Narottama Dasa Thakura was a pure bhakta who wrote many devotional songs about the spiritual master, the devotees, devotional service, the six Goswamis, Gaura-Nitai and Radha-Krishna. His songs are composed with sweet melodies in simple Bengali language.

Narottama Dasa Thakura was an important spiritual leader at his time, and he continues being a great inspiration for everyone on the path of bhakti. His poetry is among the most beautiful in the Gaudiya Vaishnava Tradition.

Thakura Vaishnava Gana

(1)
ṭhākura vaiṣṇava gaṇa, kori ei nivedana,
mo boṛo adhama durācāra
dāruṇa saḿsāra nidhi, tāhe ḍubāilo vidhi,
keśe dhari more koro pāra
 
(2)
vidhi boṛo balavān, nā śune dharama jñāna,
sadāi karama pāśe bāndhe
na dekhi tāraṇa leśa, joto dekhi sab kleśa,
anātha kātare tei kānde
 
(3)
kāma krodha lobha moha, mada abhimāna saha,
āpana āpana sthāne ṭāne
āmāra aichana mana, phire jeno andha jana,
supatha vipatha nāhi jāne
 
(4)
nā loinu sat mata, asate majilo cita,
tuyā pade nā korinu āśa
narottama dāsa koy, dekhi śuni lāge bhoy,
tarāiyā loho nija pāśa

Translation:

1) O saintly devotees, although I am very fallen and misbehaved, I nevertheless place this appeal before you: My destiny has immersed me in this fearsome ocean of repeated birth and death. Please grab me by the hair, and pull me to the opposite shore.

2) My destiny is very powerful. I am not able to hear the knowledge of spiritual life, and I am always bound by the ropes of karma. I cannot see any way to escape my condition. I see only suffering. Helpless and stricken with grief, I cry.

3) My blind mind cannot see what path is auspicious or inauspicious. My blind mind is helplessly dragged from here to there by lust, anger, greed, bewilderment, madness, and pride.

4) My mind became immersed in the impermanent satisfaction of the senses, and I could not understand the reals goal of life. For this reason I did not aspire to attain Your lotus feet. Narottama Dasa says–Now that I am able to see, hear, and touch the devotees, I have become free form all fear.

Commentary:

Here Narottama Dasa Thakura laments being unable to find the right path for getting free from material suffering. He admits his disqualifications, but when he can see, hear, and touch the devotees he feels confident that they will pull him out of his misery.

Narottama Dasa Thakura certainly is a powerful devotee himself who can liberate anyone who takes shelter of him. Nevertheless, he chooses to feel like a lost conditioned soul, thus showing us the right attitude for liberation.

Ei Baro Karuna Koro

(1)
ei-bāro karuṇā koro vaiṣṇava gosāñi
patita-pāvana tomā bine keho nāi
 
(2)
jāhāra nikaṭe gele pāpa dūre jāy
emona doyāla prabhu kebā kothā pāy
 
(3)  
gańgāra paraśa hoile paścate pāvan
darśane pavitra koro-ei tomāra guṇ
 
(4)
hari-sthāne aparādhe tāre hari-nām
tomā sthāne aparādhe nāhi paritrāṇ
 
(5)
tomāra hṛdoye sadā govinda-viśrām
govinda kohena-mora vaiṣṇava parāṇ
 
(6)
prati-janme kori āśā caraṇera dhūli
narottame koro doyā āpanāra boli'

Translation:

1) 0 Vaishnava Gosvami, please be merciful to me now. There is no one except you who can purify the fallen souls.

2) Where does anyone find such a merciful personality by whose mere audience all sins go far away?

3) After bathing in the waters of the sacred Ganges many times, one becomes purified, but just by the sight of you, the fallen souls are purified. This is your great power.

4) The holy name delivers one who has committed an offense to Lord Hari, but if one commits an offense to you, there is no means of deliverance.

5) Your heart is always the resting place of Lord Govinda, and Lord Govinda says, “The Vaishnavas are in My heart.”

6) I desire the dust of your holy feet in every birth I may take. Please consider Narottama yours, and be kind upon him.

Commentary:

This is another song in which Narottama prays for the mercy of a devotee. A pure devotee is so powerful because Lord Govinda always rests in his or her heart, and because the devotees always rest in the heart of Lord Govinda.

Narottama Dasa Thakura even desires the devotee to be his master beyond this life, birth after birth, in all eternity.

---