FB Memories May 4

Bhagavān Madhusūdana does not manifest 

in a heart polluted by materialistic attachments,
for a swan is never attracted to muddy water.
Speech defiled by untruth is unfit to extol Bhagavān Keśava,
for the moon cannot dispel darkness when covered by clouds.

2018

I am still working on Anuccheda 200 of Bhakti Sandarbha. These ruminations of Sri Jiva Goswami are quite subtle. We saw in Anu 199 the list of qualities of a devotee. In 200, the next verse 11.11.32 is cited which says that one who abandons even good and bad, virtues as well as faults, which are identified with the performance of duties, to take exclusive shelter of Krishna is also sattama, the best of saints.
Jiva goes into an explanation of the word ca, "also", to show that this devotee is even better than the ones described by the qualities in 11.11.29-31.

But concludes that one who is both exclusively committed to Krishna AND has the virtues of a good human being, is the best of all.

Then he mentions Gita 9.31 (api cet) to say that the word sat or sādhu applies even to one who is not following sad-ācāra, but his final word there is that such a person is not fit for sādhu-saṅga.

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2017

tathā na te mādhava tāvakāḥ kvacid
bhraśyanti mārgāt tvayi baddha-sauhṛdāḥ |
tvayābhiguptā vicaranti nirbhayā
vināyakānīkapa-mūrdhasu prabho ||

O Bhagavān Mādhava, Your devotees, unlike the jñānīs,
never fall away from the path of auspiciousness
because they are bound to You by affection.
Protected on all sides by You, O Bhagavān,
they wander fearlessly, placing their feet
on the heads of of the heaviest of obstacles. (SB 10.2.33)

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2017

rāgādi-dūṣitaṁ cittaṁ nāspadaṁ madhusūdane
badhnāti na ratiṁ haṁsaḥ kadācit kardamāmbuni
na yogyā keśavaṁ stotuṁ vāg-duṣṭā cānṛtādinā
tamaso nāśanāyālaṁ nendor lekhā ghanāvṛtā

Bhagavān Madhusūdana does not manifest 

in a heart polluted by materialistic attachments,
for a swan is never attracted to muddy water.
Speech defiled by untruth is unfit to extol Bhagavān Keśava,
for the moon cannot dispel darkness when covered by clouds.

---

2016 Sampradayas and Vrindavan (Part III)

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2014

People who live in grass houses should not throw biddies.

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2009 

[I have posted this one several times. I upgraded the Bengali and transliterated texts.]

(1)
বাহিরে সে আলা ভোলা অন্তরে হৃদয় গলা
মুখে সদা কৃষ্ণ বোলা চোখে অশ্রু মালা
দীনতায় সে মাটির মানুষ নিষ্ঠাতে অচলা
কৃষ্ণ দিতে কৃষ্ণ নিতে ধরে শক্তি সব
অলৌকিক লোকবৎ গৌড়ীয় বৈষ্ণব

bāhire se ālā bholā antare hṛdaẏa galā
mukhe sadā kṛṣṇa bolā cokhe aśru mālā
dīnatāẏa se māṭir mānuṣ niṣṭhāte acalā
kṛṣṇa dite kṛṣṇa nite dhare śakti saba
alaukika lokabat gauḍīẏa baiṣṇaba

He looks artless, guileless
but inside his heart is melting;
the name of Krishna is always on his tongue,
a garland of tears in his eyes.
In humility though forbearing,
his faith is as unswerving as a mountain.

To give or take Krishna,
is the power in his hands.
He looks just like anyone,
but he is beyond the world.
That is a Gaudiya Vaishnava.

(2)
সবার নীচে পড়ে থাকে সবাইকে সে সেব্য দেখে
সবার ইষ্ট মিষ্ট ভাখে কৃষ্ণ তত্ত্ব জ্ঞানে
সবাই দেবা সবার সেবা কৃষ্ণ অধিষ্ঠানে
নিখিল ভেদ সমন্বয়ের মূর্তি সবৈভব
তোমার প্রেমে গোড়া সে গৌড়ীয় বৈষ্ণব

sabāra nīce paṛe thāke sabāike se sebya dekhe
sabāra iṣṭa miṣṭa bhākhe kṛṣṇa tattba jñāne
sabāi debā sabār sebā kṛṣṇa adhiṣṭhāne
nikhila bheda samanbaẏera mūrti sabaibhaba
tomāra preme goṛā se gauḍīẏa baiṣṇaba

He humbly takes the lowest place,
sees everyone as someone to serve;
to all he speaks what is pleasing and sweet,
connected to the truth of Krishna;
he knows that Krishna dwells in every soul
and so he gives to all and serves all.

All differences are resolved in him,
this is the glory he incarnates.
Formed through and through by Your love--
that is a Gaudiya Vaishnava.

 (3)
সর্বোত্তম সদৈন্য বিনয় নিরহং সুশান্তি নিলয়
নিতাই গ্রহ গ্রস্ত হৃদয় সদয় বিশ্ব জীবে
তোমার ইচ্ছায় চলে বলে তোমার ইচ্ছায় সেবে
তোমার গণ সঙ্গে সে পায় প্রেম রসার্ণব
তোমার সৃষ্ট হৃষ্ট ইষ্ট গৌড়ীয় বৈষ্ণব

sarbottama sadainya binaẏa nirahaṁ suśānti nilaẏa
nitāi graha grasta hṛdaẏa sadaẏa biśba jībe
tomāra icchāẏa cale bale tomāra icchāẏa sebe
tomāra gaṇa saṅge se pāẏa prema rasārṇaba
tomāra sṛṣṭa hṛṣṭa iṣṭa gauḍīẏa baiṣṇaba

He is the best of all, yet he makes no claims.
He is without ego, the house of blissful peace.
He is under the astral influence of Nitai,
and so is merciful to all souls in the universe.
He walks and talks according to Your desire,
according to Your desire, he serves.

When in the company of those who are Yours,
he finds an ocean of relish.
Your personal creation, Your own ecstatic object of worship --
that is a Gaudiya Vaishnava.

(4)

কৈবল্যকে নরক মানে স্বর্গকে খপুষ্প জানে
ইন্দ্রিয় কৃষ্ণ সেবনে বিশ্ব-পূর্ণ সুখে
দৈবতাদি নাহি গণে তোমার কৃপোন্মুখে
তোমারই ঔদার্য বীর্য আত্মা অকৈতব
তোমার কৃপা মূর্তিমন্ত গৌড়ীয় বৈষ্ণব

kaibalyake naraka māne sbargake khapuṣpa jāne
indriẏa kṛṣṇa sebane biśba-pūrṇa sukhe
daibatādi nāhi gaṇe tomāra kṛponmukhe
tomāra-i audārya bīrya ātmā akaitaba
tomāra kṛpā mūrtimanta gauḍīẏa baiṣṇaba

He takes nondualistic liberation to be hell
and heaven to be a flower in the sky;
his senses are all engaged in Krishna's service
and so he sees the world as a place of joy;
he pays no attention to other gods,
turned inward in the search for Your mercy;

He is filled with the heroism of Your munificence;
his heart is without deception;
the incarnation of Your blessings --
that is the Gaudiya Vaishnava.

(5)

সংসারে সে অনাসক্ত বাহ্য দেহে সাধক ভক্ত
অন্তরে সে অনুরক্ত রাগানুগা লোভে
গৌরোৎসবে ব্রজের ভাবে সদা ইষ্ট সেবে
কেশ-শেষ-সুদুর্লভ গোপীর অনুভব
অচিন্ত্য প্রভাবী সে গৌড়ীয় বৈষ্ণব

saṁsāre se anāsakta bāhya dehe sādhaka bhakta
antare se anurakta rāgānugā lobhe
gaurotsabe brajera bhābe sadā iṣṭa sebe
keśa-śeṣa-sudurlabha gopīra anubhaba
acintya prabhābī se gauḍīẏa baiṣṇaba

Though detached from the world;
externally, he carries on like a sādhaka bhakta;
yet within he seethes with rāgānugā greed.
Festive in the mood of Gauranga,
he always serves the object of his love:
the mood of the gopis,
so rare for even Brahma, Vishnu and Ananta.

Possessing incomprehensible divine power,
that is the Gaudiya Vaishnava.