Shree Radha (Shyamaa) chants Shyam, Shyam and Shree Krishna (Shyam) chants Shyamaa, Shyamaa . Gopis of Braj chants both- Shyamaa and Shyam.
मनमानी तजु भज श्याम अरु श्यामा ।
जाने कब तनु छिन जाय कह बामा ॥(2)
Give up carelessness and remember Shyamaa and Shyam every moment. No one knows when death will snatch this human form from you.
मैं मैं मैं मैं काहे करे मूढ आठु यामा ।
अज जानि काल वृक भेजे यम धामा ॥(3)
O, fool! why do you keep saying "Main(I)", "Main(I)" like a goat, the wolf in the form of death is preparing to send you to the abode of Yama.
भुक्ति मुक्ति सुख सुख बैकुण्ठ धामा ।
तजु काम एक नाम रटु श्याम श्यामा ॥(4)
Chant the Names of Shyamaa Shyam alone, discarding all material desires up to the abode of Brahma, liberation and even for the opulence of Vaikuntha.
शुक के समान जनि रटु श्याम श्यामा ।
बक के समान ध्यान करु कह बामा ॥(5)
Just saying "Shyamaa" "Shyam" with tongue alone like a parrot without attaching your mind to the form of Radha Krishna will not do. Concentrating on Their Divine form like a crane is essential.
Contemplate, o mind, upon the Divine Beloved Krishna, the Son of Nand Maharaj.
Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Bhagvan Shankar joyfully contemplate upon the same blissful Lord, day and night.
He wears a charming crown ornamented with peacock plumes, and a golden cow-herding staff is present by His side, draped in dazzling silky yellow cloth. His curvaceous and alluring eyebrows are defying the beauty of even a perfectly-created bow.
His restless lotus eyes are darting sidelong glances upon the blessed souls, and His elegantly flying peetambar, the lovely yellow silky garment is flying mischeviously in the wind.
With a tender bewitching smile upon His seductive lips, He is walking gracefully, putting to shame the intoxicated walk of a maddened young royal elephant.
Says Shree ‘Kripalu,’ “O my mind! Meditate upon the Lord of sweetness, the connoisseur of Divine Passions, expertly frolicking ever in the sacred bowers of Vrindavan.”
Previously it was explained that the ignorant consider themselves to be the body and think of the world as theirs, while the wise consider themselves to be the soul and accept Shyamsundar (Shree Krishna) as theirs. The Vedas declare:
चिन्मात्रं श्री हरेरंशं सूक्ष्ममक्षरमव्ययम् ।
कृष्णाधीनमितिप्राहुर्जीवं ज्ञानगुणाश्रयम् ॥ (Ved)
“The soul is an eternal fraction of God, and its inherent nature is to serve Him.” This truth has been told to us innumerable times in infinite lives, yet we have not understood it. We have heard a lot, read a lot, nodded our heads in agreement, and even claimed to understand, but we have not accepted the truth from within. In the course of innumerable past lifetimes, we have formed such a strong habit of accepting the world as ours that now we are unable to break the habit. It is not that we stubbornly insist on accepting worldly people as our own, and denying our true relationship with Shree Krishna. No! It is just that we are so attached to the world that even though we know the truth, we fail to admit it. This is our greatest misfortune. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has used the very word “misfortune” to describe our predicament:
नान्नामकारि बहुधा निजसर्वशक्तिस्तत्रार्पिता नियमितः स्मरणे न कालः।
This is our misfortune! Innumerable times we have met Saints and descensions of God; we have listened to their discourses; we have even written commentaries on the scriptures. Yes, all of us have, many, many times. We have occupied the seat of Indra, the king of heaven. We have acquired every kind of knowledge. There is only one thing we have not done: we have not accepted Shyamsundar as ours. I explained the reason for this - and I hope you not have forgotten - that the deep-rooted habit of looking at the world as ours, acts as an obstacle. You may have heard the story of the Hindu who converted to Islam. The Maulavi instructed him, “You must utter the name of Allah from now on. No more Ram and Shyam.” The man replied, “Yes, of course. Now that I am a Muslim, I will only utter the name of Allah.” However, when he awoke the next morning, he yawned, saying, “O Ram!” He forgot that he was now a Muslim. The Maulavi chided him, “Why are you still saying Ram? Did you forget what you promised yesterday?” The man replied, “Maulavi Sahib! Ram has resided in my heart for the past 42 years. Allah came in only yesterday. How can I forget Ram so quickly?” See how difficult it is to erase an attachment of forty-two years. And the world has been living in our heart since time immemorial. It will not leave suddenly, as a result of listening to the discourses of a couple of Saints. We will have to do much more to get it out of our mind. We will have to practice devotion. This is, after all, the reason why you people have come here.
A devotee who has understood his Divine relationship with Shree Krishna, says, “O Shyamsundar (Krishna)! Now I understand…” This implies that there is something being understood now which was not understood earlier. What is that? It is the only thing that needs to be understood, and that is, “You are mine and I am Yours.” There is no need to acquire a lot of other knowledge. This is all we need to know, and yet it has taken us countless lifetimes to accept that Shyamsundar is ours and we are Shyamsundar’s. If we had understood this or if we ever manage to understand this in the future, then there will be nothing further to be known or attained.
This means, we must accept in our heart and mind that Shyamsundar is ours. Even in the world, we accept people as ours in order to fulfill our selfish desires. A boy comes from one place and a
girl from another. They circle the sacred fire seven times and become husband and wife. They had not known each other previously but now feel intimately related. A deep attachment develops simply by accepting one another. You know how far such attachments can go. We read love-stories of Laila-Majnu and Sheeri-Farhad. Their intense love was the consequence of mental acceptance of their relationship. It was not as if Laila and Majnu were born with deep love for one another. No, their love developed over time. And it developed because they accepted a deep relationship with one another.
Chant the glories of darling daughter of Shree Brishvanuji Spend twenty four hours, contemplating on Her Lotus Feet Shed tears day and night, chanting Her name
Keep on visiting Her eternal abode, Barsana Dham
Listen and relate Her all pious dispositions
Endow yourself with sweet nectar of love propagated by Her gracious saints, says Shree Kripaluji Maharaj
