Text 27] Hiranyakaéipu Terrorizes the Universe 191

TRANSLATION

The voice of the Lord vibrated as follows: O best of learned per-
sons, do not fear! I wish all good fortune to you. Become My devo-
tees by hearing and chanting about Me and offering Me prayers,
for these are certainly meant to award benedictions to all living en-
tities. I know all about the activities of HiranyakaSipu and shall
surely stop them very soon. Please wait patiently until that time.

PURPORT

Sometimes people are very much eager to see God. In considering the
word mad-darsanam, ‘‘seeing Me,” which is mentioned in this verse,
one should note that in Bhagavad-gita the Lord says, bhaktya mam abhi-
janati. In other words, the ability to understand the Supreme Personality
of Godhead or to see Him or talk with Him depends on one’s advance-
ment in devotional service, which is called bhakti. In bhakti there are
nine different activities: sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pdada-
sevanam/ arcanam vandanam dasyarh sakhyam atma-nivedanam. Be-
cause all these devotional activities are absolute, there is no fundamental
difference between worshiping the Deity in the temple, seeing Him and
chanting His glories. Indeed, all of these are ways of seeing Him, for
everything done in devotional service is a means of direct contact with
the Lord. The vibration of the Lord’s voice appeared in the presence of
all the devotees, and although the person vibrating the sound was unseen
to them, they were meeting or seeing the Lord because they were offer-
ing prayers and because the vibration of the Lord was present. Contrary
to the laws of the material world, there is no difference between seeing
the Lord, offering prayers and hearing the transcendental vibration.
Pure devotees, therefore, are fully satisfied by glorifying the Lord. Such
glorification is called kirtana. Performing kirtana and hearing the vibra-
tion of the sound Hare Krsna is actually seeing the Supreme Personality
of Godhead directly. One must realize this position, and then one will be
able to understand the absolute nature of the Lord’s activities.

TEXT 27

qe kay Wa ay Ay ay |
arate a 2a: aa ay Pasa loll
