Śrīla Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj glorifies the songs of Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur.
rakṣā arabi tuhu̐ niśchaya jāni
pāna karabu̐ hāma yāmuna‑pāni
(Śaraṇāgati: 23.5)
Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur described the surrendered soul’s mood of devotion in this song: “Kṛṣṇa must save us. So, we have no fear of anything.” We become fearful when we see that we are living within a body, but if we live within our consciousness—real Kṛṣṇa consciousness—then we have nothing to fear. Actually, bodies come and go. We are not greatly interested in our body. We are interested in our spiritual body, our transcendental body. That exists within the plane of service, and service exists within the plane of faith. Service does not come to someone who is not faithful to their Guru. Such persons lose their service. So, we should try to understand the plane of real devotion, and then we will be able to play there.
rakṣā arabi tuhu̐ niśchaya jāni
pāna karabu̐ hāma yāmuna‑pāni
kālīya-dokha karabi vināśā
śodhabi nadī-jala bāḍāobi āśā
(Śaraṇāgati: 23.5‒6)
[“Knowing for certain that You will protect me, I will drink the water of the Yamunā (even though it has been poisoned by the serpent Kālīya). You will absolve Kālīya of his offences, purify the Yamunā’s waters, and thus increase my faith.”]
This song of Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur is very nice. All his songs give us life—real life. It is not necessary to read any scripture. The songs of Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur alone can give us all wealth.
I am very happy with the songs of Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur. All my knowledge first came to a steady position after reading and singing his songs. Śrīla Narottam Ṭhakur also has many songs. We may read and chant other songs, but that is for luxury. Our strength in life—the elixir of life—is given in the songs of Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur and Śrīla Narottam Ṭhākur. We use these two Āchāryas songs, and actually we use very few other songs. We know one or two songs of Vidyāpati, and one or two songs of Lochan Dās Ṭhākur. Like that. Very few. But at random we are using the songs of Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur. There is the elixir of life. We are getting strength and enthusiasm through his songs.
Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur composed everything for us. You know the song Gopīnātha, mama nivedana śuna. There, the heart of a conditioned soul is fully expressed, and how the soul will get the remedy for their condition is also explained. Everything is expressed there.
When I joined the Mission of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj, Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj, he marked thirty-two songs in Śaraṇāgati for me and said, “You first memorise these thirty-two songs.” He gave me seven days time, and within those seven days I did it. Then Śrīla Guru Mahārāj gave me the chance to sing those songs, and whenever Śrīla Guru Mahārāj would sit in a meeting, he would say to me, “You sing this song. You sing that song.” Mostly, he wanted to hear two songs of Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur and two songs of Śrīla Narottam Ṭhākur. The two songs of Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur were Ki jāni ki bale Tomāra dhāmete ha-inu śaraṇāgata and Emana durmati saṁsāra bhitare paḍiyā āchhinu āmi. The two songs of Śrīla Narottam Ṭhākur were hari hari! viphale janama goṅāinu and hari hari! baḍa śela maramera rahila. At almost every meeting I was present in, Śrīla Guru Mahārāj would order me to sing these songs. In them is the heart expression of the conditioned soul. They explain our very clear approach to Kṛṣṇa. Hearing these songs, everyone will be happy.
Reference
Spoken 23 January 1993 in Malaysia.