Text 46] Dhruva Maharaja Returns Home 415

bowed; matarau—to his two mothers; sirsnad—with his head; sat-krtah—was
honored; sat-jana—of the nobles; agranih—the foremost.

TRANSLATION

Then Dhruva Maharaja, the foremost of all nobles, first of all offered his
obeisances at the feet of his father and was honored by his father with
various questions. He then bowed his head at the feet of his two mothers.

PURPORT

It may be questioned why Dhruva Maharaja offered his respect not only
to his mother but also to his stepmother, due to whose insults he had to
leave home. The answer is that after achieving perfection by self-realization
and seeing the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face, Dhruva
Maharaja was completely freed from all contamination of material desire.
Feelings of insult or honor in this material world are never perceived by a
devotee. Lord Caitanya therefore says that one has to be humbler than the
grass, and, He recommends, more tolerant than the tree, to execute devo-
tional service. Dhruva Maharaja, therefore, has in this verse been described
as sajjanagranih, the foremost of noble men. The pure devotee is the
noblest of all, and he has no feelings of animosity towards anyone. Duality
due to animosity is a creation of this material world. There is no such thing
in the spiritual world, which is the absolute reality.

TEXT 46

geal agra Wea |
ata state Tez fire ell

surucis tam samutthapya
padavanatam arbhakam
parisvajyaha jiveti
baspa-gadgadaya gira
surucih—Queen Suruci; tam—him; samutthapya—having picked up; pada-
avanatam—fallen at her feet; arbhakam—the innocent boy; parisvajya—
embracing; dha—she said; jiva—may you live long; iti—thus; baspa—with
tears; gadgadaya—choked up; gira—with words.

TRANSLATION

Suruci, the younger mother of Dhruva Maharaja, seeing that the
innocent boy had fallen at her feet, immediately picked him up, embracing
