Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7.9.11

naivātmanaḥ prabhur ayaḿ nija-lābha-pūrṇo

mānaḿ janād aviduṣaḥ karuṇo vṛṇīte

yad yaj jano bhagavate vidadhīta mānaḿ

tac cātmane prati-mukhasya yathā mukha-śrīḥ

SYNONYMS

na — nor; eva — certainly; ātmanaḥ — for His personal benefit; prabhuḥ — Lord; ayam — this; nija-lābha-pūrṇaḥ — is always satisfied in Himself (He does not need to be satisfied by the service of others); mānam — respect; janāt — from a person; aviduṣaḥ — who does not know that the aim of life is to please the Supreme Lord; karuṇaḥ — (the Supreme Personality of Godhead), who is so kind to this foolish, ignorant person; vṛṇīte — accepts; yat yat — whatever; janaḥ — a person; bhagavate — unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead; vidadhīta — may offer; mānam — worship; tat — that; ca — indeed; ātmane — for his own benefit; prati-mukhasya — of the reflection of the face in the mirror; yathā — just as; mukha-śrīḥ — the decoration of the face.

TRANSLATION

The Supreme Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is always fully satisfied in Himself. Therefore when something is offered to Him, the offering, by the Lord's mercy, is for the benefit of the devotee, for the Lord does not need service from anyone. To give an example, if one's face is decorated, the reflection of one's face in a mirror is also seen to be decorated.

PURPORT

In bhakti-yoga it is recommended that a devotee follow nine principles; śravaṇaḿ kīrtanaḿ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaḿ pāda-sevanam/ arcanam. vandanaḿ dāsyaḿ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam [SB 7.5.23]. This service of glorifying the Lord by hearing, chanting and so on is not, of course, meant for the benefit of the Lord; this devotional service is recommended for the benefit of the devotee. The Lord is always glorious, whether the devotee glorifies Him or not, but if the devotee engages in glorifying the Lord, the devotee himself automatically becomes glorious. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaḿ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam [Cc. Antya 20.12]. By glorifying the Lord constantly, the living entity becomes purified in the core of his heart, and thus he can understand that he does not belong to the material world but is a spirit soul whose actual activity is to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness so that he may become free from the material clutches. Thus the blazing fire of material existence is immediately extinguished (bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam). A foolish person is amazed that Kṛṣṇa orders, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaḿ śaraṇaḿ vraja: [Bg. 18.66] "Abandon all varieties of religious activities and just surrender unto Me." Some foolish scholars even say that this is too much to demand. But this demand is not for the benefit of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; rather, it is for the benefit of human society. If human beings individually and collectively surrender everything to the Supreme Personality of Godhead in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all of human society will benefit. One who does not dedicate everything to the Supreme Lord is described in this verse as aviduṣa, a rascal. In Bhagavad-gītā (7.15), the Lord Himself speaks in the same way:

na māḿ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ

prapadyante narādhamāḥ

māyayāpahṛta-jñānā

āsuraḿ bhāvamāśritāḥ

"Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me." Because of ignorance and misfortune, the atheists and the narādhamas, the lowest of men, do not surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore although the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, is full in Himself, He appears in different yugas to demand the surrender of the conditioned souls so that they will benefit by becoming free from the material clutches. In conclusion, the more we engage in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and render service unto the Lord, the more we benefit. Kṛṣṇa does not need service from any of us.

<<< >>>

Copyright © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness