Spiritualআিনয়ােছা যিদ ϕভΦ আমাের নাচােত
নাচাও নাচাও ϕভΦ নাচাও েস-মেত
কােѮর পুЫিল যথা নাচাও েস-মেত (১৫)
āniyācha yadi prabhu āmāre nācāte
nācāo nācāo prabhu nācāo se-mate
kāṣṭhera puttali yathā nācāo se-mate
āniyācha—You have brought; yadi—if; prabhu—O Lord; āmāre—to me; nācāte—cause to dance; nācāo—make me dance; nācāo—make me dance; prabhu—O Lord; nācāo—make me dance; se-mate—in that manner; kāṣṭhera putali—a wooden puppet; yathā—just as; nācāo—make me dance; se-mate—in that manner.
O Lord, I am just like a puppet in Your hands. So, if You have brought me here to dance, then make me dance, make me dance, O Lord, make me dance as You like.
Commentary In this beautiful prayer, Prabhupāda uses the simile of a marionette to express his unconditional surrender to the will of the Lord. A marionette, or puppet, moves according to the way a puppeteer pulls the strings attached to it. A puppet on a string never moves on its own but simply responds to the will of the puppeteer. Similarly, a pure devotee responds without hesitation to the desire of the Supreme Lord. He does not act independently. As Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja says in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi 5.142): ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa, āra saba bhṛtya / yāre yaiche nācāya, se taiche kare nṛtya. “Lord Kṛṣṇa alone is the supreme controller, and all others are His servants. They dance as He makes them do so.”
That is the natural position of the living entity, who is Kṛṣṇa’s eternal servant. When a living entity rejects this position, they fall under the control of māyā, Kṛṣṇa’s external energy, and is then forced by the laws of nature to dance to her tune. In the first edition of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, there is an illustration showing the personified three modes of material nature controlling two human beings, just as puppeteers control dolls. This illustration refers to several verses in the Seventh Chapter, where Kṛṣṇa explains that all living beings are under the control of these modes, and that no one can overcome their influence unless they surrender unto Him. Kṛṣṇa, as the supremely independent īśvara, is not controlled by the modes. He is their controller. Kṛṣṇa is svarāṭ, absolutely independent, whereas we are always dependent, either on Him or on His material energy. It is our choice. Śrīla Prabhupāda shows us in this verse that the best use of our tiny free will is to choose to come under the direct control of the Supreme Lord, rather than being controlled by Him indirectly through the agency of His external energy. Śrīla Prabhupāda came to America on the order of higher authority and is ready to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord, just as Arjuna was on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra. He will move as the puppeteer desires.