This self-surrender is called ātma-nivedana. According to different authorities, self is differently defined. Self is sometimes considered to refer to the spirit self, or soul, and self is sometimes considered to refer to the mind or to the body. Full self-surrender, therefore, means not only surrendering one's self as spirit soul, but also surrendering one's mind and body to the service of the Lord. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung a nice song in this connection. While offering himself as a fully surrendered soul, he said, "My mind, my household affairs, my body, whatever is in my possession, my dear Lord, I offer to You for Your service. Now You can do with them as You like. You are the supreme possessor of everything, so if You like You can kill me, or if You like You can give me protection. All authority belongs to You. I have nothing to claim as my own."
Songs of Bhaktivinoda Thakura (Books)
Expressions researched:
"Bhaktivinoda"
|"song"
|"songs"
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 4
Dhruva Mahārāja said: My dear Lord, You are all-powerful. After entering within me, You have enlivened all my sleeping senses—my hands, legs, ears, touch sensation, life force and especially my power of speech. Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto You.
Dhruva Mahārāja could understand very easily the difference between his condition before and after attaining spiritual realization and seeing the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face. He could understand that his life force and activities had been sleeping. Unless one comes to the spiritual platform, his bodily limbs, mind and other facilities within the body are understood to be sleeping. Unless one is spiritually situated, all his activities are taken as a dead man's activities or ghostly activities. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has composed a song in which he addresses himself: "O living entity, get up! How long shall you sleep on the lap of māyā? Now you have the opportunity of possessing a human form of body; now try to get up and realize yourself." The Vedas also declare, "Get up! Get up! You have the opportunity, the boon of the human form of life—now realize yourself." These are the Vedic injunctions.
It is explained in the previous verse that one has to hear glorification of the Lord from the mouth of a pure devotee. This is further explained here. The transcendental vibration from the mouth of a pure devotee is so powerful that it can revive the living entity's memory of his eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In our material existence, under the influence of illusory māyā, we have almost forgotten our eternal relationship with the Lord, exactly like a man sleeping very deeply who forgets his duties. In the Vedas it is said that every one of us is sleeping under the influence of māyā. We must get up from this slumber and engage in the right service, for thus we can properly utilize the facility of this human form of life. As expressed in a song by Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda, Lord Caitanya says, jīva jāga, jīva jāga. The Lord asks every sleeping living entity to get up and engage in devotional service so that his mission in this human form of life may be fulfilled. This awakening voice comes through the mouth of a pure devotee.
The material conditions are described in this verse as guṇa-pravāha, the flowing of the three modes of material nature. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura therefore says in a song, miche māyāra vaśe, yāccha bhese', khāccha hābuḍubu, bhāi: "Why are you suffering? Why are you sometimes being drowned in the waves of material nature and sometimes coming to the surface?" Jīva kṛṣṇa-dāsa, ei viśvāsa, karle ta' āra duḥkha nāi: "Please therefore accept yourself as the servant of Kṛṣṇa. Then you will be freed from all miseries." As soon as one surrenders to Kṛṣṇa and accepts the perfect standard of knowledge, which is Bhagavad-gītā as it is, he then comes out of the material modes of nature and does not fall down and lose his knowledge.
SB Canto 8
These prayers were not ordinary concocted prayers. Prayers must be approved by Vedic literature, as indicated in this verse by the words daivībhir gīrbhiḥ. In our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we do not allow any song that has not been approved or sung by bona fide devotees. We cannot allow cinema songs to be sung in the temple. We generally sing two songs. One is śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. This is bona fide. It is always mentioned in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, and it is accepted by the ācāryas. The other, of course, is the mahā-mantra—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. We may also sing the songs of Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Locana dāsa Ṭhākura, but these two songs—"śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya" and the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra—are sufficient to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although we cannot see Him. Seeing the Lord is not as important as appreciating Him from the authentic literature or the authentic statements of authorized persons.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
The real Vedic philosophy is acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, which establishes everything to be simultaneously one with and different from the Personality of Godhead. Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī confirms that this is the real position of a bona fide spiritual master and says that one should always think of the spiritual master in terms of his intimate relationship with Mukunda (Śrī Kṛṣṇa). Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, in his Bhakti-sandarbha (213), has clearly explained that a pure devotee's observation of the spiritual master and Lord Śiva as being one with the Personality of Godhead exists in terms of their being very dear to the Lord, not identical with Him in all respects. Following in the footsteps of Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, later ācāryas like Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura have confirmed the same truths. In his prayers to the spiritual master, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura confirms that all the revealed scriptures accept the spiritual master to be identical with the Personality of Godhead because he is a very dear and confidential servant of the Lord. Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas therefore worship Śrīla Gurudeva (the spiritual master) in the light of his being the servitor of the Personality of Godhead. In all the ancient literatures of devotional service and in the more recent songs of Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and other unalloyed Vaiṣṇavas, the spiritual master is always considered either one of the confidential associates of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī or a manifested representation of Śrīla Nityānanda Prabhu.
"Therefore I order every man within this universe to accept this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and distribute it everywhere."
In this connection there is a song sung by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura:
- enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāra lāgi'
- harināma-mahāmantra lao tumi māgi'
- bhakativinoda prabhu-caraṇe paḍiyā
- sei harināma-mantra la-ila māgiyā
The saṅkīrtana movement has been introduced by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu just to dispel the illusion of māyā, by which everyone in this material world thinks himself to be a product of matter and therefore to have many duties pertaining to the body. Actually, the living entity is not his material body: he is a spirit soul. He has a spiritual need to be eternally blissful and full of knowledge, but unfortunately he identifies himself with the body, sometimes as a human being, sometimes as an animal, sometimes a tree, sometimes an aquatic, sometimes a demigod, and so on. Thus with each change of body he develops a different type of consciousness with different types of activities and thus becomes increasingly entangled in material existence, transmigrating perpetually from one body to another. Under the spell of māyā, or illusion, he does not consider the past or future but is simply satisfied with the short life span that he has gotten for the present. To eradicate this illusion, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has brought the saṅkīrtana movement, and He requests everyone to accept and distribute it. A person who is actually a follower of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura must immediately accept the request of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu by offering respectful obeisances unto His lotus feet and thus beg from Him the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. If one is fortunate enough to beg from the Lord this Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, his life is successful.
All these devotees had unlimited strength to deliver unobstructed, unceasing love of Kṛṣṇa. By their own strength they could offer anyone Kṛṣṇa and love of Kṛṣṇa.
Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung, kṛṣṇa se tomāra, kṛṣṇa dite pāra, tomāra śakati āche. In this song, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura describes that a pure Vaiṣṇava, as the proprietor of Kṛṣṇa and love of Kṛṣṇa, can deliver both to anyone and everyone he likes. Therefore to get Kṛṣṇa and love of Kṛṣṇa one must seek the mercy of pure devotees. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura also says, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo yasyāprasādān na gatiḥ kuto ’pi: ** "By the mercy of the spiritual master one is blessed by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. Without the grace of the spiritual master one cannot make any advancement." By the grace of a Vaiṣṇava or bona fide spiritual master one can get both love of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa Himself.
CC Madhya-lila
"Here also are Govinda Ghoṣa, Mādhava Ghoṣa and Vāsudeva Ghoṣa. They are three brothers, and their saṅkīrtana, congregational chanting, pleases the Lord very much."
Govinda Ghoṣa belonged to the kāyastha dynasty of the Uttara-rāḍhīya section, and he was known as Ghoṣa Ṭhākura. Even to the present day there is a place named Agradvīpa, near Katwa, where a fair takes place and is named after Ghoṣa Ṭhākura. As far as Vāsudeva Ghoṣa is concerned, he composed many nice songs about Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and these are all authorized Vaiṣṇava songs, like the songs of Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Locana dāsa Ṭhākura, Govinda dāsa Ṭhākura and other great Vaiṣṇavas.
Observing the beggars eating prasādam, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu chanted, "Haribol!" and instructed them to chant the holy name.
In a song, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura chants:
- miche māyāra vaśe, yāccha bhese’,
- khāccha hābuḍubu, bhāi
- jīva kṛṣṇa-dāsa, e viśvāsa,
- ka’rle ta' āra duḥkha nāi
"O people! Why are you being captivated by the waves of the ocean of nescience? If you would immediately accept Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as your eternal master, there would be no chance of being carried away by the waves of illusion. Then all your sufferings would stop." Kṛṣṇa conducts the material world under the three modes of material nature, and consequently there are three platforms of life—higher, middle and lower. On whatever platform one may be situated, one is tossed by the waves of material nature. Someone may be rich, someone may be middle class, and someone may be a poor beggar—it doesn’t matter. As long as one is under the spell of the three modes of material nature, he must continue to experience these divisions.
CC Antya-lila
Sanātana Gosvāmī met all the devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and then, traveling by that same path, visited the places through which Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu had passed.
Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura writes in a song (Śaraṇāgati 31.3):
- gaura āmāra, ye saba sthāne,
- karala bhramaṇa raṅge
- se-saba sthāna, heriba āmi,
- praṇayi-bhakata-saṅge
"May I visit all the holy places associated with the līlās of Lord Caitanya and His devotees." A devotee should make a point of visiting all the places where Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu performed His pastimes. Indeed, pure devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu even want to see the places He simply visited for only hours or minutes.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Nectar of Devotion
| Page Title: | Songs of Bhaktivinoda Thakura (Books) |
| Compiler: | Labangalatika |
| Created: | 13 of Sep, 2009 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=4, CC=6, OB=1, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 11 |