Verse 1.7.53-56

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.7.53-56:

শ্রী-শুক কহেন,—“শুন, রাজা পরীক্ষিত্ পরমাত্মা—সর্ব-দেহে বল্লভ, বিদিত আত্মা বিনে পুত্র বা কলত্র বন্ধু-গণ গৃহ হৈতে বাহির করায তত-ক্ষণ অতএব, পরমাত্মা-সবার জীবন সেই পরমাত্মা—এই শ্রী-নন্দনন্দন অতএব পরমাত্মা-স্বভাব-কারণে কৃষ্ণেতে অধিক স্নেহ করে গোপী-গণে ॥ ৫৩-৫৬ ॥

श्री-शुक कहेन,—“शुन, राजा परीक्षित् परमात्मा—सर्व-देहे वल्लभ, विदित आत्मा विने पुत्र वा कलत्र बन्धु-गण गृह हैते बाहिर कराय तत-क्षण अतएव, परमात्मा-सबार जीवन सेइ परमात्मा—एइ श्री-नन्दनन्दन अतएव परमात्मा-स्वभाव-कारणे कृष्णेते अधिक स्नेह करे गोपी-गणे ॥ ५३-५६ ॥

śrī-śuka kahena,—“śuna, rājā parīkṣit paramātmā—sarva-dehe vallabha, vidita ātmā vine putra vā kalatra bandhu-gaṇa gṛha haite bāhira karāya tata-kṣaṇa ataeva, paramātmā-sabāra jīvana sei paramātmā—ei śrī-nandanandana ataeva paramātmā-svabhāva-kāraṇe kṛṣṇete adhika sneha kare gopī-gaṇe || 53-56 ||

sri-suka kahena,—“suna, raja pariksit paramatma—sarva-dehe vallabha, vidita atma vine putra va kalatra bandhu-gana grha haite bahira karaya tata-ksana ataeva, paramatma-sabara jivana sei paramatma—ei sri-nandanandana ataeva paramatma-svabhava-karane krsnete adhika sneha kare gopi-gane (53-56)

English translation:

(53-56) Śukadeva Gosvāmī replied, “O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, it is well-known that the Supersoul is dear to all. When the soul leaves the son, wife, or friend, their body is taken out of the house. Therefore the Supersoul is the life of everyone. That Supersoul is the son of Nanda Mahārāja.

Thus the gopīs have more affection for Kṛṣṇa due to His natural characteristics as the Supreme Soul.”

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

In their description of sāyujya liberation, or merging in Brahman, the followers of śuddha-dvaita (purified dualism) accept that the soul and the Supersoul remain together. It is understood from the dvā suparṇā verse in the Vedas that the soul and the Supersoul are both present in one vessel.

As soon as a soul is bereft of the service of the Supersoul, he develops material conceptions. Although the soul and the Supersoul are both present in this world, which is manifested by the spiritual potency of the Lord, there nevertheless remains a difference between them. Yet there is nothing abominable or inferior in this difference. In order to establish the oneness of the Absolute Truth, this nondual substance has been explained under various doctrines like śuddha-dvaita (purified dualism), viśiṣṭādvaita (specific monism), śuddhādvaita (purified monism), and dvaitādvaita (monism and dualism). The pastimes of the Lord with His associates further confirm the spiritual variegatedness of the nondual Absolute Truth. The inferiority of material variegatedness has unreasonably and illegally attacked the impersonalists’ flow of thought.

A servant of the Absolute Truth who is expert in the conclusion of personalism finds in the philosophy of acintya-bhedābheda a wonderful and proper balance in all the above-mentioned pure conclusions on the Brahma-sūtras.

In the constitutional position of the Lord’s associates, there is no motive other than service to Śrī Nandanandana, the Supersoul. In other words, the abominable mundane consideration of duality found in the imperfections and differentiations between subjects and objects in this material world cannot be equally established in the nondual kingdom of Vaikuṇṭha. The Supersoul and the soul are related with each other as well-wishers. As soon as the living entity forgets that relationship, māyā immediately arranges for him various temporary relationships like wife and children in this material world. The deluding external energy of the Supersoul has two functions—covering and throwing. When the living

entity becomes entangled in this material world, he falls under the control

of the material modes of nature and due to his misconceptions he accepts various sense objects, beginning with a wife and children. In this way he is separated from the service of the Absolute Truth, Vrajendra-nandana.

From this misconception and forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa, the living entity develops the mentality of “I am the enjoyer of all material tastes and forms, like my wife and children.” This is not the constitutional duty of a living entity; it is simply a mental concoction. In other words, the living entity is awarded designations by the covering and throwing potencies of māyā and he enjoys the respective results of those designations. But material conceptions are never able to touch a pure living entity. The eternal propensity of a living entity is to cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness. A living entity accepts his material designations as himself due to nondevotional misconceptions. Under the influence of such misconceptions the conditioned souls become impersonalists, or worshipers of the impersonal homogeneous Brahman, while some are inclined to enjoy heaven or hell due to their intense urge for material enjoyment. When the pure living entity with material designations and bewildered intelligence becomes a Māyāvādī, he is covered by the false conception of spiritual and material oneness, which produces a whirlwind of imaginative considerations of oneness between the living entities and Brahman and oneness between the material nature and Brahman. When the soul leaves the body, he can immediately understand, “I am not the body. If I were the body, then why did my relatives attempt to return the five elements of my body to the five material elements at the time of my funeral. Since I am separate from the material body, after leaving my body those related to it consider it detestful and want to throw it out of the house.”

Although the material world, which is created by the external energy of the Supersoul, is not false, it is also not eternal, that is, it is prone to change. The eternal soul and the temporary mind both possess the consciousness of being the doer, yet there is a difference between the two.