Verse Text
hari-priya-janasyaiva prasāda-bhara-lābhataḥ |
bhāvābhāso ’pi sahasā bhāvatvam upagacchati ||52||
tasminn evāparādhena bhāvābhāso ’py anuttamaḥ |
krameṇa kṣayam āpnoti kha-sthaḥ pūrṇa-śaśī yathā ||53||
Translation
By the great mercy of a dear devotee of the Lord, the semblance of bhāva suddenly becomes real bhāva. By offending that devotee, even the best bhāvābhāsa gradually wanes just as the full moon in the sky gradually wanes.
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
The conclusion is that transcendental attachment is so powerful that if such attachment is seen manifested even in some common man, by the association of a pure devotee it can bring one to the perfectional stage. But such attachment for Kṛṣṇa cannot be invoked in a person without his being sufficiently blessed by the association of pure devotees.
As attachment can be invoked by the association of pure devotees, so attachment can also be extinguished by offenses committed at the lotus feet of pure devotees. To be more clear, by the association of pure devotees attachment for Kṛṣṇa can be aroused, but if one commits offenses at the lotus feet of a devotee, one’s shadow attachment or parā attachment can be extinguished. This extinguishing is like the waning of the full moon, which gradually decreases and at last becomes dark. One should therefore be very careful while associating with pure devotees to guard against committing an offense at their lotus feet.