SLOKA OF THE WEEK:

Mukunda-mālā-stotra 3
mukunda mūrdhnā praṇipatya yāce
bhavantam ekāntam iyantam
artham avismṛtis tvac-caraṇāravinde
bhave bhave me 'stu bhavat-prasādāt

mukunda — O Lord Mukunda; mūrdhnā — with my head; praṇipatya — bowing down; yāce — I respectfully beg; bhavantam — from You; ekāntam — exclusively; iyantam — this much; artham — desire to be fulfilled; avismṛtiḥ — freedom from forgetfulness; tvat — Your; caraṇa-aravinde — at the lotus feet; bhave bhave — in each repeated birth; me — my; astu — let there be; bhavat — Your; prasādāt — by the mercy.

TRANSLATION

O Lord Mukunda! I bow down my head to Your Lordship and respectfully ask You to fulfill this one desire of mine: that in each of my future births I will, by Your Lordship's mercy, always remember and never forget Your lotus feet.

JOURNAL:

We have made it through the entire Bhagavad Gita although there are some holes and missing slokas. From here on out I will be jumping around a bit filling in those missing slokas.

SLOKA OF THE WEEK:

Mukunda-mālā-stotra 26
tattvaḿ bruvāṇāni paraḿ parastān
madhu kṣarantīva mudāvahāni
prāvartaya prāñjalir asmi jihve
nāmāni nārāyaṇa-gocarāṇi

tattvam — the truth; bruvāṇāni — which speak; param — supreme; parastāt — beyond everything superior; madhu — honey; kṣaranti — dripping; iva — as if; mudā — joy; avahāni — bringing; prāvartaya — please recite; prāñjaliḥ — with joined palms; asmi — I am; jihve — O tongue; nāmāni — the names; nārāyaṇa-gocarāṇi — which refer to Lord Nārāyaṇa.

TRANSLATION

My dear tongue, I stand before you with joined palms and beg you to recite the names of Lord Nārāyaṇa. These names describing the Supreme Absolute Truth bring great pleasure, as if exuding honey.

JOURNAL:

In his purport Satsvarupa das Goswami writes; The honey within the holy name is remembrance of Kṛṣṇa. That is why chanting the name brings ecstasy. As Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, "The more one chants the names of Kṛṣṇa, the more one becomes attached. Thus service by śravaṇa and kīrtana, hearing and chanting about Kṛṣṇa, is the beginning. The next process is smaraṇa — always remembering Kṛṣṇa. When one is perfect in hearing and chanting, he will always remember Kṛṣṇa. In this third stage he becomes the greatest yogī" (The Matchless Gift, p. 89).

SLOKA OF THE WEEK:

Mukunda-mālā-stotra 8
kara-caraṇa-saroje kāntiman-netra-mīne
śrama-muṣi bhuja-vīci-vyākule 'gādha-mārge
hari-sarasi vigāhyāpīya tejo-jalaughaḿ
bhava-maru-parikhinnaḥ kleśam adya tyajāmi

kara — hands; caraṇa — and feet; saroje — whose lotuses; kānti-mat — shining; netra — eyes; mīne — whose fish; śrama —exhaustion; muṣi — robbing; bhuja — of arms; vīci — by waves; vyākule — agitated; agādha — fathomless; mārge — whose movement; hari — of Lord Hari; sarasi — in the lake; vigāhya —by diving; āpīya — drinking fully; tejaḥ — of His splendor; jala —of water; ogham — the flood; bhava — of material existence; maru — in the desert; parikhinnaḥ — worn out; kleśam —distress; adya —today; tyajāmi —I will abandon.

TRANSLATION

The desert of material existence has exhausted me. But today I will cast aside all troubles by diving into the lake of Lord Hari and drinking freely of the abundant waters of His splendor. The lotuses in that lake are His hands and feet, and the fish are His brilliant shining eyes. That lake's water relieves all fatigue and is agitated by the waves His arms create. Its current flows deep beyond fathoming.

(Devahuti Under Water by Jadurani Dasi)

Nara-Narayana Rishi Humbles Cupid by Dirgha Dasi

SLOKA OF THE WEEK:

Mukunda-mālā-stotra 22
O Cupid, abandon your residence in my mind, which is now the home of Lord Mukunda's lotus feet. You have already been incinerated by Lord Śiva's fiery glance, so why have you forgotten the power of Lord Murāri's disc?

JOURNAL:

How do you fall out of love?

I have been separated from my wife, who I married in 1994, for over a year now. Yet, I'm still in love with her. I know she is no good for me; she drinks, she teases me about my faith while having none of her own, and she thinks that steak is the best form of food given to man. Yet still, I seem to be in love with her.

I have been visiting the family once a week. In the future I think I need to ask my son to come to my place instead. At least then I won't be reminded each week of what I use to be or how easy it was for her to write me off.

Later

That last bit was mean on my part. I must strive more for the retired life and the attitude that is cultivated with it.

SLOKA OF THE WEEK:

Mukunda-mālā-stotra 7
cintayāmi harim eva santataḿ
manda-hāsa-muditānanāmbujam
nanda-gopa-tanayaḿ parāt paraḿ
nāradādi-muni-vṛnda-vanditam

cintayāmi — I think; harim — about Lord Hari; eva — indeed; santatam — always; manda — gentle; hāsa — with a smile; mudita — joyful; ānana-ambujam — whose lotus face; nanda-gopa — of the cowherd Nanda; tanayam — the son; parāt param — the Supreme Absolute Truth; nārada-ādi — beginning with Nārada; muni-vṛnda — by all the sages; vanditam — worshiped.

TRANSLATION

I always think of Lord Hari, whose joyful lotus face bears a gentle smile. Although He is the son of the cowherd Nanda, He is also the Supreme Absolute Truth worshiped by great sages like Nārada.

JOURNAL:

This is a sloka from a collection of prayers by King Kulaśekhara. Srila Prabhupada started translating this book, using a Sanskrit edition published by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in 1895, in the late 1950's but put it aside for other work. His decipile, Srila Satsvarupa das Goswami, took up the work on the request of the GBC and finished it in 1989.

In his purport Satsvarupa das Goswami writes; In this prayer King Kulaśekhara reveals himself to be at the stage of spontaneous love of God, in which the devotee goes beyond mere formal ceremonies and ritual recitations and thinks of Lord Hari always. This is the actual standard of happiness in devotional service. Such constant remembrance of the Lord is possible through constant chanting of His name. As Lord Caitanya recommends in His Śikṣāṣṭaka (3), kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ: [Cc. adi 17.31] "One should always chant the holy name of the Lord." In this way one will always be happy in the joy of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The Lord's happiness is always increasing, like an ever-expanding ocean (ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam), and the living entity is meant to dive into that ocean because his original nature is to be ever-blissful in contact with the Lord.