Verse 1.2.49

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.2.49:

শোচ্য-দেশে, শোচ্য-কুলে আপন-সমান জন্মাইযা বৈষ্ণবে, সবারে করে ত্রাণ ॥ ৪৯ ॥

शोच्य-देशे, शोच्य-कुले आपन-समान जन्माइया वैष्णवे, सबारे करे त्राण ॥ ४९ ॥

śocya-deśe, śocya-kule āpana-samāna janmāiyā vaiṣṇave, sabāre kare trāṇa || 49 ||

socya-dese, socya-kule apana-samana janmaiya vaisnave, sabare kare trana (49)

English translation:

(49) The Lord had His devotees, who are equal to Him, appear at impious places and in impious families in order to deliver everyone.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

The term śocya-kule is explained as follows: Pious people are not affected by low-birth, because they are born in pure brāhmaṇa families. Kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, śūdras, and antyajas are progressively more impious. Fruitive workers are born in impious families due to their sinful activities, but Vaiṣṇavas, who are engaged in the service of Lord Viṣṇu, are as good as Viṣṇu. They are able to purify all sorts of impious countries and families. In the śāstras it is also stated:

kulaṃ pavitraṃ jananī kṛtārthā vasundharā vā vasatiś ca dhanyā nṛtyanti svarge pitaro ‘pi teṣāṃ yeṣāṃ kule vaiṣṇava-nāmadheyam

“In whatever family a Vaiṣṇava appears, his family, mother, birthplace, and residence become purified and his forefathers dance in the heavens.” The words āpana-samāna indicate that Vaiṣṇavas are the spiritual masters of the entire world and inconceivably one with and different from

Lord Kṛṣṇa. They represent the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Absolute Truth, and they personify the syllable oṃkāra. Through the Vaiṣṇavas, Śrī Kṛṣṇa delivers the conditioned souls, whose aversion to Hari is born from accepting materialistic varṇāśrama and caste consciousness. That is why the Vaiṣṇava śāstras (Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 4.366) loudly declare:

avaiṣṇavopadiṣṭena mantreṇa nirayaṃ vrajet punaś ca vidhinā samyag grāhayed vaiṣṇavād guroḥ

“One who receives a mantra from a guru who is a nondevotee or who is addicted to sense enjoyment is doomed to a life in hell. Such a person must immediately approach a genuine Vaiṣṇava guru and again accept the mantra from him.” Other than pure Vaiṣṇavas, no one can properly act as an ācārya. Anyone other than a pure Vaiṣṇava is a conditioned soul who suffers the results of his karma. But Vaiṣṇavas are transcendental worshipers of Viṣṇu and have conquered the illusory energy, therefore they are as good as Lord Viṣṇu. They are liberated souls, situated in pure goodness, beyond the three modes of material nature. They are eternal associates of Lord Viṣṇu and capable of protecting the conditioned souls from the covering and throwing potencies of Māyā by their instructions on sādhana-bhakti. People other than Vaiṣṇavas reject the service of Viṣṇu and serve Māyā, thus accepting temporary material objects as the controller. Eventually they accept the doctrine of impersonalism and fall in the path of atheism or godlessness. In this way they lose all inclination for serving Kṛṣṇa.