Devanagari
सोऽहं हरेर्मर्त्यविडम्बनेन
दृशो नृणां चालयतो विधातु: ।
नान्योपलक्ष्य: पदवीं प्रसादा-
च्चरामि पश्यन् गतविस्मयोऽत्र ॥ ४२ ॥
Verse text
so ’haṁ harer martya-viḍambanena
dṛśo nṛṇāṁ cālayato vidhātuḥ
nānyopalakṣyaḥ padavīṁ prasādāc
carāmi paśyan gata-vismayo ’tra
Synonyms
saḥ aham
—
therefore, I
;
hareḥ
—
of the Personality of Godhead
;
martya
—
in this mortal world
;
viḍambanena
—
without being recognized
;
dṛśaḥ
—
on sight
;
nṛṇām
—
of the people in general
;
cālayataḥ
—
bewildering
;
vidhātuḥ
—
in order to do it
;
na
—
not
;
anya
—
other
;
upalakṣyaḥ
—
seen by others
;
padavīm
—
glories
;
prasādāt
—
by the grace of
;
carāmi
—
do travel
;
paśyan
—
by seeing
;
gata
—
vismayaḥ — without doubt
;
atra
—
in this matter .
Translation
I am not astonished at this, having traveled over the world without being seen by others. The activities of the Personality of Godhead, which are like those of a man in this mortal world, are bewildering to others, but I know of His greatness by His grace, and thus I am happy in all respects.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
By the mercy of the Lord, being able to see the lotus feet of the Lord who is hidden from the vision of ordinary men by cheating men like Dhṛtarāṣṭra, I wander to the holy places without doubts.
But his violence towards me did not harm me. Rather it was beneficial for me. By the Lord’s mercy, I have seen the feet of the Lord who hides from the intellectual faculties (dṛṣaḥ) of materialistic men by cheating persons such as Dhṛtarāṣṭra. The Lord, affectionate to his devotee, is astonishing in this way! Free from doubt, I wander to all the holy places (atra) unrecognized by others, since I do not reveal this secret about the Lord to anyone. The Lord, revealing himself to Vidura who was drowning in an ocean of grief when he was driven out of the palace by Duryodhana, spoke to him. “O Vidura, my greatest devotee! Are you lamenting because of separation from me? Having given my promise to you now, you will see me wherever you travel, since I will go there before you.” This is the blessing of the Lord. Even after the death of Duryodhana, when Yudhiṣṭhira gains the kingdom, Vidura was without effort able to see the Lord with great bliss, whereas for others great effort was needed to see the Lord. However, with the Lord’s final disappearance, he would be withdrawn from the vision of Vidura. Therefore until he met Uddhava he was again disturbed because he could not see the Lord.
Purport
Although he was the brother of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Vidura was completely different. By the grace of Lord Kṛṣṇa, he was not foolish like his brother, and thus his brother’s association could not influence him. Dhṛtarāṣṭra and his materialistic sons wanted to falsely lord it over the world by dint of their own strength. The Lord encouraged them in this, and thus they became more and more bewildered. But Vidura wanted to achieve sincere devotional service of the Lord and therefore became a soul absolutely surrendered to the Absolute Personality of Godhead. He could realize this in the progress of his pilgrim’s journey, and thus he was freed from all doubts. He was not at all sorry to be bereft of his hearth and home because he now had experience that dependence on the mercy of the Lord is a greater freedom than so-called freedom at home. A person should not be in the renounced order of life unless he is firmly convinced of being protected by the Lord. This stage of life is explained in
Bhagavad-gītā
as
abhayaṁ sattva-saṁśuddhiḥ.
Every living entity is factually completely dependent on the mercy of the Lord, but unless one is in the pure state of existence, he cannot be established in this position. This stage of dependence is called
sattva-saṁśuddhiḥ,
or purification of one’s existence. The result of such purification is exhibited in fearlessness. A devotee of the Lord, who is called
nārāyaṇa-para,
is never afraid of anything because he is always aware of the fact that the Lord protects him in all circumstances. With this conviction, Vidura traveled alone, and he was not seen or recognized by any friend or foe. Thus he enjoyed freedom of life without obligation to the many duties of the world.
When Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was personally present in the mortal world in His eternal, blissful form of Śyāmasundara, those who were not pure devotees of the Lord could not recognize Him or know His glories.
Avajānānti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam
(
Bg. 9.11
): He is always bewildering to the nondevotees, but He is always seen by the devotees by dint of their pure devotional service to Him.