18 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 6, Ch. 1
TEXT 12
AAT: TAA HATA a Fe |
ad frrmpard Ta: ITT HIT LA
nasnatah pathyam evannam
vyddhayo *bhibhavanti hi
evam niyamakrd rajan
Sanaih ksemaya kalpate

na—not; asnatah—those who eat: pathyam—suitable; eva—indeed;
annam—food; vyadhayah—different types of disease; abhibhavanti—
overcome; hi—indeed; evam—similarly; niyama-krt—one following
regulative principles; rajan—O King; sanaih—gradually; ksemaya—
for well-being; kalpate—becomes fit.

TRANSLATION

My dear King, if a diseased person eats the pure, uncontami-
nated food prescribed by a physician, he is gradually cured, and
the infection of disease can no longer touch him. Similarly, if one
follows the regulative principles of knowledge, he gradually
progresses toward liberation from material contamination.

PURPORT

One is gradually purified if one cultivates knowledge, even through
mental speculation, and strictly follows the regulative principles enjoined
in the sastras and explained in the next verse. Therefore the platform of
Jnana, speculative knowledge, is better than the platform of karma,
fruitive action. There is every chance of falling from the platform of
karma to hellish conditions, but on the platform of jfidna one is saved
from hellish life, although one is still not completely free from infection.
The difficulty is that on the platform of jfdna one thinks that he has
been liberated and has become Narayana, or Bhagavan. This is another
phase of ignorance.

ye “nye ’ravindaksa vimukta-maninas
tvayy asta-bhavad avisuddha-buddhayah
