अहं हरे तव पादैकमूल
दासानुदासो भवितास्मि भूयः ।
मनः स्मरेतासुपतेर्गुणांस्ते
गृणीत वाक् कर्म करोतु कायः ॥२४॥

ahaá¹ hare tava pÄdaika-mÅ«la-
dÄsÄnudÄso bhavitÄsmi bhÅ«yaḥ
manaḥ smaretÄsu-pater guṇÄá¹s te
gṛṇīta vÄk karma karotu kÄyaḥ

 aham - I; hare - O my Lord; tava - of Your Lordship; pÄda-eka-mÅ«la - whose only shelter is the lotus feet; dÄsa-anudÄsaḥ - the servant of Your servant; bhavitÄsmi - shall I become; bhÅ«yaḥ - again; manaḥ - my mind; smareta - may remember; asu-pateḥ - of the Lord of my life; guṇÄn - the attributes; te - of Your Lordship; gṛṇīta - may chant; vÄk - my words; karma - activities of service to You; karotu - may perform; kÄyaḥ - my body.


Text

O my Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, will I again be able to be a servant of Your eternal servants who find shelter only at Your lotus feet? O Lord of my life, may I again become their servant so that my mind may always think of Your transcendental attributes, my words always glorify those attributes, and my body always engage in the loving service of Your Lordship?

Purport

This verse gives the sum and substance of devotional life. One must first become a servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord (dÄsÄnudÄsa). ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu advised, and He also showed by His own example, that a living entity should always desire to be a servant of the servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa, the maintainer of the gopÄ«s (gopÄ«-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dÄsa-dÄsÄnudÄsaḥ). This means that one must accept a spiritual master who comes in the disciplic succession and is a servant of the servant of the Lord. Under his direction, one must then engage one’s three properties, namely his body, mind and words. The body should be engaged in physical activity under the order of the master, the mind should think of Kṛṣṇa incessantly, and one’s words should be engaged in preaching the glories of the Lord. If one is thus engaged in the loving service of the Lord, one’s life is successful.