Sriman Nityananda Dvadasakam

Twelve Prayers Glorifying Sriman Nityananda Prabhu

by Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj

yo ’nanto ’nanta-vaktrair niravadhi hari-saṁkīrtanaṁ saṁvidhatte
yo vā dhatte dharitrīṁ śirasi niravadhi kṣudra-dhūlī-kaṇeva
yaḥ śeṣaś chhatra-śayyāsana-vasana-vidhaiḥ sevate te yad arthāḥ
śrī-nityānanda-chandraṁ bhaja bhaja satataṁ gaura-kṛṣṇa-pradaṁ tam [1]

(1) O my heart! Please eternally serve the lotus feet of that beautiful Sri Nityanandachandra, who gives us Gaura Krishna. It is He — Nityananda Prabhu — who in the form of Anantadev perpetually performs Hari-nam-kirtan with infinite mouths; He perpetually holds on His head the earth planet like an insignificant speck of dust; and He performs the divine service of His all-in-all, Krishna, as Sesadev Ananta, taking the forms of the Lord’s paraphernalia such as umbrella, bed, seat, and clothing.

aṁśair yaḥ kṣīraśāyī sakala bhuvanapaḥ sarva jīvāntarastho
yo vā garbhodaśāyī daśa-śata-vadano veda-sūktair vigītaḥ
bramāṇḍāśeṣa garbhā prakṛti-pati-patir jīva-saṅghāśrayāṅgaḥ
śrī-nityānanda-chandraṁ bhaja bhaja satataṁ gaura-kṛṣṇa-pradaṁ tam [2]

(2) O my heart! You please eternally serve Sri Nityanandachandra, who gives us Gaura Krishna. He maintains the entire universe in His expansion of Ksirodakasayi Visnu, residing in the hearts of all living beings; His glories are sung by the Vedic hymns as the Garbhodakasayi Visnu of thousands and thousands of heads — Sahasra-sirsa Purusah; within His womb (garbha) unlimited universes are situated; He is the Master of the Lord of material nature — Karanodakasayi Visnu — in whose womb unlimited universes are situated and by whom the entire multitude of souls are sheltered.

yasyāṁśo vyuha-madhye vilasati paramavyomni saṁkarṣaṇākhya
ātanvan śuddha-sattvaṁ nikhila-hari-sukhaṁ chetanaṁ līlayā cha
jīvāhaṅkāra-bhāvāspada iti kathitaḥ kutrachij jīvavad yaḥ
śrī-nityānanda-chandraṁ bhaja bhaja satataṁ gaura-kṛṣṇa-pradaṁ tam [3]

(3) O my heart, please eternally render divine service to that gracious giver of Gaura Krishna — Sri Nityanandachandra. In the great transcendental kingdom Paravyoma Vaikuntha He expands into the form of Sankarsan of the first quadruple expansion, in which form He ever expands the ecstasy of the divine Pastimes of Sri Hari in the conscious plane of pure existence (suddha-sattva); within the jivas He presides as the ego, and sometimes He shows His divine Pastimes just like an ordinary jiva.

yaś chādi vyuha-madhye prabhavati sagaṇo mūla-saṅkarṣaṇākhyo
dvārāvatyāṁ tad-ūrddhe madhupuri vasati prābhavākhyo vilāsaḥ
sarvāṁśī rāma-nāmā vrajapuri ramate sānujo yaḥ svarūpe
śrī-nityānanda-chandraṁ bhaja bhaja satataṁ gaura-kṛṣṇa-pradaṁ tam [4]

(4) O heart, please constantly serve the dust of the lotus feet of the gracious bestower of Gaura Krishna — Sri Nityanandachandra. It is He who presides in all His glory in Dvaraka with His transcendental associates, as the original all-attractive personality, Mul Sankarsan; above that plane, in Mathura He enjoys His Pastimes in the form known as prabhava-vilas; and in Vraja Puri, He is known as Balaram, the ultimate source of all incarnations, and He sportively plays with His younger brother, His all-in-all — Sri Krishna.

śrī-kṛṣṇa-premanāmā parama-sukhamayaḥ ko ’py achintyaḥ padārtho
yad gandhāt sajjanaughā nigama-bahumataṁ mokṣam apy ākṣipanti
kaivalyaiśvarya-sevā-prada-gaṇa iti yasyāṅgataḥ prema-dātuḥ
śrī-nityānanda-chandraṁ bhaja bhaja satataṁ gaura-kṛṣṇa-pradaṁ tam [5]

(5) My dear heart, please eternally worship that gracious giver of Gaura Krishna — Sri Nityanandachandra. It is He who bestows upon us pure unalloyed divine love for the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna (Sri Krishna-prema), composed of the most supreme and intense ecstasy. The love that He distributes carries an inconceivable import — it is of such ecstasy that the sadhus who may experience only a hint of its fragrance, hatefully cast away all thought of liberation in the ‘One’ as propounded in the Vedas. Furthermore, His Avatars, who bestow the divine love of service in the transcendental majesty of Vaikuntha, are but expansions of His expansion.

yo bālye līlayaikaḥ parama-madhurayā chaikachakrānagaryāṁ
mātā-pitror janānā matha nija-suhṛdāṁ hlādayaṁś chita-chakram
tīrthān vabhrāma sarvānupahṛta-janako nyāsinā prārthitaś cha
śrī-nityānanda-chandraṁ bhaja bhaja satataṁ gaura-kṛṣṇa-pradaṁ tam [6]

(6) O my dear heart! Please serve forever the lotus feet of that glorious giver of Gaura Krishna, who is known as Sri Nityanandachandra. When Lord Nityananda Prabhu was a small boy, He performed supremely sweet and charming Pastimes in the village of Ekachakra invoking the deepest heartfelt happiness in His mother, father, relatives, and close friends; and later after a sannyasi arrived at the house of young Nityananda and prayed to Hadai Pandit for his son, Lord Nityananda was placed in the hands of the travelling sadhu and wandered throughout the length and breadth of India visiting sacred places of pilgrimage.

bhrāmaṁ bhrāmañ cha tīrthān yati-mukuṭa-maṇi mādhavendra prasaṅgāt
labdhollāsaḥ pratikṣya prakaṭita-charitaṁ gaura-dhāmājagāma
śrī-gauraḥ śrīnivāsādibhir api yamāvāpālaye nandanasya
śrī-nityānanda-chandraṁ bhaja bhaja satataṁ gaura-kṛṣṇa-pradaṁ tam [7]

(7) Dear heart, please eternally serve the lotus feet of that wonderful Sri Nityanandachandra, who is the giver of Gaura Krishna! While wandering throughout the holy places, His heart was taken over with ecstasy by the association of the crown jewel of sannyasis Srila Madhavendra Puri, and He came to Gaura Dham, the holy abode of Sri Gauranga. There He waited at the house of Nandan Acharya for the self-revelation of the golden Lord Gaurasundar’s divine Pastimes with His associates headed by Srivas Thakur.

prāptājño gaura-chandrād akhila-jana-gaṇoddhāra-nāma-pradāne
yaḥ prāpya dvau surāpau kali-kaluṣa-hatau bhrātarau brahma-daityau
gāḍha-prema prakāśaiḥ kṛta-rudhira-vapuś chāpi tāv ujjahāra
śrī-nityānanda-chandraṁ bhaja bhaja satataṁ gaura-kṛṣṇa-pradaṁ tam [8]

(8) My heart, please constantly give thyself to the divine service of that gracious bestower of Gaura Krishna, Sri Nityanandachandra! It was He who received the divine instruction from Gaurachandra to deliver all souls by bestowing divine love through the Holy Name. Showing the extremity of His divine love, He delivered those two fallen wine-drinking brahmans (Jagai and Madhai) ruined by the degraded inauspicious nature of Kali-yuga even after they had attacked Him and blood was oozing from His body.

sākṣād gauro gaṇānāṁ śirasi yad avadhūtasya kaupīna-khaṇḍaṁ
saṁdhartuñ chādideśāsava-yavana-vadhū-spṛṣṭa-dṛṣṭo ’pi vandyaḥ
brahmādyānām apīti prabhu-parihṛta-kānām api sveṣṭa-pīṭaḥ
śrī-nityānanda-chandraṁ bhaja bhaja satataṁ gaura-kṛṣṇa-pradaṁ tam [9]

(9) Please worship eternally, dear heart, that gracious bestower of Gaura Krishna, Sri Nityanandachandra. Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu ordered all His beloved followers to accept with worshipful reverence any small piece of the kaupin (loincloth) of Nityananda Prabhu, the topmost of personalities above all social norms and strictures (avadhut). Even if He is seen to touch an immoral drunken woman or yavani, He is nonetheless worshippable by all the gods headed by Brahma. And He is the beloved leader among those exalted devotees who lovingly captivate the heart of Sri Chaitanyadev.

uddhartuṁ jñāna-karmādy-apahata-charitān gaura-chandro yad āsau
nyāsaṁ kṛtvā tu māyā mṛga-manusṛtavān grāhayan kṛṣṇa-nāma
tach chāyevānvadhāvat sthala-jala-gahane yo ’pi tasyeṣṭa-cheṣṭaḥ
śrī-nityānanda-chandraṁ bhaja bhaja satataṁ gaura-kṛṣṇa-pradaṁ tam [10]

(10) O my heart, please eternally render divine service unto that bestower of Gaura Krishna, Sri Nityanandachandra. Sri Gaurachandra manifested His sannyas-lila for the purpose of delivering the persons of warped logic deviated by exploitation and renunciation (karma and jnan). He delivered them by making them all chant the Holy Name of Krishna. After Mahaprabhu’s acceptance of sannyas, Nityananda Prabhu followed Him faithfully like a shadow wherever He went — over land, jungle, and swamp. Nityananda Prabhu is the fulfiller of the heart’s wishes of Sri Gaurachandra.

śrī-rādhā-prema-lubdho divasa-niśi-tadā svāda-mattaika-līlo
gauro yañ chādideśa svaparikara-vṛtaṁ kṛṣṇa-nāma pradātum
gauḍe ’bādhaṁ dadau yaḥ subhaga-gaṇa-dhanaṁ gaura-nāma-prakāmaṁ
śrī nityānanda-chandraṁ bhaja bhaja satataṁ gaura-kṛṣṇa-pradaṁ tam [11]

(11) Day and night Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was intoxicated, tasting the sweetest love divine in the deep heart of Srimati Radharani. In that condition, He instructed Nityananda Prabhu and His associates to distribute the Holy Name of Krishna, Sri Krishna-nam. But Sri Nityananda Prabhu then went to Gauda Des and profusely distributed the priceless treasure of the true devotees: the Holy Name of Sri Gaura, Sri Gaura-nam. O my dear heart, please give yourself in service forever unto that gracious bestower of Gaura Krishna — Sri Nityanandachandra.

śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-līlā-rasa-madhura-sudhāsvāda-śuddhaika-mūrtau
gaure śraddhāṁ dṛḍhāṁ bho prabhu-parikara-samrāṭ prayachchhādhame ’smin
ullaṅghyāṅghriṁ hi yasyākhila-bhajana-kathā svapnavach chaiva mithyā
śrī-nityānanda-chandraṁ patita-śaraṇa-daṁ gaura-daṁ taṁ bhaje ’ham [12]

(12) Dear Lord, O Nityananda Prabhu, emperor of the associates of Sriman Mahaprabhu! Graciously grant this fallen soul firm and faithful devotion for Sri Gauranga, the supreme embodiment of the taste of the sweet nectar of the ecstasy of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna’s Pastimes. By neglecting the lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu all sadhana or bhajan — spiritual practices, services, or worship — become an illusion, just like a dream. I worship and adore with all my heart that gracious giver of Sri Gaura, the benevolent bestower of His shelter to the fallen souls — Sri Nityanandachandra.