SB 3.15.36
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 36
- bhūyād aghoni bhagavadbhir akāri daṇḍo
- yo nau hareta sura-helanam apy aśeṣam
- mā vo 'nutāpa-kalayā bhagavat-smṛti-ghno
- moho bhaved iha tu nau vrajator adho 'dhaḥ
SYNONYMS
bhūyāt — let it be; aghoni — for the sinful; bhagavadbhiḥ — by you; akāri — was done; daṇḍaḥ — punishment; yaḥ — that which; nau — in relation to us; hareta — should destroy; sura-helanam — disobeying great demigods; api — certainly; aśeṣam — unlimited; mā — not; vaḥ — of you; anutāpa — repentance; kalayā — by a little; bhagavat — of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; smṛti-ghnaḥ — destroying the memory of; mohaḥ — illusion; bhavet — should be; iha — in the foolish species of life; tu — but; nau — of us; vrajatoḥ — who are going; adhaḥ adhaḥ — down to the material world.
TRANSLATION
After being cursed by the sages, the doormen said: It is quite apt that you have punished us for neglecting to respect sages like you. But we pray that due to your compassion at our repentance, the illusion of forgetting the Supreme Personality of Godhead will not come upon us as we go progressively downward.
PURPORT
To a devotee, any heavy punishment is tolerable but the one which effects forgetfulness of the Supreme Lord. The doormen, who were also devotees, could understand the punishment meted out to them, for they were conscious of the great offense they had committed by not allowing the sages to enter Vaikuṇṭhaloka. In the lowest species of life, including the animal species, forgetfulness of the Lord is very prominent. The doormen were aware that they were going to the criminal department of the material world, and they expected that they might go to the lowest species and forget the Supreme Lord. They prayed, therefore, that this might not happen in the lives they were going to accept because of the curse. In Bhagavad-gītā, Sixteenth Chapter, verses 19 and 20, it is said that those who are envious of the Lord and His devotees are thrown into the species of abominable life; life after life such fools are unable to remember the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore they continue going down and down.