Devanagari
किं चित्रमच्युत तवैतदशेषबन्धोदासेष्वनन्यशरणेषु यदात्मसात्त्वम् ।
योऽरोचयत् सह मृगै: स्वयमीश्वराणांश्रीमत्किरीटतटपीडितपादपीठ: ॥ ४ ॥
Verse text
kiṁ citram acyuta tavaitad aśeṣa-bandho
dāseṣv ananya-śaraṇesu yad ātma-sāttvam
yo ’rocayat saha mṛgaiḥ svayam īśvarāṇāṁ
śrīmat-kirīṭa-taṭa-pīḍita-pāda-pīṭhaḥ
Synonyms
kim
—
what
;
citram
—
wonder
;
acyuta
—
O infallible Lord
;
tava
—
Your
;
etat
—
this
;
aśeṣa
—
bandho — O friend of all
;
dāseṣu
—
for the servants
;
ananya
—
śaraṇeṣu — who have taken no other shelter
;
yat
—
which
;
ātma
—
sāttvam — intimacy with You
;
yaḥ
—
who
;
arocayat
—
acted affectionately
;
saha
—
with
;
mṛgaiḥ
—
the animals (monkeys)
;
svayam
—
Yourself
;
īśvarāṇām
—
of the great demigods
;
śrīmat
—
effulgent
;
kirīṭa
—
of the helmets
;
taṭa
—
by the edges
;
pīḍita
—
shaken
;
pāda
—
pīṭhaḥ — whose footstool .
Translation
My dear infallible Lord, it is not very astonishing that You intimately approach Your servants who have taken exclusive shelter of You. After all, during Your appearance as Lord Rāmacandra, even while great demigods like Brahmā were vying to place the effulgent tips of their helmets upon the cushion where Your lotus feet rested, You displayed special affection for monkeys such as Hanumān because they had taken exclusive shelter of You.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O infallible Lord! O friend of all beings! It is not very astonishing that you are dependent on your servants who have taken exclusive shelter of you. As Rāmacandra, you displayed special affection for monkeys such as Hanumān while devatās shook your foot pedestal with the tips of their crowns,
Those who worship only you become the recipients of your affection. That is not astonishing. You are dependent (ātma-sāttvam) on your servants devoid of performing jṣāna, yoga and karma. The king’s city which is respected by brāhmaṇas becomes dependent on brāhmaṇas. Similarly you are respected by your servants, and become dependent on your servants. As Rāma, you relished friendly relationships with the monkeys. Or another meaning is: you took pleasure in herding the cows along with the deer of Vṛndāvana. Or you took pleasure in stealing butter along with the monkeys. Should we understand that they practiced the yoga you described? You are dependent on them. But you are not dependent on any of the Advaita jṣānīs at all. This implies that Uddhava does not accept jṣāna-yoga. Pīḍitam means shaken.
Purport
The devotees of the Lord become completely successful by the Lord’s causeless mercy. Sometimes Lord Kṛṣṇa accepts a position of subservience to His great devotees, as with Nanda Mahārāja, the
gopīs,
Bali Mahārāja and others. Although demigods like Lord Brahmā were standing in line to touch their helmets to the Lord’s foot cushion, still Lord Rāmacandra awarded His most intimate friendship to subhumans, such as the monkeys headed by Hanumān. Similarly Lord Kṛṣṇa’s affection for the deer and cows, and even for the trees of Vṛndāvana, is well known. Further, the Lord gladly drove the chariot of Arjuna and acted as the messenger and faithful subordinate of King Yudhiṣṭhira. Such devotees have no need for the elaborate
jṣāna-yoga
systems or the process for achieving mystic powers. All these devotees are represented here by Śrī Uddhava, who frankly informs the Lord that the sophisticated systems of philosophical speculation and mystic
yoga
are not appealing for one who has developed a taste for direct loving service to the Lord.