FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.2.10

देवस्य मायया स्पृष्टा ये चान्यदसदाश्रिता: । भ्राम्यते धीर्न तद्वाक्यैरात्मन्युप्तात्मनो हरौ ॥ १० ॥
devasya māyayā spṛṣṭā
[devasya maayayaa sprishtaa]
ye cānyad asad-āśritāḥ
[ye chaanyad asad-aashritaah]
bhrāmyate dhīr na tad-vākyair
[bhraamyate dheer na tad-vaakyair]
ātmany uptātmano harau
[aatmany uptaatmano harau]
devasya — of the Personality of Godhead māyayā — by the influence of external energy spṛṣṭāḥ — infected ye — all those ca — and anyat — others asat — illusory āśritāḥ — being taken to bhrāmyate — bewilder dhīḥ — intelligence na — not tat — of them vākyaiḥ — by those words ātmani — in the Supreme Self upta-ātmanaḥ — surrendered souls harau — unto the Lord.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
devasya māyayā spṛṣṭā
devasya
of the Personality of Godhead
māyayā
by the influence of external energy
spṛṣṭāḥ
infected
ye cānyad asad-āśritāḥ
ye
all those
ca
and
anyat
others
asat
illusory
āśritāḥ
being taken to
bhrāmyate dhīr na tad-vākyair
bhrāmyate
bewilder
dhīḥ
intelligence
na
not
tat
of them
vākyaiḥ
by those words
ātmany uptātmano harau
ātmani
in the Supreme Self
upta-ātmanaḥ
surrendered souls
harau
unto the Lord.
Under no circumstances can the words of persons bewildered by the illusory energy of the Lord deviate the intelligence of those who are completely surrendered souls.

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead according to all the evidences of the Vedas. He is accepted by all ācāryas, including Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya. But when He was present in the world, different classes of men accepted Him differently, and therefore their calculations of the Lord were also different. Generally, persons who had faith in the revealed scriptures accepted the Lord as He is, and all of them merged into great bereavement when the Lord disappeared from the world. In the First Canto we have already discussed the lamentation of Arjuna and Yudhiṣṭhira, to whom the disappearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa was almost intolerable up to the end of their lives.

The Yādavas were only partially cognizant of the Lord, but they are also glorious because they had the opportunity to associate with the Lord, who acted as the head of their family, and they also rendered the Lord intimate service. The Yādavas and other devotees of the Lord are different from those who wrongly calculated Him to be an ordinary human personality. Such persons are certainly bewildered by the illusory energy. They are hellish and are envious of the Supreme Lord. The illusory energy acts very powerfully on them because in spite of their elevated mundane education, such persons are faithless and are infected by the mentality of atheism. They are always very eager to establish that Lord Kṛṣṇa was an ordinary man who was killed by a hunter due to His many impious acts in plotting to kill the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Jarāsandha, the demoniac kings of the earth. Such persons have no faith in the statement of the Bhagavad-gītā that the Lord is unaffected by the reactions of work: na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti. According to the atheistic point of view, Lord Kṛṣṇa’s family, the Yadu dynasty, was vanquished due to being cursed by the brāhmaṇas for the sins committed by Kṛṣṇa in killing the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, etc. All these blasphemies do not touch the heart of the devotees of the Lord because they know perfectly well what is what. Their intelligence regarding the Lord is never disturbed. But those who are disturbed by the statements of the asuras are also condemned. That is what Uddhava meant in this verse.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
The intelligence of the devotee who is absorbed in Paramātmā is not bewildered by the words of those touched by the Lord’s māyā or those who take shelter of a demonic mentality. Those devotees living in the material world suffer in separation from the Lord, and the Yādavas, eternally in his association, are happy in his association. These two types of persons are fortunate since they have devotion. Others, not being devotees, have hellish existence. That is explained in this verse. Those touched by the Lord’s māyā, thinking themselves learned, and those who take shelter of evil mentality, completely different from the real conclusions, the demons, say that Kṛṣṇa gave up his body and went to Vaikuṇṭha. They say that Kṛṣṇa along with his dynasty was destroyed by the curse of a brāhmaṇa, since he committed unjustified violence against great kings like Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Jarāsandha. However the intelligence of the devotee who has absorbed his mind (uptātmanaḥ) in Paramātmā is not bewildered by such critical words. Rather, he is absorbed in Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness. Those who are bewildered by such words deserve hell.
When the world tries to reduce Krsna to a myth or a man, the surrendered soul is not shaken. Anchor your understanding in scripture and the acaryas; words spoken under illusion need not become your beliefs.
Reflection Questions
  • Which recent argument against your faith actually moved you, and why?
  • Whose words do you most need to stop letting reshape your view of Krsna?
📝 My note

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