Verse 9.33

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 9.33:

किं पुनर् ब्राह्मणाः पुण्या भक्ता राजर्षयस् तथा ।
अनित्यम् असुखं लोकम् इमं प्राप्य भजस्व माम् ॥ ३३ ॥

kiṃ punar brāhmaṇāḥ puṇyā bhaktā rājarṣayas tathā |
anityam asukhaṃ lokam imaṃ prāpya bhajasva mām || 33 ||

kim punaḥ–not necessary to say more about; brāhmaṇāḥ–brāhmaṇas; puṇyāḥ–who are always engaed in pure action; bhaktāḥ–devotees; rāja-ṛṣayaḥ–saintly kings; tathā–and; anityam–temporary; asukham–unhappy; lokam–world of humans; imam–this; prāpya–therefore having come; bhajasva–worship; mām–Me.

What doubt, then, can there be that pious brāhmaṇas, who are always engaged in pure action, and devotee kings can achieve the supreme destination? Therefore, having come to this temporary and miserable world, engage yourself in performing bhajana of Me.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

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

“If this is their destination, what to speak of the destination of the devotees who are brāhmaṇas, born in good families and who are of pure conduct. Therefore, O Arjuna, render loving service to Me.”

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

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

If those who are born in a low family and who behave badly can very quickly develop good conduct by taking shelter of exclusive devotion and thus attain the supreme destination, what is the wonder that those who are born in a pious family and whose conduct is pure also achieve the supreme destination by taking exclusive shelter of Śrī Bhagavān? Making Arjuna the object of His teachings, Śrī Kṛṣṇa is instructing all jīvas that as long as they remain in this temporary and miserable world, they should perform bhajana of His eternal blissful svarūpa.

This verse declares that the material world is mutable, perishable and miserable, but it does not describe it as false. Some philosophers imagine that the world is false, but this idea is against the principle of Bhagavad-gītā. The supreme abode of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is called the aprākṛta-jagat, or the transcendental world, and it is eternal and blissful. Living entities who attain that abode never fall from there.