At Sri Mamgachi (3)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama, Day Four
Ritudwip, 27 March 2021, part 8
Translated from Bengali

Remembering Murari Gupta's Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Deities, we will chant Gopinath kirtan now.

[Noticing that devotees look fatigued and listless.] "Asustha naya mora sarira, asustha haya mora mana (অসুস্থ নয় মোর শরীর, অসুস্থ হয় মোর মন)—our bodies are not sick, it is our minds that are sick." That is why you feel tired and sleepy during the parikrama... You can never get any result like this...

[His Divine Grace chants 'Gopinath, mama nivedana suna'.]

gopinath, mama nivedana suna
visayi durjana sada kama-rata
kichhu nahi mora guna [1]

"O Gopinath, please hear my prayer. I am a materialist and a very bad person. I am always attached to all sorts of desires, and there are not any good qualities in me."

"I am always attached to desires—I always want more, more, more. I am a materialist and a very bad person. I do not have any qualities." How can one develop good qualities? It is necessary to have faith in the Lord and to rely on the Lord:

gopinath, amara bharasa tumi
tomara charane la-inu sarana
tomara kinkara ami [2]

"Gopinath, You are my only hope. I have taken shelter at Your holy feet—I am Your servant."

gopinath, kemane sodhibe more
na jani bhakati karme jada-mati
padechhi samsara ghore [3]

"Gopinath, how will You purify me? I do not understand devotion, and my materialistic mind is absorbed in material life. I have fallen into this dark world."

"Gopinath, I am so bad that it is not possible to purify me!"

gopinath, sakali tomara maya
nahi mama bala jnana sunirmala
svadhina nahe e kaya [4]

"Gopinath, everything is Your illusion. I have no strength or pure knowledge, and this body is not free.

gopinath, niyata charane sthana
mage e pamara kandiya kandiya
karahe karuna dana [5]

"Gopinath, this wretch is constantly crying and begging at Your holy feet—please give me Your mercy."

gopinath, tumi ta sakali para
durjane tarite tomara sakati
ke achhe papira ara [6]

"Gopinath, You can do anything. You have the power to deliver very bad people, and is there a greater sinner than I?"

gopinath, tumi krpa-parabara
jivera karane asiya prapanche
lila kaile suvistara [7]

"Gopinath, You are an ocean of mercy. Taking pity on the souls, You have come to extent Your pastimes in this world."

gopinath, ami ki dosera dosi
asura sakala paila charana
vinoda thakila basi [8]

"Gopinath, what is my fault? All demons have reached Your holy feet, but only Vinod is still waiting."

Radha-Gopinatha Radha-Gopinatha
Radha-Gopinatha Radha-Gopinatha

At the temple of Saranga Murari, there lived a brahman and a great devotee called Saranga Thakur who served Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Deities. I will tell you this story briefly now—you can buy the book (Sri Nabadwip Dham Mahatmya-mukta-mala) and read it there.

Saranga Thakur served the Deities for a long time and eventually grew very old. (At Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's temple also, the devotee is now old and he is worried that he is alone. At the temple of Sri Sri Gaura Gadadhar, the servitor, Nityananda Prabhu, is also alone. It is difficult because not everybody has such fortune to serve the Lord permanently. Everybody is fallen into the hole of material life...) So, when Saranga Thakur grew very old, he prayed to the Deities, "O Lord, I will not stay in this world long now, I can leave soon, but what will happen to Your Deities' service? Who will take care of it?" One day, he went to bed, worrying and praying in this way, and at night, the Deities came to him in a dream, saying, "Saranga, do not worry, you will get one person. When you go to bathe in the Ganges tomorrow, give initiation to the first person you see and bring him to the temple. He will take the responsibility for the worship of My Deities." Then, the Lord disappeared.

The next day, Saranga Thakur woke up and went to bathe in the Ganges. When he came into the water, he saw a banana tree raft. In those days, it was not the age of science, so whenever somebody was bitten by a snake, they would call a healer. I told you yesterday—when Lord Siva drank the poison that arose from the churning of the ocean, some drops fell on the ground and entered various species (snakes, scorpios, some plants, etc.). So, when somebody was bitten by a snake in those days, they would call a healer, and if the healer could not help, they would put the dead body on a raft and set if floating down the river. So, when Saranga Thakur saw the raft, he saw that there was a dead boy lying on it. The Lord had told him to give initiation to the first person he would see, so Saranga Thakur spoke the Hare Krishna maha-mantra into the ear of the dead boy. Suddenly, the boy opened his eyes. He got up and paid obeisance to Saranga Thakur, his Guru. Then, they both went to the temple, and the boy started serving the Deities. He was about eleven–twelve years old at that time.

In the meantime, the boy's parents got to know that their son had survived. They came to the temple to take him back home, but the boy said, "You threw me away into the Ganges, so I am not yours anymore. I am not your Murari anymore—I am Saranga's Murari! I belong to my Guru." In this way, Saranga Murari came and stayed at the temple of his Gurudev, continuing the service of the Deities there.

— : • : —

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