jÄ«vera pÄpa laÃ±Ä muñi karoá¹… naraka bhoga
sakala jÄ«vera, prabhu, ghucÄha bhava-roga

 jÄ«vera - of all conditioned souls; pÄpa laÃ±Ä - accepting the sinful reactions; muñi - I; karoá¹… - do; naraka - hellish life; bhoga - experience; sakala jÄ«vera - of all living entities; prabhu - my dear Lord; ghucÄha - please finish; bhava-roga - the material disease.


Text

“My dear Lord, let me suffer perpetually in a hellish condition, accepting all the sinful reactions of all living entities. Please finish their diseased material life.â€

Purport

ÅšrÄ«la BhaktisiddhÄnta SarasvatÄ« ṬhÄkura gives the following commentary on this verse. In the Western countries, Christians believe that Lord Jesus Christ, their spiritual master, appeared in order to eradicate all the sins of his disciples. To this end, Lord Jesus Christ appeared and disappeared. Here, however, we find ÅšrÄ« VÄsudeva Datta ṬhÄkura and ÅšrÄ«la HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura to be many millions of times more advanced than even Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ relieved only his followers from all sinful reactions, but VÄsudeva Datta is here prepared to accept the sins of everyone in the universe. So the comparative position of VÄsudeva Datta is millions of times better than that of Lord Jesus Christ. A Vaiṣṇava is so liberal that he is prepared to risk everything to rescue the conditioned souls from material existence. ÅšrÄ«la VÄsudeva Datta ṬhÄkura is universal love itself, for he was willing to sacrifice everything and fully engage in the service of the Supreme Lord.

ÅšrÄ«la VÄsudeva Datta knew very well that ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu was the original Personality of Godhead, Transcendence itself, above the material conception of illusion and mÄyÄ. Lord Jesus Christ certainly finished the sinful reactions of his followers by his mercy, but that does not mean he completely delivered them from the pangs of material existence. A person may be relieved from sins once, but it is a practice among Christians to confess sins and yet commit them again. By getting freed from sins and again engaging in them, one cannot attain freedom from the pangs of material existence. A diseased person may go to a physician for relief, but after he leaves the hospital he may again be infected due to his unclean habits. Thus material existence continues. ÅšrÄ«la VÄsudeva Datta wanted to completely relieve the conditioned souls from material existence so that they would no longer have an opportunity to commit sinful acts. This is the significant difference between ÅšrÄ«la VÄsudeva Datta and Lord Jesus Christ. It is a great offense to receive pardon for sins and then commit the same sins again. Such an offense is more dangerous than the sinful activity itself. VÄsudeva Datta was so liberal that he requested ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu to transfer all offensive activity upon him so the conditioned souls would be purified and go back home, back to Godhead. This prayer was certainly without duplicity.

VÄsudeva Datta’s example is unique not only within this world but within the universe. It is beyond the conception of fruitive actors or the speculation of mundane philosophers. Due to being illusioned by the external energy and due to a poor fund of knowledge, people tend to envy one another. Because of this they are entangled in fruitive activity, and they try to escape this fruitive activity by mental speculation. Consequently neither karmÄ«s nor jñÄnÄ«s are purified. In the words of ÅšrÄ«la BhaktisiddhÄnta ṬhÄkura, they are kukarmÄ«s and kujñÄnÄ«s — bad fruitive actors and bad speculators. The MÄyÄvÄdÄ«s and karmÄ«s should therefore turn their attention to the magnanimous VÄsudeva Datta, who wanted to suffer for others in a hellish condition. No one should consider VÄsudeva Datta a mundane philanthropist or welfare worker. Nor was he interested in merging into the Brahman effulgence or in gaining material honor or reputation. He was far, far above philanthropists, philosophers and fruitive actors. He was the most exalted personality to ever show mercy to the conditioned souls. This is not an exaggeration of his transcendental qualities. It is perfectly true. Actually, there cannot be any comparison to VÄsudeva Datta. As the perfect Vaiṣṇava, he was para-duḥkha-duḥkhÄ«, very much aggrieved to see others suffer. The entire world is purified simply by the appearance of such a great devotee. Indeed, by his transcendental presence the whole world is glorified and all conditioned souls are also glorified. As Narottama dÄsa ṬhÄkura confirms, VÄsudeva Datta is the ideal devotee of ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu:

gaurÄá¹…gera saá¹…gi-gaṇe, nitya-siddha kari’ mÄne,
se yÄya vrajendrasuta-pÄÅ›a

One who executes ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu’s mission must be considered eternally liberated. He is a transcendental person and does not belong to this material world. Such a devotee, engaging in the deliverance of the total population, is as magnanimous as ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu Himself.

namo mahÄ-vadÄnyÄya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradÄya te
kṛṣṇÄya kṛṣṇa-caitanya- nÄmne gaura-tviá¹£e namaḥ

Such a personality factually represents ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu because his heart is always filled with compassion for all conditioned souls.