FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.29.5

लोकस्य मिथ्याभिमतेरचक्षुष- श्चिरं प्रसुप्तस्य तमस्यनाश्रये । श्रान्तस्य कर्मस्वनुविद्धया धिया त्वमाविरासी: किल योगभास्कर: ॥ ५ ॥
lokasya mithyābhimater acakṣuṣaś
[lokasya mithyaabhimater achakshushash]
ciraṁ prasuptasya tamasy anāśraye
[chiram prasuptasya tamasy anaashraye]
śrāntasya karmasv anuviddhayā dhiyā
[shraantasya karmasv anuviddhayaa dhiyaa]
tvam āvirāsīḥ kila yoga-bhāskaraḥ
[tvam aaviraaseeh kila yoga-bhaaskarah]
lokasya — of the living entities mithyā-abhimateḥ — deluded by false ego acakṣuṣaḥ — blind ciram — for a very long time prasuptasya — sleeping tamasi — in darkness anāśraye — without shelter śrāntasya — fatigued karmasu — to material activities anuviddhayā — attached dhiyā — with the intelligence tvam — You āvirāsīḥ — have appeared kila — indeed yoga — of the yoga system bhāskaraḥ — the sun.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
lokasya mithyābhimater acakṣuṣaś
lokasya
of the living entities
mithyā-abhimateḥ
deluded by false ego
acakṣuṣaḥ
blind
ciraṁ prasuptasya tamasy anāśraye
ciram
for a very long time
prasuptasya
sleeping
tamasi
in darkness
anāśraye
without shelter
śrāntasya karmasv anuviddhayā dhiyā
śrāntasya
fatigued
karmasu
to material activities
anuviddhayā
attached
dhiyā
with the intelligence
tvam āvirāsīḥ kila yoga-bhāskaraḥ
tvam
You
āvirāsīḥ
have appeared
kila
indeed
yoga
of the yoga system
bhāskaraḥ
the sun.
My dear Lord, You are just like the sun, for You illuminate the darkness of the conditional life of the living entities. Because their eyes of knowledge are not open, they are sleeping eternally in that darkness without Your shelter, and therefore they are falsely engaged by the actions and reactions of their material activities, and they appear to be very fatigued.

It appears that Śrīmatī Devahūti, the glorious mother of Lord Kapiladeva, is very compassionate for the regrettable condition of people in general, who, not knowing the goal of life, are sleeping in the darkness of illusion. It is the general feeling of the Vaiṣṇava, or devotee of the Lord, that he should awaken them. Similarly, Devahūti is requesting her glorious son to illuminate the lives of the conditioned souls so that their most regrettable conditional life may be ended. The Lord is described herein as yoga-bhāskara, the sun of the system of all yoga. Devahūti has already requested her glorious son to describe bhakti-yoga, and the Lord has described bhakti-yoga as the ultimate yoga system.

Bhakti-yoga is the sunlike illumination for delivering the conditioned souls, whose general condition is described here. They have no eyes to see their own interests. They do not know that the goal of life is not to increase the material necessities of existence, because the body will not exist more than a few years. The living beings are eternal, and they have their eternal need. If one engages only in caring for the necessities of the body, not caring for the eternal necessities of life, then he is part of a civilization whose advancement puts the living entities in the darkest region of ignorance. Sleeping in that darkest region, one does not get any refreshment, but, rather, gradually becomes fatigued. He invents many processes to adjust this fatigued condition, but he fails and thus remains confused. The only path for mitigating his fatigue in the struggle for existence is the path of devotional service, or the path of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
You, the sun, the revealer of the lotus of bhakti, jñāna and yoga, have appeared in this world for destroying the denseness of material identity, giving light to the blind, waking up those sleeping in saṁṣara, and drying up the pool of exhaustion caused by thoughts of attachment to action. For destroying the false material identity (mithyābhimateḥ) for giving enlightenment (acakṣusaḥ), for destroying darkness of sleep in material life (tamasi prasuptasya), for drying up the pool of exhaustion caused by thoughts of attachment to action, you, the revealer of the lotus of bhakti, jñāna and yoga, have appeared.
Real devotion is steady, not theatrical. The verse treats bhakti as the work the soul was made for — every other career is a temporary detour from this primary employment.
Reflection Questions
  • What part of your day still belongs entirely to your own enjoyment, and could even a corner of it be offered?
  • Whom in your life would notice if your devotional service deepened, and what would they see?
📝 My note

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