SB 2.4.11
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 11
sūta uvāca
ity upāmantrito rājñā
guṇānukathane hareḥ
hṛṣīkeśam anusmṛtya
prativaktuṁ pracakrame
SYNONYMS
sūtaḥ uvāca—Sūta Gosvāmī said; iti—thus; upāmantritaḥ—being requested; rājñā—by the King; guṇa-anukathane—in describing the transcendental attributes of the Lord; hareḥ—of the Personality of Godhead; hṛṣīkeśam—the master of the senses; anusmṛtya—properly remembering; prativaktum—just to reply; pracakrame—executed the preliminaries.
TRANSLATION
Sūta Gosvāmī said: When Śukadeva Gosvāmī was thus requested by the King to describe the creative energy of the Personality of Godhead, he then systematically remembered the master of the senses [Śrī Kṛṣṇa], and to reply properly he spoke thus.
PURPORT
The devotees of the Lord, while delivering speeches and describing the transcendental attributes of the Lord, do not think that they can do anything independently. They think that they can speak only what they are induced to speak by the Supreme Lord, the master of the senses. The senses of the individual being are not his own; the devotee knows that such senses belong to the Supreme Lord and that they can be properly used when they are employed for the service of the Lord. The senses are instruments, and elements are ingredients, all endowed by the Lord; therefore whatever an individual can do, speak, see, etc., is under the direction of the Lord only. The Bhagavad-gītā (BG 15.15) confirms this: sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca. No one is free to act freely and independently, and as such, one should always seek the permission of the Lord to act or eat or speak, and by the blessing of the Lord everything done by a devotee is beyond the principles of the four defects typical of the conditioned soul.