Devanagari
नादत्त आत्मा हि गुणं न दोषं न क्रियाफलम् ।
उदासीनवदासीन: परावरदृगीश्वर: ॥ ११ ॥
Verse text
nādatta ātmā hi guṇaṁ
na doṣaṁ na kriyā-phalam
udāsīnavad āsīnaḥ
parāvara-dṛg īśvaraḥ
Synonyms
na
—
not
;
ādatte
—
accepts
;
ātmā
—
the Supreme Lord
;
hi
—
indeed
;
guṇam
—
happiness
;
na
—
not
;
doṣam
—
unhappiness
;
na
—
nor
;
kriyā
—
phalam — the result of any fruitive activity
;
udāsīna
—
vat — exactly like a neutral man
;
āsīnaḥ
—
sitting (in the core of the heart)
;
para
—
avara — dṛk — seeing the cause and effect
;
īśvaraḥ
—
the Supreme Lord .
Translation
The Supreme Lord [ātmā], the creator of cause and effect, does not accept the happiness and distress that result from fruitive actions. He is completely independent of having to accept a material body, and because He has no material body, He is always neutral. The living entities, being part and parcel of the Lord, possess His qualities in a minute quantity. Therefore one should not be affected by lamentation.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The Lord does not recognize others as friend or enemy, nor is he subject to karmic results. He is situated as if neutral, witnessing the good and bad actions of the jīva.
The jīva recognizes persons as friends or enemies by which he then experiences happiness and suffering as a result of his actions. The Lord is not like that. The Lord does not see others as friend or enemy and does not accept reactions for his acts. He is situated as the antaryāmī (udāsīnavat) in all beings, witnessing the good and bad actions of the jīva. He seems to be (iva) indifferent to the contrary natures of being friendly or inimical, but he is not (since he favors the devotee). Without surrender to the Lord, caused by mercy of devotees, it is very difficult for persons like Citraketu who are overcome by grief and illusion to cross over saṁsāra. What more can I say? This is the meaning of this section.
Purport
The conditioned soul has friends and enemies. He is affected by the good qualities and the faults of his position. The Supreme Lord, however, is always transcendental. Because He is the
īśvara,
the supreme controller, He is not affected by duality. It may therefore be said that He sits in the core of everyone’s heart as the neutral witness of the causes and effects of one’s activities, good and bad. We should also understand that
udāsīna,
neutral, does not mean that He takes no action. Rather, it means that He is not personally affected. For example, a court judge is neutral when two opposing parties appear before him, but he still takes action as the case warrants. To become completely neutral, indifferent, to material activities, we should simply seek shelter at the lotus feet of the supreme neutral person.
Mahārāja Citraketu was advised that remaining neutral in such trying circumstances as the death of one’s son is impossible. Nevertheless, since the Lord knows how to adjust everything, the best course is to depend upon Him and do one’s duty in devotional service to the Lord. In all circumstances, one should be undisturbed by duality. As stated in
Bhagavad-gītā
(2.47)
:
karmaṇy evādhikāras te
mā phaleṣu kadācana
mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr
mā te saṅgo ’stv akarmaṇi
“You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.” One should execute one’s devotional duty, and for the results of one’s actions one should depend upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead.