In honour of the upcoming appearance day festival for Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, we are presenting a poem he wrote in his early years in which he expresses the ideal he cherished within his heart throughout his life. Accompanying the poem is a verbal explanation by Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj. Lines two, three, and five from this poem are engraved on the Temple of Love and Affection.
101027 Explanation of Chaoya.mp3
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
[audio:https://gaudiyadarshan.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/101027-Nabadwip-Explanation-of-Chaoya.mp3|titles=101027 Nabadwip Explanation of Chaoya]
Chāoyā
Desire
Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj
Originally published in Sri Gaudiya Darshan
Volume 1, Issue 3, Sunday, 17 October 1955
āmi
chāi nā ha’te ei jagatera
svarāja-daṇḍa-dhara
āmi
chāi nā ha’te mukti-pathera
navīna nyāsī-vara [1]
I do not desire to be an autonomous king of this world. I do not desire to be an exalted young renunciant on the path of liberation.
āmi
nāi vā gelām purī, gayā, kāśī, badarīnārā’ṇa
nāi vā elām ghuri’
yadi
kona janme pāire hote
vaiṣṇava-kiṅkara
āmāra
sakala āśā‑i miṭbe re bhāi
pāi yadi ai vara [2]
I did not go to Puri, Gaya, Kashi, or Badarinath. I did not turn and come back. If in some lifetime I am able to be a Vaiṣṇava’s servant, then all of my desires will be fulfilled. O brothers! If I attain such a benediction.
āmi
chāi nā pete mukti hāte
—bhuktire ke māge
yadi
gaura-harira charaṇa-sevaka-charaṇa
pāire lāge [3]
I do not want to attain liberation in hand—who prays for mundane enjoyment if they can attain the feet of a servitor of Gaurahari’s feet?
yadi
brahmā ese chhale indra tāhāra rājadhānī deya
tāo phirāi hele,
āra ki debe lakṣmī-nārā’ṇa?
—tāo hṛde nāi jāge [4]
If Brahmā comes to me with a ploy or Indra offers me his capital, I turn such things away. And what will Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇ give me? No desire for that arises in my heart either.
āmi chāi re śudhu śachī-sutera
sevaka-charaṇa-rāge [5]
Oh! I desire only loving attachment to the feet of Śachī Suta’s servant.