MADHU BINDAVAH

THROW AWAY EVERYTHING!

Srila Prabodhananda Saraswati Thakur’s declaration explained.

By Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur

dante nidhaya trnakam padayor nipatya
krtva cha kaku-satam etad aham bravimi
he sadhavah sakalam eva vihaya durat
chaitanya-chandra-charane kurutanuragam
(Sri Chaitanya-chandramrta: 90)

Srila Prabodhananda Saraswati Thakur: “Holding straw between my teeth, I fall at your feet, and with hundreds of supplications, I say, “Dear sirs, throw away everything and devote yourself to the feet of Sri Chaitanyachandra.’”

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur’s Bengali translation and commentary on this verse rendered into English:

The tridandi-goswami’s method to preach devotion to Gaura: having abandoned all dharmas (sarva-dharma parityaga), devotion to Gaura’s feet is our one and only duty—

dante nidhaya trnakam padayor nipatya
krtva cha kaku-satam etad aham bravimi
he sadhavah sakalam eva vihaya durat
chaitanya-chandra-charane kurutanuragam

dante trnakam nidhaya–Holding very thin straw between my teeth (hereby the tridandi-goswami preacher’s trnad api sunichata [being humbler than a blade of grass] is indicated because they have held between their teeth very thin straw amidst the straw that people of this world walk over and cover with the dust of their feet, that is, the tridandi-goswami preacher has shown the greatest respect even to the common people); padayor nipatya–falling at your feet (hereby the amani dharma [pridelessness] of a tridandi-goswami preacher of Gaura’s glory has been indicated—they do not become mad with ego and consider themselves Narayan like the Brahma-sannyasis or become attached to mundane conceptions of the gross body, such as junior or senior, brahman or outcaste, and remain deprived of seeing the true nature of the souls of the world like the materialistic smartas, and thus they are ready to preach the truth, being prideless (amani) before all); kaku-satam krtva cha–with hundreds of supplications (hereby the tridandi-goswami preacher’s taror iva sahisnuta [being tolerant like a tree] is indicated (the averse souls in this world will not listen to the truth whatsoever, yet tridandi goswamis are eager to supplicate and induce even them to listen to discussion of the Lord); etad aham bravimi–I say this; he sadhavah–O gentlemen (hereby the tridandi-goswami preacher’s manada dharma [respectfulness] is indicated); sakalam eva vihaya durat–throw everything away (you are all gentlemen, but throw away everything you consider within or is thought in the world to be characteristic of a gentleman: karma [worldly endeavours], jnan [speculative knowledge], sankhya-yoga [theoretical analysis], phalgu-vairagya [false renunciation], chatur-varga [dharma, artha, kama, moksa—piety, wealth, enjoyment, liberation], religious and non-religious practices, and all good or bad endeavours or desires unfavourable to the satisfaction of Krishna’s senses); [and] anuragam kuruta–devote yourself; chaitanyachandra-charane–to Sri Chaitanyachandra’s lotus feet.

“Dear gentlemen, holding straw between my teeth, I (a tridandi-bhiksu) fall at your feet, and with hundreds of supplications, I say only this (I beg you), ‘Throw away (reject with disdain) everything (all of your mentally concocted notions of dharma or being a gentleman) and devote yourself to Sri Chaitanyachandra’s feet.”