Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 8 Chapter 3 Verse 29

Canto 8: Withdrawal of the Cosmic Creations | Chapter 3: Gajendra's Prayers of Surrender

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 8.3.29

nāyaḿ veda svam ātmānaḿ

yac-chaktyāhaḿ-dhiyā hatam

taḿ duratyaya-māhātmyaḿ

bhagavantam ito 'smy aham

SYNONYMS

na — not; ayam — people in general; veda — know; svam — own; ātmānam — identity; yat-śaktyā — by whose influence; aham — I am independent; dhiyā — by this intelligence; hatam — defeated or covered; tam — unto Him; duratyaya — difficult to understand; māhātmyam — whose glories; bhagavantam — of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; itaḥ — taking shelter; asmi aham — I am.

TRANSLATION

I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by whose illusory energy the jīva, who is part and parcel of God, forgets his real identity because of the bodily concept of life. I take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose glories are difficult to understand.

PURPORT

As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, every living entity — regardless of whether he be human, demigod, animal, bird, bee or whatever — is part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord and the living entity are intimately related like father and son. Unfortunately, because of material contact, the living entity forgets this and wants to enjoy the material world independently, according to his own plan. This illusion (māyā) is very difficult to surmount. Māyā covers the living entity because of his willingness to forget the Supreme Personality of Godhead and make his own plan to enjoy this material world. As long as this contamination continues, the conditioned soul will be unable to understand his real identity and will perpetually continue under illusion, life after life. Ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam ahaḿ mameti (Bhāg. 5.5.8). As long as the living entity is not enlightened so that he may understand his real position, he will be attracted to materialistic life, to house, country or field, to society, sons, family, community, bank balance and so on. Covered by all this, he will continue to think, "I am this body, and everything related to this body is mine." This materialistic conception of life is extremely difficult to surmount, but one who surrenders to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as did Gajendra, the King of the elephants, comes to enlightenment on the Brahman platform.

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā

na śocati na kāńkṣati

samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu

mad-bhaktiḿ labhate parām

"One who is transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman and becomes fully joyful. He never laments nor desires to have anything; he is equally disposed toward all living entities. In that state he attains pure devotional service unto Me." (Bg. 18.54) Since a devotee is completely on the Brahman platform, he is not jealous of any other living entity (samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu).

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness