Devanagari
न कामये नाथ तदप्यहं क्वचिन्
न यत्र युष्मच्चरणाम्बुजासव: ।
महत्तमान्तर्हृदयान्मुखच्युतो
विधत्स्व कर्णायुतमेष मे वर: ॥ २४ ॥
Verse text
na kāmaye nātha tad apy ahaṁ kvacin
na yatra yuṣmac-caraṇāmbujāsavaḥ
mahattamāntar-hṛdayān mukha-cyuto
vidhatsva karṇāyutam eṣa me varaḥ
Synonyms
na
—
not
;
kāmaye
—
do I desire
;
nātha
—
O master
;
tat
—
that
;
api
—
even
;
aham
—
I
;
kvacit
—
at any time
;
na
—
not
;
yatra
—
where
;
yuṣmat
—
Your
;
caraṇa
—
ambuja — of the lotus feet
;
āsavaḥ
—
the nectarean beverage
;
mahat
—
tama — of the great devotees
;
antaḥ
—
hṛdayāt — from the core of the heart
;
mukha
—
from the mouths
;
cyutaḥ
—
being delivered
;
vidhatsva
—
give
;
karṇa
—
ears
;
ayutam
—
one million
;
eṣaḥ
—
this
;
me
—
my
;
varaḥ
—
benediction .
Translation
My dear Lord, I therefore do not wish to have the benediction of merging into Your existence, a benediction in which there is no existence of the nectarean beverage of Your lotus feet. I want the benediction of at least one million ears, for thus I may be able to hear about the glories of Your lotus feet from the mouths of Your pure devotees.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
I do not desire anything, and especially I do not want liberation, in which there is no nectar of your lotus feet, coming from the hearts of great devotees and falling from their mouths. Give me millions of ears. That is my request.
However, do not fear that I will ask for liberation on hearing me address you as Kaivalya-pati. I have addressed you with that word with the intention of saying “Give it to those who take pleasure in merging into Brahman.” That is expressed in this verse. You have asked me to ask for anything, but in general I do not desire anything. But particularly, I never desire, even in the worst misery, the benediction of liberation, kaivalya. Why? In liberation, there is no honey of your lotus feet, no sweetness of talks about your qualities. How are the topics described? They are coming from the hearts of the great devotees and dripping from their mouths. Those topics are being sung out of great bliss experienced in their hearts. Just as Bhāgavatam became sweeter coming from Śukadeva’s mouth, when the great devotees relish your topics, they become even sweeter. The opposite should also be understood: just as sweet water becomes distasteful when entering salty earth, so the qualities of the Lord become disgusting coming from the mouths of the non-vaiṣṇava. “Then what do you want?” Give me millions of ears, because there are unlimited talks about the Lord’s qualities! I cannot give up even one among all the topics being sung anywhere, by anyone, about any subject concerning the Lord. Out of great greed, I desire an infinite number of ears. This also indicates “I desire ears and other dear senses which those desiring liberation detest.” “Do you not want anything else?” This is my wish and nothing else.
Purport
In the previous verse Mahārāja Pṛthu addressed the Lord as
kaivalya-pati,
the master of the liberation of merging into His existence. This does not mean that he was anxious for
kaivalya
liberation. That is made clear in this verse: “My dear Lord, I do not want such a benediction.” Mahārāja Pṛthu wanted to have a million ears to hear the glories of the lotus feet of the Lord. He specifically mentioned that the glories of the Lord should emanate from the mouths of pure devotees, who speak from the cores of their hearts. It is stated in the beginning of
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
(1.1.3)
,
śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam:
the nectar of
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
became more relishable because it emanated from the mouth of Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī. One might think that these glories of the Lord can be heard from anywhere, from the mouths of either devotees or nondevotees, but here it is specifically mentioned that the glories of the Lord must emanate from the mouths of pure devotees. Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī has strictly prohibited hearing from the mouth of a nondevotee. There are many professional reciters of
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
who speak the narrations very ornamentally, but a pure devotee does not like to hear from them because such glorification of the Lord is simply a vibration of material sound. But when heard from the mouth of a pure devotee, glorification of the Lord is immediately effective.
The words
satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvidaḥ
(
Bhāg.
3.25.25
) mean that glorification of the Lord is potent when uttered from the mouth of a pure devotee. The Lord has innumerable devotees all over the universe, and they have been glorifying the Lord since time immemorial and for an unlimited time. But still they cannot completely finish enumerating the glories of the Lord. Pṛthu Mahārāja therefore wanted innumerable ears, as Rūpa Gosvāmī also desired to have millions of ears and millions of tongues to chant and hear the glorification of the Lord. In other words, if our ears are always engaged in hearing the glorification of the Lord, there will be no scope for hearing the Māyāvāda philosophy, which is doom to spiritual progress. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that if anyone hears from a Māyāvādī philosopher preaching about the activities of the Lord, even if it is a description from the Vedic literature, he is ultimately doomed. By hearing such Māyāvāda philosophy one cannot come to the destination of spiritual perfection of life.