FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.20.34

मैत्रेय उवाच इति वैन्यस्य राजर्षे: प्रतिनन्द्यार्थवद्वच: । पूजितोऽनुगृहीत्वैनं गन्तुं चक्रेऽच्युतो मतिम् ॥ ३४ ॥
maitreya uvāca
[maitreya uvaacha]
iti vainyasya rājarṣeḥ
[iti vainyasya raajarsheh]
pratinandyārthavad vacaḥ
[pratinandyaarthavad vachah]
pūjito ’nugṛhītvainaṁ
[poojito ’nugriheetvainam]
gantuṁ cakre ’cyuto matim
[gantum chakre ’chyuto matim]
maitreyaḥ uvāca — the great sage Maitreya continued to speak iti — thus vainyasya — of the son of King Vena (Pṛthu Mahārāja) rāja-ṛṣeḥ — of the saintly King pratinandya — appreciating artha-vat vacaḥ — the prayers, which were full of meaning pūjitaḥ — being worshiped anugṛhītvā — sufficiently benedicting enam — King Pṛthu gantum — to go from that place cakre — made up acyutaḥ — the infallible Lord matim — His mind.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
maitreya uvāca
maitreyaḥ uvāca
the great sage Maitreya continued to speak
iti vainyasya rājarṣeḥ
iti
thus
vainyasya
of the son of King Vena (Pṛthu Mahārāja)
rāja-ṛṣeḥ
of the saintly King
pratinandyārthavad vacaḥ
pratinandya
appreciating
artha-vat vacaḥ
the prayers, which were full of meaning
pūjito ’nugṛhītvainaṁ
pūjitaḥ
being worshiped
gantuṁ cakre ’cyuto matim
anugṛhītvā
sufficiently benedicting
enam
King Pṛthu
gantum
to go from that place
cakre
made up
acyutaḥ
the infallible Lord
matim
His mind.
The great saint Maitreya told Vidura: The Supreme Personality of Godhead amply appreciated the meaningful prayers of Mahārāja Pṛthu. Thus, after being properly worshiped by the King, the Lord blessed him and decided to depart.

Most important in this verse are the words pratinandyārthavad vacaḥ, which indicate that the Lord appreciated the very meaningful prayers of the King. When a devotee prays to the Lord, it is not to ask for material benefits but to ask the Lord for His favor; he prays that he may be engaged in the service of the Lord’s lotus feet birth after birth. Lord Caitanya therefore uses the words mama janmani janmani, which mean “birth after birth,” because a devotee is not even interested in stopping the repetition of birth. The Lord and the devotee appear in this material world birth after birth, but such births are transcendental. In the Fourth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā the Lord informed Arjuna that both He and Arjuna had undergone many, many births previously, but the Lord remembered everything about them whereas Arjuna had forgotten. The Lord and His confidential devotees appear many times to fulfill the Lord’s mission, but since such births are transcendental, they are not accompanied by the miserable conditions of material birth, and they are therefore called divya, transcendental.

One must understand the transcendental birth of the Lord and the devotee. The purpose of the Lord’s taking birth is to establish devotional service, which is the perfect system of religion, and the purpose of the birth of a devotee is to broadcast the same system of religion, or the bhakti cult, all over the world. Pṛthu Mahārāja was an incarnation of the power of the Lord to spread the bhakti cult, and the Lord blessed him to remain fixed in his position. Thus when the King refused to accept any material benediction, the Lord appreciated that refusal very much. Another significant word in this verse is acyuta, which means “infallible.” Although the Lord appears in this material world, He is never to be considered one of the conditioned souls, who are all fallible. When the Lord appears, He remains in His spiritual position, uncontaminated by the modes of material nature, and therefore in Bhagavad-gītā the Lord expresses the quality of His appearance as ātma-māyayā, “performed by internal potency.” The Lord, being infallible, is not forced by material nature to take birth in this material world. He appears in order to reestablish the perfect order of religious principles and to vanquish the demoniac influence in human society.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Maitreya said: Accepting the meaningful words of Pṛthu, the sage among kings, and being worshipped by him, after showing favor to Pṛthu, the Lord decided to leave.
The Lord appreciated Pṛthu's prayers and prepared to depart after blessing him. Real worship is judged by the Lord Himself; appreciation from Him is the only real review.
Reflection Questions
  • Whose review of my worship am I optimizing for that isn't actually His?
  • What would change if I cared only about the Lord's appreciation of today's prayer?
📝 My note

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