Devanagari
प्रदर्श्यातप्ततपसामवितृप्तदृशां नृणाम् ।
आदायान्तरधाद्यस्तु स्वबिम्बं लोकलोचनम् ॥ ११ ॥
Verse text
pradarśyātapta-tapasām
avitṛpta-dṛśāṁ nṛṇām
ādāyāntar adhād yas tu
sva-bimbaṁ loka-locanam
Synonyms
pradarśya
—
by exhibiting
;
atapta
—
without undergoing
;
tapasām
—
penances
;
avitṛpta
—
dṛśām — without fulfillment of vision
;
nṛṇām
—
of persons
;
ādāya
—
taking
;
antaḥ
—
disappearance
;
adhāt
—
performed
;
yaḥ
—
He who
;
tu
—
but
;
sva
—
bimbam — His own form
;
loka
—
locanam — public vision .
Translation
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who manifested His eternal form before the vision of all on the earth, performed His disappearance by removing His form from the sight of those who were unable to see Him [as He is] due to not executing required penance.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The Lord, having shown his form, the center of attraction for all eyes, then took that form and disappeared from person who had not performed austerities but had attained the Lord’s mercy, and were continually craving a vision of his form.
The view of the devotees is correct. What is that? This verse answers. The Lord, showing his form (sva-bimbam) to men, made them taste his sweetness, and ignoring the fact that their eyes were unsatisfied (avitṛpta-dṛśām), took his form, covered it from their eyes, and suddenly disappeared. (He did not give up a material body). Genitive case (avitṛpta-dṛśāṁ nṛnām) is used to show disregard. The word yaḥ is not related to a correlative saḥ in a following verse. It is like yad in the sentence sādhu candramasi puṣkaraiḥ krṭaṁ mīlitaṁ yad abhirāmatādhikaḥ.
It is suggested in this verse that the Lord thought that those who were greedy for him even without his disappearance would taste his sweetness more profoundly by separation. “But this will make the Lord someone who takes back what he has given.” This is answered in the last line. The eyes of all people (loka-locanam) are situated in him. He gave his form to men so that he could attract all their eyes, not to give them a spiritual benediction and then take it away like a thief. This verse also suggests vyāja-stuti, criticism acting as praise for his attractive features. When Kṛṣṇa appeared on earth, he made everyone blind by attracting their eyes, rather than protecting them!
“Since the Lord has unlimited sweetness what harm would it do him if he were to let everyone taste it for a long time? What would be the fault, since he is the ocean of mercy? His disappearance creates misfortune for all people.”
The answer is given in the words atapta-tapasām. The expression is used to indicate a common man’s view. They had not performed austerity, but they had attained his great mercy. Detachment from matter is not a cause of great attraction for the Lord. Thus the real cause is suggested by the phrase avitṛpta-dṛśām. The phrase avitṛpta-dṛśām, “having unsatisfied eyes” has the following meaning. When one sees the Lord, after attaining great mercy, then one is never satisfied even by seeing him many times: atrodite bhavej jātu na tṛptir darśanādiṣu. (Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 14.79) This is a symptom of the stage of sneha. Therefore, taking his form, he disappeared.
And by this statement, the idea that the Lord gave up his body is also defeated. In the following two verses also, the argument that Kṛṣṇa gave up a material form and assumed a spiritual form is defeated by the words describing his form. The phrases “showing his form” and “disappearing” also merely indicate that people cannot see the form. As well those phrases indicate that the Lord performs these actions by his will. Those that argue that Kṛṣṇa is dependent on karma are defeated. The statements of Uddhava, rather than those of opposed to the Lord, should be taken as authoritative to defeat the ideas of the materialists presented in the previous verse. His statement, like the statement kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam, should be taken as conclusive. Thus Bhāgavatam becomes full of flavor and pleasing for the listener.
Purport
In this verse the word
avitṛpta-dṛśām
is most significant. The conditioned souls in the material world are all trying to satisfy their senses in various ways, but they have failed to do so because it is impossible to be satisfied by such efforts. The example of the fish on land is very appropriate. If one takes a fish from the water and puts it on the land, it cannot be made happy by any amount of offered pleasure. The spirit soul can be happy only in the association of the supreme living being, the Personality of Godhead, and nowhere else. The Lord, by His unlimited causeless mercy, has innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets in the
brahmajyoti
sphere of the spiritual world, and in that transcendental world there is an unlimited arrangement for the unlimited pleasure of the living entities.
The Lord Himself comes to display His transcendental pastimes, typically represented at Vṛndāvana, Mathurā and Dvārakā. He appears just to attract the conditioned souls back to Godhead, back home to the eternal world. But for want of sufficient piety, the onlookers are not attracted by such pastimes of the Lord. In
Bhagavad-gītā
it is said that only those who have completely surpassed the way of sinful reaction can engage themselves in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. The entire Vedic way of ritualistic performances is to put every conditioned soul on the path of piety. By strict adherence to the prescribed principles for all orders of social life, one can attain the qualities of truthfulness, control of the mind, control of the senses, forbearance, etc., and can be elevated to the plane of rendering pure devotional service to the Lord. Only by such a transcendental vision are one’s material hankerings fully satisfied.
When the Lord was present, persons who were able to satisfy their material hankerings by seeing Him in true perspective were thus able to go back with Him to His kingdom. But those persons who were unable to see the Lord as He is remained attached to material hankerings and were not able to go back home, back to Godhead. When the Lord passed beyond the vision of all, He did so in His original eternal form, as stated in this verse. The Lord left in His own body; He did not leave His body as is generally misunderstood by the conditioned souls. This statement defeats the false propaganda of the faithless nondevotees that the Lord passed away like an ordinary conditioned soul. The Lord appeared in order to release the world from the undue burden of the nonbelieving
asuras,
and after doing this, He disappeared from the world’s eyes.