SB 8.6.13
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 13
taṁ tvāṁ vayaṁ nātha samujjihānaṁ
saroja-nābhāticirepsitārtham
dṛṣṭvā gatā nirvṛtam adya sarve
gajā davārtā iva gāṅgam ambhaḥ
SYNONYMS
tam—O Lord; tvām—Your Lordship; vayam—all of us; nātha—O master; samujjihānam—now appearing before us with all glories; saroja-nābha—O Lord, whose navel resembles a lotus flower, or from whose navel grows a lotus flower; ati-cira—for an extremely long time; īpsita—desiring; artham—for the ultimate goal of life; dṛṣṭvā—seeing; gatāḥ—in our vision; nirvṛtam—transcendental happiness; adya—today; sarve—all of us; gajāḥ—elephants; dava-artāḥ—being afflicted in a forest fire; iva—like; gāṅgam ambhaḥ—with water from the Ganges.
TRANSLATION
Elephants afflicted by a forest fire become very happy when they get water from the Ganges. Similarly, O my Lord, from whose navel grows a lotus flower, since You have now appeared before us, we have become transcendentally happy. By seeing Your Lordship, whom we have desired to see for a very long time, we have achieved our ultimate goal in life.
PURPORT
The devotees of the Lord are always very eager to see the Supreme Lord face to face, but they do not demand that the Lord come before them, for a pure devotee considers such a demand to be contrary to devotional service. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaches this lesson in His Śikṣāṣṭaka. Adarśanān marma-hatāṁ karotu vā. The devotee is always eager to see the Lord face to face, but if he is brokenhearted because he cannot see the Lord, even life after life, he will never command the Lord to appear. This is a sign of pure devotion. Therefore in this verse we find the word ati-cira-īpsita-artham, meaning that the devotee aspires for a long, long time to see the Lord. If the Lord, by His own pleasure, appears before the devotee, the devotee feels extremely happy, as Dhruva Mahārāja felt when he personally saw the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When Dhruva Mahārāja saw the Lord, he had no desire to ask the Lord for any benediction. Indeed, simply by seeing the Lord, Dhruva Mahārāja felt so satisfied that he did not want to ask the Lord for any benediction (svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce (CC Madhya 22.42)). A pure devotee, whether able or unable to see the Lord, always engages in the Lord's devotional service, always hoping that at some time the Lord may be pleased to appear before him so that he can see the Lord face to face.