Devanagari
कुमारा ऊचु:
योऽन्तर्हितो हृदि गतोऽपि दुरात्मनां त्वं
सोऽद्यैव नो नयनमूलमनन्त राद्ध: ।
यर्ह्येव कर्णविवरेण गुहां गतो न:
पित्रानुवर्णितरहा भवदुद्भवेन ॥ ४६ ॥
Verse text
kumārā ūcuḥ
yo ’ntarhito hṛdi gato ’pi durātmanāṁ tvaṁ
so ’dyaiva no nayana-mūlam ananta rāddhaḥ
yarhy eva karṇa-vivareṇa guhāṁ gato naḥ
pitrānuvarṇita-rahā bhavad-udbhavena
Synonyms
kumārāḥ ūcuḥ
—
the Kumāras said
;
yaḥ
—
He who
;
antarhitaḥ
—
not manifested
;
hṛdi
—
in the heart
;
gataḥ
—
is seated
;
api
—
even though
;
durātmanām
—
to the rascals
;
tvam
—
You
;
saḥ
—
He
;
adya
—
today
;
eva
—
certainly
;
naḥ
—
of us
;
nayana
—
mūlam — face to face
;
ananta
—
O unlimited one
;
rāddhaḥ
—
attained
;
yarhi
—
when
;
eva
—
certainly
;
karṇa
—
vivareṇa — through the ears
;
guhām
—
intelligence
;
gataḥ
—
have attained
;
naḥ
—
our
;
pitrā
—
by our father
;
anuvarṇita
—
described
;
rahāḥ
—
mysteries
;
bhavat
—
udbhavena — by Your appearance .
Translation
The Kumāras said: Our dear Lord, You are not manifested to rascals, even though You are seated within the heart of everyone. But as far as we are concerned, we see You face to face, although You are unlimited. The statements we have heard about You from our father, Brahmā, through the ears have now been actually realized by Your kind appearance.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The Kumāras said: O lord of unlimited qualities! He who resides in the heart, invisible to the sinful, today has been seen by our eyes. When your secret nature was described previously by Brahmā who was born from you, it entered our intelligence through the ears.
What unlimited great mercy! We have experienced the bliss of directly meeting the Lord, by his mercy! We are so fortunate! O unlimited Lord, ocean of unlimited powers and sweetness (ananta)! Though situated in the heart, you are not visible to the sinful. But you have appeared to us today in front of our eyes, and also previously. “When did I appear previously?” You do not remember. When your secret nature was described by Brahmā, it entered our intelligence through the ears. In this way we have previously attained you. Brahmā said, “O my sons, realizers of brahman! Meeting me directly is millions of times more blissful than realizing Brahman. Let that be! Bhagavān, dark like a blue lotus, with four strong arms, decorated with bracelets, armbands, and earrings, with moon like face, residing in Vaikuṇṭha, is available by bhakti.” When we heard the blessings of mercy given by our father, a great devotee of the Lord, the fruits of that blessing would definitely appear in the future. We know that this meeting today with you arises from the incomparable mercy of your devotee. O Lord! You do not independently give mercy to us. You are dependent on your devotees. The greatness of the mercy of your devotees cannot be described.
Purport
The so-called
yogīs
who concentrate their mind or meditate upon the impersonal or void are described here. This verse of
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
describes persons who are expected to be very expert
yogīs
engaged in meditation but who do not find the Supreme Personality of Godhead seated within the heart. These persons are described here as
durātmā,
which means a person who has a very crooked heart, or a less intelligent person, just opposite to a
mahātmā,
which means one who has a broad heart. Those so-called
yogīs
who, although engaged in meditation, are not broad-hearted cannot find the four-handed Nārāyaṇa form, even though He is seated within their heart. Although the first realization of the Supreme Absolute Truth is impersonal Brahman, one should not remain satisfied with experiencing the impersonal effulgence of the Supreme Lord. In the
Īśopaniṣad
also, the devotee prays that the glaring effulgence of Brahman may be removed from his eyes so that he can see the real, personal feature of the Lord and thus satisfy himself fully. Similarly, although the Lord is not visible in the beginning because of His glaring bodily effulgence, if a devotee sincerely wants to see Him, the Lord is revealed to him. It is said in
Bhagavad-gītā
that the Lord cannot be seen by our imperfect eyes, He cannot be heard by our imperfect ears, and He cannot be experienced by our imperfect senses, but that if one engages in devotional service with faith and devotion, then God reveals Himself.
Here the four sages Sanat-kumāra, Sanātana, Sanandana and Sanaka are described as actually sincere devotees. Although they had heard from their father, Brahmā, about the personal feature of the Lord, only the impersonal feature, Brahman, was revealed to them. But because they were sincerely searching for the Lord, they finally saw His personal feature directly, which corresponded with the description given by their father. They thus became fully satisfied. Here they express their gratitude because although they were foolish impersonalists in the beginning, by the grace of the Lord they could now have the good fortune to see His personal feature. Another significant aspect of this verse is that the sages describe their experience of hearing from their father, Brahmā, who was born of the Lord directly. In other words, the disciplic succession from the Lord to Brahmā and from Brahmā to Nārada and from Nārada to Vyāsa, and so on, is accepted here. Because the Kumāras were sons of Brahmā, they had the opportunity to learn Vedic knowledge from the disciplic succession of Brahmā, and therefore, in spite of their impersonalist beginnings, they became, in the end, direct seers of the personal feature of the Lord.