Devanagari
भुवि पुरुपुण्यतीर्थसदनान्यृषयो विमदा-
स्त उत भवत्पदाम्बुजहृदोऽघभिदङ्घ्रिजला: ।
दधति सकृन्मनस्त्वयि य आत्मनि नित्यसुखे
न पुनरुपासते पुरुषसारहरावसथान् ॥ ३५ ॥
Verse text
bhuvi puru-puṇya-tīrtha-sadanāny ṛṣayo vimadās
ta uta bhavat-padāmbuja-hṛdo ’gha-bhid-aṅghri-jalāḥ
dadhati sakṛn manas tvayi ya ātmani nitya-sukhe
na punar upāsate puruṣa-sāra-harāvasathān
Synonyms
bhuvi
—
on the earth
;
puru
—
greatly
;
puṇya
—
pious
;
tīrtha
—
places of pilgrimage
;
sadanāni
—
and personal abodes of the Supreme Lord
;
ṛṣayaḥ
—
sages
;
vimadaḥ
—
free from false pride
;
te
—
they
;
uta
—
indeed
;
bhavat
—
Your
;
pada
—
feet
;
ambuja
—
lotus
;
hṛdaḥ
—
in whose hearts
;
agha
—
sins
;
bhit
—
which destroys
;
aṅghri
—
(having bathed) whose feet
;
jalāḥ
—
the water
;
dadhati
—
turn
;
sakṛt
—
even once
;
manaḥ
—
their minds
;
tvayi
—
toward You
;
ye
—
who
;
ātmani
—
toward the Supreme Soul
;
nitya
—
always
;
sukhe
—
who is happy
;
na punaḥ
—
never again
;
upāsate
—
they worship
;
puruṣa
—
of a man
;
sāra
—
the essential qualities
;
hara
—
which steal away
;
āvasathān
—
their mundane homes .
Translation
Sages free from false pride live on this earth by frequenting the sacred pilgrimage sites and those places where the Supreme Lord displayed His pastimes. Because such devotees keep Your lotus feet within their hearts, the water that washes their feet destroys all sins. Anyone who even once turns his mind toward You, the ever-blissful Soul of all existence, no longer dedicates himself to serving family life at home, which simply robs a man of his good qualities.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Sages free from false pride live on this earth by frequenting the sacred pilgrimage sites and those places where the Supreme Lord displayed His pastimes. Because such devotees keep Your lotus feet within their hearts, the water that washes their feet destroys all sins. Anyone who even once turns his mind toward You, the ever-blissful Soul of all existence, no longer dedicates himself to serving family life at home, which simply robs a man of his good qualities.
KB 10.87.35
“Kṛṣṇa conscious persons therefore take shelter of the association of devotees or sanctified places of pilgrimage. Such persons are aware of the relationship between the Supersoul and the individual living entities, and they are never in the bodily concept of life. Because they always carry You in full consciousness within their hearts, they are so purified that any place they go becomes a holy place of pilgrimage, and the water which washes their feet is able to deliver many sinful persons loitering within this material world.”
When Prahlāda Mahārāja was asked by his atheistic father to describe something very good which he had learned, he replied to his father, “For a materialistic person who is always full of anxieties due to being engaged in temporary and relative truths, the best course is to give up the blind well of family life and go to the forest to take shelter of the Supreme Lord.” Those who are actually pure devotees are celebrated as mahātmās, or great sages, personalities perfect in knowledge. They always think of the Supreme Lord and His lotus feet, and thus they automatically become liberated. Devotees who are always situated in that position become electrified by the inconceivable potencies of the Lord, and thus they themselves become the source of liberation for their followers and devotees. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is fully electrified spiritually, and therefore anyone who touches or takes shelter of such a pure devotee becomes similarly electrified with spiritual potencies. Such devotees are never puffed up with material opulences. Generally, the material opulences are good parentage, education, beauty and riches, but although a devotee of the Lord may possess all four of these material opulences, he is never carried away by the pride of possessing such distinctions. Great devotees of the Lord travel all over the world from one place of pilgrimage to another, and on their way they meet many conditioned souls and deliver them by their association and distribution of transcendental knowledge. They generally reside in places like Vṛndāvana, Mathurā, Dvārakā, Jagannātha Purī and Navadvīpa because only devotees assemble in such places. In this way they give saintly association to one another and thus advance. So that every living entity can take advantage of the association of Kṛṣṇa conscious persons, such great devotees open temples and āśramas where Kṛṣṇa’s devotees assemble. By such association, people can develop more and more in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Such advancement is not possible in ordinary household life, which is devoid of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Purport
The qualification of an aspiring sage is that he has learned about the Absolute Truth from standard authorities and developed a sober mood of renunciation. To develop his capacity for discriminating the important from the unimportant, such a person often wanders from one holy site to another, taking advantage of the association of great souls who frequent or reside in these places. If, in the course of his travels, the aspiring sage can begin to realize the Supreme Lord’s lotus feet in the core of his heart, he will be released from the illusion of false ego and from the painful bondage of lust, envy and greed. Though he may still go to places of pilgrimage to bathe away his sins, the now purified sage has the power to sanctify others with the water that washes his feet and with the realized instructions he imparts. Such a sage is described by the
Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad
(2.2.9)
bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś
chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ
kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi
tasmin dṛṣṭe parāvare
“The knot in the heart is pierced, all misgivings are cut to pieces, and the chain of fruitive actions is terminated when one sees the Supreme Lord everywhere, within all superior and inferior beings.” To sages who have reached this stage, the
Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad
(3.2.11) thus pays homage:
namaḥ paramarṣibhyaḥ,
namaḥ paramarṣibhyaḥ.
“Obeisances to the topmost sages, obeisances to the topmost sages!”
Putting aside the affectionate company of wives, children, friends and followers, saintly Vaiṣṇavas travel to the holy
dhāmas
where the Supreme Lord’s worship can be most successfully prosecuted — places such as Vṛndāvana, Māyāpura and Jagannātha Purī, or anywhere else where sincere devotees of Lord Viṣṇu congregate. Even those Vaiṣṇavas who have not taken
sannyāsa
and still live at home or in their
guru’s āśrama,
but who have once tasted just a drop of the sublime pleasure of devotional service, will also have little inclination to meditate on the pleasures of a materialistic family life, which robs a person of his discretion, determination, sobriety, tolerance and peace of mind.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays:
muṣcann aṅga tad aṅga-saṅgam aniśaṁ tvām eva saṣcintayan
santaḥ santi yato yato gata-madās tān āśramān āvasan
nityaṁ tan-mukha-paṅkajād vigalita-tvat-puṇya-gāthāmṛta-
srotaḥ-samplava-sampluto nara-hare na syām ahaṁ deha-bhṛt
“My dear Lord, when I will give up all sense gratification and engage incessantly in meditating upon You, and when I will take up residence in the hermitages of saintly devotees free from false pride, then I will become fully immersed in the inundation of nectar pouring from the devotees’ lotus mouths as they chant sacred narrations about You. And then, O Lord Narahari, I will never again have to take a material body.”
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Therefore the devotees, giving up servants, sons and the other items mentioned, live in the tirthas which are favorable for their worship of the Lord.
"The devotees (rsayah) dwell in the tirthas with great punya and the abodes of the Lord (sadanani) on this earth without pride. Because they take your lotus feet in their hearts, their foot water cuts off all sins. It goes without saying that such persons never worship servants, sons, body women and house, when even those persons who just once fix their minds on your eternally blissful form do not worship houses which steal away the intelligence, steadiness, tolerance and other good qualities of men (purusa sara hara)."
In regard to tirthas, the Gopala Tapani Upanisad says the following.
Sakamya meroh srnge yatha sapta puryo bhavanti
Tatha niskamyah sakamyas ca bhugola cakre sapta puryo bhavanti
Tasam madhye saksad brahma gopala puri hi
Gopala Tapani Uttara 29
Just as there are seven cities on the peak of mount meru for those with material desires, so there ar seven cities on the bhu mandala for those with material desires and those without material desires. Among them the city of Gopala is purely spiritual.
Mathurayam sthitir Brahman sarvada me bhavisyati
Cit svarupam param jyotih svarupam rupa varjitam
Hrdi mam samsmaran brahman mat padam yati niscitam
Goapal Tapani Uttara 45-46
My spiritual residence in Mathura is eternal. He who in his heart remembers me with spiritual form devoid of material form,the form of the highest light, certinaly attains my spiritual abode.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Some śrutis now confirm the proper conduct of the devotee. Those who know you as most worthy of worship (ṛṣayaḥ), who even once concentrate their minds on you, take no pleasure (na upāsate) in the places where their relatives stay, which distract them from the goal of life. Who are you? You are the supreme soul (ātmani), the form of eternal happiness, since you are the shelter of pure prema. Who are these devotees? You appear in their hearts continuously since your lotus feet are in their minds. Therefore, their foot water destroys all sins. Therefore they are the residence of most pure holy places on earth. But still they are free of pride.
Or, because they are free of pride, they do not take pleasure in their relatives’ houses. By that relationship their houses, they make houses into holy places, but they do not stay there. They take pleasure in the pure holy places on earth. In both cases, all this occurs because you are best holy place. The śrutis which glorify holy places end up glorifying the Lord.
bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ
kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi tasmin dṛṣṭe parāvare
The knot in the heart is pierced, all misgivings are cut to pieces, and the chain of fruitive actions is terminated when one sees the Supreme Lord everywhere, within all superior and inferior beings.
Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 2.2.9
namaḥ paramarṣibhyo namaḥ paramarthibhyaḥ
Obeisances to the topmost sages, obeisances to the topmost sages! Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 3.2.11
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Service to holy places are praised for giving devotee association so that one can become detached.
Such places generally exist on earth. Brāhmaṇas knowledgeable of all scriptures, without pride (vimadāḥ), who have the Lord’s lotus feet in their hearts, live in holy places. They concentrate their minds on the most dear (ātmani) Lord who awards continual happiness (nitya-sukhe) just once, and thus do not serve family life which steals away good qualities. Punaḥ is literary ornament or means “after serving the holy places.”
Or the great devotees (ṛṣayaḥ) nourish (dadhati) the hermitages of great holy places by destroying contaminations left there by sinful people. They can do this because they have your lotus feet in their hearts. Tīrthī kurvanti tīthāni svāntaḥ sthena gadābhṛtā: they purify holy places because the Lord is situated in their hearts. (SB 1.13.10) Thus their foot water destroys sins and they are without pride (vimadāḥ).
Or they make (dadhati) themselves residences of great holy places on earth. Because of their purifying foot water, they become holy places. Thinking of you even once, they do not go (upāsate) to places of kings, wealth etc. (āvasathān) which steal away knowledge and peace (puruṣa-sāra). Rather they have you within their hearts.
Or O essence of humans (puruṣa-sāra), supreme person! They do not seve even Śiva’s temples (hara avasthān) what to speak of devatā temples. “In scriptures it is a fault to see difference between Śiva and Viṣṇu. There are many statements like the following.
Yo vai viṣṇuḥ sa vai rudraḥ sa hari yas tu rudrakaḥ
bhedakṛt narakaṁ yāti yāvad āhūta-saṁplavam
Viṣṇu is Ṣiva. Śiva is Viṣṇu. He who sees difference goes to hell until the devastation.
Not seeing difference is praised.
trayāṇām eka-bhāvānāṁ yo na paśyati vai bhidām
sarva-bhūtātmanāṁ bahman sa śāntim adhigacchati
O Dakṣa! The person who does not see difference between the three of us, the souls of all beings, who have one nature, attains peace. SB 4.7.54
That is true. Smartas and Vaidhikas, devoid of Vaiṣṇava dīkṣā, take the three deities to the be same, being fixed in dharma of the three guṇas with concepts of fault and good quality. This is not accepted by the great devotees. There are many statements like the following.
yas tu nārāyaṇaṁ devaṁ brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ
samatvenaiva vīkṣeta sa pāṣaṇḍī bhaved dhruvam
One who considers Nārāyaṇa on a level with great devatās like Brahmā and Śiva is immediately listed among nonbelievers. Padma Purāṇa
In the story of Vṛkāsura and in the story of Sārasvata Muni, it is clear that Viṣṇu is supreme. In Viṣṇu-dharmottara there is also the story of Nṛsiṁha bursting the liṅga.
Deva-karmaṇy aśaktir me tāta pujaya saṅgakaram
Devatāyanataṁ gatvā yatra tāta pratiṣṭhitam
Liṅgam asti susreśasya mahādevasya nirmalam
Evam uktaḥ praty uvāca vayam ekāntinaḥ śrutāḥ
Pūjayāmaś ca naivānyaṁ tasmāt tvaṁ gaccha māciram
I cannot perform worship. You should worship Śiva . Go to his temple where there is a pure liṅga of Śiva installed. When he said this the brāhmaṇa said, “I am a devoted brāhmaṇa. I do not worship anyone except Viṣṇu. Therefore you should go to the temple without delay.”
The son of the village leader was about to cut off the head of Viṣvaksena. Not desiring to die by his hand, Viṣvaksena then began to consider. “Let it be. I will go.” Going to the liṅga, he offered flowers while saying “Respects to Narasiṁha.” Hearing this, the son again wanted to cut off his head. Nṛsiṁha burst out of the liṅga and cut off the heads of the village leader’s son and his followers.
But the devotees offer respects to Śiva and never criticize him. Vaiṣṇāvānāṁ yathā sambhuḥ: Śiva is the greatest devotee. (SB 12.13.16)
yo māṁ samarthayen nityam ekāntaṁ bhāvam āshthitaḥ
vinindan devam īśānaṁ sa yāti narakam; dhruvam
One who is able to be situated in pure love for me and criticizes Śiva goes to hell for certain.