Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.2.33

śrī-kavir uvāca

manye 'kutaścid-bhayam acyutasya

pādāmbujopāsanam atra nityam

udvigna-buddher asad-ātma-bhāvād

viśvātmanā yatra nivartate bhīḥ

SYNONYMS

śrī-kaviḥ uvāca — Śrī Kavi said; manye — I consider; akutaścit-bhayam — fearlessness; acyutasya — of the infallible Lord; pāda-ambuja — of the lotus feet; upāsanam — the worship; atra — in this world; nityam — constantly; udvigna-buddheḥ — of one whose intelligence is disturbed; asat — that which is only temporary; ātma-bhāvāt — by thinking to be the self; viśva-ātmanā — thoroughly; yatra — in which (service to the Lord); nivartate — ceases; bhīḥ — fear.

TRANSLATION

Śrī Kavi said: 1 consider that one whose intelligence is constantly disturbed by his falsely identifying himself with the temporary material world can achieve real freedom from fear only by worshiping the lotus feet of the infallible Supreme Lord. In such devotional service, all fear ceases entirely.

PURPORT

In the opinion of Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī the word asad-ātma-bhāvāt in this verse indicates that the living entity is constantly disturbed by fear because he identifies his eternal self with the temporary material body and its paraphernalia. Similarly, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has stated, bhakti-pratikūla-deha-gehādiṣv āsaktim. Because of one's attachment to one's temporary body and so-called home, family, friends and so on, one's intelligence is always disturbed by fear, and one is unable to appreciate or practice pure devotional service to the Supreme Lord. So-called religious activities executed in the bodily conception of life are always accompanied by fear and anxiety about the ultimate result. But pure devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead frees one from fear and anxiety because it is executed on the platform of Vaikuṇṭha, or the spiritual plane, where there is no fear or anxiety. According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, the process of bhakti-yoga is so powerful that even in the stage of sādhana-bhakti, in which one is practicing devotional service through rules and regulations, the neophyte can have a direct experience of fearlessness by the mercy of the Lord. As one's devotional service becomes mature, the Lord reveals Himself to the devotee, and all fear is totally vanquished forever.

Every living entity has a natural propensity to serve God, but because of false identification with the temporary body one loses touch with this pure, constitutional propensity and instead inauspiciously becomes attached to temporary sense gratification in the form of body, home, family and so on. The result of such false attachment is continuing distress, which can be eradicated only by devotional service to the Supreme Lord.

In this connection, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī has quoted the following verse:

tāvad bhayaḿ draviṇa-deha-suhṛn-nimittaḿ

śokaḥ spṛhā paribhavo vipulaś ca lobhaḥ

tāvan mamety asad-avagraha ārti-mūlaḿ

yāvan na te 'ńghrim abhayaḿ pravṛṇīta lokaḥ

"O my Lord, the people of the world are embarrassed by all material anxieties — they are always afraid. They always try to protect wealth, body and friends, they are filled with lamentation and unlawful desires and paraphernalia, and they avariciously base their undertakings on the perishable conceptions of 'I' and 'mine.' As long as they do not take shelter of Your safe lotus feet, they are full of such anxieties." (Bhāg. 3.9.6)

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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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