Verse 3.9.112

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 3.9.112:

‘কুশল’ শব্দের অর্থ ব্যক্ত করিবারে ‘ভক্তি আছে’ করি’ বার্তা লযেন সবারে ॥ ১১২ ॥

‘कुशल’ शब्देर अर्थ व्यक्त करिबारे ‘भक्ति आछे’ करि’ वार्ता लयेन सबारे ॥ ११२ ॥

‘kuśala’ śabdera artha vyakta karibāre ‘bhakti āche’ kari’ vārtā layena sabāre || 112 ||

‘kusala’ sabdera artha vyakta karibare ‘bhakti ache’ kari’ varta layena sabare (112)

English translation:

(112) But the Lord revealed the actual meaning of the word kuśala, or “well,” by inquiring whether a person had devotion.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (4.22.14) Pṛthu Mahārāja speaks the following words:

bhavatsu kuśala-praśna ātmārāmeṣu neṣyate kuśalākuśalā yatra na santi mati-vṛttayaḥ

“My dear sirs, there is no need to ask about your good and bad fortune because you are always absorbed in spiritual bliss. The mental concoction of the auspicious and inauspicious does not exist in you.”

In his Bhāgavata-tātparya commentary on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (1.14.34) Madhvācārya quotes the Nāradīya Purāṇa as follows:

aty uttamānāṃ kuśala praśno loka-sukhecchayā nityadāpta-sukhatvāt tu na teṣāṃ yujyate kvacit

“Exalted persons inquire about people’s well being to make them happy. Otherwise they are not too concerned about the happiness of their own people.”

In his Bhāgavata-tātparya commentary on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (2.1.26) Madhvācārya quotes the Padma Purāṇa as follows:

lokānāṃ sukha-kartṛtvam apekṣya kuśalaṃ vibhoḥ pṛcchyate satatānandāt kathaṃ tasyeva pṛcchyate

“Inquiries about people’s well being are made to make people happy. That is why they are always done joyfully and in relationship to the Lord.”

In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.23.26) it is stated:

nanv addhā mayi kurvanti kuśalāḥ svārtha-darśinaḥa haituky avyavahitāṃ bhaktim ātma-priye yathā

“Certainly expert personalities, who can see their own true interest, render unmotivated and uninterrupted devotional service directly unto

Me, for I am most dear to the soul.”

In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (5.18.12) it is stated:

yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā mano-rathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ

“In one who has unflinching devotional faith in Kṛṣṇa, all the good qualities of Kṛṣṇa and the demigods are consistently manifested.

However, one who has no devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead has no good qualifications because he is engaged by mental concoction in material existence, which is the external feature of the Lord.”