Continuing our series on sharanagati, this post features a song discussed by Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj in Amnaya Tattva about the fearlessness of the devotees in Sri Vrindavan Dham.
Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur has very cleverly explained the faithful confidence of a soul surrendering to Krishna in one of his songs in Sharanagati.
ātma-samarpaṇe gelā abhimāna
nāhi karabu̐ nija rakṣā-vidhāna [1]
“By fully offering myself unto You, my false egotism has gone away. I will no longer make any arrangements to protect myself.
tuyā dhana jāni’ tuhu̐ rākhabi nātha!
pālya go-dhana jāni kari’ tuyā sātha [2]
“Oh Lord! Knowing me to be Your property, You will maintain me and keep me with You as one of Your protected cows.
charāobi mādhava! yāmuna-tīre
vaṁśī bājāota ḍakabi dhīre [3]
“Oh Madhav! You will herd me along the bank of the Jamuna. You will play Your flute and call me gently.
agha-baka mārata rakṣā vidhāna
karabi sadā tuhu̐ gokula-kāna! [4]
“By killing Aghasur, Bakasur, and so on, You will always make all arrangements for my protection, oh Kan of Gokul!
rakṣā karabi tuhu̐ niśchaya jāni
pāna karabu̐ hāma yāmuna-pāni [5]
“Knowing that You will certainly protect me, I will drink the water of the Jamuna (regardless of the fact that it is poisoned by the serpent Kaliya).
kālīya-dokha karabi vināśā
śodhabi nadī-jala bāḍāobi āśā [6]
“You will absolve Kaliya’s offences, purify the water of the River Jamuna, and thus increase my confidence.
piyata dāvānala rakhabi moya
‘gopāla’ ‘govinda’ nāma tava hoya [7]
“By swallowing the forest fire, You will protect me and thus become known as ‘Gopal’ and ‘Govinda’.
surapati durmati-nāśa vichāri’
rākhabi varṣaṇe giri-vara-dhāri! [8]
“Deciding to level the pride of Devaraj Indra, You will protect me from his rains, oh Lifter of Giriraj Govardhan!
chaturānana karaba yava chori
rakṣā karabi moye gokula-hari! [9]
“When Brahmā will abduct me, You will rescue me, oh Lord of Gokul!
bhakati-vinoda tuyā gokula-dhana
rākhabi keśava! karata yatana [10]
“Bhakti Vinod is one of Your cows in Gokul. Oh Keshav! Surely you will carefully protect him.”
This song is the mood of atma-samarpan, fully surrendering oneself to the Lord. It is found in Sharanagati, you must have read it. It is not in pure Bengali, it has some Vraja-bhuli in it to express the mood of Krishna’s surrendered devotees in Vrindavan Dham. In that way Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur expresses that if we are fully surrendered to the lotus feet of Sri Krishna then we have nothing to fear from anywhere. And he said even more than this, he said,
rakṣā karabi tuhu̐ niśchaya jāni
pāna karabu̐ hāma yāmuna-pāni
(Sharanagati: 23.5)
“Krishna, I will even fearlessly drink the poisonous water of the Jamuna because I am sure that You will save my life.”