Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Narada Bhakti Sutra 73

yatas tadiyah

SYNONYMS

yatah -- because; tadiyah -- His.

TRANSLATION

Pure devotees are not distinguished by externals like social class, for they belong to the Lord.

PURPORT

Here Narada explains why one should avoid caste-conscious prejudice toward devotees of Krsna: because devotees are all one class -- they are all His own. And because they belong to the Supreme Lord (tadiyah), the devotees are worshipable:

aradhananam sarvesam visnor aradhanam param

tasmat parataram devi tadiyanam samarcanam

"Of all types of worship, worship of Lord Visnu is best, and better than the worship of Lord Visnu is the worship of His devotee, the Vaisnava" (Padma Purana).

Tadiya means "in relation to Him." The devotees are intimately related to the Lord because they are under the shelter of His internal energy. Thus they always accompany Him and serve Him as His carrier Garuda, His couch Ananta Sesa, His cows, His gopas and gopis, and so on.

In a general sense, all living entities are part and parcel of Krsna -- "My eternal fragmental parts," Krsna says -- and that is another reason why one should not judge someone higher or lower by material standards. But although all jivas are dear to Lord Krsna, He is dear only to His devotees, and therefore they receive His special attention. As He says in the Bhagavad-gita (9.29),

samo 'ham sarva-bhutesu na me dvesyo 'sti na priyah

ye bhajanti tu mam bhaktya mayi te tesu capy aham

"I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend -- is in Me -- and I am also a friend to him."

During a conversation with Sanatana Gosvami and Haridasa Thakura in Jagannatha Puri, Lord Caitanya once elaborately explained the same truth expressed in this sutra. Sanatana had contracted a skin disease that produced oozing sores. Out of humility he considered his body useless for devotional service, and he decided to commit suicide under the wheel of Lord Jagannatha's chariot. But Lord Caitanya read his mind and forbade him to do so, telling him that he had already surrendered his body to the Lord for service. Lord Caitanya used to embrace Sanatana, and this made Sanatana feel mortified because his oozing sores touched the Lord's body. And so Sanatana decided to leave Jagannatha Puri. But Lord Caitanya explained that He was not offended by Sanatana's body; rather, He felt great bliss while embracing Sanatana because He saw his body as transcendental. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu quoted the Bhagavad-gita (5.18):

vidya-vinaya-sampanne brahmane gavi hastini

suni caiva sva-pake ca panditah sama-darsinah

"The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a dog-eater [outcaste]."

On hearing this quote, Haridasa said, "What You have spoken deals with external formalities." Lord Caitanya then revealed His inner thoughts regarding His love for His devotees:

My dear Haridasa and Sanatana, I think of you as My little boys, to be maintained by Me. The maintainer never takes seriously any faults of the maintained....When a child passes stool and urine that touch the body of the mother, the mother never hates the child. On the contrary, she takes much pleasure in cleaning him. The stool and urine of the child appear like sandalwood pulp to the mother. Similarly, when the foul moisture oozing from the sores of Sanatana touches My body, I have no hatred for him. [Cc. Antya 4.184-7]

Lord Caitanya then further explained the glories of devotional service and how it transforms a devotee's body into spiritual existence.

In conclusion, the body of a pure devotee is never material. Even if it appears so, Krsna still accepts the devotee as dear and embraces him as His own. By the Lord's mercy, the devotee is spiritualized, and in his transcendental body he renders service to the Lord's lotus feet.

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Copyright (c) The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari