Devanagari
तस्मात्परोक्षेऽस्मदुपश्रुतान्यलं
करिष्यथ स्तोत्रमपीच्यवाच: ।
सत्युत्तमश्लोकगुणानुवादे
जुगुप्सितं न स्तवयन्ति सभ्या: ॥ २३ ॥
Verse text
tasmāt parokṣe ’smad-upaśrutāny alaṁ
kariṣyatha stotram apīcya-vācaḥ
saty uttamaśloka-guṇānuvāde
jugupsitaṁ na stavayanti sabhyāḥ
Synonyms
tasmāt
—
therefore
;
parokṣe
—
in some future time
;
asmat
—
my
;
upaśrutāni
—
about the qualities spoken of
;
alam
—
sufficiently
;
kariṣyatha
—
you will be able to offer
;
stotram
—
prayers
;
apīcya
—
vācaḥ — O gentle reciters
;
sati
—
being the proper engagement
;
uttama
—
śloka — of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
guṇa
—
of the qualities
;
anuvāde
—
discussion
;
jugupsitam
—
to an abominable person
;
na
—
never
;
stavayanti
—
offer prayers
;
sabhyāḥ
—
persons who are gentle .
Translation
O gentle reciters, offer such prayers in due course of time, when the qualities of which you have spoken actually manifest themselves in me. The gentle who offer prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead do not attribute such qualities to a human being, who does not actually have them.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
In the future, not in my presence, you will be able to praise me sufficiently. Skilful bards! Since the Supreme Lord’s pastimes should be sung, the assembly should not praise a low person like me.
“Ocean of qualities! All these qualities will become manifest in you clearly in the future. Knowing that, we praise you.” When my qualities become manifest then you can glorify me as much as you want. But do not do that now. Who will forbid you? But do it indirectly, not directly. O persons who have skill in attractive words! It is not proper to embarrass a person by glorifying him face to face. “What should we do? Inspired by the assembly we have begun to glorify you.” That is useless. The pastimes of the Lord should be chanted at all times and places. Thus you should not praise a low, recent person like me. Otherwise you are not a worthy assembly.
Purport
Gentle devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead know perfectly well who is God and who is not. Nondevotee impersonalists, however, who have no idea what God is and who never offer prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are always interested in accepting a human being as God and offering such prayers to him. This is the difference between a devotee and a demon. Demons manufacture their own gods, or a demon himself claims to be God, following in the footsteps of Rāvaṇa and Hiraṇyakaśipu. Although Pṛthu Mahārāja was factually an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he rejected those praises because the qualities of the Supreme Person were not yet manifest in him. He wanted to stress that one who does not actually possess these qualities should not try to engage his followers and devotees in offering him glory for them, even though these qualities might be manifest in the future. If a man who does not factually possess the attributes of a great personality engages his followers in praising him with the expectation that such attributes will develop in the future, that sort of praise is actually an insult.