Causelessmercy - Ebook - Srimad-Bhagavatam - Canto 1 - 8.1

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 1: “Creation”
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Chapter Eight

SB1.8.18

TEXT 18

kunty uvaca

namasye purusam tvadyam

isvaram prakrteh param

alaksyam sarva-bhutanam

antar bahir avasthitam

SYNONYMS

kunti uvaca—Srimati Kunti said; namasye—let me bow down; purusam—the Supreme Person; tva—You; adyam—the original; isvaram—the controller; prakrteh—of the material cosmos; param—beyond; alaksyam—the invisible; sarva—all; bhutanam—of living beings; antah—within; bahih—without; avasthitam—existing.

TRANSLATION

Srimati Kunti said: O Krsna, I offer my obeisances unto You because You are the original personality and are unaffected by the qualities of the material world. You are existing both within and without everything, yet You are invisible to all.

PURPORT

Srimati Kuntidevi was quite aware that Krsna is the original Personality of Godhead, although He was playing the part of her nephew. Such an enlightened lady could not commit a mistake by offering obeisances unto her nephew. Therefore, she addressed Him as the original purusa beyond the material cosmos. Although all living entities are also transcendental, they are neither original nor infallible. The living entities are apt to fall down under the clutches of material nature, but the Lord is never like that. In the Vedas, therefore, He is described as the chief among all living entities (nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam). Then again He is addressed as isvara, or the controller. The living entities or the demigods like Candra and Surya are also to some extent isvara, but none of them is the supreme isvara, or the ultimate controller. He is the paramesvara, or the Supersoul. He is both within and without. Although He was present before Srimati Kunti as her nephew, He was also within her and everyone else. In the Bhagavad-gita (15.15) the Lord says, “I am situated in everyone’s heart, and only due to Me one remembers, forgets and is cognizant, etc. Through all the Vedas I am to be known because I am the compiler of the Vedas, and I am the teacher of the Vedanta.” Queen Kunti affirms that the Lord, although both within and without all living beings, is still invisible. The Lord is, so to speak, a puzzle for the common man. Queen Kunti experienced personally that Lord Krsna was present before her, yet He entered within the womb of Uttara to save her embryo from the attack of Asvatthama’s brahmastra. Kunti herself was puzzled about whether Sri Krsna is all-pervasive or localized. In fact, He is both, but He reserves the right of not being exposed to persons who are not surrendered souls. This checking curtain is called the maya energy of the Supreme Lord, and it controls the limited vision of the rebellious soul. It is explained as follows.

maya-javanikacchannam

ajnadhoksajam avyayam

na laksyase mudha-drsa

nato natyadharo yatha

maya—deluding; javanika—curtain; acchannam—covered by; ajna—ignorant; adhoksajam—beyond the range of material conception (transcendental); avyayam—irreproachable; na—not; laksyase—observed; mudha-drsa—by the foolish observer; natah—artist; natya-dharah—dressed as a player; yatha—as.

Being beyond the range of limited sense perception, You are the eternally irreproachable factor covered by the curtain of deluding energy. You are invisible to the foolish observer, exactly as an actor dressed as a player is not recognized.

In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Sri Krsna affirms that less intelligent persons mistake Him to be an ordinary man like us, and thus they deride Him. The same is confirmed herein by Queen Kunti. The less intelligent persons are those who rebel against the authority of the Lord. Such persons are known as asuras. The asuras cannot recognize the Lord’s authority. When the Lord Himself appears amongst us, as Rama, Nrsimha, Varaha or in His original form as Krsna, He performs many wonderful acts which are humanly impossible. As we shall find in the Tenth Canto of this great literature, Lord Sri Krsna exhibited His humanly impossible activities even from the days of His lying on the lap of His mother. He killed the Putana witch, although she smeared her breast with poison just to kill the Lord. The Lord sucked her breast like a natural baby, and He sucked out her very life also. Similarly, He lifted the Govardhana Hill, just as a boy picks up a frog’s umbrella, and stood several days continuously just to give protection to the residents of Vrndavana. These are some of the superhuman activities of the Lord described in the authoritative Vedic literatures like the Puranas, Itihasas (histories) and Upanisads. He has delivered wonderful instructions in the shape of the Bhagavad-gita. He has shown marvelous capacities as a hero, as a householder, as a teacher and as a renouncer. He is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead by such authoritative personalities as Vyasa, Devala, Asita, Narada, Madhva, Sankara, Ramanuja, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Jiva Gosvami, Visvanatha Cakravarti, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati and all other authorities of the line. He Himself has declared as much in many places of the authentic literatures. And yet there is a class of men with demoniac mentality who are always reluctant to accept the Lord as the Supreme Absolute Truth. This is partially due to their poor fund of knowledge and partially due to their stubborn obstinacy, which results from various misdeeds in the past and present. Such persons could not recognize Lord Sri Krsna even when He was present before them. Another difficulty is that those who depend more on their imperfect senses cannot realize Him as the Supreme Lord. Such persons are like the modern scientist. They want to know everything by their experimental knowledge. But it is not possible to know the Supreme Person by imperfect experimental knowledge. He is described herein as adhoksaja, or beyond the range of experimental knowledge. All our senses are imperfect. We claim to observe everything and anything, but we must admit that we can observe things under certain material conditions only, which are also beyond our control. The Lord is beyond the observation of sense perception. Queen Kunti accepts this deficiency of the conditioned soul, especially of the woman class, who are less intelligent. For less intelligent men there must be such things as temples, mosques or churches so that they may begin to recognize the authority of the Lord and hear about Him from authorities in such holy places. For less intelligent men, this beginning of spiritual life is essential, and only foolish men decry the establishment of such places of worship, which are required to raise the standard of spiritual attributes for the mass of people. For less intelligent persons, bowing down before the authority of the Lord, as generally done in the temples, mosques or churches, is as beneficial as it is for the advanced devotees to meditate upon Him by active service.

tatha paramahamsanam

muninam amalatmanam

bhakti-yoga-vidhanartham

katham pasyema hi striyah

tatha—besides that; paramahamsanam—of the advanced transcendentalists; muninam—of the great philosophers or mental speculators; amala-atmanam—those whose minds are competent to discern between spirit and matter; bhakti-yoga—the science of devotional service; vidhana-artham—for executing; katham—how; pasyema—can observe; hi—certainly; striyah—women.

You Yourself descend to propagate the transcendental science of devotional service unto the hearts of the advanced transcendentalists and mental speculators, who are purified by being able to discriminate between matter and spirit. How, then, can we women know You perfectly?

Even the greatest philosophical speculators cannot have access to the region of the Lord. It is said in the Upanisads that the Supreme Truth, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, is beyond the range of the thinking power of the greatest philosopher. He is unknowable by great learning or by the greatest brain. He is knowable only by one who has His mercy. Others may go on thinking about Him for years together, yet He is unknowable. This very fact is corroborated by the Queen, who is playing the part of an innocent woman. Women in general are unable to speculate like philosophers, but they are blessed by the Lord because they believe at once in the superiority and almightiness of the Lord, and thus they offer obeisances without reservation. The Lord is so kind that He does not show special favor only to one who is a great philosopher. He knows the sincerity of purpose. For this reason only, women generally assemble in great number in any sort of religious function. In every country and in every sect of religion it appears that the women are more interested than the men. This simplicity of acceptance of the Lord’s authority is more effective than showy insincere religious fervor.

krsnaya vasudevaya

devaki-nandanaya ca

nanda-gopa-kumaraya

govindaya namo namah

krsnaya—the Supreme Lord; vasudevaya—unto the son of Vasudeva; devaki-nandanaya—unto the son of Devaki; ca—and; nanda-gopa—Nanda and the cowherd men; kumaraya—unto their son; govindaya—unto the Personality of Godhead, who enlivens the cows and the senses; namah—respectful obeisances; namah—obeisances.

Let me therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto the Lord, who has become the son of Vasudeva, the pleasure of Devaki, the boy of Nanda and the other cowherd men of Vrndavana, and the enlivener of the cows and the senses.

The Lord, being thus unapproachable by any material assets, out of unbounded and causeless mercy descends on the earth as He is in order to show His special mercy upon His unalloyed devotees and to diminish the upsurges of the demoniac persons. Queen Kunti specifically adores the incarnation or descent of Lord Krsna above all other incarnations because in this particular incarnation He is more approachable. In the Rama incarnation He remained a king’s son from His very childhood, but in the incarnation of Krsna, although He was the son of a king, He at once left the shelter of His real father and mother (King Vasudeva and Queen Devaki) just after His appearance and went to the lap of Yasodamayi to play the part of an ordinary cowherd boy in the blessed Vrajabhumi, which is very sanctified because of His childhood pastimes. Therefore Lord Krsna is more merciful than Lord Rama. He was undoubtedly very kind to Kunti’s brother Vasudeva and the family. Had He not become the son of Vasudeva and Devaki, Queen Kunti could not claim Him to be her nephew and thus address Krsna in parental affection. But Nanda and Yasoda are more fortunate because they could relish the Lord’s childhood pastimes, which are more attractive than all other pastimes. There is no parallel to His childhood pastimes as exhibited at Vrajabhumi, which are the prototypes of His eternal affairs in the original Krsnaloka described as the cintamani-dhama in the Brahma-samhita. Lord Sri Krsna descended Himself at Vrajabhumi with all His transcendental entourage and paraphernalia. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore confirmed that no one is as fortunate as the residents of Vrajabhumi, and specifically the cowherd girls, who dedicated their everything for the satisfaction of the Lord. His pastimes with Nanda and Yasoda and His pastimes with the cowherd men and especially with the cowherd boys and the cows have caused Him to be known as Govinda. Lord Krsna as Govinda is more inclined to the brahmanas and the cows, indicating thereby that human prosperity depends more on these two items, namely brahminical culture and cow protection. Lord Krsna is never satisfied where these are lacking.

namah pankaja-nabhaya

namah pankaja-maline

namah pankaja-netraya

namas te pankajanghraye

namah—all respectful obeisances; pankaja-nabhaya—unto the Lord who has a specific depression resembling a lotus flower in the center of His abdomen; namah—obeisances; pankaja-maline—one who is always decorated with a garland of lotus flowers; namah—obeisances; pankaja-netraya—one whose glance is as cooling as a lotus flower; namah te—respectful obeisances unto You; pankaja-anghraye—unto You, the soles of whose feet are engraved with lotus flowers (and who are therefore said to possess lotus feet).

My respectful obeisances are unto You, O Lord, whose abdomen is marked with a depression like a lotus flower, who are always decorated with garlands of lotus flowers, whose glance is as cool as the lotus and whose feet are engraved with lotuses.

Here are some of the specific symbolical marks on the spiritual body of the Personality of Godhead which distinguish His body from the bodies of all others. They are all special features of the body of the Lord. The Lord may appear as one of us, but He is always distinct by His specific bodily features. Srimati Kunti claims herself unfit to see the Lord because of her being a woman. This is claimed because women, sudras (the laborer class) and the dvija-bandhus, or the wretched descendants of the higher three classes, are unfit by intelligence to understand transcendental subject matter concerning the spiritual name, fame, attributes, forms, etc., of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Such persons, although they are unfit to enter into the spiritual affairs of the Lord, can see Him as the arca-vigraha, who descends on the material world just to distribute favors to the fallen souls, including the above-mentioned women, sudras and dvija-bandhus. Because such fallen souls cannot see anything beyond matter, the Lord condescends to enter into each and every one of the innumerable universes as the Garbhodakasayi Visnu, who grows a lotus stem from the lotuslike depression in the center of His transcendental abdomen, and thus Brahma, the first living being in the universe, is born. Therefore, the Lord is known as the Pankajanabhi. The Pankajanabhi Lord accepts the arca-vigraha (His transcendental form) in different elements, namely a form within the mind, a form made of wood, a form made of earth, a form made of metal, a form made of jewel, a form made of paint, a form drawn on sand, etc. All such forms of the Lord are always decorated with garlands of lotus flowers, and there should be a soothing atmosphere in the temple of worship to attract the burning attention of the nondevotees always engaged in material wranglings. The meditators worship a form within the mind. Therefore, the Lord is merciful even to the women, sudras and dvija-bandhus, provided they agree to visit the temple of worship in different forms made for them. Such temple visitors are not idolaters, as alleged by some men with a poor fund of knowledge. All the great acaryas established such temples of worship in all places just to favor the less intelligent, and one should not pose himself as transcending the stage of temple worship while one is actually in the category of the sudras and the women or less. One should begin to see the Lord from His lotus feet, gradually rising to the thighs, waist, chest and face. One should not try to look at the face of the Lord without being accustomed to seeing the lotus feet of the Lord. Srimati Kunti, because of her being the aunt of the Lord, did not begin to see the Lord from the lotus feet because the Lord might feel ashamed, and thus Kuntidevi, just to save a painful situation for the Lord, began to see the Lord just above His lotus feet, i.e., from the waist of the Lord, gradually rising to the face, and then down to the lotus feet. In the round, everything there is in order.

yatha hrsikesa khalena devaki

kamsena ruddhaticiram sucarpita

vimocitaham ca sahatmaja vibho

tvayaiva nathena muhur vipad-ganat

yatha—as it were; hrsikesa—the master of the senses; khalena—by the envious; devaki—Devaki (the mother of Sri Krsna); kamsena—by King Kamsa; ruddha—imprisoned; ati-ciram—for a long time; suca-arpita—distressed; vimocita—released; aham ca—also myself; saha-atma-ja—along with my children; vibho—O great one; tvaya eva—by Your Lordship; nathena—as the protector; muhuh—constantly; vipat-ganat—from a series of dangers.

O Hrsikesa, master of the senses and Lord of lords, You have released Your mother, Devaki, who was long imprisoned and distressed by the envious King Kamsa, and me and my children from a series of constant dangers.

Devaki, the mother of Krsna and sister of King Kamsa, was put into prison along with her husband, Vasudeva, because the envious King was afraid of being killed by Devaki’s eighth son (Krsna). He killed all the sons of Devaki who were born before Krsna, but Krsna escaped the danger of child-slaughter because He was transferred to the house of Nanda Maharaja, Lord Krsna’s foster father. Kuntidevi, along with her children, was also saved from a series of dangers. But Kuntidevi was shown far more favor because Lord Krsna did not save the other children of Devaki, whereas He saved the children of Kuntidevi. This was done because Devaki’s husband, Vasudeva, was living, whereas Kuntidevi was a widow, and there was none to help her except Krsna. The conclusion is that Krsna endows more favor to a devotee who is in greater dangers. Sometimes He puts His pure devotees in such dangers because in that condition of helplessness the devotee becomes more attached to the Lord. The more the attachment is there for the Lord, the more success is there for the devotee.

visan mahagneh purusada-darsanad

asat-sabhaya vana-vasa-krcchratah

mrdhe mrdhe ’neka-maharathastrato

drauny-astratas casma hare ’bhiraksitah

visat—from poison; maha-agneh—from the great fire; purusa-ada—the man-eaters; darsanat—by combating; asat—vicious; sabhayah—assembly; vana-vasa—exiled to the forest; krcchratah—sufferings; mrdhe mrdhe—again and again in battle; aneka—many; maha-ratha—great generals; astratah—weapons; drauni—the son of Dronacarya; astratah—from the weapon of; ca—and; asma—indicating past tense; hare—O my Lord; abhiraksitah—protected completely.

My dear Krsna, Your Lordship has protected us from a poisoned cake, from a great fire, from cannibals, from the vicious assembly, from sufferings during our exile in the forest and from the battle where great generals fought. And now You have saved us from the weapon of Asvatthama.

The list of dangerous encounters is submitted herein. Devaki was once put into difficulty by her envious brother, otherwise she was well. But Kuntidevi and her sons were put into one difficulty after another for years and years together. They were put into trouble by Duryodhana and his party due to the kingdom, and each and every time the sons of Kunti were saved by the Lord. Once Bhima was administered poison in a cake, once they were put into the house made of shellac and set afire, and once Draupadi was dragged out, and attempts were made to insult her by stripping her naked in the vicious assembly of the Kurus. The Lord saved Draupadi by supplying an immeasurable length of cloth, and Duryodhana’s party failed to see her naked. Similarly, when they were exiled in the forest, Bhima had to fight with the man-eater demon Hidimba Raksasa, but the Lord saved him. So it was not finished there. After all these tribulations, there was the great Battle of Kuruksetra, and Arjuna had to meet such great generals as Drona, Bhisma and Karna, all powerful fighters. And at last, even when everything was done away with, there was the brahmastra released by the son of Dronacarya to kill the child within the womb of Uttara, and so the Lord saved the only surviving descendant of the Kurus, Maharaja Pariksit.

vipadah santu tah sasvat

tatra tatra jagad-guro

bhavato darsanam yat syad

apunar bhava-darsanam

vipadah—calamities; santu—let there be; tah—all; sasvat—again and again; tatra—there; tatra—and there; jagat-guro—O Lord of the universe; bhavatah—Your; darsanam—meeting; yat—that which; syat—is; apunah—not again; bhava-darsanam—seeing repetition of birth and death.

I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we could see You again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and deaths.

Generally the distressed, the needy, the intelligent and the inquisitive, who have performed some pious activities, worship or begin to worship the Lord. Others, who are thriving on misdeeds only, regardless of status, cannot approach the Supreme due to being misled by the illusory energy. Therefore, for a pious person, if there is some calamity there is no other alternative than to take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord. Constantly remembering the lotus feet of the Lord means preparing for liberation from birth and death. Therefore, even though there are so-called calamities, they are welcome because they give us an opportunity to remember the Lord, which means liberation.

One who has taken shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord, which are accepted as the most suitable boat for crossing the ocean of nescience, can achieve liberation as easily as one leaps over the holes made by the hoofs of a calf. Such persons are meant to reside in the abode of the Lord, and they have nothing to do with a place where there is danger in every step.

This material world is certified by the Lord in the Bhagavad-gita as a dangerous place full of calamities. Less intelligent persons prepare plans to adjust to those calamities without knowing that the nature of this place is itself full of calamities. They have no information of the abode of the Lord, which is full of bliss and without trace of calamity. The duty of the sane person, therefore, is to be undisturbed by worldly calamities, which are sure to happen in all circumstances. Suffering all sorts of unavoidable misfortunes, one should make progress in spiritual realization because that is the mission of human life. The spirit soul is transcendental to all material calamities; therefore, the so-called calamities are called false. A man may see a tiger swallowing him in a dream, and he may cry for this calamity. Actually there is no tiger and there is no suffering; it is simply a case of dreams. In the same way, all calamities of life are said to be dreams. If someone is lucky enough to get in contact with the Lord by devotional service, it is all gain. Contact with the Lord by any one of the nine devotional services is always a forward step on the path going back to Godhead.

janmaisvarya-sruta-sribhir

edhamana-madah puman

naivarhaty abhidhatum vai

tvam akincana-gocaram

janma—birth; aisvarya—opulence; sruta—education; sribhih—by the possession of beauty; edhamana—progressively increasing; madah—intoxication; puman—the human being; na—never; eva—ever; arhati—deserves; abhidhatum—to address in feeling; vai—certainly; tvam—You; akincana-gocaram—one who is approached easily by the materially exhausted man.

My Lord, Your Lordship can easily be approached, but only by those who are materially exhausted. One who is on the path of [material] progress, trying to improve himself with respectable parentage, great opulence, high education and bodily beauty, cannot approach You with sincere feeling.

Being materially advanced means taking birth in an aristocratic family and possessing great wealth, an education and attractive personal beauty. All materialistic men are mad after possessing all these material opulences, and this is known as the advancement of material civilization. But the result is that by possessing all these material assets one becomes artificially puffed up, intoxicated by such temporary possessions. Consequently, such materially puffed up persons are incapable of uttering the holy name of the Lord by addressing Him feelingly, “O Govinda, O Krsna.” It is said in the sastras that by once uttering the holy name of the Lord, the sinner gets rid of a quantity of sins that he is unable to commit. Such is the power of uttering the holy name of the Lord. There is not the least exaggeration in this statement. Actually the Lord’s holy name has such powerful potency. But there is a quality to such utterances also. It depends on the quality of feeling. A helpless man can feelingly utter the holy name of the Lord, whereas a man who utters the same holy name in great material satisfaction cannot be so sincere. A materially puffed up person may utter the holy name of the Lord occasionally, but he is incapable of uttering the name in quality. Therefore, the four principles of material advancement, namely (1) high parentage, (2) good wealth, (3) high education and (4) attractive beauty, are, so to speak, disqualifications for progress on the path of spiritual advancement. The material covering of the pure spirit soul is an external feature, as much as fever is an external feature of the unhealthy body. The general process is to decrease the degree of the fever and not to aggravate it by maltreatment. Sometimes it is seen that spiritually advanced persons become materially impoverished. This is no discouragement. On the other hand, such impoverishment is a good sign as much as the falling of temperature is a good sign. The principle of life should be to decrease the degree of material intoxication which leads one to be more and more illusioned about the aim of life. Grossly illusioned persons are quite unfit for entrance into the kingdom of God.

namo ’kincana-vittaya

nivrtta-guna-vrttaye

atmaramaya santaya

kaivalya-pataye namah

namah—all obeisances unto You; akincana-vittaya—unto the property of the materially impoverished; nivrtta—completely transcendental to the actions of the material modes; guna—material modes; vrttaye—affection; atma-aramaya—one who is self-satisfied; santaya—the most gentle; kaivalya-pataye—unto the master of the monists; namah—bowing down.

My obeisances are unto You, who are the property of the materially impoverished. You have nothing to do with the actions and reactions of the material modes of nature. You are self-satisfied, and therefore You are the most gentle and are master of the monists.

A living being is finished as soon as there is nothing to possess. Therefore a living being cannot be, in the real sense of the term, a renouncer. A living being renounces something for gaining something more valuable. A student sacrifices his childish proclivities to gain better education. A servant gives up his job for a better job. Similarly, a devotee renounces the material world not for nothing but for something tangible in spiritual value. Srila Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami and Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami and others gave up their worldly pomp and prosperity for the sake of the service of the Lord. They were big men in the worldly sense. The Gosvamis were ministers in the government service of Bengal, and Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami was the son of a big zamindar of his time. But they left everything to gain something superior to what they previously possessed. The devotees are generally without material prosperity, but they have a very secret treasure-house in the lotus feet of the Lord. There is a nice story about Srila Sanatana Gosvami. He had a touchstone with him, and this stone was left in a pile of refuse. A needy man took it, but later on wondered why the valuable stone was kept in such a neglected place. He therefore asked him for the most valuable thing, and then he was given the holy name of the Lord. Akincana means one who has nothing to give materially. A factual devotee, or mahatma, does not give anything material to anyone because he has already left all material assets. He can, however, deliver the supreme asset, namely the Personality of Godhead, because He is the only property of a factual devotee. The touchstone of Sanatana Gosvami, which was thrown in the rubbish, was not the property of the Gosvami, otherwise it would not have been kept in such a place. This specific example is given for the neophyte devotees just to convince them that material hankerings and spiritual advancement go ill together. Unless one is able to see everything as spiritual in relation with the Supreme Lord, one must always distinguish between spirit and matter. A spiritual master like Srila Sanatana Gosvami, although personally able to see everything as spiritual, set this example for us only because we have no such spiritual vision.

Advancement of material vision or material civilization is a great stumbling block for spiritual advancement. Such material advancement entangles the living being in the bondage of a material body followed by all sorts of material miseries. Such material advancement is called anartha, or things not wanted. Actually this is so. In the present context of material advancement one uses lipstick at a cost of fifty cents, and there are so many unwanted things which are all products of the material conception of life. By diverting attention to so many unwanted things, human energy is spoiled without achievement of spiritual realization, the prime necessity of human life. The attempt to reach the moon is another example of spoiling energy because even if the moon is reached, the problems of life will not be solved. The devotees of the Lord are called akincanas because they have practically no material assets. Such material assets are all products of the three modes of material nature. They foil spiritual energy, and thus the less we possess such products of material nature, the more we have a good chance for spiritual progress.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead has no direct connection with material activities. All His acts and deeds, which are exhibited even in this material world, are spiritual and without affection for the modes of material nature. In the Bhagavad-gita the Lord says that all His acts, even His appearance and disappearance in and out of the material world, are transcendental, and one who knows this perfectly shall not take his birth again in this material world, but will go back to Godhead.

The material disease is due to hankering after and lording it over material nature. This hankering is due to an interaction of the three modes of nature, and neither the Lord nor the devotees have attachment for such false enjoyment. Therefore, the Lord and the devotees are called nivrtta-guna-vrtti. The perfect nivrtta-guna-vrtti is the Supreme Lord because He never becomes attracted by the modes of material nature, whereas the living beings have such a tendency. Some of them are entrapped by the illusory attraction of material nature.

Because the Lord is the property of the devotees, and the devotees are the property of the Lord reciprocally, the devotees are certainly transcendental to the modes of material nature. That is a natural conclusion. Such unalloyed devotees are distinct from the mixed devotees who approach the Lord for mitigation of miseries and poverty or because of inquisitiveness and speculation. The unalloyed devotees and the Lord are transcendentally attached to one another. For others, the Lord has nothing to reciprocate, and therefore He is called atmarama, self-satisfied. Self-satisfied as He is, He is the master of all monists who seek to merge into the existence of the Lord. Such monists merge within the personal effulgence of the Lord called the brahmajyoti, but the devotees enter into the transcendental pastimes of the Lord, which are never to be misunderstood as material.

Next verse (SB1.8.28)