Devanagari
यथा वातरथो घ्राणमावृङ्क्ते गन्ध आशयात् ।
एवं योगरतं चेत आत्मानमविकारि यत् ॥ २० ॥
Verse text
yathā vāta-ratho ghrāṇam
āvṛṅkte gandha āśayāt
evaṁ yoga-rataṁ ceta
ātmānam avikāri yat
Synonyms
yathā
—
as
;
vāta
—
of air
;
rathaḥ
—
the chariot
;
ghrāṇam
—
sense of smell
;
āvṛṅkte
—
catches
;
gandhaḥ
—
aroma
;
āśayāt
—
from the source
;
evam
—
similarly
;
yoga
—
ratam — engaged in devotional service
;
cetaḥ
—
consciousness
;
ātmānam
—
the Supreme Soul
;
avikāri
—
unchanging
;
yat
—
which .
Translation
As the chariot of air carries an aroma from its source and immediately catches the sense of smell, similarly, one who constantly engages in devotional service, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, can catch the Supreme Soul, who is equally present everywhere.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Just as the fragrance is carried to the nose from its source by the wind, the mind is carried to the Supreme Lord by bhakti-yoga.
An example of attaining without endeavor is given. The fragrance, carried by the air, goes to the nose from the source of smell (āśayāt). Similarly the heart engaged in bhakti-yoga, goes to Paramātmā (ātmānam). Just as wind takes the fragrance in a lotus goes to the nose, all the aṅgas of bhakti make the heart which ifixed in bhakti-yoga (yoga-ratam) attain the Lord.
Purport
As a breeze carrying a pleasant fragrance from a garden of flowers at once captures the organ of smell, so one’s consciousness, saturated with devotion, can at once capture the transcendental existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who, in His Paramātmā feature, is present everywhere, even in the heart of every living being. It is stated in
Bhagavad-gītā
that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is
kṣetra-jṣa,
present within this body, but He is also simultaneously present in every other body. Since the individual soul is present only in a particular body, he is altered when another individual soul does not cooperate with him. The Supersoul, however, is equally present everywhere. Individual souls may disagree, but the Supersoul, being equally present in every body, is called unchanging, or
avikāri.
The individual soul, when fully saturated with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, can understand the presence of the Supersoul. It is confirmed in
Bhagavad-gītā
that (
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti
) a person saturated with devotional service in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, either as Supersoul or as the Supreme Person.