Shloka 21
Karmic Aspirations, Demigod Worship, and the Supreme Duty of Bhakti
Hari-kathā as Life’s True Gain
भार: परं पट्टकिरीटजुष्ट - मप्युत्तमाङ्गं न नमेन्मुकुन्दम् । शावौ करौ नो कुरुते सपर्यां हरेर्लसत्काञ्चनकङ्कणौ वा ॥ २१ ॥
bhāraḥ paraṁ paṭṭa-kirīṭa-juṣṭam apy uttamāṅgaṁ na namen mukundam śāvau karau no kurute saparyāṁ harer lasat-kāñcana-kaṅkaṇau vā
ပတ္တုရစ်ပေါင်းနှင့် မ冠တပ်ထားသော်လည်း မုကുന္ဒ ဘုရားရှေ့ မနမ့်မိလျှင် ခေါင်းသည် အလေးချိန်သာ; တောက်ပသော ရွှေကင်ကဏ္ဏာများ ဝတ်ထားသော်လည်း ဟရီ၏ စေဝာမလုပ်လျှင် လက်များသည် သေကောင်လက်များကဲ့သို့။
As stated hereinbefore, there are three kinds of devotees of the Lord. The first-class devotee does not at all see anyone who is not in the service of the Lord, but the second-class devotee makes distinctions between devotees and nondevotees. The second-class devotees are therefore meant for preaching work, and as referred to in the above verse, they must loudly preach the glories of the Lord. The second-class devotee accepts disciples from the section of third-class devotees or nondevotees. Sometimes the first-class devotee also comes down to the category of the second-class devotee for preaching work. But the common man, who is expected to become at least a third-class devotee, is advised herein to visit the temple of the Lord and bow down before the Deity, even though he may be a very rich man or even a king with a silk turban or crown. The Lord is the Lord of everyone, including the great kings and emperors, and men who are rich in the estimation of mundane people must therefore make it a point to visit the temple of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and regularly bow down before the Deity. The Lord in the temple in the worshipable form is never to be considered to be made of stone or wood, for the Lord in His arcā incarnation as the Deity in the temple shows immense favor to the fallen souls by His auspicious presence. By the hearing process, as mentioned hereinbefore, this realization of the presence of the Lord in the temple is made possible. As such, the first process in the routine work of devotional service — hearing — is the essential point. Hearing by all classes of devotees from the authentic sources like Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is essential. The common man who is puffed up with his material position and does not bow down before the Deity of the Lord in the temple, or who defies temple worship without any knowledge of the science, must know that his so-called turban or crown will only succeed in further drowning him in the water of the ocean of material existence. A drowning man with a heavy weight on his head is sure to go down more swiftly than those who have no heavy weight. A foolish, puffed-up man defies the science of God and says that God has no meaning for him, but when he is in the grip of God’s law and is caught by some disease like cerebral thrombosis, that godless man sinks into the ocean of nescience by the weight of his material acquisition. Advancement of material science without God consciousness is a heavy load on the head of human society, and so one must take heed of this great warning.
FAQs
This verse says that a head which does not bow to Mukunda is merely a burden, implying that true dignity and worth come from humble surrender to the Lord.
He teaches Parikshit that the real purpose of the body is devotional service; hands that never serve or worship the Lord are compared to dead hands, even if ornamented.
Cultivate daily humility (offering pranamas, remembering God) and engage your actions (“hands”) in practical service—chanting, helping devotees, offering food, and doing work as an offering to Hari.