260 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 8, Ch. 24
silver or gold becomes purified; puman—a person; vijahydt—can give
up; malam—all the dirty things of material existence; dtmanah—of
one’s self; tamah—the mode of ignorance, by which one performs pious
and impious activities; bhajeta—may revive; varnam—his original
identity; nijam—one’s own; esah—such; sah—He; avyayah—inex-
haustible; bhiyat—let Him become; sah—He; isah—the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead; paramah—the supreme; guroh guruh—the spiri-
tual master of all other spiritual masters.
TRANSLATION

One who wants to be free of material entanglement should take
to the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and give up
the contamination of ignorance, involving pious and impious ac-
tivities. Thus one regains his original identity, just as a block of
gold or silver sheds all dirt and becomes purified when treated
with fire. May that inexhaustible Supreme Personality of Godhead
become our spiritual master, for He is the original spiritual master
of all other spiritual masters.

PURPORT

In human life one is meant to undergo austerity to purify one’s exis-
tence. Tapo divyarh putraka yena sattvam Suddhyet. Because of con-
tamination by the modes of material nature, one continues in the cycle of
birth and death (kdranam guna-sarigo ’sya sad-asad-yoni-janmasu).
Therefore the purpose of human life is to purify oneself of this con-
tamination so that one can regain his spiritual form and not undergo this
cycle of birth and death. The recommended process of decontamination
is devotional service to the Lord. There are various processes for self-
realization, such as karma, jridna and yoga, but none of them is equal to
the process of devotional service. As gold and silver can be freed from all
dirty contamination by being put into a fire but not merely by being
washed, the living entity can be awakened to his own identity by per-
forming devotional service (yat-sevayd), but not by karma, jrdna or
yoga. Cultivation of speculative knowledge or practice of yogic gym-
nastics will not be helpful.

The word varnam refers to the luster of one’s original identity. The
original luster of gold or silver is brilliant. Similarly, the original luster
