Devanagari
हंसावहं च त्वं चार्य सखायौ मानसायनौ ।
अभूतामन्तरा वौक: सहस्रपरिवत्सरान् ॥ ५४ ॥
Verse text
haṁsāv ahaṁ ca tvaṁ cārya
sakhāyau mānasāyanau
abhūtām antarā vaukaḥ
sahasra-parivatsarān
Synonyms
haṁsau
—
two swans
;
aham
—
I
;
ca
—
and
;
tvam
—
you
;
ca
—
also
;
ārya
—
O great soul
;
sakhāyau
—
friends
;
mānasa
—
ayanau — together in the Mānasa Lake
;
abhūtām
—
became
;
antarā
—
separated
;
vā
—
indeed
;
okaḥ
—
from the original home
;
sahasra
—
thousands
;
pari
—
successively
;
vatsarān
—
years .
Translation
My dear gentle friend, both you and I are exactly like two swans. We live together in the same heart, which is just like the Mānasa Lake. Although we have been living together for many thousands of years, we are still far away from our original home.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O noble one! I and you were two swans, friends in Mānasa Lake. Previously, for a thousand years, we were without a house.
We were two pure ātmās. Mānasa ayanam is the shelter of the heart. We were two pure ātmās, friends, whose dwelling place is the heart. In the story, the meaning is “We were born as two birds in Mānasa Lake.” We were without a house (okaḥ antarā). The word vā is for emphasis like eva. (Previously to dwelling together in the heart), during the great devastation or mahā-pralaya (sahasras-parivatsarān), [Note: During mahā-pralaya no material bodies or hearts exist. ]we remained without a house.
Purport
The original home of the living entity and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the spiritual world. In the spiritual world both the Lord and the living entities live together very peacefully. Since the living entity remains engaged in the service of the Lord, they both share a blissful life in the spiritual world. However, when the living entity wants to enjoy himself, he falls down into the material world. Even while he is in that position, the Lord remains with him as the Supersoul, his intimate friend. Because of his forgetfulness, the living entity does not know that the Supreme Lord is accompanying him as the Supersoul. In this way the living entity remains conditioned in each and every millennium. Although the Lord follows him as a friend, the living entity, because of forgetful material existence, does not recognize Him.