Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 5.10.20

sa vai bhavan loka-niriksanartham

avyakta-lingo vicaraty api svit

yogesvaranam gatim andha-buddhih

katham vicaksita grhanubandhah

SYNONYMS

sah -- that Supreme Personality of Godhead or His incarnation Kapiladeva; vai -- indeed; bhavan -- your good self; loka-niriksana-artham -- just to study the characteristics of the people of this world; avyakta-lingah -- without manifesting your real identity; vicarati -- are traveling in this world; api svit -- whether; yoga-isvaranam -- of all the advanced yogis; gatim -- the characteristics or actual behavior; andha-buddhih -- who are illusioned and have become blind to spiritual knowledge; katham -- how; vicaksita -- may know; grha-anubandhah -- I who am bound by attachment to family life, or worldly life.

TRANSLATION

Is it not a fact that your good self is the direct representative of Kapiladeva, the incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead? To examine people and see who is actually a human being and who is not, you have presented yourself to be a deaf and dumb person. Are you not moving this way upon the surface of the world? I am very attached to family life and worldly activities, and I am blind to spiritual knowledge. Nonetheless, I am now present before you and am seeking enlightenment from you. How can I advance in spiritual life?

PURPORT

Although Maharaja Rahugana was playing the part of a king, he had been informed by Jada Bharata that be was not a king nor was Jada Bharata deaf and dumb. Such designations were simply coverings of the spirit soul. Everyone must come to this knowledge. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (2.13): dehino 'smin yatha dehe. Everyone is encased within the body. Since the body is never identical with the soul, the bodily activities are simply illusory. In the association of such a sadhu as Jada Bharata, Maharaja Rahugana came to the awareness that his activities as a royal authority were simply illusory phenomena. He therefore agreed to receive knowledge from Jada Bharata, and that was the beginning of his perfection. Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. A person like Maharaja Rahugana, who was very inquisitive to know the value of life and the spiritual science, must approach a personality like Jada Bharata. Tasmad gurum prapadyeta jijnasuh sreya uttamam (Bhag. 11.3.21). One must approach a guru like Jada Bharata, a representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to inquire about the goal of human life.

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