No One Else!!!

Verse 8 of Sri Siksastakam
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the golden avatar of Lord Sri Krishna, appeared on this earth just 520 years ago, and displayed his pastimes as a devotee, one madly searching after Himself.
He instructed his disciples and followers to write hundreds of volumes of books on philosophy. But He Himself left only Eight Beautiful
Verses of Instruction.

In the blog, i’ve been exploring these 8 Divine Instructions, one by one. These verses contain the complete theory and practice of pure love for God, from the lips of Sri Krishna Caitanya, God in the role of His own devotee. Today, the final verse:

Sanskrit, Verse 8:
aslisya va pada ratam pinastu mam
adarsanan marma hatam karotu va
yatha tatha va vidadhatu lampato
mat prana nathas tu sa eva naparah

Translation & Commentary:

Krishna, You can embrace me with Your strong arms
or trample me under Your feet.
You may break my heart by disappearing from my sight.
You do whatever you like. All women belong to You.
But in agony or in ecstasy, i remain Yours.
You only are the lord of my life. No one else!!!

Sri Krishna is the divine autocrat. He is love, and love does not obey any law other than itself. Love is tied to mercy, to luck, to favor, not to justice. Krishna is independent of our efforts. He can appear, disappear, reward, punish or be indifferent to us. He can do anything at his whim. But he always acts from the position of love, because he is infinite love. He will never hurt us or destroy us with his love.

Pure love is above law and above rights. All rights reserved. Krishna’s love for us far exceeds our capacity to love him. Therefore he has all rights. We have only one right: the right to serve him. We cannot negotiate with him like a businessman. We are always looking for the fruit, the payoff, what’s in it for me? But true love offers us only sacrifice, self-forgetfulness, service. Why should we be attracted to such a proposition? We hesitate before such an extreme proposal.

If we want love that transcends life, love that takes us beyond this commercial world of win-lose, win-win, and lose-lose, then there is no alternative except to follow the path shown by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We will be happy when we realize our finite-ness in connection with the infinite. We will be joyful when we forget our self-importance and give all attention to Krishna. We will find ecstasy when we can feel exclusive devotion.

In our own journey there should be no complaint from our side. So many injustices will be seen by us, from the past and the present. We can observe them, comment on them and learn from them, but we should never take them too seriously. They are disturbances: some funny, some tragic, but merely distractions. Nothing is a catastrophe. The only disaster is our lack of love for Krishna.

How can we find our proper place in this world? It may not be possible, in a social sense. But if somehow or other, we can pass the exam and qualify for entering into that circle where everyone has real love for Krishna, then we shall be completely relieved of our restlessness.

mac-citta mad-gata-prana
bodhayantah parasparam

“The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are devoted to Me, they preach amongst themselves and enjoy transcendental bliss talking about Me.” (Bhagavad gita 10.9)

And Krishna gives us another hint at the end of the Gita:

aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah

“I shall deliver you from all disturbances, all reactions. Do not fear.” (Bhagavad gita 18.66)

We are suffering from sinful reactions, from mixing with the modes of nature for an immeasurably long time. But Krishna says: don’t worry, I can deliver you. It’s not difficult for Me.

So we should not be afraid of what appears on the surface to be a frightening and terribly painful process of surrender. Externally it looks like that, but internally it is different. In Vrindavan, nothing is what it appears to be! We must be prepared to suspend our judgement and dive into the experience. It contains the greatest sweetness, beauty and pleasure.

This great experiment is being offered to us by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. With his words and with his life, he showed us the possibility. Of course, he is not a jiva soul; he is the original Personality of Godhead, in the role of a devotee. But he came to teach us, to demonstrate for us, the path to prema. It is our eternal benefit if we can learn to follow this path, not to imitate, but to very carefully and respectfully walk in the footprints of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and his followers. Sri Sri Guru & Gauranga jayate!!