SB 4.9.45
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 45
- abhivandya pituḥ pādāv
- āśīrbhiś cābhimantritaḥ
- nanāma mātarau śīrṣṇā
- sat-kṛtaḥ saj-janāgraṇīḥ
SYNONYMS
abhivandya — worshiping; pituḥ — of his father; pādau — the feet; āśīrbhiḥ — with benedictions; ca — and; abhimantritaḥ — was addressed; nanāma — he bowed; mātarau — to his two mothers; śīrṣṇā — with his head; sat-kṛtaḥ — was honored; sat-jana — of the nobles; agraṇīḥ — the foremost.
TRANSLATION
Then Dhruva Mahārāja, the foremost of all nobles, first of all offered his obeisances at the feet of his father and was honored by his father with various questions. He then bowed his head at the feet of his two mothers.
PURPORT
It may be questioned why Dhruva Mahārāja offered his respect not only to his mother but also to his stepmother, due to whose insults he had to leave home. The answer is that after achieving perfection by self-realization and seeing the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face, Dhruva Mahārāja was completely freed from all contamination of material desire. Feelings of insult or honor in this material world are never perceived by a devotee. Lord Caitanya therefore says that one has to be humbler than the grass and, He recommends, more tolerant than the tree to execute devotional service. Dhruva Mahārāja, therefore, has in this verse been described as saj-janāgraṇīḥ, the foremost of noble men. The pure devotee is the noblest of all, and he has no feelings of animosity towards anyone. Duality due to animosity is a creation of this material world. There is no such thing in the spiritual world, which is the absolute reality.