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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.24.29
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A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 29
- sa eva bhagavān adya
- helanaṁ na gaṇayya naḥ
- gṛheṣu jāto grāmyāṇāṁ
- yaḥ svānāṁ pakṣa-poṣaṇaḥ
saḥthat very same evathat very same — that very same; bhagavānSupreme Personality of Godhead — Supreme Personality of Godhead; adyatoday — today; helanamnegligence — negligence; nanot — not; gaṇayyaconsidering high and low — considering high and low; naḥour — our; gṛheṣuin the houses — in the houses; jātaḥappeared — appeared; grāmyāṇāmof ordinary householders — of ordinary householders; yaḥHe who — He who; svānāmof His own devotees — of His own devotees; pakṣawho supports the party-poṣaṇaḥwho supports the party — who supports the party.
Not considering the negligence of ordinary householders like us, that very same Supreme Personality of Godhead appears in our homes just to support His devotees.
Devotees are so affectionate toward the Personality of Godhead that although He does not appear before those who practice yoga in a secluded place even for many, many births, He agrees to appear in a householder's home where devotees engage in devotional service without material yoga practice. In other words, devotional service to the Lord is so easy that even a householder can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead as one of the members of his household, as his son, as Kardama Muni experienced. He was a householder, although a yogī, but he had the incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kapila Muni as his son.
Devotional service is such a powerful transcendental method that it surpasses all other methods of transcendental realization. The Lord says, therefore, that He lives neither in Vaikuṇṭha nor in the heart of a yogī, but He lives where His pure devotees are always chanting and glorifying Him. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is known as bhakta-vatsala. He is never described as jñānī-vatsala or yogī-vatsala. He is always described as bhakta-vatsala because He is more inclined toward His devotees than toward other transcendentalists. In Bhagavad-gītā it is confirmed that only a devotee can understand Him as He is. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti: (BG 18.55, Not yet available in the library. Try the live source.) "One can understand Me only by devotional service, not otherwise." That understanding alone is real because although jñānīs, mental speculators, can realize only the effulgence, or the bodily luster, of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and yogīs can realize only the partial representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, a bhakta not only realizes Him as He is but also associates with the Personality of Godhead face to face.