Excerpts from the Nam Ghosa: Upadesa
Upadesa means Advice or Instruction. In this section of the Nām Ghosā, Madhavadeva advises the spiritual aspirant to take the Name of Rāma Krishna as the only antidote against this terrible world.
Rāma Krishna nāma dharma anupāma Hridaye yito sumare / Yata aparādha nāma aparādha save masimura kare // [197]
The Name of Rāma Krishna is the religion incomparable
He who remembers it in his heart
Demolishes all offences relating to the Name
And whatever other offences there may be. [197]
Ghora samsārara aushadha Harira Nāmaka teji samprati / Āvara kamana upāye pandite Labhibe āpona gati // [198]
Leaving aside now the Name of Hari which is the antidote
Against this terrible world,
By what other means shall the pandita (scholar)
Attain his own goal? [198]
Mora bhakti-yukta yogiyo jānibā Motese citta yāhāra / Jnāna karma bine kevala bhaktita Pāvaya samsāra pāra // [199]
“Know that even the [true] yogis are possessed of bhakti (devotion) in Me.
The one who has his mind fixed on Me alone
Crosses the world-ocean solely through bhakti
Without jnāna and karma.” [199]
Kevala bhakati purusaka tare Sahāya kāko nacāve / Jnāna karma tāve tārite napāre Bhakati napāve yāve // [200]
Only bhakti alone delivers a person,
Needing no help from other means.
[But] As long as bhakti is not available,
So long jnāna and karma can deliver him not. [200]
Dusta kali-sarpe sabāko damsile Harāila cetana jnāna / Ihāra aushadha sudhā Rāma-Nāma Bine nāhi nāhi āna // [201]
The evil serpent of Kali hath bitten all.
They have lost all consciousness.
There is no other medicine for it, none whatever,
Than the nectar of Rāma Nāma. [201]
Sakala punyara abināsi phala Hari guna-nāma sāra / Harika santosha karāibāra hetu Nāma bine nāhi āra // [202]
Hari guna-nāma (singing the glories of Hari) is the imperishable fruit of all virtues.
It is the indestructible essence.
For the purpose of pleasing Hari,
There is nothing other than the Name. [202]
Vede Rāmāyane purāne Bhārate Ādi madhye avasāne / Harikese mātra kahaya niscaya Jānā tattva ehimāne // [203]
The Vedas, the Rāmāyana, the Purānas, the Bhārata -
In the beginning, the middle and the end -
Speak certainly of Hari only.
Know this much to be the substance (tattva). [203]
Satya asatyara jada caitanyara Mājata yito prakāse / Tāke buli mana sehi sito pave Yijane jāka upāse // [204]
Between satya (reality) and a-satya (unreality), jada (matter) and caitanya (spirit),
That which flourishes is ‘mind’.
Whichever one worships [through the mind],
One gets [or attains to] that. [204]