Text 29] The Renunciation of Kardama Muni 977

sa eva bhagavan adya
helanam na ganayya nah
grhesu jato gramyanam
yah svanam paksa-posanah

sah eva—that very same; bhagavan—Supreme Personality of Godhead;
adya—today ; helanam—negligence; na—not; ganay ya—considering high and
low; nah—our; grhesu—in the houses; jatah—appeared; gramyanam—of or-
dinary householders; yah—He who; svandm—of His own devotees; paksa-
posanah—who supports the party.

TRANSLATION

Not considering the negligence of ordinary householders like us, that very
same Supreme Personality of Godhead appears in our homes just to support
His devotees.

PURPORT

Devotees are so affectionate towards the Personality of Godhead that
although He does not appear before those who practice yoga in a secluded
place even for many, many births, He agrees to appear in a householder’s
home where devotees engage in devotional service without material yoga
practice. In other words, devotional service to the Lord is so easy that even
a householder can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead as one of the
members of his household, as his son, as Kardama Muni experienced. He
was a householder, although a yogi, but he had the incarnation of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kapila Muni, as his son.

Devotional service is such a powerful transcendental method that it
surpasses all other methods of transcendental realization. The Lord says,
therefore, that He lives neither in Vaikuntha nor in the heart of a yogi, but
He lives where His pure devotees are always chanting and glorifying Him.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is known as bhakta-vatsala. He is
never described as jiidni-vatsala or yogi-vatsala. He is always described as
bhakta-vatsala because He is more inclined towards His devotees than
towards other transcendentalists. In Bhagavad-gita it is confirmed that
only a devotee can understand Him as He is. Bhaktyad mam abhijanati:
“One can understand Me only by devotional service, not otherwise.” That
understanding alone is real because although jidnis, mental speculators,
can realize only the effulgence or the bodily luster of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, and yogis can realize only the partial representa-
tion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, a bhakta not only realizes
