Canto 12: The Age of Deterioration | Chapter 8: Mārkaṇḍeya's Prayers to Nara-Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi |
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 12.8.46
tasmāt taveha bhagavann atha tāvakānāḿ
śuklāḿ tanuḿ sva-dayitāḿ kuśalā bhajanti
yat sātvatāḥ puruṣa-rūpam uśanti sattvaḿ
loko yato 'bhayam utātma-sukhaḿ na cānyat
SYNONYMS
tasmāt — therefore; tava — Your; iha — in this world; bhagavan — O Supreme Lord; atha — and; tāvakānām — of Your devotees; śuklām — transcendental; tanum — the personal form; sva-dayitām — most dear to them; kuśalāḥ — those who are expert in spiritual knowledge; bhajanti — worship; yat — because; sātvatāḥ — the great devotees; puruṣa — of the original Personality of Godhead; rūpam — the form; uśanti — consider; sattvam — the mode of goodness; lokaḥ — the spiritual world; yataḥ — from which; abhayam — fearlessness; uta — and; ātma-sukham — the happiness of the soul; na — not; ca — and; anyat — any other.
TRANSLATION
O Lord, because fearlessness, spiritual happiness and the kingdom of God are all achieved through the mode of pure goodness, Your devotees consider this mode, but never passion and ignorance, to be a direct manifestation of You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Intelligent persons thus worship Your beloved transcendental form, composed of pure goodness, along with the spiritual forms of Your pure devotees.
PURPORT
Intelligent persons do not worship the demigods, who represent the modes of passion and ignorance. Lord Brahmā represents passion, Lord Śiva represents ignorance, and demigods such as Indra also represent the modes of material nature. But Lord Viṣṇu, or Nārāyaṇa, represents pure spiritual goodness, which brings one realization of the spiritual world, freedom from fear, and spiritual bliss. Such benefits can never be derived from impure, material goodness, for it is always mixed with the modes of passion and ignorance. As clearly indicated in this verse, the transcendental form of God is fully constituted of eternal spiritual goodness and thus has no tinge of the material mode of goodness, passion or ignorance.
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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
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