Devanagari
पश्यन्ति ते मे रुचिराण्यम्ब सन्त:
प्रसन्नवक्त्रारुणलोचनानि ।
रूपाणि दिव्यानि वरप्रदानि
साकं वाचं स्पृहणीयां वदन्ति ॥ ३५ ॥
Verse text
paśyanti te me rucirāṇy amba santaḥ
prasanna-vaktrāruṇa-locanāni
rūpāṇi divyāni vara-pradāni
sākaṁ vācaṁ spṛhaṇīyāṁ vadanti
Synonyms
paśyanti
—
see
;
te
—
they
;
me
—
My
;
rucirāṇi
—
beautiful
;
amba
—
O mother
;
santaḥ
—
devotees
;
prasanna
—
smiling
;
vaktra
—
face
;
aruṇa
—
like the morning sun
;
locanāni
—
eyes
;
rūpāṇi
—
forms
;
divyāni
—
transcendental
;
vara
—
pradāni — benevolent
;
sākam
—
with Me
;
vācam
—
words
;
spṛhaṇīyām
—
favorable
;
vadanti
—
they speak .
Translation
O My mother, My devotees always see the smiling face of My form, with eyes like the rising morning sun. They like to see My various transcendental forms, which are all benevolent, and they also talk favorably with Me.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O mother! The devotees see my attractive, red eyes in my smiling face and my spiritual forms which bestow blessings. They speak pleasing words with me.
Because the devotees do not desire even merging in Brahman they attain the following from me. This is explained in two verses. The word “see” is representative of activities such as hearing, chanting and tasting. Similarly, seeing forms is representative of hearing sounds, smelling fragrance, and touching the Lord’s skin etc. The forms give benedictions (vara-pradhāni) in the form of spiritual service. Or, the forms say “Devotees! Please accept this gift!” They speak with me (sākam) as follows:
na kāmaye 'nyaṁ tava pāda-sevanād
akiṣcana-prārthyatamād varaṁ vibho
ārādhya kas tvāṁ hy apavarga-daṁ hare
vṛṇīta āryo varam ātma-bandhanam
O all-powerful one, I desire no boon other than service to your lotus feet, the boon most eagerly sought by those free of material desire. O Hari, what enlightened person who worships you, the giver of liberation, would choose a boon that causes his own bondage? SB 10.51.55
na pārameṣṭhyaṁ na mahendra-dhiṣṇyaṁ
na sārvabhaumaṁ na rasādhipatyam
na yoga-siddhīr apunar-bhavaṁ vā
mayy arpitātmecchati mad vinānyat
One who has fixed his consciousness on me desires neither the position or abode of Lord Brahmā or Lord Indra, nor an empire on the earth, nor sovereignty in the lower planetary systems, nor the eightfold perfection of yoga, nor liberation. Such a person desires me alone. SB 11.14.14
Their words express some desire (service). Desiring to hear those words, I say “Please accept this boon.” I do not desire to give them anything else. Śrīdhara Svāmī says “There is superior, eternal happiness in bhakti through realization of the Supreme Lord.”
Purport
Māyāvādīs and atheists accept the forms of the Deities in the temple of the Lord as idols, but devotees do not worship idols. They directly worship the Personality of Godhead in His
arcā
incarnation.
Arcā
refers to the form which we can worship in our present condition. Actually, in our present state it is not possible to see God in His spiritual form because our material eyes and senses cannot conceive of a spiritual form. We cannot even see the spiritual form of the individual soul. When a man dies we cannot see how the spiritual form leaves the body. That is the defect of our material senses. In order to be seen by our material senses, the Supreme Personality of Godhead accepts a favorable form, which is called
arcā-vigraha.
This
arcā-vigraha,
sometimes called the
arcā
incarnation, is not different from Him. Just as the Supreme Personality of Godhead accepts various incarnations, He takes on forms made out of matter — clay, wood, metal and jewels.
There are many śāstric injunctions which give instructions for carving forms of the Lord. These forms are not material. If God is all-pervading, then He is also in the material elements. There is no doubt about it. But the atheists think otherwise. Although they preach that everything is God, when they go to the temple and see the form of the Lord, they deny that He is God. According to their own theory, everything is God. Then why is the Deity not God? Actually, they have no conception of God. The devotees’ vision, however, is different; their vision is smeared with love of God. As soon as they see the Lord in His different forms, the devotees become saturated with love, for they do not find any difference between the Lord and His form in the temple, as do the atheists. The smiling face of the Deity in the temple is beheld by the devotees as transcendental and spiritual, and the decoration of the body of the Lord is very much appreciated by the devotees. It is the duty of the spiritual master to teach how to decorate the Deity in the temple, how to cleanse the temple and how to worship the Deity. There are different procedures and rules and regulations which are followed in temples of Viṣṇu, and devotees go there and see the Deity, the
vigraha,
and spiritually enjoy the form because all of the Deities are benevolent. The devotees express their minds before the Deity, and in many instances the Deity also gives answers. But one must be a very elevated devotee in order to be able to speak with the Supreme Lord. Sometimes the Lord informs the devotee through dreams. These exchanges of feelings between the Deity and the devotee are not understandable by atheists, but actually the devotee enjoys them. Kapila Muni is explaining how the devotees see the decorated body and face of the Deity and how they speak with Him in devotional service.