Verse 2.10.36

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 2.10.36:

“এই মোর দেহ হৈতে তুমি মোর বড তোমার যে জাতি, সেই জাতি মোর দঢ ॥ ৩৬ ॥

“एइ मोर देह हैते तुमि मोर बड तोमार ये जाति, सेइ जाति मोर दढ ॥ ३६ ॥

“ei mora deha haite tumi mora baḍa tomāra ye jāti, sei jāti mora daḍha || 36 ||

“ei mora deha haite tumi mora bada tomara ye jati, sei jati mora dadha (36)

English translation:

(36) “You are more dear to Me than My own body. I certainly belong to the same caste as you.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

Mahāprabhu said to Haridāsa, “Some people may consider your non- Hindu body as inferior to My brāhmaṇa body, but their vision is defective. I say with conviction that there is no difference between your caste and My caste. Rather, your body is superior to My body in all respects.” Modern Hindus consider their bodies superior to the bodies of the Yavanas. Being intoxicated with pride over their respective castes, such atheistic Hindus consider the Lord’s devotees born in any caste as inferior. Their process of reasoning is extremely faulty. The material body of an embodied soul who is constantly engaged in the service of the Lord may from mundane vision apparently resemble the body of low- caste person, but such a mentality is offensive. Persons whose bodies consist of blood and semen are eager to establish their supremacy on the basis of their Hindu or non-Hindu considerations. They develop such considerations because they are indifferent towards the resolute worship of Lord Hari. The sinful Yavanas or the so-called pious Hindus establish their superiority on the basis of their worldly considerations. Being

controlled by such considerations, they blaspheme the Vaiṣṇavas and traverse the path to hell without any tangible gain.

In Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Antya 4.192-193) it is stated:

dīkṣā-kāle bhakta kare ātma-samarpaṇa sei-kāle kṛṣṇa tāre kare ātma-sama

sei deha kare tāra cid-ānanda-maya aprākṛta-dehe tāṅra caraṇa bhajaya

“At the time of initiation, when a devotee fully surrenders unto the service of the Lord, Kṛṣṇa accepts him to be as good as Himself. When the devotee’s body is thus transformed into spiritual existence, the devotee, in that transcendental body, renders service to the lotus feet of the Lord.” In the Sārārtha-darśinī commentary on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (5.12.11) it is stated: “Just as a piece of iron becomes gold by contact with a touchstone, the material body and senses of a person become spiritual in the association of devotional service...In order to exhibit the glories of devotional service, the Supreme Lord, by His inconceivable potencies, mysteriously manifests the transcendental body, senses, and mind of a devotee and mysteriously destroys his false body and senses. The purport of saying `mysteriously’ is that people who are blind to the truth identify a Vaiṣṇava with his previous material designations without realizing his actual identity and consider his body as a mortal bag of bones and flesh and thus commit offenses at his feet.” In the Upadeśāmṛta (6) it is stated:

dṛṣṭaiḥ svabhāva-janitair vapuṣaś ca doṣair na prākṛtatvam iha bhakta janasya paśyet

gaṅgāmbhasāṃ na khalu budbuda-phena-paṅkair brahma-dravatvam apagacchati nīra-dharmaiḥ

“Being situated in his original Kṛṣṇa conscious position, a pure devotee does not identify with the body. Such a devotee should not be seen from a materialistic point of view. Indeed, one should overlook a devotee’s

having a body born in a low family, a body with a bad complexion, a deformed body, or a diseased or infirm body. According to ordinary vision, such imperfections may seem prominent in the body of a pure devotee, but despite such seeming defects, the body of a pure devotee cannot be polluted. It is exactly like the waters of the Ganges, which sometimes during the rainy season are full of bubbles, foam and mud. The Ganges waters do not become polluted. Those who are advanced in spiritual understanding will bathe in the Ganges without considering the condition of the water.” In the Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta (2.3.139) it is stated:

bhaktānāṃ sac-cid-ānanda rūpeṣv aṅgendriyātmasu ghaṭate svānurūpeṣu vaikuṇṭhe ‘nyatra ca svataḥ

In other words, whether a devotee lives in Vaikuṇṭha or anywhere else, his sac-cid-ānanda body appropriate for the Lord’s service is spontaneously manifest. By the awakening of devotional service his material body born of five gross elements transforms into sac-cid- ānanda. The birth and death of such a body is exactly like the appearance and disappearance of the Supreme Lord’s sac-cid-ānanda body. Those who consider the appearance and disappearance of the devotees and the Supreme Lord to be like the birth and death of conditioned souls, who are forced to accept the fruits of their karma, repeatedly suffer material miseries rather than obtain liberation.