The Tree of My Life

Note: This is a song that we worked on for our Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu magazine issue 119 (which at the time I'm writing this has not yet come out). It is by Srila Lochan Das Thakur the medieval Gaudiya Vaishnava who wrote the book, Sri Chaitanya Mangala. I have converted the diacritic characters into the Harvard Kyoto style (long "a" = "A"; long "u" = "U" etc).

The Tree of my Life

Srila Lochan Das Thakur

(ZrI-rAga)

ZrI-kRSNa-bhajana lAgi saMsAre Ainu
mAyA-jAle bandI haiyA vRkSa-samAna hainu

To worship Lord Krishna I came to this world of birth and death. Then mAyA caught me in her net and bound me up, and I became like a tree.

sneha-latA beDi beDi tanu kaila ZeSe
kIDA rUpe nArI tAhe hRdaye praveZe

The vine of material love coiled and coiled around me. Manifesting the form of a tree-boring insect, a woman entered my heart.

phala-rUpe putra kanyA DAle bhAGgI paDe
kAla-rUpI bihaGga upare vAsa kare

Manifesting the forms of fruits — sons and daughters grew on my branches and fell to the ground. Manifesting the form of a bird, time made its nest in my branches.

bADite nA pAila gAcha ZukhAiyA gela
saMsArera dAvAnala tAhAte lAgila

Becoming stunted, this tree gradually dried up. Then the blazing forest fire of birth and death came.

durAZA durvAsanA dui uThe dhUmAiyA
phukAra karaye locana marilAma pUDiyA

Wicked desires and false hopes were the two streams of smoke that at once arose. This Lochan Das called out, “I am dying!

egAo egAo mora vaiSNava gosAi
karuNAra jala siJca tabe rakSA pAi

“Please! Please! O vaiSNava gosAi! Sprinkle me with the water of your mercy and save me!”

Bibliography

— Jagadbandhu Bhadra’s Gaura-pada-taraGginI. Sri Gauranga Press. Calcutta. 1931. Bengali.

— Unknown translator. The Acarya’s Songs and Poems Glorifying Lord Gauranga and Lord Govinda. Found in the VaiSNava Folio Archives. Compiled by Sri Narasingha Caitanya Matha. No date.