Text 135] The Lord Instructs Sanatana Gosvami 73
SYNONYMS

purva-dike—on the eastern side; tate—there; mdati—the dirt; alpa—small
quantity; khudite—digging; dhanera—of the treasure; jhari—the pot;
padibeka—you will get; tomara—your; hatete—in the hands.

TRANSLATION

“ ‘However, if you dig up a small quantity of dirt on the eastern side, your

hands will immediately touch the pot of treasure.’
PURPORT

The Vedic literatures, including the Puranas, state that according to the position
of the conditioned soul, there are different processes—karma-kdanda, jfana-kan-
da, the yogic process and the bhakti-yoga process. Karma-kdnda is compared to
wasps and drones that will simply bite if one takes shelter of them. /fdna-kanda,
the speculative process, is simply like a ghost who creates mental disturbances.
Yoga, the mystic process, is compared to a black snake that devours people by the
impersonal cultivation of kaivalya. However, if one takes to bhakti-yoga, he be-
comes quickly successful. In other words, through bhakti- yoga, one’s hands touch
the hidden treasure without difficulty.

Therefore it is said in Bhagavad-gita: vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah. One
has to take to devotional service. Although the Vedas enjoin one to search out
Krsna and take shelter at His lotus feet, other Vedic processes will not help. Ac-
cording to Bhagavad-gita, only the bhakti process is said to be definitive. Bhaktya
mam abhijandati. This is the conclusive statement of the Vedas, and one has to ac-
cept this process if one is serious in searching for Krsna, the Supreme Personality
of Godhead. In this connection, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura gives the
following statement. The eastern side represents devotional service to Lord Krsna.
The southern side represents the process of fruitive activity (karma-kanda), which
ends in material gain. The western side represents jfdna-kanda, the process of
mental speculation, sometimes called siddhi-kanda. The northern side represents
the speculative method sometimes known as the mystic yoga system. It is only
the eastern side, devotional service, that enables one to attain life’s real goal. On
the southern side, there are fruitive activities by which one is subject to the
punishment of Yamaraja. When one follows the system of fruitive activity, his ma-
terial desires remain prominent. Consequently the results of this process are com-
pared to wasps and drones. The living entity is bitten by the wasps and drones of
fruitive activity and thus suffers in material existence birth after birth. One cannot
be free from material desires by following this process. The propensity for material
enjoyment never ends. Therefore the cycle of birth and death continues, and the
spirit soul suffers perpetually.

The mystic yoga process is compared to a black snake that devours the living
entity and injects him with poison. The ultimate goal of the yoga system is to be-
