SB 11.29.16 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

विसृज्य स्मयमानान् स्वान् द‍ृशं व्रीडां च दैहिकीम् । प्रणमेद् दण्डवद् भूमावाश्वचाण्डालगोखरम् ॥ १६ ॥

Verse text

visṛjya smayamānān svān dṛśaṁ vrīḍāṁ ca daihikīm praṇamed daṇḍa-vad bhūmāv ā-śva-cāṇḍāla-go-kharam

Synonyms

visṛjya — giving up ; smayamānān — who are laughing ; svān — one’s own friends ; dṛśam — the outlook ; vrīḍām — the embarrassment ; ca — and ; daihikīm — of the bodily conception ; praṇamet — one should offer obeisances ; daṇḍa — vat — falling down like a rod ; bhūmau — upon the ground ; ā — even ; śva — to the dogs ; cāṇḍāla — outcastes ; go — cows ; kharam — and asses .

Translation

Disregarding the ridicule of one’s companions, one should give up the bodily conception and its accompanying embarrassment. One should offer obeisances before all — even the dogs, outcastes, cows and asses — falling flat upon the ground like a rod.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Disregarding friends’ ridicule, one’s bodily consciousness and embarrassment, one should offer obeisances before all—even the dogs, outcastes, cows and asses—falling flat upon the ground like a rod. This verse describes the practice of one who naturally sees me everywhere. One should disregard friends who ridicule, saying “Look! That great person is offering respects to a low creature.” Ones should give up bodily conception such as “I am elevated. He is fallen. How can I offer respects to him?” By that bodily conception one develops embarrassment. Giving up that embarrassment, one should offer respects even to dogs and cāṇḍālas, since one sees only the Lord present everywhere.

Purport

One should practice seeing the Supreme Personality of Godhead within all creatures. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu advised all devotees to consider themselves lower than a blade of grass and to be more tolerant than a tree. In such a humble position, one will not be disturbed in the prosecution of pure devotional service to the Lord. A devotee does not foolishly think that a cow or an ass is God, but rather the devotee sees the Supreme Lord within all creatures, and on this higher, spiritual plane he does not discriminate.