Shloka 33
Nārada’s Instruction to Vyāsa: The Defect of Bhakti-less Literature and the Mandate of Kṛṣṇa-kathā
आमयो यश्च भूतानां जायते येन सुव्रत । तदेव ह्यामयं द्रव्यं न पुनाति चिकित्सितम् ॥ ३३ ॥
āmayo yaś ca bhūtānāṁ jāyate yena suvrata tad eva hy āmayaṁ dravyaṁ na punāti cikitsitam
ഹേ സുവ്രത! ഏത് ദ്രവ്യത്താൽ ജീവികൾക്ക് രോഗം ജനിക്കുമോ, അതേ ദ്രവ്യം യഥാവിധി ചികിത്സയായി പ്രയോഗിച്ചാൽ ആ രോഗം മാറുന്നില്ലേ?
An expert physician treats his patient with a therapeutic diet. For example, milk preparations sometimes cause disorder of the bowels, but the very same milk converted into curd and mixed with some other remedial ingredients cures such disorders. Similarly, the threefold miseries of material existence cannot be mitigated simply by material activities. Such activities have to be spiritualized, just as by fire iron is made red-hot, and thereby the action of fire begins. Similarly, the material conception of a thing is at once changed as soon as it is put into the service of the Lord. That is the secret of spiritual success. We should not try to lord it over the material nature, nor should we reject material things. The best way to make the best use of a bad bargain is to use everything in relation with the supreme spiritual being. Everything is an emanation from the Supreme Spirit, and by His inconceivable power He can convert spirit into matter and matter into spirit. Therefore a material thing (so-called) is at once turned into a spiritual force by the great will of the Lord. The necessary condition for such a change is to employ so-called matter in the service of the spirit. That is the way to treat our material diseases and elevate ourselves to the spiritual plane where there is no misery, no lamentation and no fear. When everything is thus employed in the service of the Lord, we can experience that there is nothing except the Supreme Brahman. The Vedic mantra that “everything is Brahman” is thus realized by us.
FAQs
This verse implies that a remedy must be different from the cause of the disease; therefore materialistic solutions cannot heal material bondage—only spiritual purification (bhakti centered on Bhagavān) can.
Nārada instructs Vyāsa that literature encouraging worldly enjoyment cannot truly purify the heart, because the same taste for enjoyment is what produces bondage and distress.
Don’t try to cure anxiety and emptiness by increasing the very habits that feed them (endless consumption and indulgence); replace them with sādhana—hearing, chanting, and serving with devotion.