This is a song which a devotee is praying and asking his mind, bhajahū re mana. Mana means mind. Because, at the present moment, our mind is the driver, and this body is just like a car. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is stated, bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā [Bg 18.61], this body is a car made of this material nature.
[The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.]
The living entity, what is said "I," I am now seated on this car prepared by the nature, material nature. And the driver is the mind. And the driver is not in my control. The driver is taking me anywhere he likes. You see? I am... Personally, I am not able to drive. I have engaged one driver, which is called the mind, and this body is the car, and the mind is carrying me...
Woman: Like driver.
Prabhupāda:...like driver, anywhere it likes. So therefore the proprietor, I, I am, I am requesting the driver... When I am helpless, so I am requesting, "My dear mind," bhajahū re mana, "my dear mind..." Mana means mind. "You kindly worship Lord Kṛṣṅa." Śrī-nanda-nandana. Śrī-nanda-nandana means Lord Kṛṣṅa.
Lord Kṛṣṅa appeared as the son of Vasudeva, and He was accepted by Nanda Mahārāja as his..., what is called? Son who is accepted from others? So he, he was His foster father. So he's reques... "I am requesting that you worship Lord Kṛṣṅa, who is abhaya-caraṅa." Abhaya-caraṅa means He's the fearless shelter. If we take shelter of Kṛṣṅa, then we become free from all anxieties. Just like a helpless child, when he's taken care of by his parents, he becomes careless..., carefree, not careless. Carefree. "Similarly, I am requesting, my dear mind, 'You do not drive in this way, dangerously. Please worship Lord Kṛṣṅa, who is fearless shelter.' " Bhajahū re mana śrī-nanda-nandana-abhaya-caraṅāravinda re: "His lotus feet is fearless shelter."
One who takes shelter... As the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja [Bg 18.66].
[Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.]
Now, either you say Kṛṣṅa or you say superconsciousness... Superconsciousness is impersonal conception of Kṛṣṅa, and Kṛṣṅa is personal conception of superconsciousness. Because Kṛṣṅa means He's not only superconscious, but He's supreme bliss and supreme knowledge—supreme knowledge means superconsciousness—and eternal, supreme consciousness, supreme bliss. That is the definition of Kṛṣṅa.
Now, then the devotee says that durlabha mānava-janama sat-saṅge taroho e bhava-sindhu re. Now, this body, this human body, is durlabha. Durlabha means very valuable. It is obtained with..., after a great struggle of existence. We have to come through so many species of life: aquatics, birds, then trees, then reptiles, then beasts... There are so many. So many. There are eighty-four lakhs, means 8,400,000 species of life, and we had to pass through by gradual evolution. This theory is accepted by Darwin also, evolutionary theory. So this human body is very valuable.
So he requests, "My dear mind..." Mind, of course, the..., in the lower animal life the mind is there also. Also mind is not developed, but they have got mind. It is a... In the very lower animal living condition, the mind is not at all developed, but at least, in animal life, there is mind. Now, the devotee requesting that "This life, this human form of life, is very valuable. Don't waste it. Don't waste it, but you just to make your life successful in the association of saints and sages."
Woman: What?
Prabhupāda: Saints. Saints. S-a-i-n-t-s. Saints and sages.
Woman: No, no.
Prabhupāda: You have no saint?
Girl: Saints and sages, s-a-i...
Woman: Saints?
Prabhupāda: Saints.
Woman: Oh, saints and sages.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Saints and sages. You see? "So you should not make association with anybody else, but you make your association only with saints and sages and make your this valuable human form of life successful. Don't waste your time. You worship Lord Kṛṣṅa with the help of the saints and sages and make your life successful." That he is requesting. "Don't drive in this irresponsible way to put me into the ocean."
And it is also requested that "We are just like in the ocean of birth and death." This material cosmic situation is sometimes explained as the ocean, and these planets, they are explained as islands. And actually, they are islands in the air. Just like we have got islands in the sea and ocean, similarly, these planets are islands in the air, air islands, so many planets.
So he says that durlabha mānava-janama sat-saṅge tara e bhava-sindhu re. Bhava-sindhu. Bhava-sindhu means this cosmic situation where birth and death is going on continually, one after another. "So you stop this business of repeated birth and death. You make your this human form of life successful and get release from this disease of birth and death." Birth and death is a sort of disease for the living entity. It is not the normal condition. Due to our this abnormal encagement in the material body, we are put into the birth and death. Otherwise, I am not subjected to birth and death. I am eternal. I am eternal.
So he is requested that "Don't waste your time, my dear mind." Because mind is taking me here and there. So he's requesting mind. It is very philosophical. This is concentration, requesting the mind, "Don't put me into the ocean of birth and death. Please save me, and just make your life successful in the association of saints and sages. That is my request."
Bhajahū re mana śrī-nanda-nandana. So worship, worship of Lord Kṛṣṅa or the Supreme Lord and, at the same time, association of saints and sages, that makes our life successful. Association of good persons and, at the same time, simultaneously, devotional service to the Lord. These two things combinedly can make our life successful.
Woman: How do you call devotion to the Lord?
Prabhupāda: Eh? Yes. Lord... We worship Kṛṣṅa, the symbol of supreme consciousness. Because in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that kleśa adhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām [Bg 12.5].
[For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progrese in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied.]
If you take up impersonal, simply consciousness, then you have to pass through difficult process. But if you accept the symbol, Kṛṣṅa, the symbol of supreme consciousness, that will be easier for you. Yes. It is said. So Kṛṣṅa... I can concentrate my mind. I can focus my mental activities in the service of the Lord, Kṛṣṅa. Because He is supreme consciousness, therefore automatically I concentrate on the supreme consciousness.
So,
bhajahū re mana śrī-nanda-nandana-
abhaya-caraṅāravinda re
durlabha mānava-janama sat-saṅge
taroho e bhava-sindhu re
[O mind, just worship the lotus feet of the son of Nanda, which make one fearless. Having obtained this rare human birth, cross over this ocean of worldly existence by associating with saintly persons.]
Then he says that "What I am doing? What is my present occupation?" The present occupation is,
śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṅa
e dina jāminī jāgi re
biphale sevinu kṛpaṅa durajana
capala sukha-laba lāgi' re
[Day and night I remain sleepless, suffering heat and cold, wind and rain. For a bit of flickering happiness I have vainly served wicked and miserly men.]
He says that "I am working hard, day and night. And there is no question of winter or summer or rainy season. I have to work hard, day and night. If there is night duty in the winter season, I have to join my office at twelve o'clock at night. So I must go. There is snowfall. If I don't go, then I'll be absent. So I am working so hard, very hard.'' Śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṅa, jāminī jāgi re.
"And what for I am working?'' Now, biphale sevinu kṛpaṅa durajana: "Just to serve persons who cannot protect me." "Who cannot protect me.'' We think that my wife or my husband or my children or my relatives or my friends and, oh, so many we have got, relationship with this material world... And everyone is working to satisfy his relatives. A family man is working so hard because he has to satisfy his wife, children, friends and so many other person. But one should be conscious that "These friends and relatives, they cannot protect me ultimately. They are... Neither I can protect them, nor they can protect me.'' You see?
Everyone responsible. Everyone is responsible for his own activity. Besides that... Now, suppose if I am constructing a high building, skyscrapers—just like you have got very good experience in this country—if somebody asks me that "Why you are building so high building? What is the reason?'' and if I answer, "Just to set fire it it,'' then the..., the man will laugh: "You, simply for setting fire, you are spending so much money and building this high building for setting fire?'' "Yes.''
So this sort of answer is just like in our present activities. Now, of course, you take the dead bodies to the crematorium and, I mean to say, put into the grave. But India... In India, of course, there is graveyard for the Muhammadans and the Christians, but the Hindus, they burn the dead body. They burn the dead body. You see? In the Bhāgavata also, these three system are recorded, that the ultimate transformation of this body will be either ashes, stool or earth.
Woman: Earth...
Prabhupāda: Earth...
Woman:...stool...
Prabhupāda:...stool or ashes. How it is? Now, because after death, persons who burn the dead body, that is turned into ashes. This body, this beautiful body, will be turned into ashes. And those who bury in the graveyard, that will turn into...
[aside:] Oh, that is air. Don't disturb yourself. That is the air.
If we bury in the ground, gradually the body will turn into earth. And according to Iranian system, the body is thrown to the vultures. They eat it. So that will be turned into animal stool. You see? So that is the last stage of this body.
So everyone knows that everyone will die. Still, we are working so hard. We are making our bank balance, we are just making will and papers just to give protection to our family or to our children, and there is no time. Everyone is very busy in this. But he does not see that "All these, what I am doing, all these body ultimately become either ash or animal stool or turn into earth. So why I am taking so much trouble?"
Therefore the revealed scripture advises that "You have to maintain your body. That's all right. But for simply material comforts you should not devote time more than it is absolutely required." That means don't increase your bodily necessities. Don't increase your bodily necessities.
That was the standard of Indian civilization. They did not, the sages and saints, they did not advise to increase the necessities of the body. They, I mean to say, planned the social system in such a way that people should be satisfied only for..., by the bare necessities of life. We require some eating, we require some sleeping, or shelter place, and we require some sense gratification and we require some protection from enemies.
[aside:] Yes? Come. Ah-hah! Ah, ah-hah, ah-hah! [indistinct name] Come in. Come in. [end]
Prabhupada commentary
5Bhajahū re mana, śrī-nanda-nandana-abhaya-caraṅāravinda re. This is a song composed by Govinda dāsa, a great poet and Vaiṣṅava. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that if you have your mind controlled, then your mind is the best friend. But if your mind is uncontrolled, then he is your greatest enemy. So we are seeking after friend or enemy. So both of them are sitting with me. If we can utilize the friendship of the mind, then we are elevated to the highest perfectional stage. But if we create mind as my enemy, then my path to hell is clear.
Therefore Govinda dāsa Ṭhākura, he is addressing his mind. The yogis try to control the mind by different gymnastic process. That is also approved. But it takes a long time, and sometimes there are failures. In most cases they are failures. Even a big yogi like Viśvāmitra, he also failed, what to speak of these teeny and nonsensical yogis.
So Govinda dāsa advises that "You just engage your mind in Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Then mind becomes automatically controlled.'' If the mind has no chance of being engaged in any other business except Kṛṣṅa consciousness, then he cannot become my enemy. It is automatically my friend. That is the instruction in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṅa-padāravindayoḥ [SB 9.4.18].
[Mahārāja Ambarīṣa always engaged his mind in meditating upon the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa, his words in describing the glories of the Lord, his hands in cleansing the Lord's temple, and his ears in hearing the words spoken by Kṛṣṅa or about Kṛṣṅa. He engaged his eyes in seeing the Deity of Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa's temples and Kṛṣṅa's places like Mathurā and Vṛndāvana, he engaged his sense of touch in touching the bodies of the Lord's devotees, he engaged his sense of smell in smelling the fragrance of tulasī offered to the Lord, and he engaged his tongue in tasting the Lord's prasāda. He engaged his legs in walking to the holy places and temples of the Lord, his head in bowing down before the Lord, and all his desires in serving the Lord, twenty-four hours a day. Indeed, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa never desired anything for his own sense gratification. He engaged all his senses in devotional service, in various engagements related to the Lord. This is the way to increase attachment for the Lord and be completely free from all material desires.]
Lord, King Ambarīṣa, he first of all engaged his mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa. So similarly, here also, Govinda dāsa Ṭhākura, he is asking his mind: "My dear mind, you just engage yourself to the lotus feet of abhaya-caraṅāravinda.'' That is the name of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa. Abhaya means fearless.