Devanagari
न ब्रह्मण: स्वपरभेदमतिस्तव स्यात्
सर्वात्मन: समदृश: स्वसुखानुभूते: ।
संसेवतां सुरतरोरिव ते प्रसाद:
सेवानुरूपमुदयो न विपर्ययोऽत्र ॥ ६ ॥
Verse text
na brahmaṇaḥ sva-para-bheda-matis tava syāt
sarvātmanaḥ sama-dṛśaḥ sva-sukhānubhūteḥ
saṁsevatāṁ sura-taror iva te prasādaḥ
sevānurūpam udayo na viparyayo ’tra
Synonyms
na
—
not
;
brahmaṇaḥ
—
of the Absolute Truth
;
sva
—
of own
;
para
—
and other’s
;
bheda
—
differential
;
matiḥ
—
mentality
;
tava
—
of You
;
syāt
—
there can be
;
sarva
—
of all beings
;
ātmanaḥ
—
of the Soul
;
sama
—
equal
;
dṛśaḥ
—
whose vision
;
sva
—
within Himself
;
sukha
—
of happiness
;
anubhūteḥ
—
whose experience
;
saṁsevatām
—
for those who properly worship
;
sura
—
taroḥ — of the heavenly desire tree
;
iva
—
as if
;
te
—
Your
;
prasādaḥ
—
grace
;
sevā
—
with the service
;
anurūpam
—
in accordance
;
udayaḥ
—
desirable results
;
na
—
not
;
viparyayaḥ
—
contradiction
;
atra
—
in this .
Translation
Within Your mind there can be no such differentiation as “This one is mine, and that is another’s,” because You are the Supreme Absolute Truth, the Soul of all beings, always equipoised and enjoying transcendental happiness within Yourself. Just like the heavenly desire tree, You bless all who properly worship You, granting their desired fruits in proportion to the service they render You. There is nothing wrong in this.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Within Your mind there can be no such differentiation as "This one is mine, and that is another's," because You are the Supreme Absolute Truth, the Soul of all beings, always equipoised and enjoying transcendental happiness within Yourself. Just like the heavenly desire tree, You bless all who properly worship You, granting their desired fruits in proportion to the service they render You. There is nothing wrong in this.
KB 10.72.6
“This does not mean that You are partial to the Kṛṣṇa conscious person and indifferent to the non–Kṛṣṇa conscious person. You are equal to everyone; that is Your declaration. You cannot be partial to one and not interested in others, for You sit in everyone’s heart as the Supersoul and give everyone the respective results of his fruitive activities. You give every living entity the chance to enjoy this material world as he desires. As the Supersoul, You sit in the body with the living entity, giving him the results of his own actions as well as opportunities to turn toward Your devotional service by developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You openly declare that one should surrender unto You, giving up all other engagements, and that You will take charge of him, giving him relief from the reactions of all sins. Still, the living entity remains attached to material activities and suffers or enjoys the reactions without Your interference. You are like the desire tree in the heavenly planets, which awards benedictions according to one’s desires. Everyone is free to achieve the highest perfection, but if one does not so desire, then Your awarding of lesser benedictions is not due to partiality.”
Purport
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī explains that a desire tree has no material attachments or partiality but simply bestows its fruits upon those who deserve them, and not upon others. Jīva Gosvāmī Prabhupāda adds that a desire tree does not think, “This person is fit to worship me, but that other person is not.” Rather, a desire tree is satisfied with all who properly serve it. And the Lord acts in the same way, as explained here by King Yudhiṣṭhira.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī adds that no one should accuse Lord Kṛṣṇa of being envious of one person and showing favoritism toward another. Since the Lord is
sva-sukhānubhūti,
experiencing His own happiness within Himself, He has nothing to gain or lose in relation to conditioned souls. Rather, He reciprocates according to how they approach Him. Śrīla Prabhupāda very nicely sums up this point as follows in his rendering of King Yudhiṣṭhira’s statement: “If one takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, his life becomes fulfilled both materially and spiritually. This does not mean that You are partial to the Kṛṣṇa conscious person and indifferent to the non-Kṛṣṇa conscious person. You are equal to everyone; that is Your declaration. You cannot be partial to one and not interested in others, because You are sitting in everyone’s heart as the Supersoul and giving everyone the respective results of his fruitive activities. You give every living entity the chance to enjoy this material world as he desires. As the Supersoul, You are sitting in the body along with the living entity, giving him the results of his own actions as well as opportunities to turn toward Your devotional service by developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You openly declare that one should surrender unto You, giving up all other engagements, and that You will take charge of him, giving him relief from the reactions of all sins. You are like the desire tree in the heavenly planets, which awards benediction according to one’s desires. Everyone is free to achieve the highest perfection, but if one does not so desire, then Your awarding of lesser benedictions is not due to partiality.”
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"But will I not display malice myself, if I show the excellence of those who are favorable to me and show the inferiority of those who go against me?" This verse relies. "You do not have a mentality of prejudice, distinguishing on the basis of "my side" and "the other side" (sva para), since you are completely pure (brahmanah). But as the supersoul in all living entities , you engage them all in their actions as they have fallen into an endless flow of karmas. And you give them good or bad results suitable to their acts, not by favoritism (samdrsah). And you have nothing to gain from the enjoyers or sufferers of their deeds. You are engaged in your own bliss (sva sukha anubhuteh)."
"But then, who are the objects of my qualities like affection and mercy?"
"You show affection (prasadah) to those who serve you with their hearts. You have such generosity you not only cut the bondage of karma but given everything up to your own self. Therefore you are called a desire tree."
"But then do I not show some prejudice there?"
"As the desire tree gives to those who take shelter of it, without considering a persons faults or merits, you also show mercy to any one who serves you. But this mercy is according to the quality of service. As a little service gives little results, great service gives great results. Thus there is no prejudice or injustice. There is nothing improper in it. Though your have no prejudice, you are especially favorable to your devotee, being controlled by affection. But even there, you give favorable results for favorable service and unfavorable results for faulty service."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
The desire tree gives results to those who worship even they do not have strong attraction. Or, there is no distinctions that one person can worship because he is qualified and another cannot worship because he is unqualified. It is merciful to anyone who serves it with respect (sam—sevatāṁ). But in worshipping you, the result is not just according to the service. The result is more. Even if there is irregularity in the worship, the opposite, no result (viparyayaḥ), does not take place.
tulasī-dala-mātreṇa jalasya culukena vā
vikrīṇīte svam ātmānaṁ bhaktebhyo bhakta-vatsalaḥ.
Kṛṣṇa, who is very affectionate toward his devotees, sells himself to a devotee who offers merely a tulasī leaf and a palmful of water. Viṣṇu-dharma
According to the bhāva of the devotee there will be various degrees of result. Faith is the cause.
tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ harer
bhajann apakvo ’tha patet tato yadi |
yatra kva vābhadram abhūd amuṣya kiṁ
ko vārtha āpto ’bhajatāṁ sva-dharmataḥ ||
If a person having given up his duties in varṇāśrama, begins the worship of the Lord’s lotus feet, and happens to deviate or not reach perfection, there is no misfortune for him at all in the future. But what does the person who follows all duties of varṇāśrama but does not worship the Lord gain? 1.5.17
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Therefore be merciful to us, by giving results desired and even beyond our desires. The deep meaning is: destroy Jarāsandha. According to different services there are different results. By a little service there is a little result. There is a response to everyone doing service without being unfair. Thus it is said in the verse for those who are absorbed in your service (saṁsevatām) you show mercy. This also glorifies service.
Or one should not say that equally the Lord gives mercy since he is Lord of the universe, and that he should not punish anyone. This verse answers. Though the Lord is the cause of everything, the ātmā of everyone and antaryāmī, and equal to all, is he inclined to the devotee or is there no difference in treatment of the non-devotee? Yes there is a difference. Why? He is affectionate to his devotee, since he experiences happiness from his devotees (sva-sukhānubhūteḥ). He will be merciful to those who serve him (saṁsevatām). By its nature, there is absorption in the service (sam). It does not mean that he will be merciful only to those who serve him in full surrender. An example is given. It is like a desire tree. The mercy yields results, not according to the amount of service but the opposite. A little service gives great results. But the results given by the Lord are greater than that given by the desire tree since he is the supreme Lord. That is proper.