Chaitanya Bhagavata
by Bhumipati Dāsa | 2008 | 1,349,850 words
The Chaitanya Bhagavata 2.5.121, English translation, including a commentary (Gaudiya-bhasya). This text is similair to the Caitanya-caritamrita and narrates the pastimes of Lord Caitanya, proclaimed to be the direct incarnation of Krishna (as Bhagavan) This is verse 121 of Madhya-khanda chapter 5—“Lord Nityananda’s Vyasa-puja Ceremony and His Darshana of the Lord’s Six-armed Form”.
Verse 2.5.121
Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 2.5.121:
সেবা-বিগ্রহের প্রতি অনাদর যার বিষ্ণু-স্থানে অপরাধ সর্বথা তাহার ॥ ১২১ ॥
सेवा-विग्रहेर प्रति अनादर यार विष्णु-स्थाने अपराध सर्वथा ताहार ॥ १२१ ॥
sevā-vigrahera prati anādara yāra viṣṇu-sthāne aparādha sarvathā tāhāra || 121 ||
seva-vigrahera prati anadara yara visnu-sthane aparadha sarvatha tahara (121)
English translation:
(121) One who disrespects the servitor Personality of Godhead certainly commits an offense to Lord Viṣṇu.
Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:
The worshipable object is called the sevya-vigraha, or the object of service. One who serves that worshipable object is called the sevā- vigraha, or the servitor Personality of Godhead. Svayaṃ-rūpa Vrajendra- nandana is the eternal object of worship, and svayam-prakāśa Baladeva is the eternal abode of worship. In the language of those who write alaṅkāra-śāstra, Kṛṣṇa is called the viṣaya-vigraha, or object of worship, and His energies headed by Baladeva are called āśraya-vigrahas or sevaka-vigrahas, abodes of worship. One who respects the sevya-vigraha while disrespecting the sevaka-vigraha can never please the sevya- vigraha; rather he becomes an obect of neglect and falls in the mire of offense. In the Ādi Purāṇa it is stated:
ye me bhakta-janāḥ pārtha na me bhaktāś ca te janāḥ
mad-bhaktānāṃ ca ye bhaktās te me bhakta-tamā matāḥ
“My dear Pārtha, those who claim to be My devotees are not My devotees, but those who claim to be devotees of My devotees are actually My devotees.”