Devanagari
यदा च पार्थप्रहित: सभायां
जगद्गुरुर्यानि जगाद कृष्ण: ।
न तानि पुंसाममृतायनानि
राजोरु मेने क्षतपुण्यलेश: ॥ ९ ॥
Verse text
yadā ca pārtha-prahitaḥ sabhāyāṁ
jagad-gurur yāni jagāda kṛṣṇaḥ
na tāni puṁsām amṛtāyanāni
rājoru mene kṣata-puṇya-leśaḥ
Synonyms
yadā
—
when
;
ca
—
also
;
pārtha
—
prahitaḥ — being advised by Arjuna
;
sabhāyām
—
in the assembly
;
jagat
—
guruḥ — the teacher of the world
;
yāni
—
those
;
jagāda
—
went
;
kṛṣṇaḥ
—
Lord Kṛṣṇa
;
na
—
never
;
tāni
—
such words
;
puṁsām
—
of all men of sense
;
amṛta
—
ayanāni — as good as nectar
;
rājā
—
the King (Dhṛtarāṣṭra or Duryodhana)
;
uru
—
very important
;
mene
—
did consider
;
kṣata
—
dwindling
;
puṇya
—
leśaḥ — fragment of pious acts .
Translation
Lord Kṛṣṇa was sent by Arjuna into the assembly as the spiritual master of the whole world, and although His words were heard by some [like Bhīṣma] as pure nectar, it was not so for the others, who were completely bereft of the last farthing of past pious works. The King [Dhṛtarāṣṭra or Duryodhana] did not take the words of Lord Kṛṣṇa very seriously.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Duryodhana, whose piety had been destroyed, did not give respect to the sweet words that Kṛṣṇa, guru of the universe, sent by Yudhiṣṭhira, spoke to the men in the Kuru assembly.
Puṁsām refers to Bhīṣma and others who were present in the assembly. Dhṛtarāṣṭra or Duryodhana did not greatly respect those words. The reason is that he had lost all piety. He did not lose the piety for keeping happiness, fame or wealth, but lost the piety to rule the kingdom.
Purport
Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is the spiritual master of the entire universe, accepted the duty of a messenger and, deputed by Arjuna, went to the assembly of King Dhṛtarāṣṭra on a peace mission. Kṛṣṇa is everyone’s Lord, yet because He was the transcendental friend of Arjuna, He gladly accepted the role of messenger, exactly like an ordinary friend. That is the beauty of the Lord’s behavior with His pure devotees. He reached the assembly and spoke about peace, and the message was relished by Bhīṣma and other great leaders because it was spoken by the Lord Himself. But due to the exhaustion of the pious results of their past deeds, Duryodhana, or his father, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, did not take the message very seriously. That is the way of persons who have no credit of pious deeds. By past pious deeds, one may become the king of a country, but because the results of the pious acts of Duryodhana and company were dwindling, it became evident from their actions that they were sure to lose the kingdom to the Pāṇḍavas. The message of Godhead is always like nectar to the devotees, but it is just the opposite to the nondevotees. Sugar candy is always sweet to a healthy man, but it tastes very bitter to persons suffering from jaundice.