Verse 1.16.172

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.16.172:

তবে হরিদাস গঙ্গা-তীরে গোফা করি’ থাকেন বিরলে অহর্-নিশ কৃষ্ণ স্মরি’ ॥ ১৭২ ॥

तबे हरिदास गङ्गा-तीरे गोफा करि’ थाकेन विरले अहर्-निश कृष्ण स्मरि’ ॥ १७२ ॥

tabe haridāsa gaṅgā-tīre gophā kari’ thākena virale ahar-niśa kṛṣṇa smari’ || 172 ||

tabe haridasa ganga-tire gopha kari’ thakena virale ahar-nisa krsna smari’ (172)

English translation:

(172) Then Haridāsa went and found a cave on the bank of the Ganges. He remembered Kṛṣṇa day and night as he resided alone in the cave.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

While remaining in a solitary cave on the bank of the Ganges at Phuliyā, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya loudly chanted the names of Kṛṣṇa and passed his days and nights remembering the pastimes of the Lord. Sometimes he would chant the sixteen name, thirty-two syllable, mahā-mantra loudly, and sometimes he would chant softly. Every day he would complete the chanting of three hundred thousand holy names, or in a year he would chant one hundred million names of Hari. Many people consider chanting the names of Kṛṣṇa in a solitary place in the category of upāṃśu-japa, or “chanting very softly.” They say that this mahā-mantra, or chanting the holy names of the Lord, should not be heard by others; only the person who is chanting should hear. If the lips move, or if the holy names are recited, then the names of Kṛṣṇa will automatically be heard by others.

But if one lacks faith in the Vaiṣṇavas who chant the holy names of the Lord, then by the influence of Kali he may dare to quarrel with those Vaiṣṇava chanters. Whenever the pure names of the Lord are glorified and chanted by sadhus who have taken full shelter of the names, and those names do not enter the ears of others, it is called nirjana-bhajana. Such chanting of the names of Hari in a solitary place is intended only for one’s own benefit, therefore such chanting yields no benefit for others.

Even if the fixed number of holy names regularly chanted by a person who is inclined to the service of the Lord are chanted in a solitary place, faithful persons may still take advantage by secretly hearing from a distance. On the platform of madhyama-adhikāra, one may have to associate with worldly people while preaching the holy names in the course of jīve-dayā, showing compassion to the living entities, but since he preaches the holy names with utmost attention, he does not become

affected by the sinful reactions of the audience, rather he distributes mercy by removing the contamination of their sinful reactions. If while chanting the holy names of the Lord with his many disciples a madhyama-adhikārī becomes more or less affected by the reactions of their karma, then his falldown is assured. According to the statement, jīvan-muktā api punar yānti saṃsāra-vāsanām—“A person considered liberated in this life can again fall down and desire the material atmosphere for material enjoyment,” even a madhyama-adhikārī chanter of the holy names can again fall down into material existence. That is why mundane pride in the form of worldly association and accepting many disciples simply produces ku-phala, or evil results. While describing the topics of Haridāsa Ṭhākura’s devotional service, the injunction for loudly chanting and attentively hearing the holy names has been prescribed for practitioners who desire their own welfare in order to deliver from great inauspiciousness those who mistakenly consider satisfying their own senses as satisfying Hari while remaining busy in activities of sense gratification such as accepting many disciples like the immature yogis.

śṛṇvataḥ śraddhayā nityaṃ gṛṇataś ca sva-ceṣṭitam kālena nātidīrgheṇa bhagavān viśate hṛdi

“Persons who hear Śrīmad Bhāgavatam regularly and are always taking the matter very seriously will have the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa manifested in their hearts within a short time.” According to the purport of this verse from Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (2.8.4), Ṭhākura Mahāśaya, who is jagad-guru, Vaiṣṇava ācārya, and best of the liberated souls, has taught people in general the process of remembering the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa while personally chanting and hearing the holy names of Kṛṣṇa in the course of realizing that Kṛṣṇa is nondifferent from His names, forms, qualities, associates, paraphernalia, and pastimes. Those who give up hearing and loud chanting of the holy names received from the mouths of devotees free from nāma-aparādha and in order to gratify their senses

display artificial imitation of remembering the pastimes of the Lord in their impure, enjoyment prone hearts—their attempts to imitate remembrance of the Lord’s pastimes in this way is simply thirst for material enjoyment born from aversion to the Lord.