276 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 8, Ch. 7

TEXT 39
Tats eas THe: Thea ATTA: ATTA: |
Tay aay aeTaAMTAAT 12811

pranaih svaih praninah panti
sadhavah ksana-bhanguraih
baddha-vairesu bhittesu

mohitesv dtma-mayaya

pranaih—by lives; svaih—their own; praéninah—other living en-
tities; pdnti—protect; sddhavah—devotees; ksana-bhariguraih—tem-
porary; baddha-vairesu—unnecessarily engaged in animosity;
bhitesu—unto living entities; mohitesu—bewildered; atma-mayayé—
by the external energy of the Lord.

TRANSLATION

People in general, being bewildered by the illusory energy of
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are always engaged in
animosity toward one another. But devotees, even at the risk of
their own temporary lives, try to save them.

PURPORT

This is the characteristic of a Vaisnava. Para-duhkha-duhkhi: a
Vaisnava is always unhappy to see the conditioned souls unhappy. Other-
wise, he would have no business teaching them how to become happy. In
materialistic life, people must certainly engage in activities of animosity.
Materialistic life is therefore compared to sarisdra-davanala, a blazing
forest fire that automatically takes place. Lord Siva and his followers in
the parampara system try to save people from this dangerous condition
of materialistic life. This is the duty of devotees following the principles
of Lord Siva and belonging to the Rudra- -sampradaya. There are four
Vaisnava sampradayas, and the Rudra-sampradaya is one of them be-
cause Lord Siva (Rudra) is the best of the ‘Vaisnavas (vaisnavanarn yatha
Sambhuh). Indeed, as we shall see, Lord Siva drank all the poison for the
benefit of humanity.
