SB 1.16.23
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 23
- yadvāmba te bhūri-bharāvatāra-
- kṛtāvatārasya harer dharitri
- antarhitasya smaratī visṛṣṭā
- karmāṇi nirvāṇa-vilambitāni
SYNONYMS
yadvā—that may be; amba—O mother; te—your; bhūri—heavy; bhara—load; avatāra—decreasing the load; kṛta—done; avatārasya—one who incarnated; hareḥ—of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa; dharitri—O earth; antarhitasya—of Him who is now out of sight; smaratī—while thinking of; visṛṣṭā—all that were performed; karmāṇi—activities; nirvāṇa—salvation; vilambitāni—that which entails.
TRANSLATION
O mother earth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, incarnated Himself as Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa just to unload your heavy burden. All His activities here are transcendental, and they cement the path of liberation. You are now bereft of His presence. You are probably now thinking of those activities and feeling sorry in their absence.
PURPORT
The activities of the Lord include liberation, but they are more relishable than the pleasure derived from nirvāṇa, or liberation. According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī and Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, the word used here is nirvāṇa-vilambitāni, that which minimizes the value of liberation. To attain nirvāṇa, liberation, one has to undergo a severe type of tapasya, austerity, but the Lord is so merciful that He incarnates to diminish the burden of the earth. Simply by remembering such activities, one can defy the pleasure derived from nirvāṇa and reach the transcendental abode of the Lord to associate with Him, eternally engaged in His blissful loving service.