SB 1.19.34
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 34
- sānnidhyāt te mahā-yogin
- pātakāni mahānty api
- sadyo naśyanti vai puṁsāṁ
- viṣṇor iva suretarāḥ
SYNONYMS
sānnidhyāt — on account of the presence; te — your; mahā-yogin — O great mystic; pātakāni — sins; mahānti — invulnerable; api — in spite of; sadyaḥ — immediately; naśyanti — vanquished; vai — certainly; puṁsām — of a person; viṣṇoḥ — like the presence of the Personality of Godhead; iva — like; sura-itarāḥ — other than the demigods.
TRANSLATION
Just as the atheist cannot remain in the presence of the Personality of Godhead, so also the invulnerable sins of a man are immediately vanquished in your presence, O saint! O great mystic!
PURPORT
There are two classes of human beings, namely the atheist and the devotee of the Lord. The devotee of the Lord, because of manifesting godly qualities, is called a demigod, whereas the atheist is called a demon. The demon cannot stand the presence of Viṣṇu, the Personality of Godhead. The demons are always busy in trying to vanquish the Personality of Godhead, but factually as soon as the Personality of Godhead appears, by either His transcendental name, form, attributes, pastimes, paraphernalia or variegatedness, the demon is at once vanquished. It is said that a ghost cannot remain as soon as the holy name of the Lord is chanted. The great saints and devotees of the Lord are in the list of His paraphernalia, and thus as soon as a saintly devotee is present, the ghostly sins are at once vanquished. That is the verdict of all Vedic literatures. One is recommended, therefore, to associate only with saintly devotees so that worldly demons and ghosts cannot exert their sinister influence.