BHAGAVAD-GITA 12:18-19

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 12:18-19

 

samah satrau ca mitre ca

tatha manapamanayoh

sitosna-sukha-duhkhesu

samah sanga-vivarjitah

 

tulya-ninda-stutir mauni

santusto yena kenacit

aniketah sthira-matir

bhaktiman me priyo narah

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

samah--equal; satrau--to an enemy; ca--also; mitre--to a friend;

ca--also; tatha--so; mana--in honor; apamanayoh--and dishonor;

sita--in cold; usna--heat; sukha--happiness; duhkhesu--and distress;

samah--equipoised; sanga-vivarjitah--free from all association;

tulya--equal; ninda--in defamation; stutih--and repute; mauni--silent;

santustah--satisfied; yena kenacit--with anything; aniketah--having no

residence; sthira--fixed; matih--determination; bhakti-man--engaged in

devotion; me--to Me; priyah--dear; narah--a man.

 

TRANSLATION

 

One who is equal to friends and enemies, who is equipoised in honor

and dishonor, heat and cold, happiness and distress, fame and infamy,

who is always free from contaminating association, always silent and

satisfied with anything, who doesn't care for any residence, who is

fixed in knowledge and who is engaged in devotional service--such a

person is very dear to Me.

 

PURPORT

 

A devotee is always free from all bad association. Sometimes one is

praised and sometimes one is defamed; that is the nature of human

society. But a devotee is always transcendental to artificial fame and

infamy, distress or happiness. He is very patient. He does not speak

of anything but the topics about Krsna; therefore he is called silent.

Silent does not mean that one should not speak; silent means that one

should not speak nonsense. One should speak only of essentials, and

the most essential speech for the devotee is to speak for the sake of

the Supreme Lord. A devotee is happy in all conditions; sometimes he

may get very palatable foodstuffs, sometimes not, but he is satisfied.

Nor does he care for any residential facility. He may sometimes live

underneath a tree, and he may sometimes live in a very palatial

building; he is attracted to neither. He is called fixed because he is

fixed in his determination and knowledge. We may find some repetition

in the descriptions of the qualifications of a devotee, but this is

just to emphasize the fact that a devotee must acquire all these

qualifications. Without good qualifications, one cannot be a pure

devotee. Harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-gunah: one who is not a devotee

has no good qualification. One who wants to be recognized as a devotee

should develop the good qualifications. Of course he does not

extraneously endeavor to acquire these qualifications, but engagement

in Krsna consciousness and devotional service automatically helps him

develop them.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.