Devanagari
इत्थं त्वां पुत्रशोकेन मग्नं तमसि दुस्तरे ।
अतदर्हमनुस्मृत्य महापुरुषगोचरम् ॥ १८ ॥
अनुग्रहाय भवत: प्राप्तावावामिह प्रभो ।
ब्रह्मण्यो भगवद्भक्तो नावासादितुमर्हसि ॥ १९ ॥
Verse text
itthaṁ tvāṁ putra-śokena
magnaṁ tamasi dustare
atad-arham anusmṛtya
mahāpuruṣa-gocaram
anugrahāya bhavataḥ
prāptāv āvām iha prabho
brahmaṇyo bhagavad-bhakto
nāvāsāditum arhasi
Synonyms
ittham
—
in this way
;
tvām
—
you
;
putra
—
śokena — because of grief at the death of your son
;
magnam
—
merged
;
tamasi
—
in darkness
;
dustare
—
insurmountable
;
a
—
tat — arham — unsuitable for a person like you
;
anusmṛtya
—
remembering
;
mahā
—
puruṣa — the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
gocaram
—
who are advanced in understanding
;
anugrahāya
—
just to show favor
;
bhavataḥ
—
toward you
;
prāptau
—
arrived
;
āvām
—
we two
;
iha
—
in this place
;
prabho
—
O King
;
brahmaṇyaḥ
—
one who is situated in the Supreme Absolute Truth
;
bhagavat
—
bhaktaḥ — an advanced devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
na
—
not
;
avāsāditum
—
to lament
;
arhasi
—
you deserve .
Translation
My dear King, you are an advanced devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. To be absorbed in lamentation for the loss of something material is unsuitable for a person like you. Therefore we have both come to relieve you from this false lamentation, which is due to your being merged in the darkness of ignorance. For those who are advanced in spiritual knowledge to be affected by material loss and gain is not at all desirable.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Remembering you, who are unsuitably drowning in insurmountable ignorance because of sorrow for your son, and who can recognize great devotees, we have come here to give mercy to you. The devotee of the Lord, who serves brāhmaṇas, should not lament.
You can see and think of the Lords devotees and great sages (mahā-purṣa-gocaram). Because he served the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas he is called brahmaṇyaḥ bhagavad-bhaktaḥ. Actually however, he was not a devotee at all.
Purport
Several words in this verse are very important. The word
mahā-puruṣa
refers to advanced devotees and also to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Mahā
means “the supreme,” and
puruṣa
means “person.” One who always engages in the service of the Supreme Lord is called
mahā-pauruṣika.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Mahārāja Parīkṣit are sometimes addressed as
mahā-pauruṣika.
A devotee should always aspire to engage in the service of advanced devotees. As Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung:
tāṅdera caraṇa sevi bhakta-sane vāsa
janame janame haya, ei abhilāṣa
A devotee should always aspire to live in the association of advanced devotees and engage in the service of the Lord through the
paramparā
system. One should serve the mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu through the instructions of the great Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana. This is called
tāṅdera caraṇa sevi.
While serving the lotus feet of the Gosvāmīs, one should live in the association of devotees (
bhakta-sane vāsa
). This is the business of a devotee. A devotee should not aspire for material profit or lament for material loss. When Aṅgirā Ṛṣi and Nārada saw that Mahārāja Citraketu, an advanced devotee, had fallen in the darkness of ignorance and was lamenting for the material body of his son, by their causeless mercy they came to advise him so that he could be saved from this ignorance.
Another significant word is
brahmaṇya.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is sometimes addressed by the prayer
namo brahmaṇya-devāya,
which offers obeisances unto the Lord because He is served by the devotees. Therefore this verse states,
brahmaṇyo bhagavad-bhakto nāvāsāditum arhasi.
This is the symptom of an advanced devotee.
Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā.
For a devotee — an advanced, self-realized soul — there is no cause for material jubilation or lamentation. He is always transcendental to conditional life.