SB 10.48.11

Devanāgarī

दुराराध्यं समाराध्य विष्णुं सर्वेश्वरेश्वरम् । यो वृणीते मनोग्राह्यमसत्त्वात् कुमनीष्यसौ ॥ ११ ॥

Text

durārdhyaṁ samārādhya viṣṇuṁ sarveśvareśvaram yo vṛṇīte mano-grāhyam asattvāt kumanīṣy asau

Synonyms

durārādhyam—rarely worshiped;samārādhya—fully worshiping;viṣṇum—Lord Viṣṇu;sarva—of all;īśvara—controllers;īśvaram—the supreme controller;yaḥ—who;vṛṇīte—chooses as a benediction;manaḥ—to the mind;grāhyam—that which is accessible, namely sense gratification;asattvāt—because of its insignificance;kumanīṣī—unintelligent;asau—that person.

Translation

Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Lord of all lords, is ordinarily difficult to approach. One who has properly worshiped Him and then chooses the benediction of mundane sense gratification is certainly of poor intelligence, for he is satisfied with an insignificant result.

Purport

It is clear from the commentaries of the ācāryas that the story of Trivakrā is to be understood on two levels. On the one hand, she is understood to be a liberated soul, directly associating with the Lord and participating in His pastimes. On the other hand, her conduct is clearly meant to teach a lesson about what not to do in relation with Lord Kṛṣṇa. Since all of the Lord’s pastimes are not only blissful but also didactic, there is no real contradiction in this pastime, since Trivakrā’s purity and her bad example take place on two distinct levels. Arjuna is also considered a pure devotee, yet by initially disobeying Kṛṣṇa’s instruction to fight, he also showed an example of what not to do. However, such “bad examples” always have happy endings in the blissful association of the Absolute Truth, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

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