SB 1.13.56 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

ध्वस्तमायागुणोदर्को निरुद्धकरणाशय: । निवर्तिताखिलाहार आस्ते स्थाणुरिवाचल: । तस्यान्तरायो मैवाभू: सन्न्यस्ताखिलकर्मण: ॥ ५६ ॥

Verse text

dhvasta-māyā-guṇodarko niruddha-karaṇāśayaḥ nivartitākhilāhāra āste sthāṇur ivācalaḥ tasyāntarāyo maivābhūḥ sannyastākhila-karmaṇaḥ

Synonyms

dhvasta — being destroyed ; māyā — guṇa — the modes of material nature ; udarkaḥ — aftereffects ; niruddha — being suspended ; karaṇa — āśayaḥ — the senses and the mind ; nivartita — stopped ; akhila — all ; āhāraḥ — food for the senses ; āste — is sitting ; sthāṇuḥ — immovable ; iva — like ; acalaḥ — fixed ; tasya — his ; antarāyaḥ — hindrances ; mā eva — never like that ; abhūḥ — be ; sannyasta — renounced ; akhila — all sorts ; karmaṇaḥ — material duties .

Translation

He will have to suspend all the actions of the senses, even from the outside, and will have to be impervious to interactions of the senses, which are influenced by the modes of material nature. After renouncing all material duties, he must become immovably established, beyond all sources of hindrances on the path.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Meditating on merging the false ego into the mahat-tattva, merging the mahat-tattva into the jīva, merging the jīva into the brahman, and merging the Paramātmā into Bhagavān, the supreme shelter, like merging the sky in the pot into the sky, he has destroyed the impressions arising from the guṇas of māyā, controlled the senses and mind. Stopping all enjoyment of the senses (or eating), he remains without movement like a pillar.

Purport

Dhṛtarāṣṭra had attained, by the yogic process, the stage of negation of all sorts of material reaction. The effects of the material modes of nature draw the victim to indefatigable desires of enjoying matter, but one can escape such false enjoyment by the yogic process. Every sense is always busy in searching for its food, and thus the conditioned soul is assaulted from all sides and has no chance to become steady in any pursuit. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was advised by Nārada not to disturb his uncle by attempting to bring him back home. He was now beyond the attraction of anything material. The material modes of nature (the guṇas ) have their different modes of activities, but above the material modes of nature is a spiritual mode, which is absolute. Nirguṇa means without reaction. The spiritual mode and its effect are identical; therefore the spiritual quality is distinguished from its material counterpart by the word nirguṇa. After complete suspension of the material modes of nature, one is admitted to the spiritual sphere, and action dictated by the spiritual modes is called devotional service, or bhakti. Bhakti is therefore nirguṇa attained by direct contact with the Absolute.

Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Merging the elements of his body into the senses, merging the false ego (ātmānam) into the mahat-tattva (vijṣānātmani), merging the mahat-tattva into the jīva (kṣetra-jṣe), perceiving it as such, and merging the jīva into the brahman, merging the Paramātmā situated in the body (ātmānam) into Bhagavān, the Lord (ādhāre), the āśraya-tattva, the aṁśī. But it is well known that Paramātmā and Bhagavān are one. That is true, but though they are one, there is a functional difference. This is explained through an example. It is like air in a pot and the air, like the limited sky and the unlimited sky. The sky in the pot and the sky outside the pot are actually one since the sky is all-pervading. Lack of deviation is described. Deviation arises from internal disturbance of the guṇas or from external agitation of the senses. Dhṛtarāṣṭra has neither because he has destroyed the results of the guṇas of māyā, the impressions of desires. Therefore he has controlled the senses and mind.