Devanagari
त्रैवर्गिकायासविघातमस्मत्-
पतिर्विधत्ते पुरुषस्य शक्र ।
ततोऽनुमेयो भगवत्प्रसादो
यो दुर्लभोऽकिञ्चनगोचरोऽन्यै: ॥ २३ ॥
Verse text
trai-vargikāyāsa-vighātam asmat-
patir vidhatte puruṣasya śakra
tato ’numeyo bhagavat-prasādo
yo durlabho ’kiṣcana-gocaro ’nyaiḥ
Synonyms
trai
—
vargika — for the three objectives, namely religiosity, economic development, and satisfaction of the senses
;
āyāsa
—
of endeavor
;
vighātam
—
the ruin
;
asmat
—
our
;
patiḥ
—
Lord
;
vidhatte
—
performs
;
puruṣasya
—
of a devotee
;
śakra
—
O Indra
;
tataḥ
—
whereby
;
anumeyaḥ
—
to be inferred
;
bhagavat
—
prasādaḥ — the special mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
yaḥ
—
which
;
durlabhaḥ
—
very difficult to obtain
;
akiṣcana
—
gocaraḥ — within the reach of the unalloyed devotees
;
anyaiḥ
—
by others, who aspire for material happiness .
Translation
Our Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, forbids His devotees to endeavor uselessly for religion, economic development and sense gratification. O Indra, one can thus infer how kind the Lord is. Such mercy is obtainable only by unalloyed devotees, not by persons who aspire for material gains.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O Indra! Our Lord obstructs endeavors for artha, dharma and kāma. One should infer that this is the mercy of the Lord, which is rarely attained by others but attained by those with attachment to only the Lord.
Having told you the method of killing me to take me to the side of the Lord, you should consider that you do not have the mercy of the Lord since he will give you wealth and enjoyment. He obstructs his sincere devotee (puruṣasya) from endeavoring for artha, dharma and kāma. If the Lord stops those endeavors, one can infer that to be the Lord’s mercy. “But we have not had such an experience.” It is rare for anyone except those who are solely dedicated to the Lord. Therefore it is unavailable to you. Completely devoid of his mercy, you will obtain wealth. Believing you will attain wealth, quickly throw the thunderbolt at me.
Purport
There are four objectives in human life — namely, religiosity (
dharma
), economic development (
artha
), sense gratification (
kāma
), and liberation (
mokṣa
) from the bondage of material existence. People generally aspire for religiosity, economic development and sense gratification, but a devotee has no other desire than to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead both in this life and in the next. The special mercy for the unalloyed devotee is that the Lord saves him from hard labor to achieve the results of religion, economic development and sense gratification. Of course, if one wants such benefits, the Lord certainly awards them. Indra, for example, although a devotee, was not much interested in release from material bondage; instead, he desired sense gratification and a high standard of material happiness in the heavenly planets. Vṛtrāsura, however, being an unalloyed devotee, aspired only to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore the Lord arranged for him to go back to Godhead after his bodily bondage was destroyed by Indra. Vṛtrāsura requested Indra to release his thunderbolt against him as soon as possible so that both he and Indra would benefit according to their proportionate advancement in devotional service.