Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Golden Avatar appeared in West Bengal in the town of Navadvipa 500 years ago to distribute His divine mercy and propogate the Holy Name through the Sankirtana movement. Sri Caitanya is none other than Krishna Himself, displaying a confidential mood of spiritual ecstasy by assuming the combined forms of Lord Krishna and His eternal consort Srimati Radharani. The following Bengali poem, Sri Siksastaka, is considered the quintessence of spiritual truth, and it emanates directly from the lotus mouth of Lord Caitanya, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.





Sri Siksastaka
Verse 1


"Let there be all victory for the chanting of the Holy Name of Lord Krishna, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the Holy name of Krishna expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar in every step."



Verse 2
"My Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, in Your Holy Name there is all good fortune for the living entity, and therefore You have many names, such as Krishna and Govinda,by which You expand Yourself. You have invested all Your potencies in those names, and there are no hard and fast rules for remembering them. My dear Lord, although you bestow such mercy upon the fallen, conditioned souls by liberally teaching them the Holy Names, I am so unfortunate that I commit offenses while chanting the holy name, and therefore I do not achieve attatchment for chanting."


Verse 3
"One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honour but is always prepared to give all respect to others, can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord."


Verse 4
" O Lord of the universe, I do not desire material wealth, materialistic followers, a beautiful wife or the results of fruitive activities described in flowery language. All I want, life after life, is unmotivated devotional service to you."


Verse 5
" O my Lord, O Krishna, son of Nanda Maharaja, I am your eternal servant, but because of my own fruitive acts, I have fallen into this horrible ocean of nescience. Now please be causelessly merciful to me. Consider me a particle of dust at your lotus feet."


Verse 6
" My dear Lord, when will my eyes be beautified by filling with tears that constantly glide down as I chant Your holy name? When will my voice falter and all of the hairs on my body stand erect in transcendental happiness as I chant Your holy name?"


Verse 7
" My Lord Govinda, because of separation from You, I consider even a moment a great millennium. Tears flow from my eyes like torrents of rain, and I see the entire world as a void."


Verse 8
" I know no one but Krishna as my Lord and He shall remain so, even if He handles me roughly by His embrace or makes me broken hearted by not being present before me. He is free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipable Lord unconditionally."