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Mārkine Bhāgavata-dharma

(written at Boston Harbor, September 18, 1965)

baro-kṛpā kaile kṛṣṇa adhamer prati
ki lāgiyānile hethā koro ebe gati

Translation: My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, You are so kind upon this useless soul, but I do not know why You have brought me here. Now You can do whatever You like with me.

āche kichu kārja taba ei anumāne
nahe keno āniben ei ugra-sthāne

Translation: But I guess You have some business here, otherwise why would You bring me to this terrible place?

rajas tamo guṇe erā sabāi ācchanna
bāsudeb-kathā ruci nahe se prasanna

Translation: Most of the population here is covered by the material modes of ignorance and passion. Absorbed in material life, they think themselves very happy and satisfied, and therefore they have no taste for the transcendental message of Vāsudeva. I do not know how they will be able to understand it.

tabe jadi taba kṛpā hoy ahaitukī
sakal-i sambhava hoy tumi se kautukī

Translation: But I know Your causeless mercy can make everything possible, because You are the most expert mystic.

ki bhāve bujhāle tārā bujhe sei rasa
eta kṛpā koro prabhu kori nija-baśa

Translation: How will they understand the mellows of devotional service? O Lord, I am simply praying for Your mercy so that I will be able to convince them about Your message.

tomāra icchāya saba hoy māyā-baśa
tomāra icchāya nāśa māyār paraśa

Translation: All living entities have come under the control of the illusory energy by Your will, and therefore, if You like, by Your will they can also be released from the clutches of illusion.

taba icchā hoy jadi tādera uddhār
bujhibe niścai tabe kathā se tomār

Translation: I wish that You may deliver them. Therefore if You so desire their deliverance, then only will they be able to understand Your message.

bhāgavater kathā se taba avatār
dhīra haiyā śune jadi kāne bār bār

Translation: The words of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are Your incarnation, and if a sober person repeatedly receives it with submissive aural reception, then he will be able to understand Your message.

śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
  puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ
hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi
  vidhunoti suhṛt satām

naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu
  nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā
bhagavaty uttama-śloke
  bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī

tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ
  kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye
ceta etair anāviddhaṁ
  sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati

evaṁ prasanna-manaso
  bhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ
bhagavat-tattva-vijñānaṁ
  mukta-saṅgasya jāyate

bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś
  chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ
kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi
  dṛṣṭa evātmanīśvare

Translation: It is said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.17–21): “Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone’s heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who relishes His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted. By regularly hearing the Bhāgavatam and rendering service unto the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is practically destroyed, and loving service unto the glorious Lord, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact. At the time loving service is established in the heart, the modes of passion [rajas] and ignorance [tamas] and lust and desire [kāma] disappear from the heart. Then the devotee is established in goodness and he becomes happy. Thus established in the mode of goodness, the man rejuvenated by loving service to the Lord gains liberation from material association [mukti] and comes to know scientifically of the Personality of Godhead. Thus the knots of the heart and all misgivings are cut to pieces. The chain of fruitive actions [karma] is terminated when one sees the Self as master.”

rajas tamo hate tabe pāibe nistār
hṛdayer abhadra sab ghucibe tāhār

Translation: He will become liberated from the influence of the modes of ignorance and passion and thus all inauspicious things accumulated in the core of the heart will disappear.

ki ko’re bujhābo kathā baro sei cāhi
khudra āmi dīna hīna kono śakti nāhi

Translation: How will I make them understand this message of Kṛṣṇa consciousness? I am very unfortunate, unqualified, and the most fallen. Therefore I am seeking Your benediction so that I can convince them, for I am powerless to do so on my own.

athaca enecho prabhu kathā bolibāre
je tomār icchā prabhu koro ei bāre

Translation: Somehow or other, O Lord, You have brought me here to speak about You. Now, my Lord, it is up to You to make me a success or failure, as You like.

akhila jagat-guru! bacana se āmār
alaṅkṛta koribār khamatā tomār

Translation: O spiritual master of all the worlds! I can simply repeat Your message, so if You like You can make my power of speaking suitable for their understanding.

taba kṛpā ha’le mor kathā śuddha habe
śuniyā sabāra śoka duḥkha je ghucibe

Translation: Only by Your causeless mercy will my words become pure. I am sure that when this transcendental message penetrates their hearts, they will certainly feel engladdened and thus become liberated from all unhappy conditions of life.

āniyācho jadi prabhu āmāre nācāte
nācāo nācāo prabhu nacāo se-mate
kāṣṭhera puttali jathā nācāo se-mate

Translation: O Lord, I am just like a puppet in Your hands. So if You have brought me here to dance, then make me dance, make me dance, O Lord, make me dance as You like.

bhakti nāi beda nāi nāme khub daro
“bhaktivedānta” nām ebe sārthak koro

Translation: I have no devotion, nor do I have any knowledge, but I have strong faith in the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. I have been designated as Bhaktivedanta, and now, if You like, You can fulfill the real purport of Bhaktivedanta.

Signed – the most unfortunate,
insignificant beggar
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami,
on board the ship Jaladuta,
Commonwealth Pier,
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
dated 18th of September, 1965

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