Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Mukunda-mālā-stotra 9

sarasija-nayane sa-śańkha-cakre

mura-bhidi mā viramasva citta rantum

sukha-taram aparaḿ na jātu jāne

hari-caraṇa-smaraṇāmṛtena tulyam

SYNONYMS

sarasi-ja — like the lotus flower born in a lake; nayane — whose eyes; sa — together with; śańkha — His conch; cakre — and disc weapon; mura-bhidi — in the annihilator of the demon Mura; mā viramasva — please never cease; citta — O mind; rantum — to enjoy; sukha-taram — extremely pleasurable; aparam — anything else; na — not; jātu — at all; jāne — I know; hari-caraṇa — of the feet of Lord Hari; smaraṇa — of the remembrance; amṛtena — the immortal nectar; tulyam — equal to.

TRANSLATION

O mind, please never stop taking pleasure in thinking of the Mura demon's destroyer, who has lotus eyes and bears the conch and disc weapon. Indeed, I know of nothing else that gives such extreme pleasure as meditating on Lord Hari's divine feet.

PURPORT

From his own experience, King Kulaśekhara is speaking of how delightful it is to think of Kṛṣṇa. That thinking is his greatest pleasure in life. As a king he had access to many worldly pleasures, but they all counted as nothing compared to meditation on the Lord's lotus feet. This Kṛṣṇa meditation is available for all, and the Supreme Lord and His representatives want everyone to enjoy it. Thus Lord Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, "Always think of Me." This meditation is not only for philosophers and poets. Though Arjuna was a military man, Lord Kṛṣṇa instructed him, "Remember Me and fight."

The Vedic literature, prepared by Śrīla Vyāsadeva and filled with narrations of the Lord and His devotees, is meant to help us remember the Lord always. These books teach us how to divert our mind from ordinary thoughts, which are filled with business, entertainment, speculation, and the like, and fix it on the Supreme Lord in His personal feature. Otherwise, numerous worldly thoughts will absorb us: News of politics, for instance, is always bombarding us via TV, radio, and the print media. Also, our personal economic affairs are themselves fully absorbing. And to put up with anxieties, we can take part in diversions like videos, music, intoxication, and sex stimulation. Wasting time with mundane thoughts is nothing new, but today the pace, variety, and intensity of diversions grabbing for our attention seem to have increased.

Thus although meditation on God is as essential as ever, one may conclude that it is impossible nowadays. However, by the grace of Śrīla Prabhupāda and the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement he founded, we can absorb the mind in thoughts of the Lord even in this age. If one lives in a city with an ISKCON temple, one can directly visit the Deity of Lord Viṣṇu, as King Kulaśekhara did. Even on the way to work one may find time to stop and briefly see the Lord in the temple. If one lives far from a temple, one can still read Śrīla Prabhupāda's books, correspond with devotees, listen to devotional recordings, subscribe to regular Kṛṣṇa conscious publications, and, of course, chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra alone or with friends. Thus in these and many other ways, meditation on Kṛṣṇa is available to those who want it.

Here King Kulaśekhara specifically mentions meditation upon the feet of the Lord. Such meditation implies humility and indicates that the meditator desires shelter under the Lord's protection. Indeed, the Lord's lotus feet symbolize that shelter. Elsewhere the Vedic literature describes the Lord's lotus feet as umbrellas shielding the devotees from material life. So a devotee is satisfied meditating on the Lord's feet, although he sometimes meditates on other parts of the Lord's body. We should remember, however, that although the lotus feet of the Lord symbolize the total shelter He extends toward His devotees, there is nothing "symbolic" about them: they are always to be thought of in a personal, literal sense.

Once some haṭha-yoga students asked Śrīla Prabhupāda if there was a śāstric reference specifically stating that transcendentalists who regard the Absolute Truth as impersonal would fall down. Prabhupāda quoted the following verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.2.32):

ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas

tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ

āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraḿ padaḿ tataḥ

patanty adho 'nādṛta yuṣmad-ańghrayaḥ

"O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet." After quoting the verse, Prabhupāda said, " 'Feet' means 'person.' "

In conclusion, then, we should have firm faith that the Absolute Truth is the Supreme Person, Kṛṣṇa, that His body is all-blissful, and that His feet are worth meditating upon.

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