Verse 2.1.233

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 2.1.233:

কৃষ্ণের সেবক জীব কৃষ্ণের মাযায কৃষ্ণ না ভজিলে এই-মত দুঃখ পায ॥ ২৩৩ ॥

कृष्णेर सेवक जीव कृष्णेर मायाय कृष्ण ना भजिले एइ-मत दुःख पाय ॥ २३३ ॥

kṛṣṇera sevaka jīva kṛṣṇera māyāya kṛṣṇa nā bhajile ei-mata duḥkha pāya || 233 ||

krsnera sevaka jiva krsnera mayaya krsna na bhajile ei-mata duhkha paya (233)

English translation:

(233) “By the illusory energy of Kṛṣṇa, the servant of Kṛṣṇa suffers in this way if he does not worship Kṛṣṇa.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

Every living entity is constitutionally a Vaiṣṇava, or an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. As soon as he turns from the service of Viṣṇu, he comes under the control of the covering and throwing potencies of Kṛṣṇa’s deluding illusory external energy. The mentality of measuring every object under the shelter of the illusory energy through one’s sensory knowledge is certainly deluding and born of the desire for material enjoyment, therefore it is the source of unlimited miseries.

In Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 20.117-118, 120) it is stated: “Forgetting Kṛṣṇa, the living entity has been attracted by the external feature from time immemorial. Therefore the illusory energy [māyā] gives him all kinds of misery in his material existence. In the material condition, the living entity is sometimes raised to higher planetary systems and material prosperity and sometimes drowned in a hellish situation. His state is exactly like that of a criminal whom a king punishes by submerging him in water and then raising him again from the water. If the conditioned soul becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious by the mercy of saintly persons who voluntarily preach scriptural injunctions and help him to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, the conditioned soul is liberated from the clutches of māyā, who gives him up.” It is further stated in Caitanya- caritāmṛta (Madhya 22.12-15, 24-25, 33, 35, 37, 41): “Apart from the ever-liberated devotees, there are the conditioned souls who always turn away from the service of the Lord. They are perpetually conditioned in this material world and are subjected to the material tribulations brought

about by different bodily forms in hellish conditions. Due to his being opposed to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the conditioned soul is punished by the witch of the external energy, māyā. He is thus ready to suffer the threefold miseries—miseries brought about by the body and mind, the inimical behavior of other living entities and natural disturbances caused by the demigods. In this way the conditioned soul becomes the servant of lusty desires, and when these are not fulfilled, he becomes a servant of anger and continues to be kicked by the external energy, māyā.

Wandering and wandering throughout the universe, he may by chance get the association of a devotee physician, whose instructions and hymns make the witch of the external energy flee. The conditioned soul thus gets into touch with the devotional service of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and in this way he can approach nearer and nearer to the Lord. The living entity is bound around the neck by the chain of māyā because he has forgotten that he is eternally a servant of Kṛṣṇa. If the conditioned soul engages in the service of the Lord and simultaneously carries out the orders of his spiritual master and serves him, he can get out of the clutches of māyā and become eligible for shelter at Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet. One is immediately freed from the clutches of māyā if he seriously and sincerely says, ‘My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, although I have forgotten You for so many long years in the material world, today I am surrendering unto You. I am Your sincere and serious servant. Please engage me in Your service.’ Due to bad association, the living entity desires material happiness, liberation or merging into the impersonal aspect of the Lord, or he engages in mystic yoga for material power. If such a person actually becomes intelligent, he takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness by engaging himself in intense devotional service to Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. If those who desire material enjoyment or merging into the existence of the Absolute Truth engage in the Lord’s transcendental loving service, they will immediately attain shelter at Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet, although they did not ask for it. Kṛṣṇa is therefore very merciful. When someone engages in Lord Kṛṣṇa’s devotional service for the satisfaction of the senses and instead acquires a taste to serve Kṛṣṇa,

he gives up his material desires and willingly offers himself as an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa.”