grÄmera śūnya-hÄá¹e vasi' karena kÄ«rtana
ethÄ pÅ«jÄrÄ« karÄila á¹hÄkure Å›ayana
grÄmera - of the village; śūnya-hÄá¹e - in the vacant marketplace; vasi' - sitting down; karena - performs; kÄ«rtana - chanting; ethÄ - in the temple; pÅ«jÄrÄ« - the priest; karÄila - made; á¹hÄkure - the Deity; Å›ayana - lying down.
MÄdhavendra PurÄ« left the temple and sat down in the village marketplace, which was vacant. Sitting there, he began to chant. In the meantime, the temple priest laid the Deity down to rest.
Although MÄdhavendra PurÄ« was not interested in eating and sleeping, his interest in chanting the mahÄ-mantra was as acute as if he were an aspiring transcendentalist rather than a paramahaá¹sa. This means that even in the paramahaá¹sa stage, one cannot give up chanting. HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura and the GosvÄmÄ«s were all engaged in chanting a fixed number of rounds; therefore chanting on beads is very important for everyone, even though one may become a paramahaá¹sa. This chanting can be executed anywhere, either inside or outside the temple. MÄdhavendra PurÄ« even sat down in a vacant marketplace to perform his chanting. As stated by ÅšrÄ«nivÄsa Ä€cÄrya in his prayers to the GosvÄmÄ«s: nÄma-gÄna-natibhiḥ. A paramahaá¹sa devotee is always engaged in chanting and rendering loving service to the Lord. Chanting the Lord’s holy names and engaging in His service are identical. As stated in ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (7.5.23), there are nine kinds of devotional service: hearing (Å›ravaṇam), chanting (kÄ«rtanam), remembering (viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam), serving (pÄda-sevanam), worship of the Deity (arcanam), praying (vandanam), carrying out orders (dÄsyam), serving Him as a friend (sakhyam) and sacrificing everything for the Lord (Ätma-nivedanam). Although each process appears distinct, when one is situated on the absolute platform he can see that they are identical. For instance, hearing is as good as chanting, and remembering is as good as chanting or hearing. Similarly, engaging in Deity worship is as good as chanting, hearing or remembering. The devotee is expected to accept all nine processes of devotional service, but even if only one process is properly executed, he can still attain the highest position (paramahaá¹sa) and go back home, back to Godhead.
