SB 07.09.54 prinanti hy atha mam dhirah... cited

Expressions researched:
"prinanti hy atha mam dhirah" |"sarva-bhavena sadhavah" |"sarvasam asisam patim" |"sreyas-kama maha-bhaga"

SB Canto 7

SB 7.9.54, Translation and Purport:

My dear Prahlāda, you are very fortunate. Please know from Me that those who are very wise and highly elevated try to please Me in all different modes of mellows, for I am the only person who can fulfill all the desires of everyone.

The words dhīrāḥ sarva-bhāvena do not mean "in whichever way you like." Bhāva is the preliminary condition of love of Godhead.

athāsaktis tato bhāvas

tataḥ premābhyudañcati

sādhakānām ayaṁ premṇaḥ

prādurbhāve bhavet kramaḥ

(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.4.16)

The bhāva stage is the final division before one reaches love of Godhead. The word sarva-bhāva means that one can love the Supreme Personality of Godhead in different transcendental modes of mellows, beginning with dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya and mādhurya. In the śānta stage, one is on the border of loving service to the Lord. Pure love of Godhead begins from dāsya and develops to sakhya, vātsalya and then mādhurya. Still, in any of these five mellows one can render loving service to the Supreme Lord. Since our main business is to love the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one can render service from any of the above-mentioned platforms of love.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 7.9.54 -- Vrndavana, April 9, 1976:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "My dear Prahlāda, you are very fortunate. You may know from Me that those who are highly elevated, wise persons try to please Me in all different modes of mellows because I am the only person to fulfill the desires of everyone."

Prabhupāda:

prīṇanti hy atha māṁ dhīrāḥ

sarva-bhāvena sādhavaḥ

śreyas-kāmā mahā-bhāga

sarvāsām āśiṣāṁ patim

(SB 7.9.54)

So each word in this verse is very important. Prīṇanti hy atha māṁ dhīrāḥ. Dhira means very intelligent, not crazy, just the opposite of crazy. Dhīra. So Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā who is dhīra. There are many places. Dhīras tatra na muhyati.

dehino 'smin yathā dehe

kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā

tathā dehāntara-prāptir

dhīras tatra na muhyati

(BG 2.13)

The simple thing that "I am not this body. I am living within this body, and because I am living within this body, the bodily changes are taking place," this simple thing... A dead child never grows, but a living child grows or changes body. So where is the difficulty to understand that there is something in the body, therefore the body is changing? Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13). A child is becoming a baby, baby is becoming a boy, a boy is becoming a young man, young man is becoming a middle aged, a middle-aged man is becoming old man, so the old man, now, after giving up when it is useless, this body, no more workable, then he must get another body, as we have experienced after one stage of life another stage, another body. Where is the difficulty? Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, dhīras tatra na muhyati. Those who are intelligent, they are not, I mean to say, bewildered. They accept, "Yes, there is." Only the rascals, they cannot understand, the rascals. The opposite number of dhīra, the crazy rascals, they cannot understand. Simple thing.

Now, if you study the whole world at the present moment, they do not believe in the soul. They do not believe in the transmigration of the soul from one body to another. Even big, big professors, big, big learned scholars, they do not believe. So therefore you can understand that what is the present population of the world—all rascals. All rascals. They cannot understand the simple truth, and they are passing on as great scholars, great scientists, great politicians and so on, so on, but all of them rascals. That's all. This is the conclusion. Kṛṣṇa says, dhīras tatra na muhya... This transmigration of the soul from one body to another, Kṛṣṇa says, dhīras tatra na muhyati. And here also the same thing, prīṇanti hy atha māṁ dhīrāḥ sarva-bhāvena sādhavaḥ. The spiritual... If you do not understand what is spirit, then where is the question of spiritual life and advancement of spiritual life? There is no question. This is the beginning of spiritual existence..., education, that "I am not this body. I am spirit soul." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. They can understand.

So if we are sincerely Kṛṣṇa conscious, if we believe Kṛṣṇa... We have to believe. You believe or not believe, the words of Kṛṣṇa cannot be false. That's a fact. You may be rascal, you do not believe, but those who are dhīra, they believe. They believe. If you have love for Kṛṣṇa... There is no question of love or no love. This is the fact. So one has to become... This is the ultimate goal of life, that one has to become dhīra, not like cats and dogs, jumping here and there. That is not human life. That is dog life.

Lecture on SB 7.9.54 -- Vrndavana, April 9, 1976:

Yes. So they go for women and money because you are fooled. You are yogi, and they show some gymnastic, that's all. But real yoga system is yoga indriya-saṁyamaḥ, how to control the indriyas, especially the mind. In this way one can become advanced, dhīra. That is yoga system. It is an artificial means to become dhīra, because without becoming dhīra there is no question of advancing in spiritual life. That is not possible.

So this dhīra, who can...? Mahā-bhāga. Mahā-bhāga, very, very great fortunate person. How he becomes dhīra? Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kono bhāgyavān—this mahā-bhāga-kono bhāgyavān jīva, guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). By the blessings of guru... If by his great fortune he comes to a real guru, then he gets the opportunity. That is the test. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kono bhāgyavān. This opportunity is not for everyone. Kono means somebody. So guru-kṛṣṇa. If actually one is trying to be dhīra, Kṛṣṇa is there within every... Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). And He advises, guru-kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa says, "Now..." Just like Dhruva Mahārāja. Dhruva Mahārāja, out of his sentiment, went to the forest and to see God. His mother said that "Your, this mental condition cannot be relieved because you want to challenge your father to have the kingdom. So I am poor. I am, although your mother, I cannot request your father. So if it is possible, Kṛṣṇa can do it." She was Kṛṣṇa conscious; therefore the child became so nice, Dhruva Mahārāja. A child inherits the quality of mother, boy; and girl inherits the quality of father. That is the general rule. So his mother was devotee, so he'll naturally become a devotee by the advice of the mother. He went to the forest. So..., but he had no spiritual master. Out of sentiment went to the forest. But Kṛṣṇa saw from within that "This child is so serious about Me. Oh, send him Nārada. 'Nārada, you go there. Initiate him.' " Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, this mantra was given to Dhruva Mahārāja by Nārada Muni. So he practiced that mantra, and with austerity, and he saw Kṛṣṇa. And when he saw Kṛṣṇa, he's completely pure from all material desires. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). When Kṛṣṇa wanted to give him benediction, he said, svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce: (CC Madhya 22.42) "I am fully satisfied. I don't want anything." This is Kṛṣṇa conscious, dhīra. No more want. Why want? Here it is said that śreyas-kāmā mahā-bhāga sarvāsām aśiṣāṁ patim. Such persons who are dhīra and most fortunate and sees Kṛṣṇa, then what remains to possess? Everything is there. Sarvāsām aśi... All kinds of benedictions are there, all kinds of. That Kṛṣṇa will take care.

So these things are very nice, that one has to become dhīra, and he can become dhīra. Either he was fortunate, or after becoming dhīra he is fortunate. Both ways he is fortunate, mahā-bhāga. And sreyas-kāmāḥ. When one becomes a devotee he does not anymore ask for anything material. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaches, na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). This is dhīra. He frankly says that "I don't want riches. I don't want many followers. I don't want nice wife, very beautiful wife." These things are material demands. They are very much fond of worshiping Durgā. Why? Dhanaṁ dehi rūpavati bhāryāṁ dehi yaśo dehi. These are material. But Kṛṣṇa says, "These persons who are asking for material profit from the different demigods, it can be fulfilled. They are fulfilling." But antavat tu phalaṁ teṣāṁ tad bhavati alpa-medhasām (BG 7.23). These material gains, they will stay for a few days or few years. Because you are creating another body.