SB 8.16.21
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 21
sa vidhāsyati te kāmān
harir dīnānukampanaḥ
amoghā bhagavad-bhaktir
netareti matir mama
SYNONYMS
saḥ—he (Vāsudeva); vidhāsyati—will undoubtedly fulfill; te—your; kāmān—desires; hariḥ—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; dīna—unto the poor; anukampanaḥ—very merciful; amoghā—infallible; bhagavat-bhaktiḥ—devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead; na—not; itarā—anything but bhagavad-bhakti; iti—thus; matiḥ—opinion; mama—my.
TRANSLATION
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is very merciful to the poor, will fulfill all of your desires, for devotional service unto Him is infallible. Any method other than devotional service is useless. That is my opinion.
PURPORT
There are three kinds of men, who are called akāma, mokṣa-kāma and sarva-kāma. One who tries to get liberation from this material world is called mokṣa-kāma, one who wants to enjoy this material world to its fullest extent is called sarva-kāma, and one who has fulfilled all his desires and has no further material desires is called akāma. A bhakta has no desire. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). He is purified and free from material desires. The mokṣa-kāmī wants to achieve liberation by merging into the existence of the Supreme Brahman, and because of this desire to merge into the existence of the Lord, he is not yet pure. And since those who want liberation are impure, what to speak of the karmīs, who have so many desires to fulfill? Nonetheless, the śāstra says:
- akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā
- mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ
- tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena
- yajeta puruṣaṁ param
"Whether one desires everything or nothing or desires to merge into the existence of the Lord, he is intelligent only if he worships Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by rendering transcendental loving service." (SB 2.3.10)
Kaśyapa Muni saw that his wife, Aditi, had some material desires for the welfare of her sons, but still he advised her to render devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In other words, everyone, regardless of whether he is a karmī, jñānī, yogī or bhakta, should invariably take shelter of the lotus feet of Vāsudeva and render transcendental loving service unto Him so that all his desires will be duly fulfilled. Kṛṣṇa is dīna-anukampana: He is very merciful to everyone. Therefore if one wants to fulfill his material desires, Kṛṣṇa helps him. Of course, sometimes if a devotee is very sincere, the Lord, as a special favor to him, refuses to fulfill his material desires and directly blesses him with pure, unalloyed devotional service. It is said in Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 22.38-39):
- kṛṣṇa kahe,—'āmā bhaje, māge viṣaya-sukha
- amṛta chāḍi' viṣa māge,—ei baḍa mūrkha
- āmi—vijña, ei mūrkhe 'viṣaya' kene diba?
- sva-caraṇāmṛta diyā 'viṣaya' bhulāiba
"Kṛṣṇa says, 'If one engages in My transcendental loving service but at the same time wants the opulence of material enjoyment, he is very, very foolish. Indeed, he is just like a person who gives up ambrosia to drink poison. Since I am very intelligent, why should I give this fool material prosperity? Instead I shall induce him to take the nectar of the shelter of My lotus feet and make him forget illusory material enjoyment.' " If a devotee maintains some material desire and at the same time very sincerely desires to engage at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa may directly give him unalloyed devotional service and take away all his material desires and possessions. This is the Lord's special favor to devotees. Otherwise, if one takes to Kṛṣṇa's devotional service but still has material desires to fulfill, he may become free from all material desires, as Dhruva Mahārāja did, but this may take some time. However, if a very sincere devotee wants only Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, Kṛṣṇa directly gives him the position of śuddha-bhakti, unalloyed devotional service.