Devanagari
प्राप्ता नृजातिं त्विह ये च जन्तवो
ज्ञानक्रियाद्रव्यकलापसम्भृताम् ।
न वै यतेरन्नपुनर्भवाय ते
भूयो वनौका इव यान्ति बन्धनम् ॥ २५ ॥
Verse text
prāptā nṛ-jātiṁ tv iha ye ca jantavo
jṣāna-kriyā-dravya-kalāpa-sambhṛtām
na vai yaterann apunar-bhavāya te
bhūyo vanaukā iva yānti bandhanam
Synonyms
prāptāḥ
—
who have obtained
;
nṛ
—
jātim — a birth in human society
;
tu
—
certainly
;
iha
—
in this land of Bhārata-varṣa
;
ye
—
those who
;
ca
—
also
;
jantavaḥ
—
the living beings
;
jṣāna
—
with knowledge
;
kriyā
—
with activities
;
dravya
—
of ingredients
;
kalāpa
—
with a collection
;
sambhṛtām
—
full
;
na
—
not
;
vai
—
certainly
;
yateran
—
endeavor
;
apunaḥ
—
bhavāya — for the position of immortality
;
te
—
such persons
;
bhūyaḥ
—
again
;
vanaukāḥ
—
birds
;
iva
—
like
;
yānti
—
go
;
bandhanam
—
to bondage .
Translation
Bhārata-varṣa offers the proper land and circumstances in which to execute devotional service, which can free one from the results of jṣāna and karma. If one obtains a human body in the land of Bhārata-varṣa, with clear sensory organs with which to execute the saṅkīrtana-yajṣa, but in spite of this opportunity he does not take to devotional service, he is certainly like liberated forest animals and birds that are careless and are therefore again bound by a hunter.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Those who attain birth as humans in Bhārata, who are fully endowed with proper sense devatās, senses, and sense objects, but who do not endeavor for bhakti-yoga are again bound up, like birds trapped by a hunter.
Those who attain this Bhārata, and do not utilize it properly, are most lamentable, like a farmer, who, on attaining a cintāmaṇi stone, continues to farm. Human life in Bhārata is fully endowed with (sambhṛtām) adhidaiva (jṣāna), adhyātma (kriyā) and adhibhūta (dravya). [Note: This means sense devatās, senses and sense objects. ] This means the human is endowed with all the senses, so that it is possible to hear and chant the holy name. Apunar-bhāvaya means bhakti-yogāya. Those who do not strive for bhakti-yoga are like birds. Though the birds are freed by the hunter, if they are again inattentive in the tree and play about, they get caught again.
Purport
In the land of Bhārata-varṣa one can very easily perform the
saṅkīrtana-yajṣa,
which consists of
śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ,
or one can perform other methods of devotional service, such as
smaraṇaṁ vandanaṁ arcanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam
and
ātma-nivedanam.
In Bhārata-varṣa one has the opportunity to visit many holy places, especially Lord Caitanya’s birthsite and Lord Kṛṣṇa’s birthsite — Navadvīpa and Vṛndāvana — where there are many pure devotees who have no desire other than to execute devotional service (
anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jṣāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam
), and one may thus become free from the bondage of material conditions. Other paths, such as the path of
jṣāna
and the path of
karma,
are not very profitable. Pious activities can elevate one to the higher planetary systems, and by speculative knowledge one can merge into the Brahman existence, but that is not real profit, for one has to come down again even from the liberated condition of being merged in Brahman, and certainly one must come down from the heavenly kingdom. One should endeavor to go back home, back to Godhead (
yānti mad-yājino ’pi mām
). Otherwise there is no difference between human life and the lives of jungle animals and birds. Animals and birds also have freedom, but because of their lower birth, they cannot use it. Taking advantage of all the facilities offered him, a human being who has taken birth in the land of Bhārata-varṣa should become a fully enlightened devotee and go back home, back to Godhead. This is the subject matter of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. The inhabitants of places other than Bhārata-varṣa have facilities for material enjoyment, but they do not have the same facility to take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has advised that one who has taken birth as a human being in Bhārata-varṣa must first realize himself as a part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, and after taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he must distribute this knowledge all over the world.