Text 119] The Lord Instructs Sanatana Gosvami 61

tan-mayayato budha abhajet tam
bhaktyaikayesam guru-devatatma

SYNONYMS

bhayam—fear; dvitiya-abhinivesatah—from the misconception of being a
product of material energy; syat—arises; isat—from the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, Krsna; apetasya—of one who has withdrawn (the conditioned soul);
viparyayah—reversal of the position; asmrtih—no conception of his relationship
with the Supreme Lord; tat-mayayé—because of the illusory energy of the
Supreme Lord; atah—therefore; budhah—one who is wise; abhajet—must wor-
ship; tam—Him; bhaktya—by devotional service; ekayd—undiverted to karma
and jfidna; isam—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; guru—as the spiritual
master; devata—the worshipable Lord; 4atma—the Supersoul.

TRANSLATION

““ ‘When the living entity is attracted by the material energy, which is separ-
ate from Krsna, he is overpowered by fear. Because he is separated from the
Supreme Personality of Godhead by the material energy, his conception of life
is reversed. In other words, instead of being the eternal servant of Krsna, he
becomes Krsna’s competitor. This is called viparyayo ’smrtih. To nullify this
mistake, one who is actually learned and advanced worships the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead as his spiritual master, worshipful Deity and source of
life. He thus worships the Lord by the process of unalloyed devotional ser-
vice.’

PURPORT

This is a quotation from Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.2.37). It is an instruction given
by Kavi Rsi, one of the nine saintly personalities called the nine Yogendras. When
Vasudeva, Krsna‘s father, asked Devarsi Narada in Dvaraka about devotional ser-
vice, it was mentioned that previously King Nimi, who was the King of Videha,
was instructed by the nine Yogendras. When Sri Narada Muni discoursed on
bhagavata-dharma, devotional service, he indicated how a conditioned soul can
be liberated by engaging in the loving transcendental service of the Lord. The Lord
is the Supersoul, spiritual master and worshipable Deity of all conditioned souls.
Not only is Krsna the supreme worshipful Deity for all living entities, but He is also
the guru, or caitya-guru, the Supersoul who always gives the living entity good
counsel. Unfortunately the living entity neglects the Supreme Person's instruc-
tions. He thus identifies with material energy and is consequently overpowered
by a kind of fear resulting from accepting himself as the material body and con-
sidering paraphernalia related to the material body to be his property. All types of
fruitive results actually come from the spirit soul, but because he has forgotten his
real duty, he is embarrassed by many material consequences such as fear and at-
