Devanagari
भगवानेक एवैष सर्वक्षेत्रेष्ववस्थित: ।
अमुष्य दुर्भगत्वं वा क्लेशो वा कर्मभि: कुत: ॥ ६ ॥
Verse text
bhagavān eka evaiṣa
sarva-kṣetreṣv avasthitaḥ
amuṣya durbhagatvaṁ vā
kleśo vā karmabhiḥ kutaḥ
Synonyms
bhagavān
—
the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
ekaḥ
—
alone
;
eva eṣaḥ
—
all these
;
sarva
—
all
;
kṣetreṣu
—
in the living entities
;
avasthitaḥ
—
situated
;
amuṣya
—
of the living entities
;
durbhagatvam
—
misfortune
;
vā
—
either
;
kleśaḥ
—
miseries
;
vā
—
or
;
karmabhiḥ
—
by activities
;
kutaḥ
—
what for .
Translation
The Lord, as the Supersoul, is situated in every living being’s heart. Why then do the living entities’ activities result in misfortune and misery?
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The Lord is situated in all bodies. Why does the jīva then suffer from ignorance and lose his sense of bliss?
The Lord is not like an irresponsible king, who assigns incapable rulers to his states, causing the innocent jīvas to suffer. The Lord is situated in all jīvas as the Paramātmā personally. He is not like a king who rules by his representative in his kingdom. He alone does this. This statement excludes the possibility of dividing the responsibilities among others. Though the Lord, protector of all beings, resides in all jīvas why does the jīva have misfortune or destruction of bliss (durbhagatvam), and suffering from ignorance (karmabhiḥ)?
Purport
The next question put forward by Vidura to Maitreya is, “Why are the living entities subjected to so many miseries and misfortunes in spite of the Lord’s presence in their hearts as the Supersoul?” The body is considered a fruitful tree, and the living entity and the Lord as Supersoul are like two birds seated in that tree. The individual soul is eating the fruit of the tree, but the Supersoul, the Lord, is witnessing the activities of the other bird. A citizen of the state may be in miseries for want of sufficient supervision by the state authority, but how can it be possible that a citizen suffers from other citizens while the chief of the state is personally present? From another point of view, it is understood that the
jīva
living entity is qualitatively one with the Lord, and thus his knowledge in the pure state of life cannot be covered by nescience, especially in the presence of the Supreme Lord. How then does the living entity become subjected to ignorance and covered by the influence of
māyā
? The Lord is the father and protector of every living entity, and He is known as the
bhūta-bhṛt,
or the maintainer of the living entities. Why then should the living entity be subjected to so many sufferings and misfortunes? It should not be so, but actually we see that it happens everywhere. This question is therefore put forward by Vidura for solution.