Devanagari
परदेवताप्रसादाधिगतात्मप्रत्यवमर्शेनानुप्रवृत्तेभ्य: पुत्रेभ्य इमां यथादायं विभज्य भुक्तभोगां च महिषीं मृतकमिव सह महाविभूतिमपहाय स्वयं निहितनिर्वेदो हृदि गृहीतहरिविहारानुभावो भगवतो नारदस्य पदवीं पुनरेवानुससार ॥ ३८ ॥
Verse text
para-devatā-prasādādhigatātma-pratyavamarśenānupravṛttebhyaḥ putrebhya imāṁ yathā-dāyaṁ vibhajya bhukta-bhogāṁ ca mahiṣīṁ mṛtakam iva saha mahā-vibhūtim apahāya svayaṁ nihita-nirvedo hṛdi gṛhīta-hari-vihārānubhāvo bhagavato nāradasya padavīṁ punar evānusasāra.
Synonyms
para
—
devatā — of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
prasāda
—
by the mercy
;
adhigata
—
obtained
;
ātma
—
pratyavamarśena — by self-realization
;
anupravṛttebhyaḥ
—
who exactly follow his path
;
putrebhyaḥ
—
unto his sons
;
imām
—
this earth
;
yathā
—
dāyam — exactly according to the inheritance
;
vibhajya
—
dividing
;
bhukta
—
bhogām — whom he enjoyed in so many ways
;
ca
—
also
;
mahiṣīm
—
the Queen
;
mṛtakam iva
—
exactly like a dead body
;
saha
—
with
;
mahā
—
vibhūtim — great opulence
;
apahāya
—
giving up
;
svayam
—
himself
;
nihita
—
perfectly taken to
;
nirvedaḥ
—
renunciation
;
hṛdi
—
in the heart
;
gṛhīta
—
accepted
;
hari
—
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
vihāra
—
pastimes
;
anubhāvaḥ
—
in such an attitude
;
bhagavataḥ
—
of the great saintly person
;
nāradasya
—
of Saint Nārada
;
padavīm
—
position
;
punaḥ
—
again
;
eva
—
certainly
;
anusasāra
—
began to follow .
Translation
By the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Mahārāja Priyavrata reawakened to his senses. He divided all his earthly possessions among his obedient sons. He gave up everything, including his wife, with whom he had enjoyed so much sense gratification, and his great and opulent kingdom, and he completely renounced all attachment. His heart, having been cleansed, became a place of pastimes for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus he was able to return to the path of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, spiritual life, and resume the position he had attained by the grace of the great saint Nārada.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
By regaining his discrimination through the mercy of the Lord, he divided the earth among his obedient sons as their inheritance and gave up his great wealth and power along with his queen as if it were all a dead body. Being completely detached, realizing the pastimes of the Lord in his heart, he again followed the path instructed by Nārada.
He regained (adhigata) his sense of discrimination (ātma-prayavamarśeṇa), by the mercy of the Lord and again followed the path instructed by Nārada, after dividing the earth among his obedient sons. He realized the pastimes of the Lord in his heart, and shed tears of joy, with hairs standing on end.
Purport
As enunciated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His
Śikṣāṣṭaka, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam:
as soon as one’s heart is cleansed, the blazing fire of material existence is immediately extinguished. Our hearts are meant for the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This means that one should be fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, thinking of Kṛṣṇa, as He Himself advises (
man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
). This should be our only business. One whose heart is not clean cannot think of the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Lord, but if one can once again place the Supreme Personality of Godhead in his heart, he very easily becomes qualified to renounce material attachment. Māyāvādī philosophers,
yogīs
and
jṣānīs
try to give up this material world simply by saying,
brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā:
“This world is false. There is no use of it. Let us take to Brahman.” Such theoretical knowledge will not help us. If we believe that Brahman is the real truth, we have to place within our hearts the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, as Mahārāja Ambarīṣa did (
sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ
). One has to fix the lotus feet of the Lord within his heart. Then he gets the strength to be freed from material entanglement.
Mahārāja Priyavrata was able to give up his opulent kingdom, and he also gave up the association of his beautiful wife as if she were a dead body. However beautiful one’s wife and however attractive her bodily features, one is no longer interested in her when her body is dead. We praise a beautiful woman for her body, but that same body, when bereft of a spirit soul, is no longer interesting to any lusty man. Mahārāja Priyavrata was so strong, by the grace of the Lord, that even though his beautiful wife was alive, he could give up her association exactly like one who is forced to give up the association of a dead wife. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said:
na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ
kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye
mama janmani janmanīśvare
bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi
“O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers. I only want Your causeless devotional service birth after birth.” For one who desires to advance in spiritual life, attachment to material opulence and attachment to a beautiful wife are two great impediments. Such attachments are condemned even more than suicide. Therefore anyone desiring to cross beyond material nescience must, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, be freed from attachment to women and money. When Mahārāja Priyavrata became completely free from these attachments, he could again peacefully follow the principles instructed by the great sage Nārada.