SB 6.15.18-19

Srimad-Bhagavatam - Sixth Canto - Chapter 15: The Saints Nārada and Ańgirā Instruct King Citraketu

SB 6.15.17 - SB 6.15.20

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

TEXTS 18-19

itthaṁ tvāṁ putra-śokena

magnaṁ tamasi dustare

atad-arham anusmṛtya

mahāpuruṣa-gocaram

anugrahāya bhavataḥ

prāptāv āvām iha prabho

brahmaṇyo bhagavad-bhakto

nāvāsāditum arhasi

SYNONYMS

ittham — in this way; tvām — you; putra-śokena — because of grief at the death of your son; magnam — merged; tamasi — in darkness; dustare — insurmountable; a-tat-arham — unsuitable for a person like you; anusmṛtya — remembering; mahā-puruṣa — the Supreme Personality of Godhead; gocaram — who are advanced in understanding; anugrahāya — just to show favor; bhavataḥ — toward you; prāptau — arrived; āvām — we two; iha — in this place; prabho — O King; brahmaṇyaḥ — one who is situated in the Supreme Absolute Truth; bhagavat-bhaktaḥ — an advanced devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; na — not; avāsāditum — to lament; arhasi — you deserve.

TRANSLATION

My dear King, you are an advanced devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. To be absorbed in lamentation for the loss of something material is unsuitable for a person like you. Therefore we have both come to relieve you from this false lamentation, which is due to your being merged in the darkness of ignorance. For those who are advanced in spiritual knowledge to be affected by material loss and gain is not at all desirable.

PURPORT

Several words in this verse are very important. The word mahā-puruṣa refers to advanced devotees and also to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Mahā means "the supreme," and puruṣa means "person." One who always engages in the service of the Supreme Lord is called mahā-pauruṣika. Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Mahārāja Parīkṣit are sometimes addressed as mahā-pauruṣika. A devotee should always aspire to engage in the service of advanced devotees. As Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung:

tāṅdera caraṇa sevi bhakta-sane vāsa

janame janame haya, ei abhilāṣa

A devotee should always aspire to live in the association of advanced devotees and engage in the service of the Lord through the paramparā system. One should serve the mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu through the instructions of the great Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana. This is called tāṅdera caraṇa sevi. While serving the lotus feet of the Gosvāmīs, one should live in the association of devotees (bhakta-sane vāsa). This is the business of a devotee. A devotee should not aspire for material profit or lament for material loss. When Aṅgirā Ṛṣi and Nārada saw that Mahārāja Citraketu, an advanced devotee, had fallen in the darkness of ignorance and was lamenting for the material body of his son, by their causeless mercy they came to advise him so that he could be saved from this ignorance.

Another significant word is brahmaṇya. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is sometimes addressed by the prayer namo brahmaṇya-devāya, which offers obeisances unto the Lord because He is served by the devotees. Therefore this verse states, brahmaṇyo bhagavad-bhakto nāvāsāditum arhasi. This is the symptom of an advanced devotee. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). For a devotee—an advanced, self-realized soul—there is no cause for material jubilation or lamentation. He is always transcendental to conditional life.

SB 6.15.17 - SB 6.15.20