Verse 1.17.20

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.17.20:

তবে প্রভু ব্যবস্থিলা ঔষধ আপনে ‘সর্ব-দুঃখ খণ্ডে বিপ্র-পাদোদক-পানে’ ॥ ২০ ॥

तबे प्रभु व्यवस्थिला औषध आपने ‘सर्व-दुःख खण्डे विप्र-पादोदक-पाने’ ॥ २० ॥

tabe prabhu vyavasthilā auṣadha āpane ‘sarva-duḥkha khaṇḍe vipra-pādodaka-pāne’ || 20 ||

tabe prabhu vyavasthila ausadha apane ‘sarva-duhkha khande vipra-padodaka-pane’ (20)

English translation:

(20) Then the Lord prescribed His own medicine, “If I drink the water that has washed the feet of a brāhmaṇa, My suffering will be relieved.”

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

When in spite of using various medicines the Lord’s fever did not subside, then in order to teach people the topmost position of brāhmaṇas who are conversant with the science of Viṣṇu, the jagad-guru Lord, of His own will, exhibited the pastime of accepting the remedy of water that had washed the feet of a brāhmaṇa. By this act, the Lord on one hand exhibited the pastime of creating illusion for mortal beings who are entangled in the fruits of karma and who are eligible for the punishment of Yamarāja and on the other hand He protected the prestige of those topmost brāhmaṇas who know the science of Viṣṇu. Just as in the pastimes of Nārāyaṇa, the Lord increased the glories of His devotees by accepting the mark of Bhṛgu’s foot on His own chest, in the pastimes of Gaura, He established the prestige of bodies that are related to Him.

Without understanding this inconceivable confidential pastime of the Lord, the community of foolish prākṛta-sahajiyās often become covered by conceptions of caste consciousness and end up drinking ordinary water that has washed the feet of demoniac brāhmaṇas. In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (7.11.35) it is stated:

yasya yal lakṣaṇaṃ proktaṃ puṃso varṇābhivyañjakam yad anyatrāpi dṛśyeta tat tenaiva vinirdiśet

“If one shows the symptoms of being a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya or śūdra, as described above, even if he has appeared in a different class, he should be accepted according to those symptoms of classification.” In order to eternally benefit those who transgress this injunction and consider the Vaiṣṇavas, who are spiritual masters of all brāhmaṇas, as śūdras, those who consider non-Vaiṣṇavas as brāhmaṇas, and those who mistakenly accept the qualities of śūdras as those of Vaiṣṇavas, the Lord enacted the pastime of drinking the water that had washed the feet of a devotee brāhmaṇa. The brāhmaṇas who are devoted to Acyuta are alone able to serve Lord Acyuta, while sinful śūdras who are covered by the mode of ignorance are always devoid of the sacred thread due to the predominance of ignorance, and therefore they are averse to the service of the Lord. A brāhmaṇa who knows the science of Brahman neither considers his body as his self nor engages in mental speculation. His intelligence is not bewildered by limited, temporary, enjoyable material objects. Since his consciousness is fully spiritualized, he should give up material conceptions and cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness while understanding his relationship with the Lord. The word brāhmaṇa does not refer to kṛpaṇas, or misers. The Dharma-śāstra writer Atri has stated:

brahma-tattvaṃ na jānāti brahma-sūtreṇa garvitaḥ tenaiva sa ca pāpena vipraḥ paśur udāhṛtaḥ

“One who proudly advertises himself as a sanctified brāhmaṇa but is ignorant of the Absolute Truth is because of this sin called a pasu-vipra.” Therefore by drinking the water that has washed the feet of such a pasu- vipra, ordinary, foolish, bewildered living entities will immediately become pasus, or animals.