More Songs of the Vaishnava Acharyas (Book Only)

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We pray this anthology proves useful to the vaishnavas who relish glorifying Their Lordships by singing transcendental songs. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada writes in his foreword of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust's Songs fo the Vaishnava Acharyas, "… I am greatly pleased to see this collection of songs composed by Thakur Bhaktivinoda, Narottam Das, and other great acharyas of the Gaudiya Vaishnava community (sampradaya)… I have advised Sriman Achyutananda Swami to sing more songs of the Vaishnava padavali and record them in books so that my disciples and others in the Western countries may take advantage of this chanting and thus advance in Krishna consciousness more and more…

By the mercy of the assembled devotees, we have taken up this instruction and tired to fulfill it to the best of our capacity. During the 1970's, various bhajans besides those in the original 1974 songbook were gradually introduced in the West by different devotional singers. Many of these songs were apparently improperly transliterated and printed with incorrect or no diacritic marks; the English translations, when they were available, were also wanting of precision and clarity. In addition, the copies of the songs that the devotees had were Xeroxed and re-typed again and again, causing further deterioration of the quality. This situation of these well-loved songs has continued into the 1990's and therefore we felt moved to improve upon as well as add to what was currently available. A few notes on the history of some of these songs, as well as the reasons for their inclusion in this anthology, are as follows.

The BBT has so far printed three major editions of Songs of the Vaishnava Acharyas – 1974 (black and white cover), 1979 (blue spiral-bound), and 1989 (white spiral-bound). We noticed that several songs had been excluded from the most recent 1989 edition, notably the two famous songs composed by Srila Prabhupada when he first arrived in America by steamboat in 1965- Boro Krpa Koile Krsna (Markine Bhagavata-dharma), and Krsna Tava Punya Habe Bhai (Bhagavan Krsner Pada-padme Prarthana). Srila Prabhupada has remarked in this connection (letter 76-02), "…Thank you very much for your nice translation of Markine Bhagavata-dharma. It is well appreciated. I think it can be included in the front of the new printing of the song book, and it can be sung in kirtan like the other songs of Bhaktivinoda Thakur…" Also missing from the 1989 edition were the songs Hari He Doyal Mor, Narottam Das's Vrndavana Ramya Sthana, and Jayadeva Goswami's Srita Kamala. Therefore we have included these in our anthology in order to keep such beautiful compositions in print for the benefit of future Vaishnavas.

Several song sung by Srila Prabhupada on Golden Avatar's 'SP' tape series have not been available in print, such as Gora Pahun and Nitai Guna Mani. We herein offer these, plus several other favorites of His Divine Grace, Amar Jivan, Anadi Karama Phale, and Bhuliya Tomare. Also included are Dusta Mana (composed by his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati), which Prabhupada sings on tape #23 of the Unedited Bhajan Series, and the Vidyapati song Tatala Saikate, sung on tape #35 of the Unedited Bhajan Series.

Other songs include many selections from various Golden Avatar recordings (the 'KT' series), which are still being marketed, featuring pioneering singers like Achyutananda Swami, Riksharaja, Jaishachinandana, and Sacchidananda Das. While we were searching through numerous Bengali and Hindi songbooks for original versions of these songs, sometimes variant readings in certain verses were evident. Therefore you may notice a few words here and there in our presentation that differ slightly from the assumed reading. Also, in some cases we found additional verses to translate, such as the sixth verse of Krsna Jinaka Nam Hai (not Jinika!), plus the eight and ninth verses of Jaya Madhava Madana Murari Radhe-Syama Syama-Syama.

And then there are some fifteen songs from the repertoire of our god brother Sriman Vaiyasaki Prabhu, one of ISKCON's best-known kirtaniyas. One of his specialties is searching for rare and beautiful devotional bhajans in Bangaladesh, capturing and recording them in his secret notebook. We were blessed with his generous assistance and given a selection of these jewels for inclusion herein. We hope, that this satisfies the many devotees who have requested the lyrics from Vaiyasaki Prabhu's cassette albums.

There are also eight selections taken from Festival of India's four-tape set entitled Bangaladesh Bhajans, featuring Krishna Kirtan and Nityananda Pran Prabhus. Note that these three songs – Akrodha Paramananda, Gauranga Tumi More Doya Na Chadiho and Jaya Jaya Jagannatha Sacira Nandan – contain additional lines sung between the numbered verses. In the musicology of Bangaladesh kirtan this is called the akur, or extra lines sung according to the bhava of the individual singer. Since these may be different each time the singer renders the song, it is somewhat inappropriate to attempt putting them into writing, but nevertheless, with due respect to Krishna Kirtan Prabhu, we have decided to do so in order that devotees worldwide may receive the opportunity to glorify the Lord by songs of the traditional Bangaladesh style.

As a bonus, we have translated Bhaktivinoda Thakur's purport to his own popular Nam Hatta song, Nadiya Godrume Nityananda Mahajan, as well as another of his Bengali essays on the related subject of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's divine command to preach. These two essays are found I Bhaktivinoda's Vaishnava-Siddhanta-Mala, which was originally presented as series of pamphlets for public distribution during the Thakur's Nam Hatta preaching programs.

The Miscellaneous Bhajans section contains a wealth of ecstatic chants and mantras, comprising assorted praises divided according to the various tattvas of the Deity.

And finally, we thought to include a few songs that have been popular with devotees in Sri Vrindavan Dham for hundreds of years, but which are relatively unknown in the West. There is the pair of rhythmic Sanskrit songs from Krishnadas Kaviraja's Sri Govinda-Lilamrita – Ambudanjanendra – Nila and Kunkumakta Kancanabja – which are sung by Vrinda Devi's trained male and female parrots during the Midday Pastimes in Vrindavan, glorifying Sri Krishna and Sri Radha respectively. And just as we thought More songs of the Vaishnava Acharyas was at last completed, we became increasingly haunted by incessant subtle repetitions of several devotional folk songs from Vraja Mandala. So at the last minute we added a pair of popular Rasiyas, or transcendental songs in the Brijbhasha language – Maine Ratana Lagai Radha Namaki and Sri Radhe Govinda – as sung in the dramatic Vraja lila performances regularly staged by the Brijbasis.

We offer this work for the glorification of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna, Their combined avatar of mercy, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, as well as Their eternal associates who penned the sublime poetry we have been permitted to translate herein. We pray that our efforts will help instill the spiritual melodies and transcendental words of the Vaishnava Acharyas in the minds and hearts of our readers. All glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga!

Back of the Book

· Transliterated songs with English translation set in large, easy-to-read type. · Conscientious layout eliminates page turning in the middle of a song. · Complete word-for-word synonyms in the back of the book – no more mystery as to a song's meaning!

· Includes unpublished Bengali songs sung by Srila Prabhupada on various recordings

· Additional song introduced throughout ISKCON's history by different bhajan singers. · Added bonus – Bhaktivinoda Thakur's purport to his own Nama Hatta song, and much more!