Our Vaishnava acaryas have left for us a great treasure in the form of their songs. Few such songs of our acaryas, we make it a point to recite them everyday without fail in the temple. Srila Vishwanatha Cakravarti Thakura’s Gurvashtakam, Narottama Dasa Thakura’s Guru Vandana, Krishna Dasa’s Tulasi arati, Bhaktivinode Thakura’s Gaura Arati are a few examples. Apart from them, many other songs written by our acaryas enable us to fix our minds on the Supreme Lord Krishna.
Srila Rupa Goswami has written a beautiful song – Krsna Deva Bhavantam Vande, wherein he mentions,
(kṛṣṇa) deva! bhavantaḿ vande
man-mānasa-madhukaram arpaya nija-pada-pańkaja-makarande
O Lord Sri Krsna! I am offering a prayer unto You. Please let the bee of my mind be offered the nectarine honey of Your lotus feet.
He also prays that his bee-like mind ever resides in that nectar which puts everything else to shame. The nectarine lotus feet of the Lord are the quintessence of all sweetness.
A bee always desires the nectar of lotus. Its only business in life is to get as much nectar as it can from fragrant flowers and keep it stored! Srila Rupa Goswami urges us to make our minds like bees always eager and hankering for Krishna’s nectar and keeping those experiences stored in our heart’s treasure!
Rupa Goswami’s mind has become like a bee. Our minds may be like flies, hunting for the filth of sense enjoyment. The journey of our life is to transform our minds from fly to a honeybee, eager for tasting Krishna’s honey-like lotus feet.
Our acaryas have given similar other comparisons for the mind:
1] TEMPLE of MIND (mama mana mandire): Bhaktivinode Thakura invites the Lord into his mind which he has transformed into a temple! And he invites Him to reside there day and night, forever. And he desires to serve Him in multifarious ways.
2] Mind as VRNDAVANA: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the mood of Srimati Radharani says how his mind has transformed into Vrindavan! CC M 13.137. Shrila Prabhupada mentions beautifully in the purport,
“The mind’s activities are thinking, feeling and willing, by which the mind accepts materially favorable things and rejects the unfavorable. This is the consciousness of people in general.
But when one’s mind does not accept and reject but simply becomes fixed on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, then one’s mind becomes as good as Vṛndāvana.
Wherever Kṛṣṇa is, there also are Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the gopīs, the cowherd boys and all the other inhabitants of Vṛndāvana. Thus as soon as one fixes Kṛṣṇa in his mind, his mind becomes identical with Vṛndāvana.
In other words, when one’s mind is completely free from all material desires and is engaged only in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then one always lives in Vṛndāvana, and nowhere else.”
So, we need to make our mind transformed into Vrndavana, wherein like a bee it can wander to various temples, various holy places of Vrndavana, extract nectar from each place, and thus remain absorbed in Vrndavana Consciousness.
That is the perfection of life!!!
