Devanagari
श्रीरुद्र उवाच
दृष्टवत्यसि सुश्रोणि हरेरद्भुतकर्मण: ।
माहात्म्यं भृत्यभृत्यानां नि:स्पृहाणां महात्मनाम् ॥ २७ ॥
Verse text
śrī-rudra uvāca
dṛṣṭavaty asi suśroṇi
harer adbhuta-karmaṇaḥ
māhātmyaṁ bhṛtya-bhṛtyānāṁ
niḥspṛhāṇāṁ mahātmanām
Synonyms
śrī
—
rudraḥ uvāca — Lord Śiva said
;
dṛṣṭavatī asi
—
have you seen
;
su
—
śroṇi — O beautiful Pārvatī
;
hareḥ
—
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
adbhuta
—
karmaṇaḥ — whose acts are wonderful
;
māhātmyam
—
the greatness
;
bhṛtya
—
bhṛtyānām — of the servants of the servants
;
niḥspṛhāṇām
—
who are without ambitions for sense gratification
;
mahātmanām
—
great souls .
Translation
Lord Śiva said: My dear beautiful Pārvatī, have you seen the greatness of the Vaiṣṇavas? Being servants of the servants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, they are great souls and are not interested in any kind of material happiness.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Lord Śiva said: My dear beautiful Pārvatī! You have seen the splendor of prema-bhaktas without material desire, who are servants of the servants of the Lord possessing astonishing activities.
O woman with beautiful hips! You excel in beauty, but not in bhakti, jṣāna and vairāgya. In this way he jokes suggestively. The Lord performs astonishing acts. I have seen this astonishing act of the Lord just now. He has caused you to be offended and utter a curse. He has shown the greatness of his devotee whose prema did not decrease at all, by showing the devotee’s power to remain indifferent when cursed by Pārvatī. The word mahātmanām (of great devotees) has significance. If the curse you uttered in anger cannot give the slightest unhappiness to him then that curse is powerless. It has become useless! You should not treat the great devotees having prema-bhakti like this, from this day on! This lesson is hinted.
Purport
Lord Śiva, the husband of Pārvatī, told his wife, “My dear Pārvatī, you are very beautiful in your bodily features. Certainly you are glorious. But I do not think that you can compete with the beauty and glory of devotees who have become servants of the servants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” Of course, Lord Śiva smiled when he joked with his wife in that way, for others cannot speak like that. “The Supreme Lord,” Śiva continued, “is always exalted in His activities, and here is another example of His wonderful influence upon King Citraketu, His devotee. Just see, although you cursed the King, he was not at all afraid or sorry. Rather, he offered respect to you, called you mother and accepted your curse, thinking himself faulty. He did not say anything in retaliation. This is the excellence of a devotee. By mildly tolerating your curse, he has certainly excelled the glory of your beauty and your power to curse him. I can impartially judge that this devotee, Citraketu, has defeated you and your excellence simply by becoming a pure devotee of the Lord.” As stated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu,
taror api sahiṣṇunā.
Just like a tree, a devotee can tolerate all kinds of curses and reversals in life. This is the excellence of a devotee. Indirectly, Lord Śiva forbade Pārvatī to commit the mistake of cursing a devotee like Citraketu. He indicated that although she was powerful, the King, without showing any power, had excelled her power by his tolerance.