Devanagari
सोऽहं तवाङ्घ्र्युपगतोऽस्म्यसतां दुरापं
तच्चाप्यहं भवदनुग्रह ईश मन्ये ।
पुंसो भवेद् यर्हि संसरणापवर्ग-
स्त्वय्यब्जनाभ सदुपासनया मति: स्यात् ॥ २८ ॥
Verse text
so ’haṁ tavāṅghry-upagato ’smy asatāṁ durāpaṁ
tac cāpy ahaṁ bhavad-anugraha īśa manye
puṁso bhaved yarhi saṁsaraṇāpavargas
tvayy abja-nābha sad-upāsanayā matiḥ syāt
Synonyms
saḥ
—
being such
;
aham
—
I
;
tava
—
Your
;
aṅghri
—
feet
;
upagataḥ asmi
—
am approaching
;
asatām
—
for those who are impure
;
durāpam
—
impossible to attain
;
tat
—
that
;
ca
—
and
;
api
—
also
;
aham
—
I
;
bhavat
—
Your
;
anugrahaḥ
—
mercy
;
īśa
—
O Lord
;
manye
—
think
;
puṁsaḥ
—
of a person
;
bhavet
—
occurs
;
yarhi
—
when
;
saṁsaraṇa
—
of his rotation in the cycle of material existence
;
apavargaḥ
—
the cessation
;
tvayi
—
of You
;
abja
—
like a lotus
;
nābha
—
O You whose navel
;
sat
—
of pure devotees
;
upāsanayā
—
by worship
;
matiḥ
—
consciousness
;
syāt
—
develops .
Translation
Being thus fallen, I am approaching Your feet for shelter, O Lord, because although the impure can never attain Your feet, I think it is nevertheless possible by Your mercy. Only when one’s material life has ceased, O lotus-naveled Lord, can one develop consciousness of You by serving Your pure devotees.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Being thus fallen, I am approaching Your feet for shelter, O Lord, because although the impure can never attain Your feet, I think it is nevertheless possible by Your mercy. Only when one's material life has ceased, O lotus-naveled Lord, can one develop consciousness of You by serving Your pure devotees.
KB 10.40.28
“My dear Lord, Your lotus feet cannot be appreciated by any person in the conditioned stage of material existence, but somehow or other I have come near Your lotus feet, and I consider this to be Your causeless mercy upon me. You can act in any way because You are the supreme controller. I can thus understand that when a person becomes eligible to be delivered from the path of repeated birth and death, it is only by Your causeless mercy that he comes nearer to Your lotus feet and becomes attached to Your devotional service.”
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Though what I have said about myself is true, I surrender to you. This surrender is hard to attain, but if I have your mercy, this is possible. When will you be merciful to me? O lotus navel one, I will concentrate on you when I get the opportunity serving devotees."
"When will that be?"
"When the material energy ceases to act."
"When will this happen?"
"When I get the mercy of devotees."
In other words, getting mercy is the first step, followed by the beginning of destruction of material influence, followed by service to devotees, followed by concentration on the Lord. What was shown previously is stated here.
29;.Akrura surrenders himself to Krsna’s lotus feet in two verses.
I will be able to realize you in proportion to how much realization you give (vijnana matraya). You are the cause of all other knowledge as well (sarva pratyaya hetu) since you are the supersoul (purusa), inspiring all activities. You the controller (isa), as time, gives the result of action. As maya (pradhana) you bind up the jivas, and as brahma jnana (brahman) you liberate them. As bhagavan (ananta sakti) you give us devotion to yourself, and thus your work is complete.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Akrūra uses the word asmī (I am) to indicate his conviction in surrender to Kṛṣṇa and its eternal nature. You cannot be attained by those who have uncontrolled senses (asatām). O Lord (īśa), as antaryāmī you can help me attain you now. You are merciful because you are merciful to all beings, giving the worlds residence in your navel (abjanābha). “But I can be approached by service to my devotees. Why speak of my mercy?” When saṁsāra ends for the jīvas by your mercy, then worship of your devotees becomes possible as the main part of the process. By that, one develops knowledge (matiḥ). This means that liberation accompanies bhakti, but is not the ultimate goal. Bhakti can give much more than mere liberation from saṁsāra.
Or the last phrase expresses “Knowing you (tvayi matiḥ) is very difficult for me to achieve since I am in saṁsāra.” Or, your lotus feet are hard to attain for persons like me but I have attained them. This is your mercy. The word aham is repeated to indicate “someone” doing the worship. But this is caused by your mercy. Some persons attain your feet, but for others, knowledge of you is difficult. They are absorbed in saṁsāra. When saṁsāra is destroyed by worshipping your devotees and by worship of you with discrimination, bhakti to you (tvayi matiḥ) takes place.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Akrūra uses the word asmī (I am) to indicate his conviction in surrender to Kṛṣṇa and its eternal nature. You cannot be attained by those who have uncontrolled senses (asatām). O Lord (īśa), as Being thus fallen, I am approaching your feet for shelter, O Lord, because although the impure can never attain your feet, I think it is nevertheless possible by your mercy. Only when one’s material life has ceased by serving your pure devotees, O lotus-naveled Lord, one develops bhakti to you.
As antaryāmī you can help me attain you now. You are merciful because you are merciful to all beings, giving the worlds a residence in your navel (abjanābha). He gives the example of Nārāyaṇa, using Ananta as his seat.
Or his mercy is described, since he is the cause of destroying saṁsāra. He manifests the material world to benefit the jīvas, with the lotus consisting of the worlds, which is the birthplace of Brahmā, the creator. The word bhavat indicates reverence for his mercy and Akrūra’s excellent bhakti. The phrase may be taken as bhavad-anugrahe or bhavad-anugrahaḥ.
He expresses desire for liberation. He became detached from his house on experiencing suffering in association with Kaṁsa or because of offending the gopīs. Or he desires to teach the world about avoiding offenses to the great devotees. Or afflicted by suffering in saṁsāra, I approach your lotus feet to destroy that suffering.
O independent Lord! One cannot search out a reason for your mercy. “You desire liberation. Why not desire love for me?” When a person becomes free of saṁsāra, by service to your devotees, he can think of you. Inclination of the mind (matiḥ) is the cause of prema. Or the cause of prema is knowledge of the greatness of bhakti.
Or I cannot control my mind. To control it, I approach your lotus feet. “Why do you approach my feet to control your mind? Why not absorb your mind in me?” Men must first destroy saṁsāra. Suffering from saṁsāra, I am not now qualified to ask for that. Or attaining your mercy I think that men, freed from samsara, can concentrate on you by worship of your devotees. Now lacking your mercy, I cannot pray for that.
Or “having praised what you have seen as Nārāyaṇa and surrendered to him, why do you not praise the Lord as my two handed form which gives joy in Gokula?” When a person has destroyed saṁsāra, by worshipping Nārāyaṇa with the lotus navel, one can then concentrate on you, the joy of Gokula. Though you are difficult to approach for fallen persons like me, it is possible by the mercy of you, the son of Nanda. It is not possible otherwise. By worship of Nārāyaṇa, one can concentrate on you. That is the correct worship. I cannot happen without your mercy. This indicates the difficult of attaining Kṛṣṇa. Other methods will not produce this result.
Without your mercy how can I, like Brahmā, praise you with descriptions of your form?