SB 1.15.17

SB 1.15.17

Devanagari

सौत्ये वृत: कुमतिनात्मद ईश्वरो मे यत्पादपद्ममभवाय भजन्ति भव्या: । मां श्रान्तवाहमरयो रथिनो भुविष्ठं न प्राहरन् यदनुभावनिरस्तचित्ता: ॥ १७ ॥

Verse text

sautye vṛtaḥ kumatinātmada īśvaro me yat-pāda-padmam abhavāya bhajanti bhavyāḥ māṁ śrānta-vāham arayo rathino bhuvi-ṣṭhaṁ na prāharan yad-anubhāva-nirasta-cittāḥ

Synonyms

sautye regarding a chariot driver ; vṛtaḥ engaged ; kumatinā by bad consciousness ; ātma daḥ — one who delivers ; īśvaraḥ the Supreme Lord ; me my ; yat whose ; pāda padmam — lotus feet ; abhavāya in the matter of salvation ; bhajanti do render service ; bhavyāḥ the intelligent class of men ; mām unto me ; śrānta thirsty ; vāham my horses ; arayaḥ the enemies ; rathinaḥ a great general ; bhuvi ṣṭham — while standing on the ground ; na did not ; prāharan attack ; yat whose ; anubhāva mercy ; nirasta being absent ; cittāḥ mind .

Translation

It was by His mercy only that my enemies neglected to kill me when I descended from my chariot to get water for my thirsty horses. And it was due to my lack of esteem for my Lord that I dared engage Him as my chariot driver, for He is worshiped and offered services by the best men to attain salvation.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

I foolishly engaged as my charioteer the Llord, who gives life, whose feet are worshipped by the great souls aspiring for liberation, and by whose influence the enemies on chariots, losing concentration, could not strike me as I stood on the ground with thirsty horses.

Purport

The Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is the object of worship both by impersonalists and by the devotees of the Lord. The impersonalists worship His glowing effulgence, emanating from His transcendental body of eternal form, bliss and knowledge, and the devotees worship Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those who are below even the impersonalists consider Him to be one of the great historical personalities. The Lord, however, descends to attract all by His specific transcendental pastimes, and thus He plays the part of the most perfect master, friend, son and lover. His transcendental relation with Arjuna was in friendship, and the Lord therefore played the part perfectly, as He did with His parents, lovers and wives. While playing in such a perfect transcendental relation, the devotee forgets, by the internal potency of the Lord, that his friend or son is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although sometimes the devotee is bewildered by the acts of the Lord. After the departure of the Lord, Arjuna was conscious of his great friend, but there was no mistake on the part of Arjuna, nor any ill estimation of the Lord. Intelligent men are attracted by the transcendental acting of the Lord with a pure, unalloyed devotee like Arjuna. In the warfield, scarcity of water is a well-known fact. Water is very rare there, and both the animals and men, working strenuously on the warfield, constantly require water to quench their thirst. Especially wounded soldiers and generals feel very thirsty at the time of death, and it sometimes so happens that simply for want of water one has to die unavoidably. But such scarcity of water was solved in the Battle of Kurukṣetra by means of boring the ground. By God’s grace, water can be easily obtained from any place if there is facility for boring the ground. The modern system works on the same principle of boring the ground, but modern engineers are still unable to dig immediately wherever necessary. It appears, however, from the history as far back as the days of the Pāṇḍavas, that big generals like Arjuna could at once supply water even to the horses, and what to speak of men, by drawing water from underneath the hard ground simply by penetrating the stratum with a sharp arrow, a method still unknown to the modern scientists.

Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Remembering Kṛṣṇa’s powers in separation, Arjuna’s dāsya-bhāva appeared. This caused his natural sakhya-bhāva to recede. Thus Arjuna sees that he was offensive to engage Kṛṣṇa as his charioteer and expresses regret in this verse. Sautye means “as a charioteer.” Great souls worship him for liberation (abhavāya). This individual (myself) with ego did not worship him. But listen to the mercy he showed me, who am such an offender. My horses were tired from lack of water when killing Jayadratha. I got down from the chariot, and piercing the ground produced water. At that time the enemies could not attack me, because by his influence their minds lost concentration.