SB 1.9.19 (1964)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 19
Asya anubhabam bhagwan veda guhyatamam sivah Devarsir narada sakhsat bhagaban kapilo nripa.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Asya—of Him, Anubhavam—glories, Bhagawan—the most powerful, Veda—knows, Guhyatamam—very confidentially, Sivah—Lord Sivah, Devarsir—the great sage amongst the demi-gods, Narada—of the name, Sakshat—directly, Bhagawan—the Personality of Godhead, Nripa—oh the king.
TRANSLATION
Oh the King, very confidentially Lord Sivah, Narada the sage amongst the demigods, and Kapila the incarnation of Godhead, all of them know about His glories, by direct contact.
PURPORT
Pure devotees of the Lord are all Bndhas or persons who know the glories of the Lord in different transcendental loving service attitude. As the Lord has innumerable expansions of His plenary Form, similarly there are innumerable pure devotees of the Lord engaged in the exchange-service of different humour. Ordinarily there are twelve great devotees of the Lord namely Brahma, Narada, Siva, Kumara, Kapila, Manu, Prahalada, Bhisma, Janaka, Sukdeva Goswami, Bali Maharaj and Yamaraj. Bhismadeva although one of them, has mentioned only three important names of the twelve who know the glories of the Lord. According to Srila Viswanatha Chakravarty Thakur one of the great Acharyas in the modern age, Anubhava or the glories of the Lord is first appreciated by the devotee in ecstasy manifesting the symptoms of perspiring, trembling, weeping, tearing, bodily eruptions etc. which are further enhanced into steady understanding of the glories of the Lord. Such different understanding of Bhavas are exchanged between Yosoda and the Lord in the matter of binding the Lord by ropes, in the matter of chariot driving by the Lord in exchange of love with Arjuna etc. These glories of the Lord are exhibited in the matter of His being subordinated before His devotees and that is another feature of manifesting the glories of the Lord. Sukdeva Goswami and the Kumaras also although situated in the transcendental position, became converted by another feature of Bhava and turned into pure devotee of the Lord. Putting into tribulations of the devotees by the Lord, is another exchange of transcendental Bhava between the Lord and the devotees. The Lord says (Bhag 10) 'I put my devotee into difficulty by which the devotee becomes more purified in the matter of exchanging transcendental Bhava with Me'. Placing the devotees into material troubles means delivering him from the illusory material relations. The material relations are based on reciprocation of material enjoyment which depends mainly on material resources. Therefore, material resources being withdrawn by the Lord, is the indirect way of attracting the devotee cent per cent towards transcendental loving service of the Lord and thus snatching the fallen soul from the mire of material existence. Tribulations, offered by the Lord for His devotee is different from the tribulations as result of viceous action by the living being. All these glories of the Lord are specially known to the great Mahajans like Brahma, Siva, Narada, Kapila, Kumara, Bhisma as mentioned above, and one is able to grasp it by their grace.