Devanagari
नाहमिज्याप्रजातिभ्यां तपसोपशमेन वा ।
तुष्येयं सर्वभूतात्मा गुरुशुश्रूषया यथा ॥ ३४ ॥
Verse text
nāham ijyā-prajātibhyāṁ
tapasopaśamena vā
tuṣyeyaṁ sarva-bhūtātmā
guru-śuśrūṣayā yathā
Synonyms
na
—
not
;
aham
—
I
;
ijyā
—
by ritual worship
;
prajātibhyām
—
the higher birth of brāhmaṇa initiation
;
tapasā
—
by austerity
;
upaśamena
—
by self-control
;
vā
—
or
;
tuṣyeyam
—
can be satisfied
;
sarva
—
of all
;
bhūta
—
beings
;
ātmā
—
the Soul
;
guru
—
to one’s spiritual master
;
śuśrūṣayā
—
by faithful service
;
yathā
—
as .
Translation
I, the Soul of all beings, am not as satisfied by ritual worship, brahminical initiation, penances or self-discipline as I am by faithful service rendered to one’s spiritual master.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
I, the Soul of all beings, am not as satisfied by ritual worship, brahminical initiation, penances or self-discipline as I am by faithful service rendered to one's spiritual master.
Purport
The word
prajāti
here indicates either begetting good children or the second birth obtained by ritual initiation into Vedic culture. Although both of these are praiseworthy, Lord Kṛṣṇa here states that faithful service rendered to a bona fide spiritual master is still higher.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Therefore he who teaches about me, the guru, should be served with most attention. I as the supreme Lord, am not satisfied with sacrifice (ijya) the occupation of the brahmacari, with producing offspring (prajtih), the occupation of the householder, with austerity (tapasa) the occupation of the vanaprastha, or with sense control, the occupation of the sannyasi, as much as I, as the soul of all entities, am with service to the guru.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
As antaryāmī of all beings, though I am satisfied by service to them, I am especially satisfied by service to guru. Without that, other actions become useless, since guru is directly my form, by my entering into him, and he is my best devotee. I am not satisfied with household dharma or brāhmaṇa dharma ((ijyā-prajātibhyām), by vanaprastha dharma (tapasā) or sannyāsa dharma (upaśamena). Or I am not satisfied with worship of me (ijyā), with dīkṣa of my mantra (prajāti), samādhi on my form (tapasā) or being completely fixed in me (upaśamena) as much as I am satisfied with service the guru who inspires these actions. Thus there is a guru for sva-dharma in the first list and a guru for bhagavad-dharma in the second list. The second type of guru is superior.