apécya-darçanaà çaçvat
sarva-loka-namaskåtam
santaà vayasi kaiçore
bhåtyänugraha-kätaram
(SB 3.28.17)
Synonyms
apécya-darçanam—very beautiful to see; çaçvat—eternal; sarva-loka—by all the inhabitants of every planet; namaù-kåtam—worshipable; santam—situated; vayasi—in youth; kaiçore—in boyhood; bhåtya—upon His devotee; anugraha—to bestow blessings; kätaram—eager.
Translation
The Lord is eternally very beautiful, and He is worshipable by all the inhabitants of every planet. He is ever youthful and always eager to bestow His blessing upon His devotees.
Purport
The word sarva-loka-namaskåtam means that He is worshipable by everyone on every planet. There are innumerable planets in the material world and innumerable planets in the spiritual world as well. On each planet there are innumerable inhabitants who worship the Lord, for the Lord is worshipable by all but the impersonalists. The Supreme Lord is very beautiful. The word çaçvat is significant. It is not that He appears beautiful to the devotees but is ultimately impersonal. Çaçvat means “ever existing.” That beauty is not temporary. It is ever existing—He is always youthful. In the Brahma-saàhitä (5.33) it is also stated: advaitam acyutam anädim ananta-rüpam ädyaà puräëa-puruñaà nava-yauvanaà ca. The original person is one without a second, yet He never appears old; He always appears as ever fresh as a blooming youth.
The Lord’s facial expression always indicates that He is ready to show favor and benediction to the devotees; for the nondevotees, however, He is silent. As stated in Bhagavad-gétä, although He acts equally to everyone because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and because all living entities are His sons, He is especially inclined to those engaged in devotional service. The same fact is confirmed here: He is always anxious to show favor to the devotees. Just as the devotees are always eager to render service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Lord is also very eager to bestow benediction upon the pure devotees.
The lord Kapila Dev is describing the eternal beauty and the ever youthful form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is this all beautiful, eternal form of the Lord that is the supreme goal and constant meditation of the lord’s devotees. The impersonal energy, which manifests from the Personality of Godhead, although it is beyond the realities of this material existence, in that realisation, there is no facility for loving reciprocation. So therefore, the devotees, they are not concerned with their own liberation, they are simply concerned with pleasing the lord. Srila Probodhananda Saraswati has said “Kaivalyaà narakäyate.” That he will prefer going to hell than to achieving any impersonal state of liberation. Why? Because his goal is not his own salvation; his goal is simply to please the lord eternally.
Iswara parama Krishna sachchitananda vigraha
Anadiradi Govinda Sarbakarana karanam
Krishna’s form is eternal, full of knowledge, full of bliss, and it is that divine form of Krishna, which is the source of everything material and spiritual.
ahaà sarvasya prabhavo
mattaù sarvaà pravartate
iti matvä bhajante mäà
budhä bhäva-samanvitäù
And therefore the wise, they want to worship Krishna with all their hearts. And it is being described here by Kapila Muni to his blessed mother Devahüti that the Lord is always eager to bestow his blessings upon such devotees who never give up the service of his loving lotus feet.
Humility
Yesterday, we celebrated the disappearance of Sri Ramanujacharya. In his life, we find so many wonderful examples, which illustrate the nature of a devotee. Sri Ramanujacharya when he was young he accepted the order of Sanyas and he was so learned and so pure and so utterly compassionate to all living beings that he had a large following of disciples who have dedicated their lives to him but he was so humble. He was always anxious to have deeper and deeper realizations of his love for Narayan. And although he was in such an exalted position, he was always seeking the blessings of Vaishnavas. The more advancement we make in Krishna consciousness, the more we realize how much valuable and precious the blessings of the devotees are in our life. We never outgrow, we never become too advanced.
In the Chaitanya-charitamrit, Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami, in the Chaitanya Bhagawat, Vrindaban das Thakur, they are considered of the highest order of pure devotion, but throughout the readings, they are begging the blessings of the Vaishnavas. In fact, they are so humble that Krishnadas Kaviraj is begging all the readers, even the new neophytes to give him their blessings. He is begging the dust from the feet of all devotees. This is actually a sign of spiritual advancement. The more humble we become, the more dependent we become on the mercy of great souls is actually the sign of real spiritual advancement.
Qualification to be a disciple
So Ramanujacharya, he was told by one of his Guru’s Godbrothers that there was a devotee of the name Goñöhépürëa who is also a Guru’s Godbrother and that if he receives the particular mantra from him that it would give him great perfection in life. Now a devotee, he doesn’t want simply his own perfection, he wants to give perfection to others; the more we have, the more we can give; it is not that the more we have, the more we have. So, he went to this great devotee, named Goñöhépürëa, and Goñöhépürëa told him, “Yes, I have this Mantra but this Mantra is very secret and I have not given it to anyone and I have no intention to give it to anyone but you can come back on some other day.” And Ramanujacharya was feeling very depressed “He is not giving me the mantra.” One day, Goñöhépürëa was in a procession with the deity of Lord Narayan and the pujari called out that I have just received the message from the Lord that Goñöhépürëa you should give your mantra to Ramanujacharya, and he was thinking in his heart at that time that this mantra should not be given to anyone who is impure or have any material desires and then the pujari said but the Murti of Krishna is saying that Ramanujacharya has no material desires, he is a pure soul. Anyways Ramanujacharya came, he travelled all the way to that village where Goñöhépürëa was living, which was a very difficult to walk, seventeen times, and every time Goñöhépürëa refused to give him the mantra. He said you come back some other time. Finally, Ramanujacharya, he was so humble, he was thinking because of the impurities in my heart, because I am such a wretched, sinful person, I am not qualified to receive this mantra, which will give perfection of life. So he began to weep so sincerely, he was crying, and this news reached the ears of Goñöhépürëa. At that time, he was thinking that a disciple who weeps and cries for the mercy of Gurudev, he is actually fit to receive the mercy of Gurudev. It is not so cheap. This is a spiritual principle. It is not that simply by receiving initiation that our life becomes perfect.
tad viddhi praëipätena
paripraçnena sevayä
ye yathä mäà prapadyante
täàs tathaiva bhajämy aham
How to take shelter
But how we approach the lord, he reciprocates accordingly, and similarly as we approached his representative, Gurudev, Krishna through Gurudev reciprocates accordingly. How are we listening? How we are listening in a causal way thinking yes, another lecture, I have heard so many lectures. It is entertaining. Some people like to watch television, some people like to go to the cinemas, some people like to listen to records or tapes, and some people like to sit and listen to pravachan, Krishna katha, the lectures about Gita or Bhagavatam. It is a pious form of entertainment or sometimes we come and we are feeling very sleepy and hungry and were thinking when will he end this lecture so that we can eat Prasad. Anyways, if this is how we are listening, accordingly, this is what benefits we will derive. How should we be listening to the word of the Lord? As if our life depends on it, in a sense of utter urgency, understanding that at any moment we may die and the life of our soul is the message of Godhead. We must feel a desperate emergency in our life and in this way our hearts, our mind, and our ears should be attentively drinking the Nectar of the life giving ambrosia of God’s word of Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhagavad Gita. And when we chant the holy name, it is a question of the quality in which we chant which determines how Krishna will reciprocate with us. If we are chanting thinking that I have to chant 16 rounds and I still have 8 rounds to go and there are so many other things I want to do today when these rounds end, then what will you gain from such chanting. I will tell you what you will gain, you will finish your rounds and that is better than not finish. But if you actually want Krishna to reciprocate with you in the form of his name, you have to be attentively seeking shelter of every syllable of his name.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare.
Hare Ram Hare Ram, Ram Ram Hare Hare.
Like a baby crying for its mother with no other shelter, and it is said by the great acharyas that to the degree a disciple approaches a great saintly person or spiritual master with this deep sense of urgency how much my life depends on your mercy, to that degree the great souls will truly bestow their blessings upon you; because you are fit to receive it. The prayers and the blessings and the instructions of great personalities are like seeds; when watered properly, they grow into the ripened fruit of Prem or love of god, but the heart has to be fertile. Otherwise, the seed will not grow very properly and what is a fertile heart, “Praëipätena Paripraçnena Sevayä.” That heart that is submissive, that is humble, that is urgently desperately seeking the truth and that is willing to serve, that heart can receive the seed of Bhakti properly.