Verse 2.8.19-021

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 2.8.19-021:

`মোর গোপ্য নিত্যানন্দ’, জানিলা সে তুমি তোমারে সন্তুষ্ট হঞা বর দিযে আমি “যদি লক্ষ্মী ভিক্ষা করে নগরে নগরে তথাপি দারিদ্র্য তোর নহিবেক ঘরে বিডাল-কুক্কুর-আদি তোমার বাডীর সবার আমাতে ভক্তি হৈবেক স্থির ॥ ১৯-০২১ ॥

`मोर गोप्य नित्यानन्द’, जानिला से तुमि तोमारे सन्तुष्ट हञा वर दिये आमि “यदि लक्ष्मी भिक्षा करे नगरे नगरे तथापि दारिद्र्य तोर नहिबेक घरे विडाल-कुक्कुर-आदि तोमार बाडीर सबार आमाते भक्ति हैबेक स्थिर ॥ १९-०२१ ॥

`mora gopya nityānanda’, jānilā se tumi tomāre santuṣṭa hañā vara diye āmi “yadi lakṣmī bhikṣā kare nagare nagare tathāpi dāridrya tora nahibeka ghare viḍāla-kukkura-ādi tomāra bāḍīra sabāra āmāte bhakti haibeka sthira || 19-021 ||

`mora gopya nityananda’, janila se tumi tomare santusta hana vara diye ami “yadi laksmi bhiksa kare nagare nagare tathapi daridrya tora nahibeka ghare vidala-kukkura-adi tomara badira sabara amate bhakti haibeka sthira (19-021)

English translation:

(19-021) “You have understood My confidential associate Nityānanda. Therefore I am most pleased with you and desire to give you a benediction. Even if Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, begs alms from door to door, you will never be afflicted with poverty. Everyone in your house, including the dogs and cats, will have unflinching

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

devotion for Me.

“Nityānanda Prabhu is completely under My (Gaurasundara’s) protection. Since you (Śrīvāsa) know this, there is no limit to My satisfaction. If the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmīdevī, who resides on the chest of Nārāyaṇa, the Lord of six opulences, becomes bereft of her opulences and due to poverty begs from door to door, still, by the influence of Nārāyaṇī, you will never experience any situation like `need.’ The characteristics of devotional service to the Lord are manifest in you in such a way that the nondevotees’ worries about worldly needs will never bother you.

Therefore even if Lakṣmīdevī, who awards prosperity and wealth, ever experiences need, you will not experience any need. Your service propensity towards the Supreme Lord is so strong that what to speak of you and your relatives, even the domestic animals like the cats and dogs in your house will have unflinching devotion for Me.” The great sage Ālabandāru said, “Even if by the will of the Lord I have to take birth again in this material world, let me have the association of the devotees by taking birth as a dog, cat, or insect in a devotee’s house.” King Kulaśekhara said, “If I get an opportunity to associate with persons who are fully engaged in the devotional service of the Lord birth after birth, then I will not even accept liberation.” The influence of the association of the Lord’s devotees is such that if even low-born living entities get the slightest amount of such association, their inclination towards the service of the Lord is awakened. One Vaiṣṇava has sung:

vaiṣṇavera gṛhe yadi haitāma kukkura eṅṭho diyā tarāitena vaiṣṇava ṭhākura

“If I were the dog in the house of a Vaiṣṇava, then he would have delivered me by giving me his remnants.”