TEXT 42
kim durapadanam tesam
pumsam uddama-cetasam
yair asritas tirtha-padas
carano vyasanatyayah
SYNONYMS
kimwhat; durapadanamdifficult to achieve; tesamfor those; pumsammen; uddama-cetasamwho are determined; yaihby whom; asritahtaken refuge; tirtha-padahof the Supreme Personality of Godhead; caranahfeet; vyasana-atyayahwhich vanquish dangers.
TRANSLATION
What is difficult to achieve for determined men who have taken refuge of the Supreme Personality of Godheads lotus feet? His feet are the source of sacred rivers like the Ganges, which put an end to the dangers of mundane life.
PURPORT
The words yair asritas tirtha-padas caranah are significant here. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is known as tirtha-pada. The Ganges is called a sacred river because it emanates from the toe of Visnu. The Ganges is meant to eradicate all the material distresses of the conditioned souls. For any living entity, therefore, who has taken shelter of the holy lotus feet of the Lord, nothing is impossible. Kardama Muni is special not because he was a great mystic, but because he was a great devotee. Therefore it is said here that for a great devotee like Kardama Muni, nothing is impossible. Although yogis can perform wonderful feats, as Kardama has already displayed, Kardama was more than a yogi because he was a great devotee of the Lord; therefore he was more glorious than an ordinary yogi. As it is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita, Out of the many yogis, he who is a devotee of the Lord is first class. For a person like Kardama Muni there is no question of being conditioned; he was already a liberated soul and better than the demigods, who are also conditioned. Although he was enjoying with his wife and many other women, he was above material, conditional life. Therefore the word vyasanatyayah is used to indicate that he was beyond the position of a conditioned soul. He was transcendental to all material limitations.

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