Canto 5: The Creative ImpetusChapter 13: Further Talks Between King Rahūgaṇa and Jaḍa Bharata

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.13.20

rahūgaṇa tvam api hy adhvano 'sya

sannyasta-daṇḍaḥ kṛta-bhūta-maitraḥ

asaj-jitātmā hari-sevayā śitaḿ

jñānāsim ādāya tarāti-pāram

SYNONYMS

rahūgaṇaO King Rahūgaṇa; tvam — you; api — also; hi — certainly; adhvanaḥ — of the path of material existence; asya — this; sannyasta-daṇḍaḥ — having given up the king's rod for punishing criminals; kṛta-bhūta-maitraḥ — having become friendly to everyone; asat-jita-ātmā — whose mind is not attracted to the material pleasure of life; hari-sevayā — by the means of loving service to the Supreme Lord; śitam — sharpened; jñāna-asim — the sword of knowledge; ādāya — taking i n hand; tara — cross over; ati-pāramto the ultimate end of spiritual existence.

TRANSLATION

My dear King Rahūgaṇa, you are also a victim of the external energy, being situated on the path of attraction to material pleasure. So that you may become an equal friend to all living entities, I now advise you to give up your kingly position and the rod by which you punish criminals. Give up attraction to the sense objects and take up the sword of knowledge sharpened by devotional service. Then you will be able to cut the hard knot of illusory energy and cross to the other side of the ocean of nescience.

PURPORT

In Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa compares the material world to a tree of illusion from which one must cut oneself free:

na rūpam asyeha tathopalabhyate

nānto na cādir na ca sampratiṣṭhā

aśvattham enaḿ suvirūḍha-mūlam

asańga-śastreṇa dṛḍhena chittvā

tataḥ padaḿ tat parimārgitavyaḿ

yasmin gatā na nivartanti bhūyaḥ

tam eva cādyaḿ puruṣaḿ prapadye

yataḥ pravṛttiḥ prasṛtā purāṇī

"The real form of this tree cannot be perceived in this world. No one can understand where it ends, where it begins, or where its foundation is. But with determination, one must cut down this tree with the weapon of detachment. So doing, one must seek that place from which, having once gone, one never returns, and there surrender to that Supreme Personality of Godhead from whom everything has begun and in whom everything is abiding since time immemorial." (Bg. 15.3-4)

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