|
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
<< Canto 11, General History >> << 2 - Mahārāja Nimi Meets the Nine Yogendras >>
<< VERSE 52 >>
na yasya svaḥ para iti vitteṣv ātmani vā bhidā sarva-bhūta-samaḥ śāntaḥ sa vai bhāgavatottamaḥ
WORD BY WORD
TRANSLATION
| When a devotee gives up the selfish conception by which one thinks “This is my property, and that is his,” and when he is no longer concerned with the pleasures of his own material body or indifferent to the discomforts of others, he becomes fully peaceful and satisfied. He considers himself simply one among all the living beings who are equally part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such a satisfied Vaiṣṇava is considered to be at the highest standard of devotional service.
|
PURPORT
| The vision described by the phrase sarva-bhūta-samaḥ, “seeing all living entities equally,” does not include one’s vision of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In this connection Śrīla Madhvācārya has quoted from the Harī-vaṁśa as follows:
| | na kvāpi jīvaṁ viṣṇutve
saṁsṛtau mokṣa eva ca
| | “Under no circumstance should one consider the living entity equal to Lord Viṣṇu, either in conditional life or in liberation.”
| | The impersonal speculative philosophers are fond of imagining that although in our present illusion we appear to be individual entities, at liberation we shall all merge into God and be God. Such wishful thinkers cannot reasonably explain how the omnipotent God could arrive at the embarrassing position of having to enter a yoga studio, pay weekly fees, press His nose and chant mantras to regain His divinity. As stated in the Vedas, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. The individuality or plurality of living entities is not a product of material existence. The word nityānām, denoting the plurality of eternal entities, clearly indicates that the living entities are eternally individual parts and parcels of the Lord, who is the singular unique entity described here as ekaḥ. In Bhagavad-gītā (1.21) Arjuna said to Kṛṣṇa, rathaṁ sthāpaya me ’cyuta: “My dear Acyuta, please place my chariot between the armies.” This body is also ratha, a vehicle, and therefore the best policy is to request the infallible Lord to take charge of our conditioned body and guide us on the path back to the kingdom of God. The word acyuta means “the infallible” or “one who never falls.” Learned or sane human beings will not entertain the silly notion that the omnipotent, omniscient God has slipped and fallen because of māyā. No amount of wishful thinking can erase our eternal servitorship at the lotus feet of the Lord.
|
|
| |