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Song Lyrics: Ceto Darpana Marjanam

Purport Author: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

 

ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaḿ

śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaḿ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam

ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaḿ prati-padaḿ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaḿ

sarvātma-snapanaḿ paraḿ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-sańkīrtanam

 

Lord Caitanya gave us eight stanzas of His mission, what He wanted to do. They are explained in eight stanzas, and they are known as Sikṣāṣṭaka. Sikṣā means instruction, and āṣṭaka means eight. So in eight stanzas He has finished his instruction, and His next disciples, the six Gosvāmīs, have explained them in volumes of books. So Lord Caitanya says the subject is paraḿ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṇkīrtanam: all glories to the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra or Kṛṣṇa saṇkīrtan movement. All glories. All victory. How it is victory, all victory? That He explains, that ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. If you chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, then the dirty things which have accumulated in your heart due to material contamination will be cleared off. He gives the example that the heart is just like a mirror. If on the mirror there are heaps of dust accumulated, then one cannot see the real face by the reflection of the mirror. Therefore, it should be cleansed. So in our present conditional life, our heart is overloaded with so much dust accumulated due to our material association from time immemorial. So if we chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, then the dust will be removed. Even not immediately, it will begin to be removed. And as soon as the mirror of the heart is cleansed of all dust, immediately one can see the face what he is. That face means real identification. By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, one will understand that he is not this body. This is our misconception. The dust means this misconception, accepting this body or the mind as self. Actually, we are not this body or the mind. We are spirit soul. So as soon as we can understand that we are not these bodies, immediately bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam. The blazing fire of material conditions, or the blazing fire of material miseries, immediately becomes dissipated. No more misery. Ahaḿ brahmāsmi. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā. Immediately one understands his real identification as spirit soul, he becomes joyful. We are not joyful. Due to our material contact, we are always full of anxieties. By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, we shall immediately come to the stage of joyful life. Bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam. And this is called liberation. When one becomes joyful, free from all anxieties, that stage is actual liberation because every living creature, the spirit soul is by nature joyful. The whole struggle for existence is that he is searching after that joyful stage of life, but he missing the point. Therefore, in every effort for joyful life we are being defeated. This constant defeat can be overcome immediately by chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. That is the effect of this transcendental vibration. And after liberation, after being joyful, the material joys decreases. Whatever joy you want to enjoy, that decreases. Take, for example, for eating. If we want to eat some nice foodstuff, after eating a few morsels of food we do not like to take any more. That means here in the material world, whatever joy we accept, it will decrease. But spiritual joy, Lord Caitanya says ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam, the spiritual joy is just like ocean. But here in the material world, we have got experience that ocean does not increase. Ocean remains within its limit. But the ocean of spiritual joyfulness increases. Anandāmbudhi-vardhanam. Sreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇam. How it increases? He is giving the example like the moon, rising moon. As the waxing moon. As the moon from the day of new moon, new moon night, the first day it is just like a small curved line. But second day, third day it increases, gradually it increases. Similarly, the spiritual life, the spiritual joyful life increases like the moon rays day after day, day after day, till it reaches the full moon night, yes. So ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam, śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇam vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam. And the life then becomes full of knowledge because spiritual life means eternal life, full of bliss and full of knowledge. So we increase our volumes of joy because proportionately we increase the volume of our knowledge. Sreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaḿ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam, ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaḿ. It is just like a ocean, but still it increases. Anandāmbudhi-vardhanaḿ, sarvātma-snapanaḿ. It is so nice that once situated in this state of life, one thinks that "I am fully satisfied." Sarvātma-snapanaḿ. Just like if one takes bath dipping into the water, he feels refreshed immediately. Similarly, this spiritual life increasing joys day after day makes one feeling that he is fully satisfied.

 

UPDATED: April 1, 2009