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TEXT 35
naivam-vidhah purusa-kara urukramasya
pumsam tad-anghri-rajasa jita-sad-gunanam
citram vidura-vigatah sakrd adadita
yan-namadheyam adhuna sa jahati bandham
SYNONYMS
nanot; evam-vidhahlike that; purusa-karahpersonal influence; uru-kramasyaof the Supreme Personality of Godhead; pumsamof the devotees; tat-anghriof His lotus feet; rajasaby the dust; jita-sat-gunanamwho have conquered the influence of the six kinds of material whips; citramwonderful; vidura-vigatahthe fifth-grade person, or the untouchable; sakrtonly once; adaditaif he utters; yatwhose; namadheyamholy name; adhunaimmediately; sahhe; jahatigives up; bandhammaterial bondage.
TRANSLATION
My dear King, a devotee who has taken shelter of the dust from the lotus feet of the Lord can transcend the influence of the six material whipsnamely hunger, thirst, lamentation, illusion, old age and deathand he can conquer the mind and five senses. However, this is not very wonderful for a pure devotee of the Lord because even a person beyond the jurisdiction of the four castesin other words, an untouchableis immediately relieved of bondage to material existence if he utters the holy name of the Lord even once.
PURPORT
Sukadeva Gosvami was speaking to Maharaja Pariksit about the activities of King Priyavrata, and since the King might have had doubts about these wonderful, uncommon activities, Sukadeva Gosvami reassured him. My dear King, he said, dont be doubtful about the wonderful activities of Priyavrata. For a devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, everything is possible because the Lord is also known as Urukrama. Urukrama is a name for Lord Vamanadeva, who performed the wonderful act of occupying the three worlds with three footsteps. Lord Vamanadeva requested three paces of land from Maharaja Bali, and when Maharaja Bali agreed to grant them, the Lord immediately covered the entire world with two footsteps, and for His third step He placed His foot upon Bali Maharajas head. Sri Jayadeva Gosvami says:
All glories to Lord Kesava, who assumed the form of a dwarf. O Lord of the universe, who takes away everything inauspicious for the devotees! O wonderful Vamanadeva! You tricked the great demon Bali Maharaja by Your steps. The water that touched the nails of Your lotus feet when You pierced through the covering of the universe purifies all living entities in the form of the River Ganges.
Since the Supreme Lord is all-powerful, He can do things that seem wonderful for a common man. Similarly, a devotee who has taken shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord can also do wonderful things unimaginable to a common man, by the grace of the dust of those lotus feet. Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore teaches us to take shelter of the Lords lotus feet:
O son of Nanda Maharaja, I am Your eternal servant, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. Please pick me up from this ocean of death and place me as one of the atoms of Your lotus feet. Lord Caitanya teaches us to come in touch with the dust of the Lords lotus feet, for then there will undoubtedly be all success.
Because of the material body, every living entity in material existence is always disturbed by sad-guna, six whipshunger, thirst, lamentation, illusion, invalidity and death. Furthermore, another sad-guna are the mind and five sense organs. Not to speak of a sanctified devotee, even a candala, an outcaste, who is untouchable, is immediately freed from material bondage if he utters the holy name of the Lord even once. Sometimes caste brahmanas argue that unless one changes his body he cannot be accepted as a brahmana, for since the present body is obtained as a result of past actions, one who has in the past acted as a brahmana takes birth in a brahmana family. Therefore, they contend, without such a brahminical body, one cannot be accepted as a brahmana. Herein it is said, however, that even vidura-vigata, a candalaa fifth-class untouchableis freed if he utters the holy name even once. Being freed means that he immediately changes his body. Sanatana Gosvami confirms this:
When a person, even though a candala, is initiated by a pure devotee into chanting the holy name of the Lord, his body changes as he follows the instructions of the spiritual master. Although one cannot see how his body has changed, we must accept, on the grounds of the authoritative statements of the sastras, that he changes his body. This is to be understood without arguments. This verse clearly says, sa jahati bandham: He gives up his material bondage. The body is a symbolic representation of material bondage according to ones karma. Although sometimes we cannot see the gross body changing, chanting the holy name of the Supreme Lord immediately changes the subtle body, and because the subtle body changes, the living entity is immediately freed from material bondage. After all, changes of the gross body are conducted by the subtle body. After the destruction of the gross body, the subtle body takes the living entity from his present gross body to another. In the subtle body, the mind is predominant, and therefore if ones mind is always absorbed in remembering the activities or the lotus feet of the Lord, he is to be understood to have already changed his present body and become purified. Therefore it is irrefutable that a candala, or any fallen or lowborn person, can become a brahmana simply by the method of bona fide initiation.
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