(Vintage photo of Radha Gopinatha, Toronto)
By Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
Click here to listen to Vishnujana Swami singing Gopinatha
Click here to listen to Vishnujana Swami reciting translation
O Gopīnātha, Lord of the gopīs, please hear my prayer. I am a materialistic rascal, always full of lust. I have no good qualifications.
O Gopīnātha! You are my only resort. As Your eternal servant, I take shelter of Your lotus feet.
O Gopīnātha! How can I uplift myself? I don’t know anything regarding devotional service. I am weak-minded and have fallen into a pit of illusion.
O Gopīnātha! Everything here is but Your illusory energy. I have no power or pure knowledge, and and I am bound by a material body.
O Gopīnātha! I desire to remain always at Your lotus feet. Please take this sinner, weeping and weeping, and show me Your mercy.
O Gopīnātha! You can do anything. You have purified the most wicked by Your power, but who is more wicked than me?
O Gopīnātha! You are the vessel of kindness. You enter into this mundane world and display Your sublime pastimes for the sake of the fallen souls.
O Gopīnātha! I am the sinner of sinners. Yet I sit waiting for You to take me, for many demons have attained Your lotus feet.
O Gopīnātha! Destroy the miseries of this world! I am strung on a necklace of births and deaths and cannot bear the kicking of māyā.
O Gopīnātha! I am a servant of lust, entangled in the net of material desire which has sprung up in my heart.
O Gopīnātha! When will I wake up and cast this enemy of lust far from me? Then only will You be revealed to me in my heart.
O Gopīnātha! I am Your own. By leaving Your lotus feet, forgetting Your treasures, I have served only māyā.
O Gopīnātha! You know everything. Take me to Your lotus feet and punish Your servant.
O Gopīnātha! Is it to Your liking to reject me and not show me Your kindness?
O Gopīnātha! I am the greatest fool. I don’t at all know what is good for me. I cannot understand anything. This is my fate.
O Gopīnātha! You are the greatest intellect. Not considering that I am Your servant, judge me without bias.
O Gopīnātha! I have no means of benefiting myself. By Your mercy and kindness, please pick me up from this miserable world and take me to You.
O Gopinatha! I have fallen into this dark world. Bound by wealth, wife and sons, I am feeling the pain of lust.
O Gopinatha! I am going mad! Never caring for spiritual practices, I am always unconscious and deeply sunk in the muck of sense gratification.
O Gopīnātha! I surrender unto You. All my endeavors are a useless waste of time. Now I surrender unto You.
O Gopīnātha! How shall I reach the goal? My mind is overwhelmed by the powerful senses. I cannot shake off attachment to worldly pleasures.
O Gopīnātha! Please reside in my heart. Destroy these dangerous obstacles, correct my mind and guide me to Your own true path.
O Gopīnātha! Please let Your glance fall on me. I am helpless, but You are Hṛṣīkeśa, the Lord of the senses. Please control my senses and pull me out of this world of dangers.
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura prays: O Gopīnātha! My voice is faltering. I must throw off these shackles and catch hold of Your mercy.
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