Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati's
Sri Navadvipa-sataka
A Hundred Verses Glorifying Navadvipa

1	By hearing of Him, meditating on Him, and performing many other activities, let us worship Lord Krsna who, His complexion now splendid as gold, overcome with ecstatic love, intently engaged in kirtana, surrounded by His associates playing mrdangas and other musical instruments, worshipped by all, removing the contamination of Kali-yuga and giving happiness to the devotees, has now appeared in Navadvipa.
2	I offer my respectful obeisances to Navadvipa, the blissful spiritual abode, which the Chandogya Upanisad says is a spiritual city, the Smrti-sastra says is the abode of Lord Visnu, others say is Svetadvipa, and a devotee expert at tasting transcendental nectar says is the forest of Vraja.
3	(Antardvipa)
	When, as I wander in Navadvipa's forests, will I fall unconscious as I suddenly see wonderful, youthful Lord Gaura jubilantly dancing with His associates?
4	May scriptures where the very wonderful glory of Lord Gauranga's city is not heard never enter my ears.  May wretched people who do not become joyful when Mathura's glory enters their ears never come to speak to me or even enter the path of my eyes.
5	Enough! Enough with the happiness of staying among women she asses!  Enough! Enough! with wealth, children, scholarship, and fame! Enough! Enough with the troubles of many kinds of spiritual practice!  Take shelter of Antardvipa and become fortunate!
6	The home of Lord Gaura's youthful pastimes, Sri Mayapura, where the ground is soft, there is a great splendour of many jewels, there are wonderful sounds of many birds and animals, and there are wonderful trees and vines with many flowers, is my life and soul.
7	Million on millions of cintamani jewels may meet together somewhere else.  Still, my body darkened with Godruma's dust will never go to any other place.
8	(Madhyadvipa)
	May the Lord's wonderful pastimes in Madhyadvipa be kind to me.  May Brahma-kunda and the other sacred places there be kind to me, a fool.  May the kalpa-valli vine of the kindness of He who is everyone's friend and who plays in Madhyadvipa at midday, bear its fruits.
9	(Koladvipa)
	All glories, all glories to Koladvipa's forests, which stand by the Ganges' shore, which are worshipped by the leaders of the demigods and which are filled with the wonderful opulences of many birds, beasts, trees, vines, groves, lakes, ponds, open land, hills and flowing streams!
10	(Rudradvipa and Modadrumadvipa)
	O feet, please walk in Rudradvipa! O eyes, please gaze at Modadrumadvipa's beauty!  O tongue, please chant what the ears have heard of the glories of Lord Gaura's sacred places!  O nose, please smell the sweet fragrance of Lord Gaura's forest!  O limbs, your hairs erect in ecstatic joy, please roll on the ground in the places of Lord Gaura's transcendental pastimes!
11	May my heart cling to the wonderfully sweet ocean of nectar in Navadvipa forest, the path to which all the Vedas together cannot find, and the slightest scent of which cannot be found even by wandering again and again through the length and breadth of the universe.
12	May the Gauda forest, which is Lord Hari's supreme abode, which is filled with surging currents from the ocean of splendid and passionate transcendental love, which is filled with the bliss of Lord Radhikaramana's sweet pastimes, and which was sweetly founded by Sri Radha, who is worshipped by all the worlds, shine in my heart.
13	(Jahnudvipa)
	I pray that birth after birth I may be a clump of grass in the land of Jahnudvipa, which is worshipped even by the king of the demigods.  That would be my joy.
14	(Simantadvipa)
	They who are ardently devoted to the flower petal feet of Sri Radha's beloved, whose entire lives are spent in carefully following transcendental religious principles, who always serve the dust of the Vaisnavas' feet, who touch the highest point of renunciation, and whose hearts are plunged in the nectar of divine love, find very far away Sri Radha's merciful glance, which is very quickly and easily found at Simantadvipa.
15	In the sweet nectar ocean of pure undivided love, on an island of the Lord who is Saci's son, Vrndavana is manifest.  There, tossed by pure love for each other, the sweet divine couple enjoys transcendental pastimes day and night.  One who stays there enters a condition of life that is full of nectar.
16	I do not know whether I shall be able to meditate on Lord Madhava's two lotus feet.  Am I qualified to follow the path of Sri Sukadeva Gosvami, Sri Narada Muni and the other great saints?  Still, whether I meet good or ill, the beautiful forest of Godruma, where Srimati Radha enjoys transcendental pastimes, is my life and soul.
17	Will I attain Lord Radhapati's sweet abode named Navadvipa?  Its boundary the Vedas cannot touch.  It is a secret festival of the greatest transcendental bliss.  Siva, Brahma and the other demigods do not know even a single drop of its nectar.
18	If my body is torn to pieces, or if hosts of terrible calamities fall on me, Oh! Oh! Oh! Still I will never thirst to leave Sri Godruma and go to those other insignificant places.
19	When, hungrily eating naturally fallen leaves as if they were ambrosia, thirstily drinking hands full of the Ganges' pure water, and my heart plunged in nectar as I gaze at the place where sweet Lord Radhikaramana enjoyed the pastime of the rasa dance, will I reside in Lord Gaura's forest?
20	One who is firmly determined to stay in Navadvipa until the end of his body has already performed all kinds of devotional service.  The greatest and most wonderful of all goals of life rests in his hand.  His feet are on everyone's head.  Brahma and the demigods bow down before him.
21	Offer your respectful obeisances to the forest of Navadvipa which, by giving them the sweet nectar of wild spiritual love, delights its birds, beasts, trees and vines.
22	A devotee may be proud to become successful by practicing pure devotional service in some other place.  We do not think he is successful.  We shall always take shelter of Vrndavana, which is very dear to Sri Sri Radhika-Madhava.
23	Now that I, who am a reservoir of faults, who have not the slightest virtue, and who am the lowest of all but who still hankers for what is very difficult to attain, have come to Lord Gaura's forest, the seed from which the most splendid devotional service grows, will I become successful?
24	Lord Gauranga's forest, where the name "Radha", the sweetest part of the shoreless nectar ocean of pure and splendid divine love, shines, is the only goal of my life.
25	One who never performs any spiritual activities, but who has wholeheartedly taken shelter of Navadvipa, will attain the great festival of the nectar of pure love for Sri Radha's beloved.
26	My own people may leave me.  My body may collapse.  Still, I will not take a single step beyond the border of Navadvipa.
27	She is not my mother, he is not my father, he is not my relative, he is not my friend, he is not my well-wisher, and he is not my guru, who does not wish me to reside in Srimati Radha's forest of Navadvipa.
28	For sinful me what is as auspicious as staying in the land of Godruma until this body ends?  Will I then touch the flood of splendour flowing from the feet of the beautiful divine couple that enjoys newer and newer transcendental pastimes.
29	When, manifesting a spiritual body, will I reside in Lord Gauranga's city, where all the moving and stationary living entities eternally shine with the splendour of intensely blissful spiritual forms, and which they whose eyes are blinded by maya misunderstand with a host of faulty ideas?
30	Take shelter of Lord Gauranga's city where, unseen by the unintelligent, all living entities and even all things are blissful, eternal, spiritual and full of knowledge.
31	They who attribute faults to the blissful moving and stationary living entities in Navadvipa are offenders.  How can they attain Sri Sri Radha-Madhava?
32	They who relish blaspheming the residents of Lord Gaura's sacred place, they who will not glorify Godadruma, and the fools that somehow think Godruma like other places, cannot attain eternal, blissful spiritual forms in Modadruma.  I pray that even in dreams I may never come near these sinful people, the lowest of men.
33	He who, rejecting others' wealth, others' wives, hatred, envy, greed, dishonesty, cruelty, violence and lying words, becomes devoted to the holy abode of Navadvipa, will not be frustrated in his desire to stay in Vrndavana.
34	Do everything that opposes religious principles, reject all religious duties, and abandon your guru in order to reside in Gaudaranya.  That is your supreme religious duty.  That is devotion to your guru.  Your sins are whatever stops you from residing in Gaudaranya.
35	When his body ends, he who stays in Gaudaranya's abode of Navadvipa, which is filled with wonderful, limitless mercy, will attain perfection.
36	Fools, the paths of the world and the Vedas will bring you only trouble!  Give up everything and make yourself a leaf hut in Sri Godruma in Gauda-desa!
37	The Vedas may talk as they like, the people may think whatever they like, and the unintelligent logicians may establish whatever theories they like, but our heart will never leave the forest where Lord Krsna, His form filled with the sweet nectar of splendid, pure, passionate spiritual love, enjoyed the pastimes of Sri Radha.
38	Bowing down again and again and begging with many plaintive words, to the shoreless ocean of mercy that is the hero of Vraja's playful girls I pray: In one birth allow me to find my happiness in Navadvipa, which is a shoreless ocean of passionate transcendental love.
39	I praise sweet Mayapura, where a dabbler who walks down many paths at once, a fool, one who has rejected his proper religious duty, an independent person who will not follow the rules of the scriptures, a person who has not the slightest scent of the touch of the Supreme Personality  of Godhead, and who lives there only out of lust and greed, all attain the supreme destination.
40	A bewildered fool cannot understand Sri Navadvipa-dhama, which is hidden from all the Vedas, and which is the place where one may attain the ultimate happiness of devotional service, the highest of all happinesses in this world.
41	To demigod-worshippers, to those rapt in the imperishable impersonal Brahman, and even to animal-like persons intent only on enjoying their senses, by its own inconceivable powers the forest of Koladvipa gives the rare and secret nectar of love for Sri Sri Radhika Madhava.
42	When, taking shelter of Srimati Radharani's feet, will I see Sri Godruma's wonderful form, a millionth part of which the Vedas cannot touch, the yogis cannot understand, the great souls headed by Laksmi, Siva, Brahma, Sukadeva, Arjuna, and Uddhava cannot see and, what to speak of others, even the Vrajavasis cannot see?
43	O Gaura, O Lord who enjoys pastimes with Sri Radha in Radhavana, please forcibly drag my heart, now tightly bound with hundreds of ropes of wicked desires, to Your lotus feet.
44	I cannot subdue my senses at all.  I have no virtues.  A host of faults always enters me.   Where shall I go?  What shall I do?  Alas! Alas! No mercy is shown to me!  O Lord, please give me residence in Navadvipa, my only home.
45	My noble birth, wealth, and even my life-breath, may all perish.  My good reputation may wither and die.  My religious principles may run to destruction.  Everyone may always mistreat me.  My body may wither away with hundreds of incurable diseases.  Still, my heart will never leave Lord Gauranga's city.
46	I bow down to offer my respects to they who know that within or without the material world there is nothing as sweet as Lord Gaura's forest.
47	All glories to Lord Gaura's Gauda-desa forest which, splendid with tilaka decorations, clothed in white garments of the Ganges' waters, splendid with the glory of blossoming campaka flowers, glorious with many kinds of nectar, and charming with the sweet nectar of pure love for Lord Krsna, is very dear to Sri Jagannatha Misra's son!
48	Who will not take shelter of wonderful, blissful Navadvipa, where millions of glorious kalpavrksa trees are embraced by the sweet vines of pure bhakti that are their wives, and where Brahmapura and all other holy places shine with great splendour?
49	As much as they speak ill of residing in Navadvipa, to that extent they will not understand the secret of pure spontaneous love for Lord Govinda's lotus feet in Vrndavana, the root from which the Lord's pastimes of love sprout.
50	Again and again remembering the person dark as a new monsoon cloud who is embraced by Sri Radha, Her transcendental form like a vine splendid as millions of lightning flashes, a certain saintly devotee, his mouth fill with loud, urgent, very sweet prayers, and pure devotional love rising within him, wanders in Lord Gaura's sacred places.
51	When, at every moment shedding tears of deep love, and the hairs of my body erect with joy, will I roll upon the ground where Lord Gaura placed His feet?
52	The secret of pure devotional service rests in they who take shelter of Lord Gaura's sacred place, where my Lord Hari, His transcendental form filled with the nectar of splendid divine love, assumes the role of Sri Radha.
53	If the people speak unbearable insults to me as if I were a candala or a dog or an ass, then I do not feel unhappy as I stay in the nine islands of Navadvipa, where the nine processes of loving devotional service, beginning with hearing about Lord Krsna and culminating in surrendering one's life and heart to Him, shine with great glory.
54	O brother, give up all your spiritual practices and take shelter of Lord Gaura's sacred place.  As you desire so your body, words, and heart will act.
55	With a bowl in hand we go begging even on the paths to the houses of the dogeaters in beautiful Navadvipa.  We pray that we will never take this body, attained by many past pious deeds, to any other place.
56	When, wearing a kaupina and one old cloth, day and night singing of the waves of Sri Sri Radha-Madhupati's confidential pastimes, and at the end of the day eating a fruit or a root, will I spend this lifetime in the forest of Navadvipa?
57	Above the material nature, in the ocean of happiness that is the Supreme Brahma splendour, is the Spiritual Sky, the Supreme Abode glorified in the Vedas.  Within the Spiritual sky the circle of Gauda-bhumi is glorious with all splendour.  There gaze on the forest of Vrndavana.
58	Even though staying there himself, he who commits the offense of thinking that the residents of Gaura-sthala do not have spiritual forms of eternity, bliss and knowledge, will not attain the supreme abode.
59	When one understands that the moving and unmoving residents of Navadvipa have forms of eternal spiritual nectar, then he becomes a genuine servant of Sri Radha's beloved.
60	Wandering in Navadvipa is the best of all opulences, the best of all religious principles, the best of all kinds of worship, the best of all perfections, the best of all glories, and the best of all oceans of sweetness.
61	When, singing, dancing, laughing, rolling about on the ground, running, crying, or falling down unconscious, will I, blind with intoxication by drinking the nectar of great spiritual love, and oblivious to the world, wander in Navadvipa?
62	When, oblivious to the world, religious duties, home, body, insults, praise, pleasure, and pain, and intoxicated with the nectar of pure spiritual love, will I become like a madman in Lord Gaura's sacred abode?
63	When, chanting the siddha-mantra of very wonderful names beginning "Hare, Krsna, and Rama" will I, serving Vraja's divine couple day and night in Lord Gaura's sacred abode, attain the success of my life?
64	I meditate on wonderful Gaura-sthala splendid with gold, crystal, and rubies, with great sapphire trees, with courtyards made of many kinds of jewels, with buzzing bees, with blossoming vines, with wonderful parrots, peacocks, cuckoos, and other birds, and with lakes filled with lotuses and other flowers.
65	When, wandering day and night through the valleys of Madhyadvipa on the pathways through the various pastime forest-groves, through groves of newly-blossoming kadamba trees, and through the beautiful places of the rasa dance pastimes, will I become fortunate, with intimate spiritual love for the divine couple shining within me?
66	What is the use of a beautiful young wife, children, and wealth, which give only temporary happiness?  I offer my respectful obeisances to the beauty of Vaikuntha.  I pray that birth after birth I may be devoted to the forest where Vrajendra's son, who has now assumed the complexion of Sri Radhika, enjoys splendid transcendental pastimes.
67	With my head I bow down before Godruma.  With my words I speak about Godruma.  With my intelligence I remember Godruma.  I do not know anything but Sri Godruma.
68	I long for the pollen of the lotus feet of they whose life and soul is Sri Gaura-sthala, the root that sprouts love for Lord Radhapati.
69	O beloved, when will I meditate on You in Gaura-sthala, which is filled with many pastime forest pavilions, delightful with many lakes and ponds, beautiful with trees, vines and bushes everywhere and with many kinds of joyful birds and beasts, and is glorious with many splendid pastime-places?
70	When, with a faltering voice, will I glorify Lord Madhava's holy names?  When will I muddy the ground under a tree with streams of tears flowing from my eyes?  When, excited at heart, will I take shelter of the two golden and sapphire splendours that have become one before my eyes in Gaura-sthala?
71	I will not talk of anything else.  I will not hear of anything else.  I will not meditate on anything else.  I will not go anywhere else.  I will not worship anything else.  I will not take shelter of anything else.  In dream or awake I will not see anything but the forest where He who accepted Sri Radhika's splendour enjoyed pastimes.
72	My heart does not yearn to become a Lord Brahma on Satyaloka, nor does it seek the body of an associate of Lord Visnu in Vaikuntha, but it does think very highly of any birth, even as a tiny insect, in the home of the fortunate souls that enjoy festivals of sweet nectar in the pure realm of Navadvipa.
73	I think any birth where, even from a distance, I may gaze at Navadvipa, touch it, and fall down on the ground to offer respects to it, is very fortunate.  Will the fortunate day that I take such a birth ever come?
74	Although I have not the slightest fragrance of faith in the exalted glory of Sri Navadvipa-dhama, and although I do not sincerely yearn to live there, nevertheless words like that flow from me.
75	This mostly unconscious world and even they who think they know everything cannot know the truth about Navadvipa.  When carefully concealed Lord Hari appears, then His concealed abode also appears.  Only a sincere devotee, by his guru's mercy, can know the truth of Navadvipa.
76	When, as I wander in Navadvipa's forests, will I fall unconscious, suddenly seeing Lord Gaura chanting Hari! Rama! Hari! in a kirtana in a sandy courtyard?
77	When, eating ripe fruits fallen to the ground and drinking the delicious river-water, will I wander in the forests by the Ganges' shore?
78	If you worship Navadvipa, they you also worship the forest of Vraja.  If you don't worship Navadvipa, then the forest of Vraja is far away.  If you worship Lord Caitanya, then you also worship the hero of Vraja.  If you don't worship Lord Caitanya, then you cannot worship Lord Krsna.
79	Navadvipa is Vrndavana manifested in the land of Bengal.  Lord Caitanya, the son of Saci, is Lord Krsna, the greatest hero, the son of Vraja's king.  His complexion now golden with Radha's splendour, He performs in Navadvipa pastimes that even Vrndavana cannot attain.
80	They who chant Hari! Hari! Hari! in Vrndavana become free from all offenses and attain Vraja's divine couple.  In Navadvipa Lord Gaura forgives multitudes of sins and freely gives the sweet nectar of the bliss of Vraja.
81	One who lives in Navadvipa holds Vraja in his hand.  In any other place Vrndavana is like a far-away mirage.
82	To make Lord Krsna's pastimes perfect, Navadvipa embraces to its chest all of beautiful Vrndavana's forests and gardens.
83	I offer my respectful obeisances to the pastimes of Lord Godrumacandra.  I offer my respectful obeisances to the spiritual opulences of Gaura-sthala.  I offer my respectful obeisances to they who have taken shelter of Lord Gauranga's feet.  I offer my respectful obeisances to Lord Gaura, the incarnation of mercy.
84	O Lord Visvambhara, O sweet Lord, O ocean of the treasure of divine love, O Nityananda, O son of Padmavati, O Lord whose heart melts with compassion, O best friend of the fallen, O Advaita, O husband of Sita, O master of all living entities moving and inert, O Lord who made Lord Gaura descend to this world, O Lord worshipped by Srivasa and Gadadhara, You are the goal of my life!  You are the goal of my life!
85	Let us glorify the boundlessly merciful Supreme Personality of Godhead, the prince of Vraja.  To taste the intoxicating sweet waves of the nectar of transcendental love for Krsna, as well as to give that nectar to others, He has now appeared in the transcendental abode of Navadvipa as Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
86	What is the use of studying many scriptures?  What is the use of going on pilgrimage to holy places?  Fear woman who are like tigers!  Spit on the opulences of Svargaloka!  Know that all material benefits are as worthless as a handful of straw!  Instead of chasing after them please take shelter of Lord Gauranga, who is dressed in the garments of a sannyasi, and who, intoxicated by tasting the nectar of Krsna-prema, dances on the Ganges' shore.
87	If your heart is set on crossing beyond the ocean of repeated birth and death, if your heart relishes the sweet nectar of Krsna-sankirtana, and if your heart yearns to swim and sport in the ocean of pure love of Krsna, then please reside in Mayapura City.
88	The fortunate town of Navadvipa remains on the earth.  The Ganges remains.  The same people still live here.  The saintly devotees who have taken shelter of Lord Gauranga's feet remain.  Alas! Alas! I do not see anywhere the same kind of festival of pure love for Lord Hari.  O Lord Caitanya, O ocean of mercy, will I ever see Your transcendental glory again?
89	Let me offer my respectful obeisances to Lord Gaura's transcendental abode which, whether seen, touched, glorified, remembered, bowed down to from afar, or worshipped, gives the nectar of pure love for Lord Krsna.
90	They who follow the rules of varnasrama-dharma, worship the Deities, visit holy pilgrimage places, and study the Vedas, but do not reside in Lord Gaura's dear abode, cannot understand the abode of Vrndavana, which is beyond the reach of the four Vedas.
91	Humbly thinking oneself lower than a blade of grass, natural gentleness and charm, speaking words sweet as nectar, spitting at the insignificant sense-gratification of this world, disinterest in the affairs of this world, and overwhelming love for Lord Hari are the transcendental virtues obtained by worshipping Lord Gaura's transcendental abode in this world.
92	Worship millions of the most exalted spiritual masters if you wish! Study millions of Vedic scriptures if you wish!  But know that it is they who yearn to reside in Lord Caitanyacandra's transcendental city who will understand the great secret that is pure love for Lord Krsna.
93	Now it is the age of Kali.  My enemies, the senses, have become very strong.  The splendid path of pure devotional service is blocked by millions of brambles. I am weak and agitated.  Alas! Alas! Where can I go?  O abode of Lord Caitanya, if now you will not give me your mercy, what shall I do?
94	I am tightly bound by chains of limitless horrible desires.  I am addicted to millions of sins.  My mind is filled with pain.  Millions of wicked men mislead me.  They are not my friends.  Except for the holy abode of Gauda-mandala, who is my friend in this world?
95	Alas! Alas! How will the desire creeper of pure devotional service sprout in the desert of my heart?  In my heart there is only one hope.  I shall reside in Lord Gauranga's holy abode.  Then I shall never again lament.
96	I am chained by sinful desires.  I have fallen into the painful ocean of repeated birth and death.  The sharks and crocodiles of lust and anger are devouring me alive.  I have no shelter.  O holy abode of Lord Gauranga, please be merciful to me!
97	His complexion as fair as molten gold, and His form filled with the splendid and blissful nectar of pure transcendental love, the Supreme Personality of Godhead has mercifully appeared in the town of Navadvipa .  In Navadvipa every home celebrates great festivals in honour of Bhakti-devi, the goddess of devotion.  Navadvipa is sweeter than Vaikuntha.  My heart finds its happiness in the transcendental abode of Navadvipa.
98	When, residing somewhere in Navadvipa, my heart peaceful, filled with ecstatic love for the son of Saci, meditating moment after moment on the transcendental pastimes of the divine couple in Vrajavana, and happy with the devotional service proper for me, will I see sweet Vrndavana forest everywhere?
99	When, wandering on the splendid Ganges' shore, will I suddenly see the peerless, splendid, blissful, eternal, spiritual, beautiful, rare home of Jagannatha Misra, Lord Sacisunu's abode?
100	If I may reside in Godruma and the other places of Navadvipa, and for this reason I consider the impersonalists of Varanasi to be very unimportant, then why should I go on a pilgrimage to Gaya to offer pinda to the ancestors?  If I live in Navadvipa, and my personal liberation does not weigh even as heavily as a fraction of an ounce to me, then why should I be interested in material piety, economic development, and sense gratification?  If I live in Navadvipa and I have not the slightest fear of hell, then why should I be filled with anxiety over the well-being of my wife, children, friends and relatives?
101	O foolish people, please seek the path of pure hari-bhakti, which even the great sages in ancient times could  not find after long searching.  If in your heart there is no faith, and if you think it is too difficult to attain, then please abandon all these misconceptions and take shelter of Lord Gaura's city.
102	Because the two abodes (Navadvipa and Vrndavana) are not different, in some of these 100 verses I have said that they are the same place.  Still, in other verses I have specifically described the glories of Lord Gauranga's transcendental abode.