Govinda Damodara Stotra 56: The holy name is the shelter beyond pleasure and pain

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Govinda Damodara Sutra, verse 56 Sukha Vasane, Dvaitame Vasaram, Dukha Vasane, Dvaitame Vagevam, Deha Vasane, Dvaitame Vajapyam, Govinda Damodara Madhaveti Sukha Vasane, Vasane means to end or stop, conclude. Dvaitame Vasaram, that this is the essence of the happiness that one gets where one gives up material enjoyment. Sukha here refers to material enjoyment.
So actually we seek pleasure in so many different ways in life but all those endeavours ultimately lead to disappointment at best and frustration at worst. If we don’t get it we are frustrated, if we get it it ends soon and that’s why we are disappointed. But when we give up all material efforts for happiness then we can realize that actually the highest happiness is available in the holy name.
This can also work conversely for us that even when we have not yet given up material enjoyment but by striving to take shelter of the holy name and to experience spiritual happiness in the remembrance of Krishna by chanting we will come to the level of Sukha Vasane that by experiencing the higher taste we will give up the lower taste. So here Bilvamangal Thakur is telling that this is the highest taste that remains when all other tastes go away. All other tastes are seen to be futile but we can also use this higher taste to realize the futility of all lower tastes.
Then Dukha Vasane Dvaitame Vageyam. So after all miseries end and the souls are liberated in spiritual existence beyond the miseries of samsara, at that time they are always chanting the holy names and absorbing themselves in remembrance of Krishna. So this holy name is not just a tool that we use to do something higher or more important.
The holy name is what we will be serving eternally. Of course we will be serving Krishna in other ways also in the spiritual world but our service to the holy name will also continue eternally. And similarly at one level the holy name is what we will be taking shelter of and serving after all the miseries have ended.
But even now when the miseries are there we can strive to end those miseries or go beyond those miseries by taking shelter of the holy name. When we absorb ourselves prayerfully in the chanting of the holy name, our past karma gets burned and that’s how many of our miseries end. But some of the miseries may still continue and absorption in the holy name can enable us to go deeper and transcend those miseries.
So again the holy name is what we will relish after we transcend all miseries and the holy name is what we can relish so that we can transcend all miseries and put an end to them. And this way if we can avoid the distractions of pleasure and pain during our bodily existence then at the moment of death the holy name will be our shelter. Krishna will be available for us as the holy name and we will absorb ourselves in the remembrance of Krishna through chanting and in that way our bodily existence will come to a successful and glorious end.
So if we remember that actually this holy name is what I will have to chant at the moment of death and that moment is going to be much more difficult than the moment that I am trying to chant now during my japa. Therefore let me prepare for that moment. This holy name is the shelter and I’m preparing for that ultimate shelter by this practice.
Govinda Damodara Madhaveti. So let