SB 1.8.36 (1964)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 36
Srinwanti gayanti grinanti abhik shnasah smaranti nandanti tabaihitamjanah. Taeva Pasyanti achirena tabakam bhavaprabaha uparamam padambujam.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Srinwanti—hear, Gayanti—chant, Grinanti—take, abhikshnasah—continuously, Smaranti—remembers, Nandanti—takes pleasure, Taba—your, Ihitam—activities, Janah—people in general, Ta—that Eva—certainly, Pasyanti—can see, Achirena—very soon, Tabakam-Your, Bhavaprabham—the current of rebirth, Uparamam—cessation, Padambujam—lotus feet.
TRANSLATION
Oh Krishna, the people in general who continuously hear, chant and repeat Your transcendental activities or take pleasure in while others doing so, certainly can see Your lotus feet which alone can stop the course of repetition of birth and death.
PURPORT
The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna cannot be seen by our present conditional vision. In order to see Him the present vision has to be changed by developing a different condition of life full of spontaneous love of Godhead. When Sri Krishna was personally present on the face of the globe not exactly everyone could see Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Materialists like Ravana, Hiranyakasipu, Kansa, Jarasandha, Sisupala etc. were highly qualified personalities by acquisition of material assets but they were unable to appreciate the presence of the Lord. Therefore, even though the Lord may be present before our eyes it is not possible to see Him unless we have got the necessary eyes to see Him. This necessary qualification is developed by the process of devotional service only beginning with hearing about the Lord from the right sources. The Bhagwat Geeta is one of the popular literature which is generally heard, chanted, repeated etc. by the people in general but inspite of such hearing etc. sometimes it is experienced that the performer of such devotional service does not see the Lord eye to eye. The reason is that the first item Sravana is very important of all other items. If hearing or aural reception is made from the right sources it acts very quickly. Generally people hear from unauthorised persons. Such unauthorised persons may be very learned from academical qualifications but because such persons themselves do not follow the principles of devotional service, hearing from such unauthorised persons become sheer waste of time. Sometimes the texts are interpreted fashionably by such unauthorised persons to suit their own purposes. Therefore, the first thing in the devotional service of the Lord is to select a competent and bonafide speaker and then to hear from him. When the hearing process is perfect and complete the other processes become automatically perfect in their own way.
There are different transcendental activities of the Lord and each and everyone of them is competent to bestow the desired result provided the hearing process is perfect. In the Bhagwatam the activities of the Lord begins from His dealings with the Pandavas. There are many other pastimes of the Lord in connection with His dealings with the Asuras and others. And in the 10th canto the sublime dealing with His conjugal associates the Gopis as well as with His married wives at Dwarka are mentioned. The Lord being Absolute there is no difference of the transcendental nature of each and every dealings of the Lord. But the hearing process being unauthorised sometimes people take more interest in the matter of hearing about His dealings with the Gopis. Such inclination of the hearer indicate the lusty feelings of the hearer and a bonafide speaker of the dealings of the Lord never indulge in such interested hearing. One must hear about the Lord from the very beginning as it is set up in the Srimad Bhagwatam or any other scriptures and that will help the hearer to attain perfection by progressive development. One should not, therefore, consider that His dealings with the Pandavas are less important than His dealings with the Gopis and thus exhibit his personal mundane leanings in the matter of sensuons enjoyment. We must always remember that the Lord is always transcendental to all mundane attachment and He may not be brought on the level of material activities like that of any conditioned soul. But in all the above mentioned dealings of the Lord, He is Hero in all circumstances and as such hearing about Him or about His devotees or combatants all are conducive to spiritual achievements. It is said that the Vedas and Puranas etc. all are made for the purpose of reviving our lost relation with Him. Hearing of all these scriptures are essential.