Chant Radhe! Krishna! Govinda!

Not much is known about the poet Rohininandan Das, other than the fact that he was a Gaudiya Vaishnava. He wrote songs in Bengali and also, like the following poem, in the Brajabuli language. The earliest known manuscript containing his writings dates back to at least the early 18th century. Here, the song’s editors were unsure of one word and marked it with a question mark.

bhaja mana rAdhe kRSNa govinda
yA-ko nAma-hi mocita bhava-bandhana
hota-hi prema-Ananda

O my mind, just worship and chant the
names,“Radhe! Krishna! Govinda!”
What a name! Just by uttering it, one becomes
free from the bondage of birth and death and receives ecstatic prema.

e zuka zaGkara sanaka sanAtana
anta nAhi pAoye ananta
yA-ko nAma-hi tri-bhuvana-maGgala
aharnizi japata-hi santa

Suka, Sankara, Sanaka and Sanatan and even Ananta Sesa
cannot find the limit of the holy name. What a name!
It is auspicious for all the three worlds and is chanted day and night by saintly persons.

yA-ko nAma-hi surAsura-nara-vara
muni-gaNa karata dheyAna
yA-ko nAma rauta (?) nArada sadA
bhuvana phirata kara gAna

What a name! It is meditated on by the best of the
gods,demons, men and munis. Always chanting the
holy name, Narada Muni roams about the universe.

veda-hi yA-ko yaza guNa gAota
karata-hi nAma-ki Azśa
tA-ko nAma-hi pApi-jana vaJcita
rohiNInandana-dAsa

The Vedas sing only of the glories andwonderful qualities
of the holy name, and the followers of the Vedas place all
of their hopes on the holy name alone. It is certain that only
sinful persons like Rohininandan Das are cheated by being deprived of the holy name.

Chant Radhe! Krishna! Govinda! - Rohininandan das