Devanagari
न्यस्तक्रीडनको बालो जडवत्तन्मनस्तया ।
कृष्णग्रहगृहीतात्मा न वेद जगदीदृशम् ॥ ३७ ॥
Verse text
nyasta-krīḍanako bālo
jaḍavat tan-manastayā
kṛṣṇa-graha-gṛhītātmā
na veda jagad īdṛśam
Synonyms
nyasta
—
having given up
;
krīḍanakaḥ
—
all sportive activities or tendencies for childhood play
;
bālaḥ
—
a boy
;
jaḍa
—
vat — as if dull, without activities
;
tat
—
manastayā — by being fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa
;
kṛṣṇa
—
graha — by Kṛṣṇa, who is like a strong influence (like a graha, or planetary influence)
;
gṛhīta
—
ātmā — whose mind was fully attracted
;
na
—
not
;
veda
—
understood
;
jagat
—
the entire material world
;
īdṛśam
—
like this .
Translation
From the very beginning of his childhood, Prahlāda Mahārāja was uninterested in childish playthings. Indeed, he gave them up altogether and remained silent and dull, being fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Since his mind was always affected by Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he could not understand how the world goes on being fully absorbed in the activities of sense gratification.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Prahlāda as a boy was uninterested in playing. Because his mind was fully captivated by Kṛṣṇa, he acted as if dull. He did not understand this material world.
His natural attraction is described in six verses. Though a boy, he gave up childish play. He was like a dull-witted person since his mind was always concentrated on Kṛṣṇa, which was not common to others. His mind was not attracted to Kṛṣṇa like other devotees. Rather, his mind was completely overcome by Kṛṣṇa, who was like an object of greed. Thus he did not understand the world of material dealings. He understood only the world of Kṛṣṇa.
Purport
Prahlāda Mahārāja is the vivid example of a great person fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In
Caitanya-caritāmṛta
(
Madhya
8.274)
it is said:
sthāvara-jaṅgama dekhe, nā dekhe tāra mūrti
sarvatra haya nija iṣṭa-deva-sphūrti
A fully Kṛṣṇa conscious person, although situated in this material world, does not see anything but Kṛṣṇa, anywhere and everywhere. This is the sign of a
mahā-bhāgavata.
The
mahā-bhāgavata
sees Kṛṣṇa everywhere because of his attitude of pure love for Kṛṣṇa. As confirmed in the
Brahma-saṁhitā
(5.38)
:
premāṣjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena
santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti
yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
“I worship the primeval Lord, Govinda, who is always seen by the devotee whose eyes are anointed with the pulp of love. He is seen in His eternal form of Śyāmasundara, situated within the heart of the devotee.” An exalted devotee, or
mahātmā,
who is rarely to be seen, remains fully conscious of Kṛṣṇa and constantly sees the Lord within the core of his heart. It is sometimes said that when one is influenced by evil stars like Saturn, Rāhu or Ketu, he cannot make advancement in any prospective activity. In just the opposite way, Prahlāda Mahārāja was influenced by Kṛṣṇa, the supreme planet, and thus he could not think of the material world and live without Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the sign of a
mahā-bhāgavata.
Even if one is an enemy of Kṛṣṇa, a
mahā-bhāgavata
sees him to be also engaged in Kṛṣṇa’s service. Another crude example is that everything appears yellow to the jaundiced eye. Similarly, to a
mahā-bhāgavata,
everyone but himself appears to be engaged in Kṛṣṇa’s service.
Prahlāda Mahārāja is the approved
mahā-bhāgavata,
the supreme devotee. In the previous verse it was stated that he had natural attachment (
naisargikī ratiḥ
). The symptoms of such natural attachment for Kṛṣṇa are described in this verse. Although Prahlāda Mahārāja was only a boy, he had no interest in playing. As stated in
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
(11.2.42)
,
viraktir anyatra ca:
the symptom of perfect Kṛṣṇa consciousness is that one loses interest in all material activities. For a small boy to give up playing is impossible, but Prahlāda Mahārāja, being situated in first-class devotional service, was always absorbed in a trance of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Just as a materialistic person is always absorbed in thoughts of material gain, a
mahā-bhāgavata
like Prahlāda Mahārāja is always absorbed in thoughts of Kṛṣṇa.