Verse Text
tatraiva śrī-rudroktau—
nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati |
svargāpavarga-narakeṣv api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ ||33||
Translation
Lord Śiva also speaks on this subject: Devotees solely engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, never fear any condition of life. For them the heavenly planets, liberation and the hellish planets are all the same, for such devotees are interested only in the service of the Lord. SB 6.17.28
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Why should the devotees be glorified above others? They are fixed in Nārāyaṇa, and not in anything else. This is explained in this verse. Not only Citraketu, but also all devotees are fixed (nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve). Heaven, liberation and hell are all regarded as insignificant because they are not pleasing, being devoid of the happiness of bhakti.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
The devotees have the quality of seeing or experiencing (darśinaḥ) everything other than Nārāyaṇa as equally worthless (tulyārtha), whether it is liberation, heaven, or hell, because the devotees accept or reject everything only on the basis of favorableness to the Lord. Tulya, meaning “one,” is similar to the grammatical rule rasābhyāṁ no ṇaḥ samāna-pade (Pāṇini 8.4.1). [Note: Directly after r and ṣ in the same word, n becomes ṇ. They all are “one” in the sense of being cerebral in pronunciation.]
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
This statement is confirmed by Lord Śiva in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Sixth Canto, Seventeenth Chapter, verse 28, wherein Lord Śiva addresses Satī thus: “My dear Satī, persons who are devoted to Nārāyaṇa [Kṛṣṇa] are not afraid of anything. If they are elevated to the higher planetary systems, or if they get liberation from material contamination, or if they are pushed down to the hellish condition of life—or, in fact, in any situation whatever—they are not afraid of anything. Simply because they have taken shelter of the lotus feet of Nārāyaṇa, for them any position in the material world is as good as another.”