नैतन्मनस्तव कथासु विकुण्ठनाथ
सम्प्रीयते दुरितदुष्टमसाधु तीव्रम् ।
कामातुरं हर्षशोकभयैषणार्तं
तस्मिन्कथं तव गतिं विमृशामि दीनः ॥
naitan manas tava kathāsu vikuṇṭhanātha
samprīyate durita-duṣṭam asādhu tīvram |
kāmāturaṁ harṣa-śoka-bhayaiṣaṇārtaṁ
tasmin kathaṁ tava gatiṁ vimṛśāmi dīnaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.9.39; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 1)
“O Lord of Vaikuṇṭha!
This mind—
Corrupted by sin,
Unholy,
Impetuous,
Afflicted by kāma,
And beset with elation, sorrow, fear, and desire—
Does not take great pleasure
In narrations about you.
Therewith,
How can this wretch
Contemplate your existence?”
Commentary
Śrī Svāmīpāda comments that “unholy” (asādhu) means oblivious [alt., averse] (bahirmukham) to Śrī Bhagavān.
tad evaṁ muhur apy avatīrya tvaṁ svīya-rūpa-guṇa-līlāmṛtaṁ varṣasi, tad apy asmākaṁ pāpiṣṭhaṁ manas tatra na prīṇāti, durviṣaya-garta eva muhuḥ patati, kiṁ kurmaḥ? ity āha—naitad iti tribhiḥ | tava rūpa-guṇa-līlādīnāṁ kathāsu | nanv atisvādvīṣv api kathāsu kim iti na prīyate? tatrāha—durita-duṣṭaṁ yathā pitta-duṣṭā rasanā sitāsv ity arthaḥ | tīvraṁ durvāram | eṣaṇā dhanādi-vāsanā | tasmin manasi tava gatiṁ tattvaṁ kathaṁ vimṛśāmi? yadyapi mahābhāgavatasya prahlādasya mano na prākṛtam etādṛśaṁ ‘tvad-vīrya-gāyana-mahāmṛta-magna-cittaḥ’ ity asyaivāgrimokteḥ, tad api premṇā vividha-vicitra-taraṅgavattvenātidainyodayād eva premi-lokasyaivam uktir na virudhyate |
(Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“[Prahlāda Mahārāja to Bhagavān:] ‘Thus descending repeatedly in this way, you shower the nectar of your own form, qualities, and līlās [upon jīvas throughout the world]. Still, my sinful mind does not take pleasure in that. [Instead,] It just falls repeatedly into the ditch of foul objects of the senses (durviṣaya). What shall I do?’ Thus, he [i.e., Prahlāda Mahārāja] speaks with three [verses]: naitat … [i.e., he speaks SB 7.9.39–42]. ‘In narrations about you’ (tava kathāsu) refers to those of your form, qualities, līlās, and so on.
“[Bhagavān asks:] ‘Well, why doesn’t your mind take pleasure even in these highly relishable narrations [of my form, qualities, and līlās]?’ To that, he says [his mind is] ‘corrupted by sin’ (durita-duṣṭam), meaning, it is like a tongue afflicted with jaundice [that does not take pleasure] in sugar candies. ‘Impetuous’ (tīvram) means difficult to control. ‘Desire’ (eṣaṇā) refers to inclination for wealth and so on. ‘Therewith’ (tasmin), that is, with such a mind, ‘How shall I contemplate your existence (gatim)?’ Although the great bhāgavata Prahlāda’s mind is not of such nature [i.e., although it is not actually corrupted by sin and so on] as per [the evidence of its not being such found in] his forthcoming statement [in SB 7.9.43], ‘I of mind absorbed in the great nectar of the [songs sung by] singers of your feats am certainly not afraid of the insurmountable Vaitaraṇī …,’ still such a statement of a person possessed of prema [like Prahlāda Mahārāja made here in SB 7.9.39] only out of an upwelling of intense humility (dainya) on account of being immersed in various extraordinary waves of prema is not contradictory [i.e., it not a contradiction for a bhakta like Prahlāda Mahārāja to on the one hand say that he has such a polluted mind that he cannot absorb himself in contemplation of Bhagavān as he does here in SB 7.9.39, and on the other hand say in SB 7.9.43 that he is not afraid of the Vaitaraṇī, that is, saṁsāra, because his statement of being fearless was made while he was in a state of mind that was absorbed in the nectar of narrations about Bhagavān and his statement of being fearful was made while he was in a state of mind that was absorbed in the spirit of humility (dainya) and both of these states of mind arise from time to time in the mind of bhakta endowed with prema just as various waves continuously arise in an ocean].”