BHAGAVAD-GITA 4:11

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 4:11

 

ye yatha mam prapadyante

tams tathaiva bhajamy aham

mama vartmanuvartante

manusyah partha sarvasah

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

ye--all who; yatha--as; mam--unto Me; prapadyante--surrender;

tan--them; tatha--so; eva--certainly; bhajami--reward; aham--I;

mama--My; vartma--path; anuvartante--follow; manusyah--all men;

partha--O son of Prtha; sarvasah--in all respects.

 

TRANSLATION

 

As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows

My path in all respects, O son of Prtha.

 

PURPORT

 

Everyone is searching for Krsna in the different aspects of His

manifestations. Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is

partially realized in His impersonal brahmajyoti effulgence and as the

all-pervading Supersoul dwelling within everything, including the

particles of atoms. But Krsna is fully realized only by His pure

devotees. Consequently, Krsna is the object of everyone's realization,

and thus anyone and everyone is satisfied according to one's desire to

have Him. In the transcendental world also, Krsna reciprocates with

His pure devotees in the transcendental attitude, just as the devotee

wants Him. One devotee may want Krsna as supreme master, another as

his personal friend, another as his son, and still another as his

lover. Krsna rewards all the devotees equally, according to their

different intensities of love for Him. In the material world, the same

reciprocations of feelings are there, and they are equally exchanged

by the Lord with the different types of worshipers. The pure devotees

both here and in the transcendental abode associate with Him in person

and are able to render personal service to the Lord and thus derive

transcendental bliss in His loving service. As for those who are

impersonalists and who want to commit spiritual suicide by

annihilating the individual existence of the living entity, Krsna

helps also by absorbing them into His effulgence. Such impersonalists

do not agree to accept the eternal, blissful Personality of Godhead;

consequently they cannot relish the bliss of transcendental personal

service to the Lord, having extinguished their individuality. Some of

them, who are not firmly situated even in the impersonal existence,

return to this material field to exhibit their dormant desires for

activities. They are not admitted into the spiritual planets, but they

are again given a chance to act on the material planets. For those who

are fruitive workers, the Lord awards the desired results of their

prescribed duties, as the yajnesvara; and those who are yogis seeking

mystic powers are awarded such powers. In other words, everyone is

dependent for success upon His mercy alone, and all kinds of spiritual

processes are but different degrees of success on the same path.

Unless, therefore, one comes to the highest perfection of Krsna

consciousness, all attempts remain imperfect, as is stated in the

Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.3.10):

 

akamah sarva-kamo va

moksa-kama udara-dhih

tivrena bhakti-yogena

yajeta purusam param

 

"Whether one is without desire [the condition of the devotees], or is

desirous of all fruitive results, or is after liberation, one should

with all efforts try to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead for

complete perfection, culminating in Krsna consciousness."

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.