jighranti karṇa-vivaraiḥ śruti-vāta-nītam
jighranti karṇa-vivaraiḥ śruti-vāta-nītam
bhaktyā gṛhīta-caraṇaḥ parayā ca teṣāṁ
nāpaiṣi nātha hṛdayāmburuhāt sva-puṁsām
O master! You do not give up the lotus hearts of your devotees who smell through their ears the fragrance of your lotus bud feet brought by the wind of the Vedas, and take your lotus feet as the greatest treasure through prema-bhakti.
The worshippers of the impersonal Brahman are described as jñānīs in the scriptures. The worshippers of the person form are described as devotees. Among the two types of people, the devotees are successful and dear to the Lord. This is explained in two verses. Śruti refers to the Vedas or to the process of hearing in bhakti. The devotees smell through the ears the fragrance of your lotus feet brought by the wind of the Vedas or the hearing process, and accept your feet as the final goal of human endeavor with the highest devotion, prema-bhakti, like bees eager for the fragrance of your lotus feet. Just as they do not give up their greed for your lotus feet, you also do not give up them, being greedy for their lotus hearts filled with sweet prema. They mutually bring each other under control.
|| 3.9.6 ||
tāvad bhayaṁ draviṇa-deha-suhṛn-nimittaṁ
śokaḥ spṛhā paribhavo vipulaś ca lobhaḥ
tāvan mamety asad-avagraha ārti-mūlaṁ
yāvan na te ’ṅghrim abhayaṁ pravṛṇīta lokaḥ
As much as people do not completely accept your lotus feet which give fearlessness, they suffer material existence caused by attachment to wealth, body and friends, lamentation, hankering, defeat, and overpowering greed; or they have excessive attachment which is the cause of prolonged material existence.
“But the devotees, if they have wives, children and wealth, are also materialists.” No, this is not true. Materialists suffer continued material existence (bhayam) caused by attachment to wealth, body, and friends. This existence consists of lamentation, desire, defeat, and great greed as long as they do not accept your lotus feet as having power. Or to speak in the opposite way, if they accept those feet completely, then by attachment to you, they will give up attachment to wealth etc. And if one is a devotee and has attachment to wealth etc. one should still not worry. The bite of a snake whose two front teeth have been extracted does not cause suffering. Thus, just accepting your feet as worthy of service destroys the very cause of material existence. Later it will be said:
tāvad rāgādayaḥ stenās tāvat kārā-gṛhaṁ gṛham
tāvan moho ’ṅghri-nigaḍo yāvat kṛṣṇa na te janāḥ
My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, until people become your devotees, their material attachments and desires remain thieves, their homes remain prisons, and their affectionate feelings for their family members remain foot-shackles. SB 10.14.36
The word tāvat has been used in both verse, making the case strong. Thus in this verse three types of devotees have been described: those who have great attachment to the Lord (described in the previous verse); those at the stage of anartha-nivṛtti described in the first part of the present verse; and those who have not accomplished anartha-nivṛrti, described in the last part of the present verse.
|| 3.9.7 ||
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