SB 5.19.9 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

भारतेऽपि वर्षे भगवान्नरनारायणाख्य आकल्पान्तमुपचितधर्मज्ञानवैराग्यैश्वर्योपशमोपरमात्मोपलम्भनमनुग्रहायात्मवतामनुकम्पया तपोऽव्यक्तगतिश्चरति ॥ ९ ॥

Verse text

bhārate ’pi varṣe bhagavān nara-nārāyaṇākhya ākalpāntam upacita-dharma-jṣāna-vairāgyaiśvaryopaśamoparamātmopalambhanam anugrahāyātmavatām anukampayā tapo ’vyakta-gatiś carati.

Synonyms

bhārate — in Bhārata ; api — also ; varṣe — the tract of land ; bhagavān — the Supreme Personality of Godhead ; nara — nārāyaṇa — ākhyaḥ — known as Nara-Nārāyaṇa ; ā — kalpa — antam — up to the end of the millennium ; upacita — increasing ; dharma — religion ; jṣāna — knowledge ; vairāgya — renunciation or nonattachment ; aiśvarya — mystic opulences ; upaśama — control of the senses ; uparama — freedom from false ego ; ātma — upalambhanam — self-realization ; anugrahāya — to show favor ; ātma — vatām — unto persons interested in self-realization ; anukampayā — by causeless mercy ; tapaḥ — austerities ; avyakta — gatiḥ — whose glories are inconceivable ; carati — executes .

Translation

[Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued:] The glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are inconceivable. He has appeared in the form of Nara-Nārāyaṇa in the land of Bhārata-varṣa, at the place known as Badarikāśrama, to favor His devotees by teaching them religion, knowledge, renunciation, spiritual power, sense control and freedom from false ego. He is advanced in the opulence of spiritual assets, and He engages in executing austerity until the end of this millennium. This is the process of self-realization.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

In Bhārata-varṣa, the Lord in the form of Nara-Nārāyaṇa, whose glories are inconceivable, to favor to the jṣānīs, mercifully performs austerities till the end of the yuga, which included realization of ātmā, abundant dharma, knowledge, renunciation, powers, sense control and freedom from false ego. Nara-nārāyaṇa perform penance by which one realizes one’s ātmā, and in which there is control of the senses (upaśama) and absence of ahaṅkāra (uparama). He showed mercy (anugrahāya) to the jṣānīs. He showed mercy by giving teachings about austerity. Therefore performing austerities was necessary. Performing austerities was his mercy also (anukampayā). The two words for mercy are therefore not repetitive.

Purport

People in India may visit the temple of Nara-Nārāyaṇa at Badarikāśrama just to learn how the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His incarnation as Nara-Nārāyaṇa engages in austerities to teach the people of the world how to achieve self-realization. It is impossible to realize oneself simply by absorbing oneself in speculation and material activities. One must be very serious about self-realization and the practice of austerity. Unfortunately, the people of this Age of Kali do not even know the meaning of austerity. Under these circumstances, the Lord has appeared as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to bestow upon the fallen souls the easiest method of self-realization, technically called ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, cleansing of the dirt from the core of one’s heart. This method is extremely simple. Anyone can chant the glorious kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtana — Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. In this age there are different forms of so-called advanced scientific knowledge, such as anthropology, Marxism, Freudianism, nationalism and industrialism, but if we work very hard under their guidance instead of adopting the process practiced by Nara-Nārāyaṇa, we shall waste our valuable human form of life. Thus we shall certainly be cheated and misled.