SB 1.5.24 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

ते मय्यपेताखिलचापलेऽर्भके दान्तेऽधृतक्रीडनकेऽनुवर्तिनि । चक्रु: कृपां यद्यपि तुल्यदर्शना: शुश्रूषमाणे मुनयोऽल्पभाषिणि ॥ २४ ॥

Verse text

te mayy apetākhila-cāpale ’rbhake dānte ’dhṛta-krīḍanake ’nuvartini cakruḥ kṛpāṁ yadyapi tulya-darśanāḥ śuśrūṣamāṇe munayo ’lpa-bhāṣiṇi

Synonyms

te — they ; mayi — unto me ; apeta — not having undergone ; akhila — all kinds of ; cāpale — proclivities ; arbhake — unto a boy ; dānte — having controlled the senses ; adhṛta — krīḍanake — without being accustomed to sporting habits ; anuvartini — obedient ; cakruḥ — did bestow ; kṛpām — causeless mercy ; yadyapi — although ; tulya — darśanāḥ — impartial by nature ; śuśrūṣamāṇe — unto the faithful ; munayaḥ — the muni followers of the Vedānta ; alpa — bhāṣiṇi — one who does not speak more than required .

Translation

Although they were impartial by nature, those followers of the Vedānta blessed me with their causeless mercy. As far as I was concerned, I was self-controlled and had no attachment for sports, even though I was a boy. In addition, I was not naughty, and I did not speak more than required.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Though the sages saw everything equally, they showed mercy to me, by which I, though a boy, developed sense control, gave up child’s play and all agitation, became obedient, served attentively, and spoke little.

Purport

In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says, “All the Vedas are searching after Me.” Lord Śrī Caitanya says that in the Vedas the subject matters are only three, namely to establish the relation of the living entities with the Personality of Godhead, perform the relative duties in devotional service and thus achieve the ultimate goal, back to Godhead. As such, vedānta-vādīs, or the followers of the Vedānta, indicate the pure devotees of the Personality of Godhead. Such vedānta-vādīs, or the bhakti-vedāntas, are impartial in distributing the transcendental knowledge of devotional service. To them no one is enemy or friend; no one is educated or uneducated. No one is especially favorable, and no one is unfavorable. The bhakti-vedāntas see that the people in general are wasting time in false sensuous things. Their business is to get the ignorant mass of people to reestablish the lost relationship with the Personality of Godhead. By such endeavor, even the most forgotten soul is roused up to the sense of spiritual life, and thus being initiated by the bhakti-vedāntas, the people in general gradually progress on the path of transcendental realization. So the vedānta-vādīs initiated the boy even before he became self-controlled and was detached from childish sporting, etc. But before the initiation, he (the boy) became more and more advanced in discipline, which is very essential for one who wishes to make progress in the line. In the system of varṇāśrama-dharma, which is the beginning of actual human life, small boys after five years of age are sent to become brahmacārīs at the guru’s āśrama, where these things are systematically taught to every boy, be he a king’s son or the son of an ordinary citizen. The training was compulsory not only to create good citizens of the state but also to prepare the boys’ future life for spiritual realization. The irresponsible life of sense enjoyment was unknown to the children of the followers of the varṇāśrama system. A boy was even injected with spiritual acumen before being placed by the father in the womb of the mother. Both the father and the mother were responsible for the boy’s success in being liberated from the material bondage. That is the process of successful family planning. It is to beget children for complete perfection. Without being self-controlled, without being disciplined and without being fully obedient, no one can become successful in following the instructions of the spiritual master, and without doing so, no one is able to go back to Godhead.

Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Nārada had controlled senses (dānte), had given up childish play (adhṛta-kṛiḍanake). Those sages saw equally good-tempered and bad-tempered, those who are praiseworthy and those who are to be criticized, those who have good conduct and those who are sinful (tulya-darśanāḥ), and thus they should not show mercy to one and reject in disgust another. However, they showed mercy to me. Though great devotees such as Bharata and Prahlāda see equally, they also show some partiality concerning giving mercy. Their first show of mercy did not depend on Nārada’s good qualities and show of respect. He developed the good qualities by their mercy. Then those qualities became the cause of further mercy. It must be explained that the cause of their mercy was not due to seeing qualities. If one says that though they had equal vision, they showed mercy because he showed good qualities, then their equal vision would be contradicted by their seeing good and bad qualities. One should not explain in this way because then the first mercy would be prejudiced. There are two types of mercy; affected by seeing material qualities and not affected by seeing material qualities. The first type of mercy is explained as follows. All persons in the material world have mercy caused by qualities. If they see qualities they show mercy, if the qualities are absent, they withdraw mercy. And if they see bad qualities, they show hatred. The second type of mercy is as follows. Those who are beyond the influence of material world show mercy without such causes, without dependence on seeing material qualities, since they see everything in the material world as the same. Śukadeva has said: girayo mumucus toyaṁ kvacin na mumucuḥ śivam yathā jṣānāmṛtaṁ kale jṣānino dadate na vā During this season the mountains sometimes released their pure water and sometimes did not, just as experts in transcendental science sometimes give the nectar of transcendental knowledge and sometimes do not. SB 10.20.36 In this manner sometimes these persons show mercy to some person. When hardness of the heart caused by guṇas is destroyed and becomes soft by devotion to the Lord, mercy will appear in the heart. śuddha-sattva-viśeṣātmā prema-sūryāṁśu-sāmya-bhāk | rucibhiś citta-māsṛṇya-kṛd asau bhāva ucyate || That part of bhakti is called bhāva, whose essence is saṁvit and hlādinī śakti, which is one ray of the sun of prema which will soon rise in the heart, and which softens the heart with desires to meet, serve, and exchange love with the Lord. Bhaki-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.3.1 The first four stages of bhakti are understood here: mercy of the devotees, service to devotees, faith, and taking shelter of guru.