Devanagari
न वेद कश्चिद्भगवंश्चिकीर्षितं
तवेहमानस्य नृणां विडम्बनम् ।
न यस्य कश्चिद्दयितोऽस्ति कर्हिचिद्
द्वेष्यश्च यस्मिन् विषमा मतिर्नृणाम् ॥ २९ ॥
Verse text
na veda kaścid bhagavaṁś cikīrṣitaṁ
tavehamānasya nṛṇāṁ viḍambanam
na yasya kaścid dayito ’sti karhicid
dveṣyaś ca yasmin viṣamā matir nṛṇām
Synonyms
na
—
does not
;
veda
—
know
;
kaścit
—
anyone
;
bhagavan
—
O Lord
;
cikīrṣitam
—
pastimes
;
tava
—
Your
;
īhamānasya
—
like the worldly men
;
nṛṇām
—
of the people in general
;
viḍambanam
—
misleading
;
na
—
never
;
yasya
—
His
;
kaścit
—
anyone
;
dayitaḥ
—
object of specific favor
;
asti
—
there is
;
karhicit
—
anywhere
;
dveṣyaḥ
—
object of envy
;
ca
—
and
;
yasmin
—
unto Him
;
viṣamā
—
partiality
;
matiḥ
—
conception
;
nṛṇām
—
of the people .
Translation
O Lord, no one can understand Your transcendental pastimes, which appear to be human and so are misleading. You have no specific object of favor, nor do You have any object of envy. People only imagine that You are partial.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
No one knows the intentions of the Lord who desires to hide himself in human form, who does not show favor or hatred to anyone, and about whom all men have different opinions.
Purport
The Lord’s mercy upon the fallen souls is equally distributed. He has no one as the specific object of hostility. The very conception of the Personality of Godhead as a human being is misleading. His pastimes
appear
to be exactly like a human being’s, but actually they are transcendental and without any tinge of material contamination. He is undoubtedly known as partial to His pure devotees, but in fact He is never partial, as much as the sun is never partial to anyone. By utilizing the sun rays, sometimes even the stones become valuable, whereas a blind man cannot see the sun, although there are enough sun rays before him. Darkness and light are two opposite conceptions, but this does not mean that the sun is partial in distributing its rays. The sun rays are open to everyone, but the capacities of the receptacles differ. Foolish people think that devotional service is flattering the Lord to get special mercy. Factually the pure devotees who are engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord are not a mercantile community. A mercantile house renders service to someone in exchange for values. The pure devotee does not render service unto the Lord for such exchange, and therefore the full mercy of the Lord is open for him. Suffering men, needy men, inquisitive persons, or philosophers make temporary connections with the Lord to serve a particular purpose. When the purpose is served, there is no more relation with the Lord. A suffering man, if he is pious at all, prays to the Lord for his recovery. But as soon as the recovery is over, in most cases the suffering man no longer cares to keep any connection with the Lord. The mercy of the Lord is open for him, but he is reluctant to receive it. That is the difference between a pure devotee and a mixed devotee. Those who are completely against the service of the Lord are considered to be in abject darkness, those who ask for the Lord’s favor only at the time of necessity are partial recipients of the mercy of the Lord, and those who are cent-percent engaged in the service of the Lord are full recipients of the mercy of the Lord. Such partiality in receiving the Lord’s mercy is relative to the recipient, and it is not due to the partiality of the all-merciful Lord.
When the Lord descends to this material world by His all-merciful energy, He plays like a human being, and therefore it appears that the Lord is partial to His devotees only, but that is not a fact. Despite such apparent manifestation of partiality, His mercy is equally distributed. In the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra all persons who died in the fight before the presence of the Lord got salvation without the necessary qualifications because death before the presence of the Lord purifies the passing soul from the effects of all sins, and therefore the dying man gets a place somewhere in the transcendental abode. Somehow or other if someone puts himself open in the sun rays, he is sure to get the requisite benefit both by heat and by ultraviolet rays. Therefore, the conclusion is that the Lord is never partial. It is wrong for the people in general to think of Him as partial.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
“Who will decide the truth about you if there is a disagreement?” No one can decide. This is explained in two verses.
No one knows the plan of you who desire (īhamānasya) to make the knowledge of those who speculate about scripture useless. Or no one knows the plan of you who desire to play the role of human beings as Rāma and Kṛṣṇa. Or no one knows the plan of you who desire to delude the fools by not letting them see your sweet qualities. All men have differing ideas about you (yasmin viṣamā matir nṛṇām). The sun shows attachment to the sun stone by imparting its own qualities. It shows indifference to the blind people and is helpful to the Cakravāka birds (who become joyful when the sun rises and destroys darkness). The sun is harmful to the darkness used by thieves and owls. But the sun is not partial to anyone. It manifests the same light to all. The cause of difference is the good or bad qualities of the specific object. It is the same with the Lord. Different people relate with the Lord in different ways according to their qualities.