Shloka 6
Nārada’s Arrival, the Nine Yogendras, and the Foundations of Bhāgavata-dharma
भजन्ति ये यथा देवान् देवा अपि तथैव तान् । छायेव कर्मसचिवा: साधवो दीनवत्सला: ॥ ६ ॥
bhajanti ye yathā devān devā api tathaiva tān chāyeva karma-sacivāḥ sādhavo dīna-vatsalāḥ
လူတို့သည် ဒေဝတাদেরကို မည်သို့ပူဇော်သနည်း၊ ဒေဝတাদেরလည်း ထိုအတိုင်း ပြန်လည်ပေးဆပ်သည်။ ဒေဝတাদেরသည် ကံ၏ အကူအညီပေးသူ—အရိပ်ကဲ့သို့; သာဓုတို့မူကား ကျဆုံးသူတို့ကို အမှန်တကယ် ကရုဏာထားသူများ ဖြစ်သည်။
The words chāyeva karma-sacivāḥ are significant here. Chāyā means “shadow.” The shadow of the body precisely follows the movements of the body. The shadow has no power to move in a way different from the movement of the body. Similarly, as stated here, bhajanti ye yathā devān devā api tathaiva tān: the results the demigods award to living beings correspond exactly to the living beings’ actions. The demigods are empowered by the Lord to follow precisely the particular karma of a living entity in awarding him happiness and distress. Just as a shadow cannot move independently, the demigods cannot punish or reward a living being independently. Although the demigods are millions of times more powerful than the human beings on earth, they are ultimately tiny servants of God whom the Lord allows to play as the controllers of the universe. In the Fourth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Pṛthu Mahārāja, an empowered incarnation of the Lord, states that even the demigods are subject to punishment by the Lord if they deviate from His laws. On the other hand, devotees of the Lord such as Nārada Muni, by their potent preaching, can interfere in the karma of a living being by persuading him to give up his fruitive activity and mental speculation and surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In material existence, one works hard under the bondage of ignorance. But if one becomes enlightened by association with a pure devotee of the Lord, one can understand one’s actual position as an eternal servant of God. By rendering such service, one dissolves his attachment to the material world and the reactions of his previous activities, and as a surrendered soul he is endowed with unlimited spiritual freedom in the service of the Lord. In this regard, the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.54) states:
FAQs
This verse says the demigods reciprocate according to how one worships them—granting results in proportion to the worshiper’s approach and intention.
King Nimi asked about the characteristics of devotees and spiritual progress; Śrī Kavi contrasts demigod reciprocation with the deeper compassion of sādhus who accompany and uplift souls toward devotion.
Seek and keep the company of sincere devotees, and practice compassionate guidance—helping others steadily, like a shadow, toward what is spiritually beneficial rather than merely materially pleasing.