Devanagari
स्मरतां हृदि विन्यस्य विद्धं दण्डककण्टकै: ।
स्वपादपल्लवं राम आत्मज्योतिरगात् तत: ॥ १९ ॥
Verse text
smaratāṁ hṛdi vinyasya
viddhaṁ daṇḍaka-kaṇṭakaiḥ
sva-pāda-pallavaṁ rāma
ātma-jyotir agāt tataḥ
Synonyms
smaratām
—
of persons who always think of Him
;
hṛdi
—
in the core of the heart
;
vinyasya
—
placing
;
viddham
—
pierced
;
daṇḍaka
—
kaṇṭakaiḥ — by thorns in the forest of Daṇḍakāraṇya (while Lord Rāmacandra was living there)
;
sva
—
pāda — pallavam — the petals of His lotus feet
;
rāmaḥ
—
Lord Rāmacandra
;
ātma
—
jyotiḥ — the rays of His bodily luster, known as the brahmajyoti
;
agāt
—
entered
;
tataḥ
—
beyond the brahmajyoti, or in His own Vaikuṇṭha planet .
Translation
After completing the sacrifice, Lord Rāmacandra, whose lotus feet were sometimes pierced by thorns when He lived in Daṇḍakāraṇya, placed those lotus feet in the hearts of those who always think of Him. Then He entered His own abode, the Vaikuṇṭha planet beyond the brahmajyoti.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Rāmacandra, whose lotus feet were sometimes pierced by thorns when he lived in Daṇḍakāraṇya, placed those lotus feet in the hearts of those who thought of him. Then he entered his own abode.
He placed his feet pierced by thorns in the hearts of devotees not situated in Ayodhyā. “Let them faint, being pierced by thousands of thorns in their hearts.” Thus it seems Rāma did not have compassion for them. This is an example of vyāja-stuti: criticism meant as praise. He attained his own spiritual abode, beyond the material ream, where there is his own light not that of māya.
Purport
The lotus feet of the Lord are always a subject matter for meditation for devotees. Sometimes when Lord Rāmacandra wandered in the forest of Daṇḍakāraṇya, thorns pricked His lotus feet. The devotees, upon thinking of this, would faint. The Lord does not feel pain or pleasure from any action or reaction of this material world, but the devotees cannot tolerate even the pricking of the Lord’s lotus feet by a thorn. This was the attitude of the
gopīs
when they thought of Kṛṣṇa wandering in the forest, with pebbles and grains of sand pricking His lotus feet. This tribulation in the heart of a devotee cannot be understood by
karmīs, jṣānīs
or
yogīs.
The devotees, who could not tolerate even thinking of the Lord’s lotus feet being pricked by a thorn, were again put into tribulation by thinking of the Lord’s disappearance, for the Lord had to return to His abode after finishing His pastimes in this material world.
The word
ātma-jyotiḥ
is significant. The
brahmajyoti,
which is greatly appreciated by
jṣānīs,
or monistic philosophers who desire to enter it for liberation, is nothing but the rays of the Lord’s body.
yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-
koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam
tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
“I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is endowed with great power. The glowing effulgence of His transcendental form is the impersonal Brahman, which is absolute, complete and unlimited and which displays the varieties of countless planets, with their different opulences, in millions and millions of universes.” (
Brahma-samhitā
5.40) The
brahmajyoti
is the beginning of the spiritual world, and beyond the
brahmajyoti
are the Vaikuṇṭha planets. In other words, the
brahmajyoti
stays outside the Vaikuṇṭha planets, just as the sunshine stays outside the sun. To enter the sun planet, one must go through the sunshine. Similarly, when the Lord or His devotees enter the Vaikuṇṭha planets, they go through the
brahmajyoti.
The
jṣānīs,
or monistic philosophers, because of their impersonal conception of the Lord, cannot enter the Vaikuṇṭha planets, but they also cannot stay eternally in the
brahmajyoti.
Thus after some time they fall again to this material world.
Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho ’nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ
(
Bhāg.
10.2.32
). The Vaikuṇṭha planets are covered by the
brahmajyoti,
and therefore one cannot properly understand what those Vaikuṇṭha planets are unless one is a pure devotee.