Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Mukunda-mala-stotra 24

ma draksam ksina-punyan ksanam api bhavato bhakti-hinan padabje

ma srausam sravya-bandham tava caritam apasyanyad akhyana-jatam

ma smarsam madhava tvam api bhuvana-pate cetasapahnuvanan

ma bhuvam tvat-saparya-vyatikara-rahito janma-janmantare 'pi

SYNONYMS

ma draksam -- may I not look at; ksina -- depleted; punyan -- whose credit of piety; ksanam -- a moment; api -- even; bhavatah -- Your; bhakti -- devotion; hinan -- devoid of; pada-abje -- for the lotus feet; ma srausam -- may I not hear; sravya -- worth hearing; bandham -- compositions about which; tava -- Your; caritam -- pastimes; apasya -- putting aside; anyat -- other; akhyana -- of narrations; jatam -- topics; ma smarsam -- may I not remember; madhava -- O Madhava; tvam -- Your; api -- indeed; bhuvana -- of the world; pate -- O master; cetasa -- mentally; apahnuvanan -- those who avoid; ma bhuvam -- may I not become; tvat -- Your; saparya -- for the personal service; vyatikara -- the opportunity; rahitah -- devoid of; janma-janma-antare -- in repeated rebirths; api -- even.

TRANSLATION

O Madhava, please do not let me even glance at those whose pious credits are so depleted that they have no devotion for Your lotus feet. Please do not let me be distracted from listening to the worthy narrations of Your pastimes and become interested in other topics. Please, O Lord of the universe, let me pay no attention to those who avoid thinking of You. And let me never be unable to serve You in some menial way, birth after birth.

PURPORT

Like other Vaisnavas' prayers, King Kulasekhara's are characterized by single-minded intensity. A critic might say his attitude doesn't embody the "golden mean" praised in Greek wisdom. The critic might ask, "What's wrong with sometimes serving Krsna and sometimes enjoying yourself in sense gratification? Why be so fanatical as to avoid even glancing at impious persons? And why focus exclusively on the Deity of Lord Visnu?" These questions are not to be answered by reason alone. The devotee's exclusive intensity is dictated by love. It is unreasonable to ask someone in love to be interested in something other than his beloved.

But krsna-bhakti is not an ordinary lover's madness. Sri Krsna is the Absolute Truth, the source of supreme wisdom, and, as such, in the Bhagavad-gita He teaches single-minded devotion to Himself:

bhaktya tv ananyaya sakya aham evam-vidho 'rjuna

jnatum drastum ca tattvena pravestum ca parantapa

"My dear Arjuna, only by undivided devotional service can I be understood as I am, standing before you, and can thus be seen directly. Only in this way can you enter into the mysteries of My understanding" (Bg. 11.54). Furthermore, unlike ordinary, materialistic "love," one-pointed devotion to Krsna does not produce indifference to everyone else besides one's beloved. While in this verse King Kulasekhara expresses his valid wish to avoid the association of nondevotees, out of compassion a pure devotee will "glance at" and "pay attention to" nondevotees for the sake of preaching. When a devotee actually becomes fully absorbed in Krsna, he sees the whole world as the Lord's creation and everything as part and parcel of His energies. Through his exclusive devotion to the Lord, the devotee becomes a mahatma, a high-souled person who works for the benefit of all living beings by reminding them of their connection with Krsna.

The stage of Krsna consciousness King Kulasekhara desires is not artificial but is the original state of the living being. He is therefore calling out to the Lord to invoke His mercy so that he can return to his original, undistracted, blissful state of samadhi. In the conditioned state, souls are bewildered by innumerable distractions in the name of necessities, sufferings, and enjoyments, and so a devotee prays for the removal of these distractions. The language of devotion may seem extreme to the distracted materialist, but it is actually a prayer for a return to sanity and balance, a return to eternal servitude by the eternal servant of the supreme master.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari