Category: Śrī Śikṣāṣṭakam

Invitation to love

O Lord of the universe! I do not want wealth, followers or vain companions, a beautiful woman or the enjoyment of beautiful poetry! All I want is causeless devotion unto You, birth after birth!

Śrī Śikṣāṣṭakam, Verse 4

Witnesses tell us that as a young man, Lord Caitanya—then known by his childhood name, Vishvambhara—was devoted to Vedic learning. Even at this young age, he distinguished himself as a brilliant scholar.

But around the age of 22 a new chapter came. He travelled from his birthplace in Navadvīpa to Gayā, where he met and took initiation from Īśvara Purī. When he returned to his hometown shortly afterward, he was transformed. His new life became centred around one activity: inspiring devotees by leading harināma-saṅkīrtana—the devotional chanting of the name of God. 

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Neither wished for nor glorified

The holy name of Lord Hari should always be chanted in great humility. One
should think oneself to be lower than a blade of grass, one should be as tolerant as
a tree, one must offer all honour to others and one should never expect any honour
for oneself.

Śrī Śikṣāṣṭakam, Verse 3

The third verse of the Śikṣāṣṭakam describes and instructs that we should be ‘always chanting Hari’ (kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ). This chanting is to be performed with three key qualities: humility (sunīcena), tolerance (sahiṣṇunā), and selflessness (amāninā). 

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A taste for chanting

O Lord! You have given us many names of Yours to chant, investing them with all Your transcendental power, and there are no strict regulations as to when to chant or remember these names. Such is Your mercy, O Lord, but I am so unfortunate that I have not taste for this chanting.

Śrī Śikṣāṣṭakam, Verse 2

The Vedic story of the cosmic birth tells that at its creation the universe takes the form of sound. The purest energy of sound was not created and will never perish. It is an eternal vibration. It precedes the creation and will forever outlast it. The Truth of the universe is this sound vibration. Not because it is a message of truth about what is already there. But because this sonic energy, this Truth, is reality itself. 

According to the Vedic story, the ancient ṛṣis, the enlightened seers and seekers of the Vedic tradition, entered into states of profound meditation, tuned their souls to the vibrations of the cosmos and heard these eternal sounds. 

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Through dying flames, the moonlight

All glories to the congregational chanting of Ṡri Kṛṣṇa’s holy name, which cleanses the mirror of the heart and mind, which extinguishes the forest fire of material existence, which spreads moonlight on the white lotus of good fortune, which is the life of the bride named transcendental knowledge, which increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, which makes us relish full nectar at every step and which thus showers the whole self? 

Śrī Śikṣāṣṭakam, Verse 1 

The first verse of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s Śrī Śikṣāṣṭakam embodies all of Bhakti. In it, thought becomes feeling, then feeling becomes reality itself.

The stirrings of the first verse are a call to the self, to the soul. Our better self, our purer self, awaits us behind the mask of our egoism. Reaching it, reaching ourselves, is possible through sankirtan, the power and pleasure of congregational chanting. 

But to fully enjoy sankirtan, we must first remember how Caitanya Mahāprabhu made it a gift to humanity. 

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