SB 3.5.40

TEXT 40

TEXT

धातर्यदस्मिन्भव ईश जीवास् तापत्रयेणाभिहता न शर्म ।
आत्मल्लभन्ते भगवंस्तवाङ्घ्रि च्छायां सविद्यामत आश्रयेम ॥ ४० ॥

dhatar yad asmin bhava isa jivas

tapa-trayenabhihata na sarma

atmal labhante bhagavams tavahghri-

cchayam savidyam ata asrayema

dhataḥ-O father; yat-because; asmin-in this; bhave-material world; isa-O Lord; jivaḥ-the living entities; tapa-miseries; trayena-by the three; abhihataḥ-always embarrassed; na-never; sarma-in happiness; atman-self; labhante-do gain; bhagavan-Personality of Godhead; tava-Your; ahghri-chayam-shade of Your feet; savidyam-full of knowledge; ataḥ-obtain; asrayema-shelter.

TRANSLATION

O Father, O Lord, O Personality of Godhead, the living entities in the material world can never have any happiness because they are overwhelmed by the three kinds of miseries. Therefore they take shelter of the shade of Your lotus feet, which are full of knowledge, and we also thus take shelter of them.

PURPORT

The way of devotional service is neither sentimental nor mundane. It is the path of reality by which the living entity can attain the transcendental happiness of being freed from the three kinds of material miseries-miseries arising from the body and mind, from other living entities and from natural disturbances. Everyone who is conditioned by material existence-whether he be a man or beast or demigod or bird-must suffer from adhyatmic (bodily or mental) pains, adhibautic pains (those offered by living creatures), and adhidaivic pains (those due to supernatural disturbances). His happiness is nothing but a hard struggle to get free from the miseries of conditional life. But there is only one way he can be rescued, and that is by accepting the shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The argument that unless one has proper knowledge one cannot be freed from material miseries is undoubtedly true. But because the lotus feet of the Lord are full of transcendental knowledge, acceptance of His lotus feet completes that necessity. We have already discussed this point in the First Canto (1.2.7):

vasudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ
janayaty asu vairagyam jnanam ca yad ahaitukam

There is no want of knowledge in the devotional service of Vasudeva, the Personality of Godhead. He, the Lord, personally takes charge of dissipating the darkness of ignorance from the heart of a devotee. He confirms this in Bhagavad-gita (10.10):

tesam satata-yuktanam bhajatam priti-pūrvakam
dadami buddhi-yogam tam yena mam upayanti te

Empiric philosophical speculation cannot give one relief from the threefold miseries of material existence. Simply to endeavor for knowledge without devoting oneself to the Lord is a waste of valuable time.

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