Chapter Four
Vidura Approaches Maitreya
TEXT 12
sa eṣa sādho caramo bhavānām
āsāditas te mad-anugraho yat
yan māṁ nṛlokān raha utsṛjantaṁ
diṣṭyā dadṛśvān viśadānuvṛttyā
SYNONYMS
saḥ—that; eṣaḥ—of those; sādho—O honest one; caramaḥ—the ultimate; bhavānām—of all your incarnations (as Vasu); āsāditaḥ—now achieved; te—unto you; mat—My; anugrahaḥ—mercy; yat—as it is; yat—because; mām—Me; nṛ-lokān—the planets of the conditioned souls; rahaḥ—in seclusion; utsṛjantam—while quitting; diṣṭyā—by seeing; dadṛśvān—what you have seen; viśada-anuvṛttyā—by unflinching devotion.
TRANSLATION
O honest one, your present life is the last and the supermost because in this term of life you have been awarded My ultimate favor. Now you can go to My transcendental abode, Vaikuṇṭha, by leaving this universe of conditioned living entities. Your visit to Me in this lonely place because of your pure and unflinching devotional service is a great boon for you.
PURPORT
When a person is fully conversant with knowledge of the Lord as far as can be known by a perfect living entity in the liberated state, he is allowed to enter into the spiritual sky, where the Vaikuṇṭha planets exist. The Lord was sitting in a lonely place just about to disappear from the vision of the inhabitants of this universe, and Uddhava was fortunate to see Him even at that time and thus receive the Lord’s permission to enter Vaikuṇṭha. The Lord is everywhere at all times, and His appearance and disappearance are merely the experience of the inhabitants of a particular universe. He is just like the sun. The sun does not appear or disappear in the sky; it is only in the experience of men that in the morning the sun rises and in the evening the sun sets. The Lord is simultaneously both in Vaikuṇṭha and everywhere within and without Vaikuṇṭha.
TEXT 13
purā mayā proktam ajāya nābhye
padme niṣaṇṇāya mamādi-sarge
jñānaṁ paraṁ man-mahimāvabhāsaṁ
yat sūrayo bhāgavataṁ vadanti
SYNONYMS
purā—in the days of yore; mayā—by Me; proktam—was said; ajāya—unto Brahmā; nābhye—out of the navel; padme—on the lotus; niṣaṇṇāya—unto the one situated on; mama—My; ādi-sarge—in the beginning of creation; jñānam—knowledge; param—sublime; mat-mahimā—My transcendental glories; avabhāsam—that which clarifies; yat—which; sūrayaḥ—the great learned sages; bhāgavatam—Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; vadanti—do say.
TRANSLATION
O Uddhava, in the lotus millennium in the days of yore, at the beginning of the creation, I spoke unto Brahmā, who is situated on the lotus that grows out of My navel, about My transcendental glories, which the great sages describe as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
PURPORT
The explanation of the Supreme Self, as given to Brahmā and already explained in the Second Canto of this great literature, is further clarified herein. The Lord said that the concise form of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as explained to Brahmā was meant to elucidate His personality. The impersonal explanation of those four verses in the Second Canto is nullified herewith. Śrīdhara Svāmī also explains in this connection that the same concise form of the Bhāgavatam concerned the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa and was never meant for impersonal indulgence.
TEXT 14
ity ādṛtoktaḥ paramasya puṁsaḥ
pratikṣaṇānugraha-bhājano ’ham
snehottha-romā skhalitākṣaras taṁ
muñcañ chucaḥ prāñjalir ābabhāṣe
SYNONYMS
iti—thus; ādṛta—being favored; uktaḥ—addressed; paramasya—of the Supreme; puṁsaḥ—Personality of Godhead; pratikṣaṇa—every moment; anugraha-bhājanaḥ—object of favor; aham—myself; sneha—affection; uttha—eruption; romā—hairs on the body; skhalita—slackened; akṣaraḥ—of the eyes; tam—that; muñcan—smearing; śucaḥ—tears; prāñjaliḥ—with folded hands; ābabhāṣe—said.
TRANSLATION
Uddhava said: O Vidura, when I was thus favored at every moment by the Supreme Personality of Godhead and addressed by Him with great affection, my words failed in tears, and the hairs on my body erupted. After smearing my tears, I, with folded hands, spoke like this.
TEXT 15
ko nv īśa te pāda-saroja-bhājāṁ
sudurlabho ’rtheṣu caturṣv apīha
tathāpi nāhaṁ pravṛṇomi bhūman
bhavat-padāmbhoja-niṣevaṇotsukaḥ
SYNONYMS
kaḥ nu īśa—O my Lord; te—Your; pāda-saroja-bhājām—of the devotees engaged in the transcendental loving service of Your lotus feet; su-durlabhaḥ—very difficult to obtain; artheṣu—in the matter of; caturṣu—in the four objectives; api—in spite of; iha—in this world; tathā api—yet; na—do not; aham—I; pravṛṇomi—prefer; bhūman—O great one; bhavat—Your; pada-ambhoja—lotus feet; niṣevaṇa-utsukaḥ—anxious to serve.
TRANSLATION
O my Lord, devotees who engage in the transcendental loving service of Your lotus feet have no difficulty in achieving anything within the realm of the four principles of religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation. But, O great one, as far as I am concerned, I have preferred only to engage in the loving service of Your lotus feet.
PURPORT
Those who are associated with the Lord in the Vaikuṇṭha planets achieve all the bodily features of the Lord and appear to be the same as Lord Viṣṇu. Such liberation is called sārūpya-mukti, which is one of the five kinds of liberation. The devotees engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord never accept the sāyujya-mukti, or merging in the rays of the Lord called the brahmajyoti. The devotees can achieve not only liberation but any success in the realm of religiosity, economic development or sense gratification up to the standard of the demigods in the heavenly planets. But such a pure devotee as Uddhava refuses to accept all such facilities. A pure devotee wants simply to engage in the service of the Lord and does not consider his own personal benefit.
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