— Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhakti Vinoda Ṭhākura
An Overview: “Ārti-nivedana (A painful appeal) is from which is an editorial pen first published in the ‘Sasaṅgini’ or ‘Kṣetra-vāsinī’ edition of Sajjana Toṣaṇī, Vol.15, Issue 1 in 1903. This is one of the last articles written by Śrīla Bhakti Vinoda Ṭhākura in which he laments about the poor condition of Śrī Vaiṣnava dharma (Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s sampradāya) in Bengal, and shares with the reader the advice that he was given by Śrīman Mahāprabhu Himself. In fact it was also a prediction and lamentation regarding the condition of the present bhajana-field. How much grief Śrīla Thākura has expressed for the poor condition of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Sampradāya! How much blood (absolutely honest efforts) he has given for our eternal emancipation! Still we are always ready to misunderstand and blaspheme those great mahājanas like Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhakti Vinoda Ṭhākura.”
Today we are sitting in the bhajana-kuṭira at Śrī Puruśottama Kśetra. The readers may think that why we are taking place at this distant region leaving such a metropolitan city like Calcutta which is densely populated and served by so many intellectuals. So to make the readers understand the reason behind it, we would like to speak a few words regarding that.
Long ago when we started publishing the Sajjana Toṣaṇī magazine, we had a hope inside our hearts that the more absolutely pure vaiṣṇava-dharma would get preached in this world through this magazine, the more the mangala of this world would prosper. We started everything with a very simple mood. From the land of Bengal many educated gosvāmīs, bābājīs , etc. came forward to help us. Some educated impersonalists also joined us and being overwhelmed by the beauty of the absolutely pure bhakti-dharma, started manifesting pure vaiṣṇavatā (nature of vaiṣṇava). Those servants of material saṃsāra (material householders) also got their minds captivated by hearing the charming series of instructions of vaiṣṇava-dharma. Those people who love material songs & musical instruments, they also started realising themselves as extremely successful by feeling their lives inundated in the current of pure Hari-kīrtana. Gradually from city to city and village to village many Hari-Sabhās (vaiṣṇava assemblies) got established.
In this way as from when the dignity of the pure vaiṣṇava-dharma appearing inside the heart of almost all the residents of Bengal, started to captivate & ecstasize everybody with its own beauty & sweetness,— seeing such an unexpected (beyond expectations) mood of the land of Bengal, we with new-new moods of enthusiasm, started to preach about the pure vaiṣṇavatā. But then with the passage of time, suddenly an unexpected change of the bhava (mood) took place.
The upa-dharmas (false dharmas) those all were like glowing-worms hiding from the intense heat emitting from the sunlike glowing vaiṣṇava-dharma suddenly took various forms and came out from all different directions. For some time, those demoniac dharmas in different forms of māyāvāda, which all were submerged in the fathomless abyss of forgetfulness, resurfaced and took shelter on the boat of the smārta teachers of Nyāyā (logic), whose deceptive words seemed to be the statements from the śrutis. At the same time, some indigenous and foreign yogīs also emerged as their collaborators and brought about a revolution (negative) in the world of dharma. Furthermore, some worthless people, who were sense-enjoyers, took shelter of those respective upa-dharmas and began creating a disruption in the society by dressing themselves as sahajiyās, bāulas etc. Displaying the heights of their evil intentions, a few worms in the stool of prestige (pratiṣṭhā), propagated themselves as avatāras of Bhagavān within the society of those fools. Some of them decorated themselves with beautiful and sweet names matching with a vaiṣṇava, ornamenting themselves with various titles befitting an ācārya and began expressing opinions opposed to vaiṣṇava-dharma in the name of vaiṣṇava-dharma. Seeing all these unimaginable events, our hearts began to be torn apart. As we began to search for the root-cause of such a sudden change of mood, this verse by Śrīla Prabodhānanda Sarasvatīpāda suddenly manifested within our hearts!
kālaḥ kalir balinā indriya-vairi-vargāḥ
śrī bhakti-mārga iha kaṅṭaka-koṭi-ruddhaḥ
hā hā kva yāmi vikalaḥ kim ahaṁ karomi
caitanya-candra yadi nādya kṛpāṁ karoṣi
The Bengali poetic translation of the above version—
kāla haila kali, bali indriya nicaya
bhakti-patha ebe koṭi kaṅṭakādimaya
kothā yāva, ki kariba, hoyechi vikala
nā pāile gaura-candra tava kṛpā-bala
Translation in English : In this age of Kali the enemies in the form of senses are very strong and the absolutely effulgent pure path of bhakti is covered & blocked by the net of countless thorns in the form of karma, jñāna, etc. therefore— O Lord Śrī Caitanya Candra if you do not bestow your mercy at this very moment, then alas ! being bewildered in such a puzzling condition (means, such a condition in this age of Kali, where the heart is confused to detect what is dharma and what is adharma,— as bhakti is curtained by various mana-dharmas or mental concoctions), what to do? Where to go?
By saying this and constantly weeping, I went to the birthplace of my Prabhu in Śrī Māyāpura, yet still I could not be pacified. Then I left my native-land in search of my Prabhu and began to roll on the golden sands of the land of Śrī Kṣetra, where my Prabhu disappeared. Then the Lord spoke in my heart:
“O Sajjana-toṣaṇī (one who gives satisfaction to the devotees)! May you attain peace! In this world, whatever nature those jīvas acquire, it is out of their past karma and which again engages them in karma. As long as their moods aversive to bhakti are not removed, till then they may be given plenty of good advices, yet that will get bounced back from their ears and can never get entry into their hearts. Therefore, no matter how much you preach about bhakti, no matter how much you speak about bhakti, but still it will be of no benefit to them due to their own bad karma; so there you can get no result from your discourses and discussions. This is My instruction to you, that— By staying at that place where by keeping my dear Hari Dāsa, I performed loud kīrtana, being benevolent to those poor helpless jīvas, constantly try to engage yourself in singing the glories of Śrī-Nāma. The sukṛti that will arise from hearing the glories of Śrī Nāma, and the faith they will achieve by hearing the absolute greatness of Sri Nāma Prabhu, will result in sincere śraddhā to develop absolutely pure- genuine bhakti-dharma in some birth after.”
Following all these advices of Śri Kṛṣṇa Caitanya— the Lord of our hearts, we built a bhajana-kuṭīra on the beach encircled by big-big restless series of waves.
O reader, who all are naturally generous! We will do our best to perform kīrtana of the priceless glories of Śrī Harināma for you all, and we will be blessed if you also kindly hear that.
O open-hearted readers! I hope that, since you all are very cooperative by nature, surely you will not cast an arrogant glance upon our heart-rending honest crying, and consider this to be a natural feeling, arising from our simple heart.