Text 6] The Lord Instructs Sanatana Gosvami 5

bondage; tare—him; mukta karena—releases; gosdfid—the Supreme Personality
of Godhead.

TRANSLATION

“If one releases a conditioned soul or imprisoned person according to
religious principles, he himself is also released from material bondage by the
Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

PURPORT

It appears from this statement that Sanatana Gosvami, who was formerly a
minister of the Nawab, was trying to cheat the Mohammedan superintendent. A
jail superintendent had only an ordinary education, or practically no education,
and he was certainly not supposed to be very advanced in spiritual knowledge.
However, just to satisfy him, Sanatana Gosvami praised him as a very learned
scholar of the scriptures. The jailkeeper could not deny that he was a learned
scholar because when one is elevated to an exalted position, one thinks oneself fit
for that position. Sandtana Gosvami was correctly explaining the effects of
spiritual activity, and the jailkeeper connected his statement with his release from
jail. There are innumerable conditioned souls rotting in the material world, im-
prisoned by maya under the spell of sense gratification. The living entity is so en-
tranced by the spell of mdayd that in conditioned life even a pig feels satisfied.

There are two kinds of covering powers exhibited by mayd. One is called prak-
sepatmikd, and the other is called dvarandtmikd. When one is determined to get
out of material bondage, the praksepatmika-sakti, the spell of diversion, impels
one to remain in conditioned life fully satisfied by sense gratification. Due to the
other power (avaranatmika), a conditioned soul feels satisfied even if he is rotting
inthe body of a pig or a worm in stool. To release a conditioned soul from ma-
terial bondage is very difficult because the spell of mayd is so strong. Even when
the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself descends to deliver conditioned
souls, asking them to surrender unto Him, the conditioned souls do not agree to
the Lord’s proposals. Therefore Sri Sandtana Gosvami said, “Somehow or other, if
one helps another gain release from the bondage of mdyd, he is certainly recog-
nized immediately by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” As stated in
Bhagavad-gitd (18.69):

na ca tasmdn manusyesu
kascin me priya-krttamah

bhavita na ca me tasmad
anyah priyataro bhuvi

The greatest service one can render to the Lord is to try to infuse devotional ser-
vice into the heart of the conditioned soul so that the conditioned soul may be
released from conditional life. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has said that a Vaisnava
