Canto 11: General HistoryChapter 11: The Symptoms of Conditioned and Liberated Living Entities

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.11.15

yasyātmā hiḿsyate hiḿsrair

yena kiñcid yadṛcchayā

arcyate vā kvacit tatra

na vyatikriyate budhaḥ

SYNONYMS

yasya — of whom; ātmā — the body; hiḿsyate — is attacked; hiḿsraiḥ — by sinful people or violent animals; yena — by someone; kiñcit — somewhat; yadṛcchayā — somehow or other; arcyate — is worshiped; — or; kvacit — somewhere; tatra — therein; na — not; vyatikriyate — is transformed or affected; budhaḥ — one who is intelligent.

TRANSLATION

Sometimes for no apparent reason one's body is attacked by cruel people or violent animals. At other times and in other places, one will suddenly be offered great respect or worship. One who becomes neither angry when attacked nor satisfied when worshiped is actually intelligent.

PURPORT

If one does not become angry when attacked for no apparent reason, and if one does not become enlivened when glorified or worshiped, then one has passed the test of self-realization and is considered fixed in spiritual intelligence. Uddhava asked Lord Kṛṣṇa, kair vā jñāyeta lakṣaṇaiḥ: by what symptoms can a self-realized person be recognized? Just as Lord Kṛṣṇa enlightened Arjuna, He now explains the same subject matter to Uddhava. In this verse the Lord describes symptoms by which it is very easy to recognize a saintly person, for a normal person becomes furious when criticized or attacked and overwhelmed with joy when glorified by others. There is a similar statement by Yājñavalkya to the effect that one who is actually intelligent does not become angry though pricked with thorns and does not become satisfied at heart merely by being worshiped with auspicious paraphernalia such as sandalwood.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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