Harer Namashtakam 6: The misfortune of missing the fortune

aho duhkham maha-duhkham
duhkhad duhkhataram yatah
kacartham vismritam ratna-
harer namaiva kevalam

SYNONYMS

Aho! What a sorrow, what a great sorrow! More painful than any other misery in the world! Mistaking it as a mere piece of glass, the people have forgotten this jewel—The holy name of Shri Hari alone is everything.

Oh!   What a sorrow, what a great sorrow, more painful than any other misery in the world,  taking it as a mad  mere piece of glass, people have forgotten this jewel, the holy name of Sri Hari, alone it is everything.  Srila Prabhupada would say that the greatest misfortune is to get a fortune and to  lose it because we do not recognize it . In this world  there are so many stories  about how a son of a wealthy person  had a treasure with him in his own backyard but not knowing about it,  lived as a pauper.  This story actually applies to all of us, seekers, when we sit down to chant the holy name, the treasure is actually right in front of us, available to us, but we are not recognizing its value.  We neglect it.  We let our mind carry us away in hundreds of trivial directions which very often lead to no practical result.  Even if on few occasions they lead to practical results,  those results over a period of time are exposed as unimportant  when compared to the ultimate result  which we can get by remembering Krishna and serving  him, i.e. when he manifests himself in the holy name.  The  holy name is the supreme jewel, the crest jewel of all jewels, because it can offer that, which no other jewel can offer. The jewels of this world can only  bestow   wealth upon us, but they cannot offer any illumination to the soul. They can  never offer any satisfaction to the soul. They may  give some titillation to the mind and the ego but no jewel can offer true illumination or satisfaction to the soul. The holy name alone can  bestow that. The  holy name is the jewel not because it is so precious and it can offer something which nothing else can offer, but the holy name is itself Krishna.  The holy name is non-different from Krishna.   Kulashekar Maharaja, a South Indian King who was a great devotee of Lord Krishna,says that Krishna is the supreme jewel, in his prayers where he is comparing Krishna in various ways to different kinds of jewels.  Hence the jewel which we have got is something very special, which because it is so common and so easily accessible to us, we fail to realize its value. That’s why contemplating on its glories from the philosophical  perspective and remembering its  glories as  they manifest through the pastimes, where the holy name has come to the rescue of many many souls in danger we can make our dull and dumb mind recognize,  what it is neglecting as  a broken piece of glass is actually supreme jewel.  And if we force the mind to be attentive and  receptive to the holy name, gradually   the mind will start  recognizing the wealth and the treasure that the holy name is.  Then we will be saved from this great misfortune of neglecting the treasure and  we will realize that Krishna has given us the greatest fortune  which we would have never got in our  lives, i.e.   he has given  himself to each one of us through the  holy name.

Hare Krishna

Thank You.