Nitāi Guṇa Maṇi

“Nityānanda My Treasure”
from Caitanya Maṅgala by Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura

(1)

nitāi guṇa-maṇi āmār nitāi guṇa-maṇi
āniyā premer vanyā bhāsāilo avanī

(2)

premer vanyā loiyā nitāi āilā gauḍa-deśe
ḍubilo bhakata-gaṇa dīna hīna bhāse

(3)

dīna hīna patita pāmara nāhi bāche
brahmār durlabha prema sabākāre jāce

(4)

ābaddha karuṇā-sindhu nitāi kāṭiyā muhān
ghare ghare bule prema-amiyār bān

(5)

locan bole mor nitāi jebā nā bhajilo
jāniyā śuniyā sei ātma-ghātī hoilo

1) My Lord Nityānanda, the jewel of all good qualities, my Lord Nityānanda, the jewel of all good qualities, has brought the flood of ecstatic love of God that drowned the entire world.

2) Bringing this overwhelming deluge of prema when He returned to Bengal from Jagannātha Purī on Lord Chaitanya’s order, Nitāi has inundated the assembly of devotees. The fallen non-devotees did not drown, however, but remained floating on that ecstatic ocean.

3) Lord Nityānanda freely offered this exalted prema, which is difficult for Lord Brahmā to attain, even to the fallen and wretched souls who were not desirous of receiving it.

4) The ocean of mercy had formerly been sealed tightly, but Nitāi cut a channel in its boundary to allow the great flooding waves of nectarean prema to splash from house to house.

5) Locana Dāsa says, “Whoever has not worshipped my Nitāi or taken advantage of this excellent opportunity offered by Him, knowingly commits suicide.”