चिनà¥à¤¤à¤¯à¤¾à¤®à¤¿ हरिं à¤à¤µ संततमà¥
मनà¥à¤¦ मनà¥à¤¦ हसित आनन अमà¥à¤¬à¥à¤œà¤®à¥ |
ननà¥à¤¦ गोप तनयं परातà¥à¤ªà¤°à¤®à¥
नारद आदि मà¥à¤¨à¤¿ वृनà¥à¤¦ वनà¥à¤¦à¤¿à¤¤à¤®à¥ ॥ ७ ॥

cintayÄmi harim eva santataá¹
manda-hÄsa-muditÄnanÄmbujam
nanda-gopa-tanayaá¹ parÄt paraá¹
nÄradÄdi-muni-vá¹›nda-vanditam

 cintayÄmi - I think; harim - about Lord Hari; eva - indeed; santatam - always; manda - gentle; hÄsa - with a smile; mudita - joyful; Änana-ambujam - whose lotus face; nanda-gopa - of the cowherd Nanda; tanayam - the son; parÄt param - the Supreme Absolute Truth; nÄrada-Ädi - beginning with NÄrada; muni-vá¹›nda - by all the sages; vanditam - worshiped.


Text

I always think of Lord Hari, whose joyful lotus face bears a gentle smile. Although He is the son of the cowherd Nanda, He is also the Supreme Absolute Truth worshiped by great sages like NÄrada.

Purport

As King KulaÅ›ekhara thinks of the Lord and remembers His happiness, the king also becomes happy. Lord Kṛṣṇa is eternally happy, but the conditioned soul is mostly unhappy. When we live in forgetfulness of our spiritual nature, even our so-called bliss is illusion—it is unsatisfying, flickering pleasure (capala-sukha). The poet Govinda dÄsa expresses this in his song Bhajhuá¹ re mana: "What assurance is there in all one's wealth, youthfulness, sons, and family members? This life is tilting like a drop of water on a lotus petal. Therefore you should always serve the divine feet of Lord Hari."

Another Vaiṣṇava poet, Narottama dÄsa ṬhÄkura, has expressed the happiness of the Supreme in a song addressed to Lord Caitanya and Lord NityÄnanda: hÄ hÄ prabhu nityÄnanda premÄnanda-sukhÄ« ká¹›pÄvalokaṇa koro Ämi baá¸o duḥkhÄ«: "My dear Lord NityÄnanda, 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 cast Your glance upon me, I may also become happy."

In this prayer King KulaÅ›ekhara reveals himself to be at the stage of spontaneous love of God, in which the devotee goes beyond mere formal ceremonies and ritual recitations and thinks of Lord Hari always. This is the actual standard of happiness in devotional service. Such constant remembrance of the Lord is possible through constant chanting of His name. As Lord Caitanya recommends in His Åšiká¹£Äṣṭaka (3), kÄ«rtanÄ«yaḥ sadÄ hariḥ: [Cc. Ä€di 17.31] "One should always chant the holy name of the Lord." In this way one will always be happy in the joy of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The Lord's happiness is always increasing, like an ever-expanding ocean (ÄnandÄmbudhi-vardhanam), and the living entity is meant to dive into that ocean because his original nature is to be ever-blissful in contact with the Lord.

King KulaÅ›ekhara further hints at the unlimited happiness of Kṛṣṇa consciousness when he describes Lord Kṛṣṇa as the son of Nanda Gopa. Kṛṣṇa is the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha, and He expands Himself as the catur-vyÅ«ha, as the puruá¹£a-avatÄras, and as many other forms. But His original form is a cowherd boy in Goloka Vá¹›ndÄvana. He came to Vá¹›ndÄvana-dhÄma within this world to reciprocate loving exchanges with His pure devotees here who wished to be His friends, parents, and lovers. They cherished the desire to serve the Lord in intimate ways, and they finally fulfilled it after, as ÅšrÄ«la PrabhupÄda says in his Kṛṣṇa book, "accumulating heaps of pious activities." In other words, after they had perfected their loving devotion to the Lord through many lives of service, He appeared in person to reciprocate with them in their specific mood.

Kṛṣṇa enjoyed playing as the son of Nanda. For example, Kṛṣṇa would sometimes delight His parents by carrying His father's wooden slippers on His head, just like an ordinary child. And Kṛṣṇa would also enjoy His magnificent pastimes in DvÄrakÄ, where He lived in unequaled opulence in 16,108 palaces with an equal number of queens. NÄrada once visited the Lord at DvÄrakÄ and saw Him engaging in various pastimes in His many palaces. At that time NÄrada became astounded and described Him as the source of all opulences.

There is no contradiction between Kṛṣṇa's charmingly sweet pastimes in the simple village of Vá¹›ndÄvana and His magnificently opulent pastimes in DvÄrakÄ. All of the Lords pastimes are oceans of happiness. And the devotee who can always think of the Lord performing any of His multifarious pastimes dives into that ocean. Even in this world, one who always thinks of the Lord will forget all material miseries and enter the spiritual abode.