Devanagari
अस्यानुभावं भगवान् वेद गुह्यतमं शिव: ।
देवर्षिर्नारद: साक्षाद्भगवान् कपिलो नृप ॥ १९ ॥
Verse text
asyānubhāvaṁ bhagavān
veda guhyatamaṁ śivaḥ
devarṣir nāradaḥ sākṣād
bhagavān kapilo nṛpa
Synonyms
asya
—
of Him
;
anubhāvam
—
glories
;
bhagavān
—
the most powerful
;
veda
—
knows
;
guhya
—
tamam — very confidentially
;
śivaḥ
—
Lord Śiva
;
deva
—
ṛṣiḥ — the great sage among the demigods
;
nāradaḥ
—
Nārada
;
sākṣāt
—
directly
;
bhagavān
—
the Personality of Godhead
;
kapilaḥ
—
Kapila
;
nṛpa
—
O King .
Translation
O King, Lord Śiva, Nārada the sage amongst the demigods, and Kapila, the incarnation of Godhead, all know very confidentially about His glories through direct contact.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O king! Lord Śiva, Nārada, sage of the heavens, and Lord Kapila know the most secret anubhāvas of Kṛṣṇa, though not his intentions.
Purport
Pure devotees of the Lord are all
budhās,
or persons who know the glories of the Lord in different transcendental loving services. As the Lord has innumerable expansions of His plenary form, there are innumerable pure devotees of the Lord, who are engaged in the exchange of service of different humors. Ordinarily there are twelve great devotees of the Lord, namely Brahmā, Nārada, Śiva, Kumāra, Kapila, Manu, Prahlāda, Bhīṣma, Janaka, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, Bali Mahārāja and Yamarāja. Bhīṣmadeva, although one of them, has mentioned only three important names of the twelve who know the glories of the Lord. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, one of the great
ācāryas
in the modern age, explains that
anubhāva,
or the glory of the Lord, is first appreciated by the devotee in ecstasy manifesting the symptoms of perspiring, trembling, weeping, bodily eruptions, etc., which are further enhanced by steady understanding of the glories of the Lord. Such different understandings of
bhāvas
are exchanged between Yaśodā and the Lord (binding the Lord by ropes) and in the chariot-driving by the Lord in the exchange of love with Arjuna. These glories of the Lord are exhibited in His being subordinated before His devotees, and that is another feature of the glories of the Lord. Śukadeva Gosvāmī and the Kumāras, although situated in the transcendental position, became converted by another feature of
bhāva
and turned into pure devotees of the Lord. Tribulations imposed upon the devotees by the Lord constitute another exchange of transcendental
bhāva
between the Lord and the devotees. The Lord says, “I put My devotee into difficulty, and thus the devotee becomes more purified in exchanging transcendental
bhāva
with Me.” Placing the devotee into material troubles means delivering him from the illusory material relations. The material relations are based on reciprocation of material enjoyment, which depends mainly on material resources. Therefore, when material resources are withdrawn by the Lord, the devotee is cent-percent attracted toward the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Thus the Lord snatches the fallen soul from the mire of material existence. Tribulations offered by the Lord to His devotee are different from the tribulations resulting from vicious action. All these glories of the Lord are especially known to the great
mahājanas
like Brahmā, Śiva, Nārada, Kapila, Kumāra and Bhīṣma, as mentioned above, and one is able to grasp it by their grace.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Śiva and others knows particular actions of Kṛṣṇa--those actions he chooses to reveal to them (anubhāvam), but not his intentions, his real form or his real powers. The knower of rasa-śāstras knows first of all anubhāvas and sāttvika-bhāvas - paralysis, perspiration, hair standing on end etc. By that he can understand the sthāyi-bhāva. By the particular qualities and intensity of the anubhāvas, he can understand the particular qualities and intensity of the sthāyi-bhāva. The knower of rasa-śāstra knows the anubhāva of Kṛṣṇa being tied by a rope by the gopīs like Yaśodā, and the dependent anubhāva of Kṛṣṇa being the charioteer for Arjuna, Yudhiṣṭhira and Ugrasena. These are anubhāvas of Kṛṣṇa indicating his dependence on others. The knower of rasa then infers that there exists something special in these cases which controls and melts the heart of even the Supreme Lord, the controller of all, the supremely independent entity. That object, which melts the hearts of the viṣaya and āśraya, which has many varieties, and which brings both parties under the control of the other is called prema. It is the crest jewel of all goals for the human being and is described by terms such as bhakti, sneha and anurāga.
Seeing that Kṛṣṇa is controlled more when he sees his devotees, who generate prema in him, the knower of rasa infers that there is intense prema in the siddha and sādhaka devotees. He then concludes that the Kṛṣṇa is cause of difficulties for devotees, in order to increase their devotion to that level. Śiva, Nārada and Kapila know this. One sees an increase in prema in Draupadī and others when their difficulties increase.
yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi hariṣye tad-dhanaṁ śanaiḥ
tato ’dhanaṁ tyajanty asya svajanā duḥkha-duḥkhitam
If I especially favor someone, I gradually deprive him of his wealth. Then the relatives and friends of such a poverty-stricken man abandon him. In this way he suffers one distress after another. SB 10.88.8
Thus the difficulties the devotees experience are not prārabdha-karmas since they are given by the Lord alone, who wants to benefit the devotees. However, this is not an inclusive rule. Sometimes the Lord increases his devotee’s bhakti without giving problems to him. Thus it is said that no one knows the plan of the Lord. Śiva and Nārada know the anubhāvas or symptoms in the Lord. Other foolish people do not know the anubhāvas, like Kṛṣṇa allowing himself to be tied up. They explain it as some sort of fake display.