254 Sri Caitanya-caritamrta [Madhya-lila, Ch. 8

“In this material world the living entity’s only business is to accept the path of
bhakti- yoga and chant the holy name of the Lord.”

TEXT 257

gfe, ofe ace cae, s12i Wats atfs 2
“ELTACHS, CHACHS CALE Talal i 209 ht

‘mukti, bhukti vafiche yei, kahan dunhara gati?’
‘sthavara-deha, deva-deha yaiche avasthiti’

SYNONYMS

mukti—liberation; bhukti—sense enjoyment; vafiche —desires; yei—one who;
kahari—where; dunhdra—of both of them; gati—the destination; sthavara-
deha—the body of a tree; deva-deha—the body of a demigod; yaiche—just as;
avasthiti—situated.

TRANSLATION

“And what is the destination of those who desire liberation and those who
desire sense gratification?” Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked. Ramananda Raya
replied, ‘Those who attempt to merge into the existence of the Supreme Lord
will have to accept a body like that of a tree. And those who are overly in-
clined toward sense gratification will attain the bodies of demigods.”

PURPORT

Those who desire liberation by merging into the existence of God do not desire
sense gratification within the material world. On the other hand, they have no in-
formation about serving the lotus feet of the Lord. Consequently, they are
doomed to stand like trees for many thousands of years. Although trees are living
entities, they are nonmoving. The liberated soul who attempts to merge into the
existence of the Lord is no better than the trees. Trees also stand in the Lord's ex-
istence because material energy and the Lord’s energy are the same. Similarly, the
Brahman effulgence is also the energy of the Supreme Lord. It is the same whether
one remains in the Brahman effulgence or in the material energy because in either
there is no spiritual activity. Better situated are those who desire sense gratifica-
tion and promotion to the heavenly planets. Such people want to enjoy them-
selves like denizens of heaven in gardens of paradise. They at least retain their in-
dividuality in order to enjoy life, but the impersonalists, who try to lose their in-
dividuality, also love both material and spiritual pleasure. The stone is immovable
and has neither material nor spiritual activity. As far as the hard-working karmis are
concerned, Srimad-Bhagavatam states (11.10.23):
