“How marvellous and potent is KRSNA-näma!

[krsna 3]

While Vijaya and Vrajanätha were listening to Çréla Raghunätha däsa Bäbäjé Mahäräja ecstatically recite Prema Vivarta deep spiritual feelings stirred up in their hearts. After the recitation, Çréla Raghunätha däsa Bäbäjé Mahäräja became silent, almost unconscious for a long period. Slowly, he came back to the present. With tears streaking down his cheeks, he stretched out his hands and clasping them around the heads of his two disciples began to sing the following bhajana:

kåñëa-näma dhare kata bala

“‘How marvellous and potent is KRSNA-näma!’

viñaya-väsanänale mora citta sadä jvale,

ravi-tapta maru-bhümi sama

kaåëa-randhra-patha diyä, hådi mäjhe praveçiya

bariñaya sudhä anupama

“‘My heart constantly burns within the flames of material desire,

Like the sun-scorched sands of the desert.

Yet harinäma mercifully enters through the gates of my ears,

And showers cool divine nectar to embalm my heart.’

hådaya haita bale, jihvära agreta cale

çabda-rüpe näce anukñaëa

kaëöhe mora bhaìge svara, aìga käàpe thara thara

sthira haite nä päre caraëa

“‘My heart now sings out KRSNA-näma,

And näma dances on the tip of my tongue,

With ecstatic sound, echoing all around.

My voice is faltering, my body shivers like a leaf,

My feet, beyond control, dance without respite.’

cakñe dhärä, dehe gharma, pulakita saba carma,

vivarëa haila kalevara

mürcchita haila mana, pralayera ägamana

bhäve sarva-deha jara-jara

“‘Tears cascade, perspiration fashions pearly drops,

And the hairs stand erect upon my pale supine form.

Conscious thoughts slip away,

And the emotions of bhäva plunder my core.’

kari eta upadrava, citte varñe çudhä-drava

more òäre premera sägare

kichu nä bujhite dila, more ta bätula kaila

mora citta-vitta saba hare

“‘O sacred näma, You disrupt my life,

You fill my heart with manna sweet,

You sweep me off my feet,

And deposit me on the sublime waves of endless prema.

I do not understand what is happening to me,

I am confused, mad; my mind is in a whirl.’

lainu äçraya jäì’ra hena vyavahära täì’ra

varëite nä päri e sakala

kåñëa-näma icchämaya jähe jähe sukhé haya

sei mora sukhera sambala

“‘Is this His behaviour, whose shelter I have sought?

I have no words, how may I describe Him?

Näma is wilful, freer than the wind,

Whatever makes Him happy, I treasure in my thoughts.’

premera kalikä näma, adbhuta-rasera dhäma

hena bala karaye prakäça

éñat vikaçi’punaù, dekhäya nija-rüpa-guna

citta hari laya kåñëa päsa

“‘Näma, O blooming flower of prema,

The saturated ambrosial trove,

Delight me once again with Your dynamic force.

Display even in droplets, Your wonder and beauty,

Steal away my heart and offer it to KRSNA.’

pürëa-vikaçita haïä, braje more jäya laïä

dekhäya more svarüpa-viläsa

more siddha-deha diyä, kåñëa-päse räkhe giyä

e dehera kare sarba-näça

“‘May You blossom in full glory and transport me to Vraja,

Lifting up the gossamer curtains upon the stage of eternal time,

To open my eyes to the amorous pastimes of Rädhä and Kåñëa, the Couple Divine.

O give me my spiritual form and keep me next to Him,

Destroy this despicable tabernacle that is shackling me.’

kåñëa-näma cintämaëi akhila-rasera khani

nitya-mukta, çuddha-rasamaya

namera bäläé yata, sabha la’ye hai hata

tabe mora sukhera udaya

“‘Glorious, wish-fulfilling gem is KRSNA-näma,

A boundless cloud of ambrosial rain,

Eternal, independent, and pure.

O Lord! Crush all obstacles that check me from chanting Your nectarine name,

So that I may soon welcome the dawn of pristine bliss.’”

 

The singing continued well into the night—until Vijaya-kumara and Vrajanätha realized with a start that the song had stopped. They begged permission to leave Çré Raghunätha däsa Bäbäjé Mahäräja and then set off home, their hearts throbbing with joy.

 

Thus ends the twenty-fifth chapter of Jaiva-dharma, entitled: Nitya-dharma: Sambandha, Abhidheya and Prayojana, Part Thirteen: Elucidation of Nämäbhäsa, Clearing Offences against Harinäma