SB 4.9.12 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

ते न स्मरन्त्यतितरां प्रियमीश मर्त्यं ये चान्वद: सुतसुहृद्गृहवित्तदारा: । ये त्वब्जनाभ भवदीयपदारविन्द सौगन्ध्यलुब्धहृदयेषु कृतप्रसङ्गा: ॥ १२ ॥

Verse text

te na smaranty atitarāṁ priyam īśa martyaṁ ye cānv adaḥ suta-suhṛd-gṛha-vitta-dārāḥ ye tv abja-nābha bhavadīya-padāravinda- saugandhya-lubdha-hṛdayeṣu kṛta-prasaṅgāḥ

Synonyms

te — they ; na — never ; smaranti — remember ; atitarām — highly ; priyam — dear ; īśa — O Lord ; martyam — material body ; ye — they who ; ca — also ; anu — in relationship with ; adaḥ — that ; suta — sons ; suhṛt — friends ; gṛha — home ; vitta — wealth ; dārāḥ — and wife ; ye — those who ; tu — then ; abja — nābha — O Lord who have a lotus navel ; bhavadīya — of Your ; pada — aravinda — lotus feet ; saugandhya — the fragrance ; lubdha — have achieved ; hṛdayeṣu — with devotees whose hearts ; kṛta — prasaṅgāḥ — have association .

Translation

O Lord who have a lotus navel, if a person happens to associate with a devotee whose heart always hankers after Your lotus feet, seeking always their fragrance, he is never attached to the material body or, in a bodily relationship, to offspring, friends, home, wealth and wife, which are very, very dear to materialistic persons. Indeed, he does not care for them.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

O Lord with lotus navel! Those who have taken association with those whose hearts have smelled the fragrance of your lotus feet do not care for this very dear material body or the things accompanying it, such as sons, friends, house, wealth and wife. “But because of the presence of identity with me and mine, it is difficult to avoid disturbance.” The devotees do not make arrangements for (smaranti) the material body, even though it is very dear. And they forget as well those who are present in relation to (anu) the body (adaḥ), such as sons and friends. Those who take association of the devotees do not care for the body. According to Śrīdhara Svāmī, the word tu indicates that these persons, by fixing themselves in yoga, have given up identification with the body. But this is the nature of the devotee, since he is niṣkāma. nṛṣu tava mayayā bhramam amīṣv avagatya bhṛśaṁ tvayi su-dhiyo 'bhave dadhati bhāvam anuprabhavam katham anuvartatāṁ bhava-bhayaṁ tava yad bhru-kuṭiḥ sṛjati muhus tri-nemir abhavac-charaṇeṣu bhayam The wise souls who understand how your māyā deludes all human beings render potent loving service to you, who are the source of liberation from birth and death. How, indeed, can fear of material life affect your faithful servants? On the other hand, your furrowing eyebrows—the triple-rimmed wheel of time—repeatedly terrify those who refuse to take shelter of you. SB 10.87.32 jarayaty āśu yā kośaṁ nigīrṇam analo yathā Bhakti, devotional service, dissolves the subtle body of the living entity without separate effort, just as fire in the stomach digests all that we eat. SB 3.25.33 From these verses it is understood that destruction of saṁsāra is a secondary effect of bhakti, unsought by the devotees.

Purport

A special advantage in devotional service is that devotees not only enjoy the transcendental pastimes of the Lord by hearing and chanting and glorifying them, but also are not very much attached to their bodies, unlike the yogīs, who are too attached to the body and who think that by performing bodily gymnastic exercises they will advance in spiritual consciousness. Yogīs are generally not very much interested in devotional service; they want to regulate the breathing process. This is simply a bodily concern. Here Dhruva Mahārāja plainly says that a devotee has no more bodily interest. He knows that he is not the body. Therefore from the very beginning, without wasting time in bodily exercises, a devotee searches out a pure devotee and simply by his association becomes more advanced in spiritual consciousness than any yogī. Because a devotee knows that he is not the body, he is never affected by bodily happiness or distress. He is not interested in bodily relationships with wife, children, home, bank balance, etc., or in the distress and happiness which come from these things. This is the special advantage of being a devotee. This status of life is possible only when a person is interested in associating with a pure devotee, who always enjoys the fragrance of the lotus feet of the Lord.