Devanagari
स वै भवाँल्लोकनिरीक्षणार्थ-
मव्यक्तलिङ्गो विचरत्यपिस्वित् ।
योगेश्वराणां गतिमन्धबुद्धि:
कथं विचक्षीत गृहानुबन्ध: ॥ २० ॥
Verse text
sa vai bhavāḻ loka-nirīkṣaṇārtham
avyakta-liṅgo vicaraty api svit
yogeśvarāṇāṁ gatim andha-buddhiḥ
kathaṁ vicakṣīta gṛhānubandhaḥ
Synonyms
saḥ
—
that Supreme Personality of Godhead or His incarnation Kapiladeva
;
vai
—
indeed
;
bhavān
—
your good self
;
loka
—
nirīkṣaṇa — artham — just to study the characteristics of the people of this world
;
avyakta
—
liṅgaḥ — without manifesting your real identity
;
vicarati
—
are traveling in this world
;
api svit
—
whether
;
yoga
—
īśvarāṇām — of all the advanced yogīs
;
gatim
—
the characteristics or actual behavior
;
andha
—
buddhiḥ — who are illusioned and have become blind to spiritual knowledge
;
katham
—
how
;
vicakṣīta
—
may know
;
gṛha
—
anubandhaḥ — I who am bound by attachment to family life, or worldly life .
Translation
Is it not a fact that your good self is the direct representative of Kapiladeva, the incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead? To examine people and see who is actually a human being and who is not, you have presented yourself to be a deaf and dumb person. Are you not moving this way upon the surface of the world? I am very attached to family life and worldly activities, and I am blind to spiritual knowledge. Nonetheless, I am now present before you and am seeking enlightenment from you. How can I advance in spiritual life?
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Are you Kapiladeva, but hiding your identity, wandering about to examine the world? How can a person bound to family life, blind to spiritual knowledge, know the movements of the masters of yoga?
Are you (kim svit) Kapiladeva? The person with blind intelligence refers to himself, the king.
Purport
Although Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa was playing the part of a king, he had been informed by Jaḍa Bharata that he was not a king nor was Jaḍa Bharata deaf and dumb. Such designations were simply coverings of the spirit soul. Everyone must come to this knowledge. As confirmed in
Bhagavad-gītā
(2.13)
:
dehino ’smin yathā dehe.
Everyone is encased within the body. Since the body is never identical with the soul, the bodily activities are simply illusory. In the association of such a
sādhu
as Jaḍa Bharata, Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa came to the awareness that his activities as a royal authority were simply illusory phenomena. He therefore agreed to receive knowledge from Jaḍa Bharata, and that was the beginning of his perfection.
Tad-vijṣānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet.
A person like Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa, who was very inquisitive to know the value of life and the spiritual science, must approach a personality like Jaḍa Bharata.
Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijṣāsuḥ śreya uttamam
(
Bhāg.
11.3.21
). One must approach a
guru
like Jaḍa Bharata, a representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to inquire about the goal of human life.