 'Give me knowledge', 'Make me beautiful', 'Give me a nice wife', 'Make me a great poet' and so on. And what do we say? 'I do not want wealth, I do not want any people, I do not want poetry, I do not want a good wife, I do not want any wealth of the Lord that can be found in this world.' What do we want? We only want to have devotion to the holy feet of the Lord birth after birth.

ন ধনং ন জনং ন সুন্দরীং কবিতাং বা জগদীশ কাময়ে ।
মম জন্মনি জন্মনীশ্বরে ভবতাদ্ভক্তিরহৈতুকী ত্বয়ি ॥

na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadisa kamaye
mama janmani janmanisvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi

'I do not want wealth, I do not want followers, I do not want beautiful women, I do not want to be a poet. I only want causeless devotion to Your lotus feet. Give me that kind of devotion to Your lotus feet so that I could serve You life after life.'

(Siksastakam, Verse 4)

'Whatever birth I may get, I only want to have devotion to You.'

পশুপক্ষী হয়ে থাকি স্বর্গে বা নিরয়ে ।
তব ভক্তি রহু ভক্তিবিনোদ-হৃদয়ে ॥

pasu paksi haye thaki' svarge va niraye
tava bhakti rahu bhakti-vinoda-hrdaye

'Whether a bird or a beast, in heaven or in hell, let there be devotion to You in the heart of Bhaktivinod.'

(Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur is saying, 'Even if I am in hell, it is fine; even if I am a bird or a beast, it is fine, too – as long as I have devotion to Your holy feet in my heart.'

Siksastakam verses are very beautiful. If I was to describe each kirtan, it would take hours, and I do not have so much time. In the song 'Anadi karama-phale' (purport to the fifth verse of Siksastakam), it is said that I have fallen into this ocean of material existence as the result of my own previous actions, and I am now shackled by all kinds of desires: 'I have built a two-storey house, but I should make one more floor!' Then, 'I will make a five-storey house.' After some time, again, 'I will make a ten-storey house! I will buy more and more. I will increase my riches! I will become the master of the world!'

আশা-পাশ শত শত, ক্লেশ দেয় অবিরত,
প্রবৃত্তি-ঊর্ম্মির তাহে খেলা ।
কাম-ক্রোাধ-আদি ছয়, বাটপাড়ে দেয় ভয়,
অবসান হৈল আসি’ বেলা ॥২॥

asa-pasa sata sata klesa deya avirata
pravrtti-urmira tahe khela
kama-krodha-adi chhaya batapade deya bhaya
avasana haila asi' bela

'The shackles of hundreds and hundreds of desires constantly trouble me, and the waves of the tendency to enjoy play all round me. The six bandits of lust, anger, greed, pride, illusion, and envy torment me, and now the time of my death has come.'

(Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

The more you go towards Maya, the stronger she will hold you. Guru Maharaj told me, 'You are making so many things, but will you be able to protect it? You are making five-storey buildings, but there will be a fight over it in the future.' When Param Guru Maharaj had a small thatched house, nobody came to fight for it: when there is only some small one-room house, what was there to fight for? But now that there are many big buildings, everyone is coming to fight fiercely over it. I remember what Gurudev said about it – he knew everything. It is said here that lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness and envy come to rob us and remove us from the service of the Lord.

জ্ঞান-কর্ম্ম ঠগ দুই, মোরে প্রতারিয়া লই’,
অবশেষে ফেলে সিন্ধু জলে ।

jnana-karma thaga dui more pratariya lai'
avasese phele sindhu-jale

'The thugs renunciation and exploitation have cheated me and finally thrown me into the ocean of material existence.'

(Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Knowledge and fruitive actions are thugs; therefore, all missions that promote knowledge (Rama Krishna Mission, Sarada Ashram and others) come as thugs to rob us... What are we to do then?

এ হেন সময়ে বন্ধু, তুমি কৃষ্ণ কৃপাসিন্ধু,
কৃপা করি’ তোল মোরে বলে ॥

e heno samaye bandhu tumi krsna krpa-sindhu
krpa kari' tola more bale

'At such a time as this, You, Krishna, an ocean of mercy, are my only friend. Mercifully rescue me by force.'

(Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'O Lord, at this time, my only hope is that You may pull me to Your holy feet.'

পতিত কিঙ্করে ধরি’ পাদপদ্ম-ধূলি করি’
দেহ ভক্তিবিনোদে আশ্রয় ।
আমি তব নিত্য-দাস, ভুলিয়া মায়ার পাশ,
বদ্ধ হ’েয় আছি, দয়াময় ॥

patita kinkare dhari' pada-padma-dhuli kari'
deha bhakti-vinode asraya
ami tava nitya-dasa, bhuliya mayara pasa,
baddha ha'ye achhi dayamaya

'Take Your fallen servant and make him a particle of dust at Your lotus feet; give Bhakti Vinod shelter. Forgetting that I am Your eternal servant, I am bound by the shackles of Maya, O merciful Lord!'

(Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'I only pray that I may have attachment and love for Your servants and maidservants.'

The sixth verse of Siksastakam says, 'As I chant and chant kirtan, my eyes become flooded with tears.' But we commit so many offences – Vaishnav-aparadha, seva-aparadha, dhama-aparadha, Nama-aparadha – that our hearts have become as hard as a thunderbolt. When we chant the Holy Name, no tears come to our eyes.

অপরাধ-ফলে মম, চিত্ত-ভেল বজ্রসম,
তুয়া নামে না লভে বিকার ।

aparadha-phale mama, chitta bhela vajra-sama,
tuya name na labhe vikara

'As the result of my offences, my heart has become as hard as thunderbolt. Your Name does not have any effect on me.'

(Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'When I chant Your Name, it does not produce any change or divine transformation in me.' We chant so much, we hear so many things from our guru, we hear so much about Krishna, but our hearts do not change even after hearing it.

হতাশ হইয়া, হরি, তব নাম উচ্চ করি,
বড় দুঃখে ডাকি বারবার ॥

hatasa ha-iya hari, tava nama uchcha kari,
bada duhkhe daki bara bara

'In despair, O Lord, I chant Your Name. With great sorrow, I call Your Name again and again.'

(Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'O Lord! I am desperate! I am so unhappy. I am calling out to You again and again.' These are very beautiful words. We will chant the seventh kirtan now. After that, I will chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and finish for now.

যুগায়িতং নিমেষেণ চক্ষুষা প্রাবৃষায়িতম্ ।
শূন্যায়িতং জগৎ সর্ব্বং গোবিন্দ-বিরহেণ মে ॥

yugayitam nimesena chaksusa pravrsayitam
sunyayitam jagat sarvam govinda-virahena me

'In separation from Govinda, a moment feels like like ages tears pour from my eyes, and the entire world feels empty.'

(Siksastakam, Verse 7)

[His Divine Grace then chants 'Gaite Gaite Nama...' and the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and concludes the class.]

গাইতে গাইতে নাম কি দশা হইল ।
‘কৃষ্ণ-নিত্যদাস মুঞি’ হৃদয়ে স্ফুরিল ॥
জানিলাম, মায়াপাশে এ জড়-জগতে ।
গোবিন্দ-বিরহে দুঃখ পাই নানামতে ॥

ga-ite ga-ite nama ki dasa haila
'krsna niya-dasa muni' hrdaye sphurila
janilama maya-pase e jada jagate
govinda-virahe duhkha pai nana-mate

'Chanting the Name again and again, what was my realisation? Within my heart I knew I am an eternal servant of Krishna. I knew that, bound by maya's ropes, in this dull mundane universe, I only get various miseries because of separation from Govinda.'

(Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

When we lie in bed sick, we cry so much, but have we ever cried for Govinda? Have tears ever come to our eyes because we cannot get Govinda? We only cry when our family and friends die. We only suffer various kinds of unhappiness in separation from Govinda...

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Eternal Memory of Nabadwip
2) Siksastakam in Nutshell