TEXT 163
jivera papa lana muni karon naraka bhoga
sakala jivera, prabhu, ghucaha bhava-roga
SYNONYMS
jiveraof all conditioned souls; papa lanaaccepting the sinful reactions; muniI; karondo; narakahellish life; bhogasuffering; sakala jiveraof all living entities; prabhumy dear Lord; ghucahaplease finish; bhava-rogathe material disease.
TRANSLATION
"My dear Lord, let me suffer perpetually in a hellish condition, accepting all the sinful reactions of all living entities. Please finish their diseased material life."
PURPORT
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura gives the following commentary on this verse. In the Western countries, Christians believe that Lord Jesus Christ, their spiritual master, appeared in order to eradicate all the sins of his disciples. To this end, Lord Jesus Christ appeared and disappeared. Here, however, we find Sri Vasudeva Datta Thakura and Srila Haridasa Thakura to be many millions of times more advanced even when compared to Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ relieved only his followers from all sinful reactions, but Vasudeva Datta is here prepared to accept the sins of everyone in the universe. A Vaisnava is so liberal that he is prepared to risk everything to rescue conditioned souls from material existence. Srila Vasudeva Datta Thakura is universal love itself, for he was willing to sacrifice everything and fully engage in the service of the Supreme.
Srila Vasudeva Datta knew very well that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was the original Personality of Godhead. He was transcendence itself, above the material conception of illusion and maya. Lord Jesus Christ certainly finished the sinful reactions of his followers by his mercy, but that does not mean that he completely delivered them from the pangs of material existence. A person may be relieved from sins once, but it is a practice among Christians to confess sins and yet commit them again. By getting freed from sins and again engaging in them, one cannot attain freedom from the pangs of material existence. A diseased person may go to a physician for relief, but after he leaves the hospital he may again be infected due to his unclean habits. Thus material existence continues. Srila Vasudeva Datta wanted to completely relieve the conditioned souls from material existence so that they would no longer have an opportunity to commit sinful acts. This is the difference between Srila Vasudeva Datta and Lord Jesus Christ. It is a great offense to receive pardon for sins and then commit the same sins again. Such an offense is more dangerous than the sinful activity itself. Vasudeva Datta was so liberal that he requested Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to transfer all offensive activity upon him so the conditioned souls might be purified. This prayer was certainly without duplicity.
Vasudeva Datta's example is unique not only within this world but within the universe. It is beyond the conception of fruitive actors or the speculation of mundane philosophers. Due to being illusioned by the external energy and due to a poor fund of knowledge, people tend to envy one another. Because of this they are entangled in fruitive activity, and they try to escape this fruitive activity by mental speculation. Consequently neither karmis nor jnanis are purified. In the words of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakura, they are kukarmis and kujnanis-bad actors and bad speculators. The Mayavadis and karmis should therefore turn their attention to the magnanimous Vasudeva Datta, who wanted to suffer for others in a hellish condition. Nor should one consider Vasudeva Datta a mundane philanthropist or welfare worker. He was not interested in merging into the Brahman effulgence, nor was he interested in material honor or reputation. He was far above philanthropists, philosophers and fruitive actors. He was a most exalted personality who wanted to show mercy upon conditioned souls. This is not an exaggeration of his transcendental qualities. It is perfectly true. Actually there cannot be any comparison to Vasudeva Datta. He was a Vaisnava-para-duhkha-duhkhi-very much aggrieved to see others suffer. The entire world is purified simply by the appearance of such a great devotee. By his presence the whole world is glorified, and all conditioned souls-due to his transcendental presence-are also glorified. As Narottama dasa Thakura confirms, Vasudeva Datta is the ideal devotee of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
gaurangera sangi-gane, nitya-siddha kari' mane,
se yaya vrajendra-suta-pasa
One who executes Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission must be considered to be eternally liberated. He is a transcendental person and does not belong to this material world. Such a devotee engaging in the deliverance of the total population is as magnanimous as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself.
namo maha-vadanyaya
krsna-prema-pradaya te
krsnaya krsna-caitanya-
namne gaura-tvise namah
Such a personality factually represents Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu because his heart is always filled with compassion for conditioned souls.

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