SB 1.5.27 (1962)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 27
Tasmins tada labdha rucher mahamate
Priyasrabasi askhalita matir mama
Yaya aham etat sadasat swamayaya
pasye mayee brahmani kalpitam pare.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Tasmins—it so being, Tada—at that time, Labdha—achieved, Ruchir—taste, mahamate—great sage, Priyasrabasi—upon the Lord, Askhalita mati—uninterrupted attention, Mama—mine, Yaya—by which, Aham—I, Etat—all these, Sadasat—gross and subtle, Swamaya—one's own ignorance, Pasye—see, Brahmani—the supreme, Kalpitam—is accepted, Para—in the transcendence.
TRANSLATION
Oh great Sage, as soon as I got some taste in the Personality of Godhead, at once my attention became uniterrupted in hearing about my Lord. And by such development of taste I could realise that by my ignorance only I had accepted the gross and subtle covering upon me and the Lord both of us being transcendental.
PURPORT
Ignorance in the material existence is compared with darkness and the Personality of Godhead is compared with the Sun in all the Vedic literatures. As such wherever there is light there cannot be darkness. Hearing of the Lord's pastimes means transcendental association of the Lord because there is no difference between the Lord and His transcendental pastime, To become associated with the Supreme light means dissipation of all ignorance. By ignorance only the conditioned soul wrongly thinks that he is a product of the material nature and so also the Personality of Godhead. But in fact all of them, the Personality of Godhead and the living being are transcendental and they have nothing to do with the material nature. When the ignorance is removed and it is perfectly realised that there is nothing existing without the Personality of Godhead the nescience is removed. The gross and the subtle bodies being emanations from the Personality of Godhead, the knowledge of light permits one to engage both of them in the service of the Lord. The gross body shall be engaged in acts of rendering service to the Lord as to bring about water in the pot, cleansing the temple or in the matter of obeisances etc. The path of Archan or worshipping the Lord in the temple is to engage one's gross body in the service of the Lord. Similarly the subtle mind should be engaged in the matter of hearing the transcendental pastimes of the Lord, thinking about them, chanting His name and all such activities are transcendental. None of the gross or subtle senses shall otherwise be engaged. Such realisation of transcendental activities by the devotee is made possible by many many years of apprenticeship in the devotional service, but simply by attraction of love in the Personality of Godhead as it was developed in Narada Muni, by hearing, is highly effective.