Devanagari
नातिप्रसीदति तथोपचितोपचारै-
राराधित: सुरगणैर्हृदिबद्धकामै: ।
यत्सर्वभूतदययासदलभ्ययैको
नानाजनेष्ववहित: सुहृदन्तरात्मा ॥ १२ ॥
Verse text
nātiprasīdati tathopacitopacārair
ārādhitaḥ sura-gaṇair hṛdi baddha-kāmaiḥ
yat sarva-bhūta-dayayāsad-alabhyayaiko
nānā-janeṣv avahitaḥ suhṛd antar-ātmā
Synonyms
na
—
never
;
ati
—
very much
;
prasīdati
—
become satisfied
;
tathā
—
as much as
;
upacita
—
by pompous arrangement
;
upacāraiḥ
—
with much worshipable paraphernalia
;
ārādhitaḥ
—
being worshiped
;
sura
—
gaṇaiḥ — by the celestial demigods
;
hṛdi baddha
—
kāmaiḥ — with hearts full of all sorts of material desires
;
yat
—
that which
;
sarva
—
all
;
bhūta
—
living entities
;
dayayā
—
to show them causeless mercy
;
asat
—
nondevotee
;
alabhyayā
—
not being achieved
;
ekaḥ
—
one without a second
;
nānā
—
various
;
janeṣu
—
in living entities
;
avahitaḥ
—
perceived
;
suhṛt
—
well-wishing friend
;
antaḥ
—
within
;
ātmā
—
Supersoul .
Translation
My Lord, You are not very much satisfied by the worship of the demigods, who arrange for Your worship very pompously, with various paraphernalia, but who are full of material hankerings. You are situated in everyone’s heart as the Supersoul just to show Your causeless mercy, and You are the eternal well-wisher, but You are unavailable for the nondevotee.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
You, the friend of the devotees and neutral soul within all beings, are not as pleased by being worshipped with many items by the devatās whose hearts are filled with material desires as you, alert to various people, are pleased with devotees because they show mercy to all beings. But this mercy is not attainable by the non-devotees.
You stay in the hearts of the pure devotees but not in the hearts of devotees still having material desires. Bhavān (you) is understood as the subject of na atiprasīdati. You are not so pleased with worship by the devatās having material desires, because they have selfishness--they do not show mercy to all living entities. But you are spontaneously very pleased with the pure devotees because they think of others and are naturally full of mercy for all beings. Yat means yathā. As much as you are pleased with the devotee because he shows mercy to all beings, which is not available in the materialists, you are not pleased with the devatās. You alone (ekaḥ) are attentive (avahitaḥ) to various people. This means that they become liberated by attaining bhakti, by the mercy of the devotees. You are their benefactor. “If that is so, then why do I not deliver them by mercy myself?” You are the soul within your devotee. You place in those devotees your kṛpā-śakti for delivering the world to give them fame, whereas you remain neutral as the Paramātmā in all beings. By using two words suhṛt and antarātmā, the faults of hatred and partiality in the Lord are defeated, and great affection for the devotee is indicated. One should not say that everyone will become liberated when the devotee shows mercy to all beings “The devotees showing mercy to all living beings” means that they show mercy to a great extent, since it is shown that the mercy of the devotees does not spread everywhere completely. The usage is like saying “All the men are holding up umbrellas.” This means that many men are holding up umbrellas, though a few among them may not. [Note: Chatrino gacchanti iti nyāya.] Or the effect of giving mercy to all beings does result in liberation for all. Even though seeds are sown everything they do not grow in salty earth. One does not see positive results in the mercy that Nārada and others gave to persons such as Dakṣa. [Note: Nārada convinced Dakṣa’s sons not to pursue material life and Dakṣa cursed him. (SB 6.5)]
Purport
The demigods in the celestial heavenly planets, who are appointed administrators of the material affairs, are also devotees of the Lord. But, at the same time, they have desires for material opulence and sense gratification. The Lord is so kind that He awards them all sorts of material happiness, more than they can desire, but He is not satisfied with them because they are not pure devotees. The Lord does not want any one of His innumerable sons (the living entities) to remain in the material world of threefold miseries to perpetually suffer the material pangs of birth, death, old age and disease. The demigods in the heavenly planets, and many devotees on this planet also, want to remain in the material world as devotees of the Lord and take advantage of material happiness. They do so at a risk of falling down to the lower status of existence, and this makes the Lord dissatisfied with them.
Pure devotees are not desirous of any material enjoyment, nor are they averse to it. They completely dovetail their desires with the desires of the Lord and perform nothing on their personal account. Arjuna is a good example. On his own sentiment, due to family affection, Arjuna did not want to fight, but finally, after hearing
Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā,
he agreed to fight in the interests of the Lord. Therefore, the Lord is very much satisfied with pure devotees because they do not act for sense gratification but only in terms of the Lord’s desire. As Paramātmā, or Supersoul, He is situated in everyone’s heart, always giving everyone the chance of good counsel. Thus everyone should take the opportunity and render transcendental loving service to Him wholly and solely.
The nondevotees, however, are neither like the demigods nor like the pure devotees, but are averse to the transcendental relationship with the Lord. They have revolted against the Lord and must perpetually undergo the reactions of their own activities.
Bhagavad-gītā
(4.11)
states:
ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham.
“Although the Lord is equally kind to every living being, the living beings, for their own part, are able to please the Lord to either a greater or lesser extent.” The demigods are called
sakāma
devotees, or devotees with material desires in mind, while the pure devotees are called
niṣkāma
devotees because they have no desires for their personal interests. The
sakāma
devotees are self-interested because they do not think of others, and therefore they are not able to satisfy the Lord perfectly, whereas the pure devotees take the missionary responsibility of turning nondevotees into devotees, and they are therefore able to satisfy the Lord more than the demigods. The Lord is unmindful of the nondevotees, although He is sitting within everyone’s heart as well-wisher and Supersoul. However, He also gives them the chance to receive His mercy through His pure devotees who are engaged in missionary activities. Sometimes the Lord Himself descends for missionary activities, as He did in the form of Lord Caitanya, but mostly He sends His bona fide representatives, and thus He shows His causeless mercy towards the nondevotees. The Lord is so satisfied with His pure devotees that He wants to give them the credit for missionary success, although He could do the work personally. This is the sign of His satisfaction with His pure,
niṣkāma
devotees, compared to the
sakāma
devotees. By such transcendental activities the Lord simultaneously becomes free from the charge of partiality and exhibits His pleasure with the devotees.
Now a question arises: If the Lord is sitting in the hearts of nondevotees, why are they not moved to become devotees? It may be answered that the stubborn nondevotees are like the barren land or alkaline field, where no agricultural activities can be successful. As part and parcel of the Lord, every individual living entity has a minute quantity of independence, and by misuse of this minute independence, the nondevotees commit offense after offense, to both the Lord and His pure devotees engaged in missionary work. As a result of such acts, they become as barren as an alkaline field, where there is no strength to produce.