mādhava! bahuta minati karo̐ toya
By Śrī Vidyāpati
মাধব ! বহুত মিনতি করোঁ তোয় ।
দেই তুলসী তিল দেহ সমর্পিলুঁ
দয়া জনি ছোড়বি মোয় ॥১॥
mādhava! bahuta minati karo̐ toya |
dei tulasī tila deha samarpilu̐
dayā jani chhāḍabi moya ||1||
O Mādhava, making numerous earnest prayers, with sesame and tulasī I have offered my body to you. Please do not withdraw your grace from me.
bahuta minati karo̐: “Making numerous earnest prayers.” This is to say, “I have realised the faults in my ways and now, free from the pride of thinking myself self-sufficient, I humbly approach you for shelter.”
dei tulasī tila: “With sesame and tulasī.” Sesame seeds are traditionally used in offerings made during the performance of last rites for a departed relative. Tulasī is offered only to Śrī Bhagavān [i.e., it is considered inappropriate to offer tulasī to any other devatā or object of worship unless the offering being made is as an offering Bhagavān’s prasādam to the recipeint] and is offered to him because it is known to be most dear to him. Thus, the author saying he has offered his body with sesame implies that he has offered his body once and for all as a final and permanent transference which cannot be taken back, and his offering his body also with tulasī implies he has offered his body as an act of worship for Bhagavān’s pleasure.
dayā janu chhāḍabi moya: “Please do not withdraw your grace from me.” This is to say, “Indeed you have already been gracious to me, but I have not properly reciprocated with your grace. Still, please continue to be gracious to me.”
গণইতে দোষ গুণলেশ ন পাওবি
যব তুহুঁ করবি বিচার ।
তুহুঁ জগন্নাথ জগতে কহায়সি
জগ বাহির নহোঁ মুঞি ছার ॥২॥
gaṇa-ite doṣa guṇa-leśa na pāobi
yaba tuhu̐ karabi vichāra |
tuhu̐ jagannātha jagate kahāyasi
jaga-bāhira naho̐ muñi chhāra ||2||
When you judge me, as you count my faults, you will not find even a trace of any qualities. You are said throughout the universe to be the Lord of the universe. I am contemptible, but I am not outside of this universe.
gaṇa-ite … pāobi: “As you count my faults, you will not find even a trace of any qualities.” This is to say, “I have committed countless sin and offences, and I have no qualification for your grace or deliverance. Still, I beg this of you.”
jagannātha: “The Lord of the universe.” Nātha means ‘Lord’ here in the sense of a guardian and responsible maintainer.
jaga-bāhira naho̐: “I am not outside of this universe.” This is to say, “As sinful as I may be, I am dependent on your guardianship because I am part of this universe. Our natural relationship is that of the maintainer and the maintained, and maintainer ought not take offense at the maintained.”
কিয়ে মানুষ পশু পাখিয়ে জনমিয়ে
অথবা কীট পতঙ্গে ।
করম বিপাকে গতাগতি পুনঃ পুনঃ
মতি রহু তুয়া পরসঙ্গে ॥৩॥
kiye mānuṣa paśu pākhiye janamiye
athavā kīṭa pataṅge |
karama vipāke gatāgati puna puna
mati rahu tuyā parasaṅge ||3||
As I come and go again and again, taking birth as a human or an animal, or a bird, or [even] as a worm or insect, as a result of my karma, let my mind remain fixed in attachment to you.
kiye mānuṣa …pataṅge: “Taking birth as a human or … an insect.” This is to say, “Let me undergo the reactions due to me for my previous actions, but let me not be deprived of your grace in the form of being ever conscious of you.” Similar prayers:
tad astu me nātha sa bhūri-bhāgo
bhave’tra vānyatra tu vā tiraścām |
yenāham eko’pi bhavaj-janānāṁ
bhūtvā niṣeve tava pāda-pallavam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.14.30)
“O Lord! In this birth or in another, even as an animal, let me attain the great fortune of becoming one of your devotees and serving your blossom-like feet.”
tava dāsya-sukhaika saṅgināṁ
bhavaneṣv astv api kīṭa-janma me |
itarāv asatheṣu mā sma bhūd
api me janma caturmukhātmanā ||
(Śrī Stotra-ratna: 55)
“Let me take birth, even as a worm, in the home of those whose sole happiness is your service. Let me never take birth, even as Brahmā, among those who are averse to you.”
ভণয়ে বিদ্যাপতি অতিশয় কাতর
তরইতে ইহ ভবসিন্ধু ।
তুয়া পদপল্লব করি অবলম্বন
তিল এক দেহ দীনবন্ধু ॥৪॥
bhaṇaye vidyāpati atiśaya kātara
tara-ite iha bhava-sindhu |
tuyā pada-pallava kari avalambana
tila eka deha dīna-bandhu ||4||
Vidyāpati says, “I am greatly distressed, and to be delivered from this ocean of material existence, I grasp your blossom-like feet. O Friend of the fallen, please give me one sesame seed of shelter.”
tila eka deha: “Please give me one sesame seed of shelter.” Here sesame seed means a particle, even the tiniest fraction. This is to say, “I pray with all sincerity for your shelter in even the most minute form as I feel that to be the highest end I am fit to aspire for and to be an attainment of infinite fulfilling prospect.”
Meter
Tripadī
Source
Pada-kalpa-taru: 4.34.33 (3017)