CC Madhya-lila 19.150 - SB 06.14.05

Expressions researched:
"This verse is quoted from Srimad-Bhagavatam"

SB Canto 6

SB 6.14.5, Translation and Purport:

O great sage, among many millions who are liberated and perfect in knowledge of liberation, one may be a devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa. Such devotees, who are fully peaceful, are extremely rare.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura gives the following purport to this verse. Simply desiring mukti, or liberation, is insufficient; one must become factually liberated. When one understands the futility of the materialistic way of life, one becomes advanced in knowledge, and therefore he situates himself in the vānaprastha order, unattached to family, wife and children. One should then further progress to the platform of sannyāsa, the actual renounced order, never to fall again and be afflicted by materialistic life. Even though one desires to be liberated, this does not mean he is liberated. Only rarely is someone liberated. Indeed, although many men take sannyāsa to become liberated, because of their imperfections they again become attached to women, material activities, social welfare work and so on.

Jñānīs, yogīs and karmīs devoid of devotional service are called offenders. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, māyāvādī kṛṣṇe aparādhī: one who thinks that everything is māyā instead of thinking that everything is Kṛṣṇa is called an aparādhī, or offender. Although the Māyāvādīs, impersonalists, are offenders at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, they may nonetheless be counted among the siddhas, those who have realized the self. They may be considered nearer to spiritual perfection because at least they have realized what spiritual life is. If such a person becomes nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa, a devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa, he is better than a jīvan-mukta, one who is liberated or perfect. This requires higher intelligence.

There are two kinds of jñānīs. One is inclined to devotional service and the other to impersonal realization. Impersonalists generally undergo great endeavor for no tangible benefit, and therefore it is said that they are husking paddy that has no grain (sthūla-tuṣāvaghātinaḥ). The other class of jñānīs, whose jñāna is mixed with bhakti, are also of two kinds—those who are devoted to the so-called false form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and those who understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead as sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), the actual spiritual form. The Māyāvādī devotees worship Nārāyaṇa or Viṣṇu with the idea that Viṣṇu has accepted a form of māyā and that the ultimate truth is actually impersonal. The pure devotee, however, never thinks that Viṣṇu has accepted a body of māyā; instead, he knows perfectly well that the original Absolute Truth is the Supreme Person. Such a devotee is actually situated in knowledge. He never merges in the Brahman effulgence. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.2.32):

ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas

tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ

āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ

patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ

"O Lord, the intelligence of those who think themselves liberated but who have no devotion is impure. Even though they rise to the highest point of liberation by dint of severe penances and austerities, they are sure to fall down again into material existence, for they do not take shelter at Your lotus feet." Evidence of this same point is also given in Bhagavad-gītā (9.11), wherein the Lord says:

avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā

mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam

paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto

mama bhūta-maheśvaram

(BG 9.11)

"Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be." When rascals (mūḍhas) see that Kṛṣṇa acts exactly like a human being, they deride the transcendental form of the Lord because they do not know the paraṁ bhāvam, His transcendental form and activities. Such persons are further described in Bhagavad-gītā (9.12) as follows:

moghāśā mogha-karmāṇo

mogha-jñānā vicetasaḥ

rākṣasīm āsurīṁ caiva

prakṛtiṁ mohinīṁ śritāḥ

"Those who are thus bewildered are attracted by demoniac and atheistic views. In that deluded condition, their hopes for liberation, their fruitive activities and their culture of knowledge are all defeated." Such persons do not know that Kṛṣṇa's body is not material. There is no distinction between Kṛṣṇa's body and His soul, but because less intelligent men see Kṛṣṇa as a human being, they deride Him. They cannot imagine how a person like Kṛṣṇa could be the origin of everything (govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **). Such persons are described as moghāśāḥ, baffled in their hopes. Whatever they desire for the future will be baffled. Even if they apparently engage in devotional service, they are described as moghāśāḥ because they ultimately desire to merge into the Brahman effulgence.

Those who aspire to be elevated to the heavenly planets by devotional service will also be frustrated, because this is not the result of devotional service. However, they are also given a chance to engage in devotional service and be purified. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.17):

śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ

puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ

hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi

vidhunoti suhṛt satām

"Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā (Supersoul) in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who relishes His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted."

Unless the dirt within the core of one's heart is cleansed away, one cannot become a pure devotee. Therefore the word su-durlabhaḥ ("very rarely found") is used in this verse. Not only among hundreds and thousands, but among millions of perfectly liberated souls, a pure devotee is hardly ever found. Therefore the words koṭiṣv api are used herein. Śrīla Madhvācārya gives the following quotations from the Tantra Bhāgavata:

nava-koṭyas tu devānām

ṛṣayaḥ sapta-koṭayaḥ

nārāyaṇāyanāḥ sarve

ye kecit tat-parāyaṇāḥ

"There are ninety million demigods and seventy million sages, who are all called nārāyaṇāyana, devotees of Lord Nārāyaṇa. Among them, only a few are called nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa."

nārāyaṇāyanā devā

ṛṣy-ādyās tat-parāyaṇāḥ

brahmādyāḥ kecanaiva syuḥ

siddho yogya-sukhaṁ labhan

The difference between the siddhas and nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇas is that direct devotees are called nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇas whereas those who perform various types of mystic yoga are called siddhas.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 19.150, Translation and Purport:

“"O great sage, out of many millions of materially liberated people who are free from ignorance, and out of many millions of siddhas who have nearly attained perfection, there is hardly one pure devotee of Nārāyaṇa. Only such a devotee is actually completely satisfied and peaceful."

This verse is quoted from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (6.14.5). The nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa, the devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa, is the only blissful person. One who becomes a nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa is already liberated from material bondage. He already possesses all the perfections of yoga. Unless one comes to the platform of nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa and passes over the platform of bhukti-mukti-siddhi, he cannot be fully satisfied. That is the pure devotional stage.

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam

ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā

(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11)

One who desires nothing but Kṛṣṇa and who is not influenced by the process of jñāna-mārga (cultivation of knowledge) actually becomes free from ignorance. A first-class person is one who is not influenced by karma (fruitive activity) or yoga (mystic power). He simply depends on Kṛṣṇa and is satisfied in his devotional service. According to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (6.17.28): nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati. Such a person is never afraid of anything. For him, heaven and hell are the same. Not knowing the situation of a nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa, rascals become envious. By the grace of Nārāyaṇa, a devotee is situated in the most opulent position in the material world. Rascals are envious of Nārāyaṇa and His devotee, but the devotee endeavors to please another devotee of Nārāyaṇa because he knows that by pleasing Nārāyaṇa's representative one directly pleases Lord Nārāyaṇa. Therefore a devotee offers the best comforts and facilities to his spiritual master. Outsiders who have no knowledge of Nārāyaṇa are envious of both Nārāyaṇa and His devotee. Consequently when they see that Nārāyaṇa's devotee is opulently situated, they become even more envious. But when the devotee of Nārāyaṇa asks such foolish people to come live with him in the same comfortable situation, they do not agree because they cannot give up illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling. Therefore the materialist refuses the company of a nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa, although he is envious of the devotee's material situation. In Western countries when ordinary men—storekeepers and workers—see our devotees living and eating sumptuously and yet not working, they become very eager to know where they get the money. Such people become envious and ask, "How is it possible to live so comfortably without working? How is it you have so many cars, bright faces and nice clothes?" Not knowing that Kṛṣṇa looks after His devotees, such people become surprised, and some become envious.