Sri Krishna Caitanya

Translation:

(1) My dear Lord Caitanya, please be merciful to me, because who can be more merciful than Your
Lordship within these three worlds?

(2) Your incarnation is just to reclaim the conditioned, fallen souls, but I assure You that You will not find
a greater fallen soul than me. Therefore, my claim is first.

(3) My dear Lord Nityananda, You are always joyful in spiritual bliss. Since You always appear very happy, I
have come to You because I am most unhappy. If You kindly put Your glance over me, then I may also
become happy.

(4) My dear Advaita Prabhu, husband of Sita, You are so kind. Please be merciful to me. If You are kind to
me, naturally Lord Caitanya and Nityananda will also be kind to me.

(5) O Svarupa Damodara, personal secretary of Lord Caitanya, O six Gosvamis ó Sri Rupa Gosvami, Sri
Sanatana Gosvami, Sri Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, Sri Jiva Gosvami, and
Sri Raghunatha dasa Gosvami! O Lokanatha Gosvami, my beloved spiritual master! Narottama dasa also prays
for your mercy.

(6) O Srinivasa Acarya, successor to the six Gosvamis! Please be merciful to me. Narottama dasa always
desires the company of Ramacandra Cakravarti.

Purport
by His Divine Grace
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

This is a song composed by Narottama dasa Thakura. He prays to Lord Caitanya, "My dear Lord, please
be merciful to me, because who can be more merciful than Your Lordship within these three worlds?"
Actually, this is a fact. Not only Narottama dasa Thakura, but Rupa Gosvami also prayed to Lord Caitanya in
this way. At the time of the first meeting of Lord Caitanya and Rupa Gosvami at Prayaga (Allahabad), Srila
Rupa Gosvami said, "My dear Lord, You are the most munificent of all incarnations, because You are
distributing love of Krishna, Krishna consciousness." When Krishna was personally present He simply asked us
to surrender, but He did not distribute Himself so easily. He made conditions—"First of all you surrender."
But this incarnation, Lord Caitanya, although Krishna Himself, makes no such condition. He simply
distributes: "Take love of Krishna." Therefore Lord Caitanya is approved as the most munificent
incarnation. Narottama dasa Thakura says, "Please be merciful to me. You are so magnanimous, because You
have seen the fallen souls of this age, and You are very much compassionate to them, but You should know
also that I am the most fallen. No one is more greatly fallen than me." Patita-pavana-hetu tava avatara:
"Your incarnation is just to reclaim the conditioned, fallen souls, but I assure You that You will not find a
greater fallen soul than me. Therefore, my claim is first."
Then he prays to Lord Nityananda. He says, ha ha prabhu nityananda premananda-sukhi: "My dear
Lord Nityananda, You are always joyful in spiritual bliss. Since You always appear very happy, I have come to
You because I am most unhappy. If You kindly put Your glance over me, I may also become happy." Then
he prays to Advaita Prabhu. Doya koro sita-pati adwaita gosai. Advaita Prabhu’s wife’s name was Sita. Therefore
He is sometimes addressed as sita-pati. Thus Narottama dasa Thakura prays, "My dear Advaita Prabhu, husband
of Sita, You are so kind. Please be kind to me. If You are kind to me, naturally Lord Caitanya and Nityananda
will also be kind to me." Actually, Advaita Prabhu invited Lord Caitanya to come down. When Advaita
Prabhu saw that the fallen souls were all engaged simply in sense gratificatory processes, not understanding
Krishna consciousness, He felt very much compassionate toward the fallen souls, and He also felt Himself
incapable of claiming them all. He therefore prayed to Lord Krishna, "Please come Yourself. Without Your
personal presence it is not possible to deliver these fallen souls." Thus by His invitation Lord Caitanya
appeared. Naturally, Narottama dasa Thakura prays to Advaita Prabhu, "If You will be kind to me, naturally
Lord Caitanya and Nityananda also will be kind to me."
Then he prays to the Gosvamis. Ha ha swarup, sanatana, rupa, raghunatha. Swarup refers to Svarupa
Damodara, the personal secretary of Lord Caitanya. He was always with Caitanya Mahaprabhu and
immediately arranged for whatever Caitanya Mahaprabhu wanted. Two personal attendants, Svarupa
Damodara and Govinda, were always constantly with Lord Caitanya. Therefore, Narottama dasa Thakura
also prays to Svarupa Damodara and then to the six Gosvamis, the next disciples of Lord Caitanya—Sri
Rupa Gosvami, Sri Sanatana Gosvami, Sri Bhatta Raghunatha Gosvami, Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, Sri
Jiva Gosvami, and Sri Raghunatha dasa Gosvami. These six Gosvamis were directly instructed by Lord Caitanya
to spread this movement of Krishna consciousness. Narottama dasa Thakura also prays for their mercy.
After the six Gosvamis, the next acarya was Srinivasa Acarya. Actually, Narottama dasa Thakura was in
the disciplic succession after Srinivasa Acarya and was almost his contemporary, and Narottama dasa’s
personal friend was Ramacandra Cakravarti. Therefore he prays, "I always desire the company of Ramacandra."
He desires a devotee’s company. The whole process is that we should always pray for the mercy of the
superior acaryas and keep company with pure devotees. Then it will be easier for us to advance in
Krishna consciousness and receive the mercy of Lord Caitanya and Lord Krishna. This is the sum and substance of
this song sung by Narottama dasa Thakura.

Go Back To More Bhajans By Narottama Das Thakura OR All Vaishnava Acharya.