In2-MeC

Kiev, the Ukraine
7 September 2004

Srila Prabhupada Vyasapuja ki jaya!

Notes from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura's rendition of Srimad-Bhagavatam 1. 2. 18, translated by Punya-palaka Prabhu of ISKCON Prague.

The verse as it appears in the BBT edition of Srimad-Bhagavatam, translated by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada:

nasta-prayesv abhadresu
nityam bhagavata-sevaya
bhagavaty uttama-sloke
bhaktir bhavati naisthiki

By regular attendance in classes on the BhAgavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.

Srila Sarasvati Thakura's translation (rendered into English from the Thakura's Bengali):

By always attending upon a pure devotee and by hearing and chanting the Srimad-Bhagavatam, all that is inauspicious or bitter is almost completely destroyed and one's steady and undistracted loving service to Sri Krsna, who is praised with transcendental songs, becomes awakened.

From Srila Sarasvati Thakura's explanation:

Through the service to Srimad-Bhagavatam the scripture, and as a result of serving those who live according to the instructions written there, the whole false ego, and absorption in things other than Krsna, are left in the past, and thus the supreme achievement, naisthiki bhakti, or the constant engagement in the service of the Lord, is achieved. To which extent all the unfavorable desires opposing the Hari-seva become weakened, to that extent naisthiki bhakti becomes more and more prominent. The irrevocable loving service cannot appear without rejecting asat-sanga. The bad association of bhogis, karmis and falsely renounced jnanis is effaced through association of a devotee of the Lord. At that time the bad activities of the non-devotee society are no more performed.

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura writes about this verse:

bhagavatanam vaisnavanam bhagavatasya sastrasya ca. nasta-prayesv iti. nanaparadha-laksanasyabhadrasya kascana kascana prabalo bhagah ksinatvam gacchan rati-paryanto 'pi bhavatiti bhavah. naisthiki nistha cittaikagryam tam prapta.

Srila Sarasvati Thakura's gloss of Srila Cakravartipada's comment:

Bhagavata-sevaya refers to the devotees of the Lord and to the book Bhagavatam. The meaning of nasta-prayesu is that although one achieves diminishing of all kinds of influences of the hindering offences against the holy name or, in other words, of his anarthas, some remnants remain up to the level of rati. Naisthiki or nistha means single-mindedness, the awakening of steady bhakti.

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