Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.10.20

sa vai bhavān loka-nirīkṣaṇārtham

avyakta-lińgo vicaraty api svit

yogeśvarāṇāḿ gatim andha-buddhiḥ

kathaḿ vicakṣīta gṛhānubandhaḥ

SYNONYMS

saḥ — that Supreme Personality of Godhead or His incarnation Kapiladeva; vai — indeed; bhavān — your good self; loka-nirīkṣaṇa-artham — just to study the characteristics of the people of this world; avyakta-lińgaḥ — without manifesting your real identity; vicarati — are traveling in this world; api svit — whether; yoga-īśvarāṇām — of all the advanced yogīs; gatim — the characteristics or actual behavior; andha-buddhiḥ — who are illusioned and have become blind to spiritual knowledge; katham — how; vicakṣīta — may know; gṛha-anubandhaḥ — 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 Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa was playing the part of a king, he had been informed by Jaḍa Bharata that be was not a king nor was Jaḍa Bharata deaf and dumb. Such designations were simply coverings of the spirit soul. Everyone must come to this knowledge. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (2.13): dehino 'smin yathā 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 sādhu as Jaḍa Bharata, Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa came to the awareness that his activities as a royal authority were simply illusory phenomena. He therefore agreed to receive knowledge from Jaḍa Bharata, and that was the beginning of his perfection. Tad-vijñānārthaḿ sa gurum evābhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. A person like Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa, who was very inquisitive to know the value of life and the spiritual science, must approach a personality like Jaḍa Bharata. Tasmād guruḿ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam (Bhāg. 11.3.21). One must approach a guru like Jaḍa 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 Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness