BG 7.20 (1972)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 20
- कामैस्तैस्तैर्हृतज्ञानाः प्रपद्यन्तेऽन्यदेवताः ।
- तं तं नियममास्थाय प्रकृत्या नियताः स्वया ॥२०॥
- kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ
- prapadyante 'nya-devatāḥ
- taṁ taṁ niyamam āsthāya
- prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayā
SYNONYMS
kamaiḥ—by desires; taiḥ—by those; taiḥ—by those; hṛta—distorted; jñānāḥ—knowledge; prapadyante—surrender; anya—other; devatāḥ—demigods; tam—that; tam—that; niyamam—rules; āsthāya—following; prakṛtyā—by nature; niyatāḥ—controlled; svayā—by their own.
TRANSLATION
Those whose minds are distorted by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.
PURPORT
Those who are freed from all material contaminations surrender unto the Supreme Lord and engage in His devotional service. As long as the material contamination is not completely washed off, they are by nature nondevotees. But even those who have material desires and who resort to the Supreme Lord are not so much attracted by external nature; because of approaching the right goal, they soon become free from all material lust. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is recommended that whether one is free from all material desires, or is full of material desires, or desires liberation from material contamination, or is a pure devotee and has no desire for material sense gratification, he should in all cases surrender to Vāsudeva and worship Him.
It is said in the Bhāgavatam that less intelligent people who have lost their spiritual sense take shelter of demigods for immediate fulfillment of material desires. Generally, such people do not go to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, because they are in particular modes of nature (ignorance and passion) and therefore worship various demigods. Following the rules and regulations of worship, they are satisfied. The worshipers of demigods are motivated by small desires and do not know how to reach the supreme goal, but a devotee of the Supreme Lord is not misguided. Because in Vedic literature there are recommendations for worshiping different gods for different purposes (e.g., a diseased man is recommended to worship the sun), those who are not devotees of the Lord think that for certain purposes demigods are better than the Supreme Lord. But a pure devotee knows that the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa is the master of all. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that only the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is master and all others are servants. Therefore a pure devotee never goes to demigods for satisfaction of his material needs. He depends on the Supreme Lord. And the pure devotee is satisfied with whatever He gives.