Verse 7.15

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 7.15:

न मां दुष्कृतिनो मूढाः प्रपद्यन्ते नराधमाः ।
माययापहृत-ज्ञाना आसुरं भावम् आश्रिताः ॥ १५ ॥

na māṃ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ |
māyayāpahṛta-jñānā āsuraṃ bhāvam āśritāḥ || 15 ||

na–not; mām–to Me; duṣkṛtinaḥ–those who are polluted by the performance of fruitive actions or unfortunate persons; mūḍhāḥ–those devoid of discrimination; prapadyante–do surrender; nara-adhamāḥ–the lowest among mankind; māyayā–by illusion; apahṛta-jñānāḥ–those whose knowledge is covered; āsuram–of the demoniac; bhāvam–nature; āśritāḥ–those who take shelter.

Those contaminated by fruitive action and fools who are devoid of discrimination, who are the lowest among human beings, whose knowledge has been completely covered by māyā, and who have a demoniac nature, do not surrender unto Me.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

The question may be raised, “Why, then, do learned persons not take shelter of You?” Śrī Bhagavān replies, “Those who are genuinely learned do in fact take exclusive shelter of Me, but those who consider themselves to be learned do not.” Śrī Bhagavān is speaking this verse beginning with na mām to explain this. The word duṣkṛtinaḥ refers to those who are wicked, though they may have some piety. And some may appear to be learned (paṇḍitas) but are actually pseudo paṇḍitas.

Duṣkṛta are of four types:

(1) Mūḍhāḥ–those fruitive workers who are no better than animals. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.32.19) describes, “Just as a stool-eating hog rejects sweet-rice and enjoys stool, those cheated by destiny, who give up the nectar of hearing hari-kathā and engage in hearing other useless talks, are most unfortunate.” Who but an animal would not like to perform service to the Supreme Lord, Śrī Mukunda?

(2) Narādhamāḥ–the lowest among mankind. Even after performing bhakti for some time and attaining the qualities of a human being, persons who are narādhama finally give up the process of bhakti wilfully, thinking it to be ineffective in attaining their desired fruit.

(3) Māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ–those whose knowledge has been stolen by māyā, even after studying the scriptures. They think that only the form of Śrī Nārāyaṇa situated in Vaikuṇṭha can be served eternally and can grant eternal bhakti; one cannot perform bhakti eternally to other forms, such as Rāma and Kṛṣṇa, because They have a human form. Śrī Bhagavān has said in the Gītā (9.11), “Fools disrespect Me when I appear in My human form.” He says, “They seem to have surrendered to Me, but they have not surrendered in reality.”

(4) Āsuraṃ bhāvam āśritāḥ–“Demons such as Jarāsandha shoot arrows at Me, attempting to injure My transcendental body. Similarly, the demoniac, through illogical arguments, deny my transcendental form in Vaikuṇṭha, as it appears to be an embodied form. They do not surrender unto Me.”

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura quotes Kṛṣṇa as saying, “Having taken shelter of a demonic mentality, four types of persons do not accept surrender to Me: the wicked (duṣkṛta), the foolish (mūḍha), the lowest of human beings (narādhama) and persons whose knowledge is covered by illusion (māyayāpahṛta-jñānīs).

(1) Those who are wicked (duṣkṛta) live an extremely unrighteous life.

(2) The mūḍhās are those atheistic persons who follow moral principles but do not take shelter of Me, the presiding deity of morality.

(3) Narādhamas are the lowest of human beings. They consider Me to be only an aspect of morality but not the Lord of morality.

(4) Māyayāpahṛta-jñānīs are those whose knowledge remains covered by māyā. Even when they have studied scriptures such as Vedānta, they still worship Brahmā and other demigods. They do not know My omnipotent nature, the eternal conscious nature of the jīva, the temporary nature of the relationship of the jīva with inert matter, or the eternal nature of the jīva’s relationship with Me as My servant.”