Devanagari
त्वं सर्वलोकस्य सुहृत् प्रियेश्वरो
ह्यात्मा गुरुर्ज्ञानमभीष्टसिद्धि: ।
तथापि लोको न भवन्तमन्धधी-
र्जानाति सन्तं हृदि बद्धकाम: ॥ ५२ ॥
Verse text
tvaṁ sarva-lokasya suhṛt priyeśvaro
hy ātmā gurur jṣānam abhīṣṭa-siddhiḥ
tathāpi loko na bhavantam andha-dhīr
jānāti santaṁ hṛdi baddha-kāmaḥ
Synonyms
tvam
—
You, my dear Lord
;
sarva
—
lokasya — of all planets and their inhabitants
;
suhṛt
—
the most well-wishing friend
;
priya
—
the most dear
;
īśvaraḥ
—
the supreme controller
;
hi
—
also
;
ātmā
—
the supreme soul
;
guruḥ
—
the supreme teacher
;
jṣānam
—
the supreme knowledge
;
abhīṣṭa
—
siddhiḥ — the fulfillment of all desires
;
tathā api
—
still
;
lokaḥ
—
persons
;
na
—
not
;
bhavantam
—
unto You
;
andha
—
dhīḥ — because of blind intelligence
;
jānāti
—
can know
;
santam
—
situated
;
hṛdi
—
in his heart
;
baddha
—
kāmaḥ — because of being bewildered by material lusty desires .
Translation
My Lord, You are the supreme well-wishing friend of everyone, the dearmost friend, the controller, the Supersoul, the supreme instructor and the giver of supreme knowledge and the fulfillment of all desires. But although You are within the heart, the foolish, because of lusty desires in the heart, cannot understand You.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
You are the friend of all people (sakhya), the dearest (mādhurya), the ruler (dāsya), the giver of pure consciousness (śānta), the parent (dāsya), the child (vātsalya), impersonal Brahman, and the fulfiller of all material desires. Foolish, impure people, whose hearts are bound by lust, do not understand you, the most pure.
“Why do people not surrender to me, if I am the real guru?” They do not surrender because they are foolish. You are the friend whereas no one else is the friend. You are an affectionate master, whereas others are not. Or the word suhṛt can indicate that the Lord is the object of sakhya-bhāva, and the word priya can indicate the Lord is the object of mādhurya-bhāva. Īśvaraḥ indicates dāsya-bhāva. Ātmā indicates that the Lord is the object of śānta-bhāva. Guru (parent) indicates that the Lord is the object of a particular dāsya-bhāva (such as Kṛṣṇa in relation to his sons in Dvārakā). Or by sandhi, it can be aguruḥ, indicating someone who is not a parent, but a son. Thus vātsalya-bhāva is indicated. You are also without bhāva as jṣānam, the giver of impersonal liberation. You also fulfill the desires of those who have material desires. The foolish people who are improper cannot understand you who are proper and excellent (santam) because their hearts are bound by sinful desires.
Purport
Herein the reason for foolishness is described. Because the conditioned soul in this material world is full of materialistic lusty desires, he cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although the Lord is situated in everyone’s heart (
īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati
). It is because of this foolishness that one cannot take instructions from the Lord, although the Lord is ready to instruct everyone both externally and internally. The Lord says,
dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ tam yena mām upayānti te.
In other words, the Lord can give instructions on devotional service by which one can return home, back to Godhead. Unfortunately, however, people do not take this devotional service. The Lord, being situated in everyone’s heart, can give one complete instructions on going back to Godhead, but because of lusty desires one engages himself in materialistic activities and does not render service to the Lord. Therefore one is bereft of the value of the Lord’s instructions. By mental speculation one can understand that one is not the body but a spirit soul, but unless one engages in devotional service, the real purpose of life is never fulfilled. The real purpose of life is to go back home, back to Godhead, and live with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, play with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, dance with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and eat with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. These are different items of
ānanda,
spiritual happiness in spiritual variegatedness. Even though one may come to the platform of
brahma-bhūta.
and understand his spiritual identity by speculative knowledge, one cannot enjoy spiritual life without understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is indicated here by the word
abhīṣṭa-siddhiḥ.
One can fulfill the ultimate goal of life only by engaging in devotional service to the Lord. Then the Lord will give one proper instructions on how to go back home, back to Godhead.