SB 1.13.10 (1965)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 10
Bhavat vida bhagwatas teertha bhutah swayam bibho Teerthi kurvanti teerthani swantasthena gadabhrita.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Bhavat—your goodself, Vida—like, Bhagwatas—devotees, Teertha—the holy places of pilgrimage, Bhuta—converted into, Swayam—personally, Bibho—oh the powerful, Teertha—made into holy place, Kurvanti—do render, Teerthani—the holy places, Swantasthena—having been situated in the heart, Gadabhrita—the personality of Godhead.
TRANSLATION
My Lord! devotees like your goodself are themselves holy places in person. Because you carry with you, within your heart, the Personality of Godhead and as such you render all places into a pilgrimage.
PURPORT
The Personality of Godhead is omnipresent by His diverse potencies everywhere just like the electricity power is distributed everywhere within the space. Similarly the Lord's omnipresence is perceived and manifested by His unalloyed devotees like Vidura as much as the electricity power is manifested in the electric bulb. A pure devotee like Vidura always feels the presence of the Lord everywhere. He sees everything in the potency of the Lord and the Lord in everything. The holy places all over the earth are meant for purifying the poluted consciousness of the human being by an atmosphere surcharged with the presence of the Lord's unalloyed devotees. If anyone visits a holy place he must search out for the pure devotees residing in such holy places, take lessons from them and try to apply such instructions in practical life and thus gradually prepare oneself for the ultimate salvation of going back to Godhead. To go to some holy place of pilgrimage does not mean only to take bath in the Ganges or Jamuna or to visit the temples situated in those places. One should find out also representatives of Vidura who have no other desire in life save and except to serve the Personality of Godhead. The Personality of Godhead is always with such pure devotees on account of such pure devotee's unalloyed service without any tinge of fruitive action or utopian speculation. They are in the actual service of the Lord specifically by the process of hearing and chanting. The pure devotees hear from the authorities and chant them by singing and writing the glories of the Lord. Mahamuni Vyasdeva heard it from Narada and then he chanted in writing: Sukhdev Goswami studied it from his father and he described it to Parikshit: that is the way of Srimad Bhagwatam. So by their actions only the pure devotees of the Lord can render any place turned into a pilgrimage and the holy places become worth the name only on their account. Such pure devotees are able to rectify the poluted atmosphere of any place and what to speak of a holy place rendered unholy by the questionable actions of interested persons who try to adopt a professional life at the cost of the reputation of a holy place.