यः परं रंहसः साक्षात्त्रिगुणाज्जीवसंज्ञितात् ।
भगवन्तं वासुदेवं प्रपन्नः स प्रियो हि मे ॥२८॥

yaḥ paraá¹ raá¹hasaḥ sÄká¹£Ät
tri-guṇÄj jÄ«va-saá¹jñitÄt
bhagavantaá¹ vÄsudevaá¹
prapannaḥ sa priyo hi me

 yaḥ - anyone; param - transcendental; raá¹hasaḥ - of the controller; sÄká¹£Ät - directly; tri-guṇÄt - from the three modes of material nature; jÄ«va-saá¹jñitÄt - living entities called by the name jÄ«vas; bhagavantam - unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead; vÄsudevam - unto Kṛṣṇa; prapannaḥ - surrendered; saḥ - he; priyaḥ - very dear; hi - undoubtedly; me - of me.


Text

Lord Śiva continued: Any person who is surrendered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, the controller of everything — material nature as well as the living entity — is actually very dear to me.

Purport

Now Lord Åšiva explains the reason he has personally come before the princes. It is because all the princes are devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa. As stated in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (7.19):

bahÅ«nÄá¹ janmanÄm ante
 jñÄnavÄn mÄá¹ prapadyate
vÄsudevaḥ sarvam iti
 sa mahÄtmÄ sudurlabhaḥ

“After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.â€

Lord Åšiva is rarely seen by common men, and similarly a person who is fully surrendered unto VÄsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, is also very rarely seen because a person who is fully surrendered unto the Supreme Lord is very rare (sa mahÄtmÄ sudurlabhaḥ). Consequently, Lord Åšiva came especially to see the PracetÄs because they were fully surrendered unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, VÄsudeva. VÄsudeva is also mentioned in the beginning of ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam in the mantra oá¹ namo bhagavate vÄsudevÄya. Since VÄsudeva is the ultimate truth, Lord Åšiva openly proclaims that one who is a devotee of Lord VÄsudeva, who is surrendered to Lord Kṛṣṇa, is actually very dear to him. Lord VÄsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, is worshipable not only by ordinary living entities but by demigods like Lord Åšiva, Lord BrahmÄ and others. Yaá¹ brahmÄ-varuṇendra-rudra-marutaḥ stunvanti divyaiḥ stavaiḥ (BhÄg. 12.13.1): Kṛṣṇa is worshiped by Lord BrahmÄ, Lord Åšiva, Varuṇa, Indra, Candra and all other demigods. That is also the situation with a devotee. Indeed, one who takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness immediately becomes very dear to anyone who is simply finding out and beginning to understand what Kṛṣṇa consciousness actually is. Similarly, all the demigods are also trying to find out who is actually surrendered to Lord VÄsudeva. Because the PracetÄ princes were surrendered to VÄsudeva, Lord Åšiva willingly came forth to see them.

Lord VÄsudeva, or Kṛṣṇa, is described in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ as Puruá¹£ottama. Actually He is the enjoyer (puruá¹£a) and the Supreme (uttama) as well. He is the enjoyer of everything — the praká¹›ti and the puruá¹£a. Being influenced by the three modes of material nature, the living entity tries to dominate material nature, but actually he is not the puruá¹£a (enjoyer) but praká¹›ti, as described in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (7.5): apareyam itas tv anyÄá¹ praká¹›tiá¹ viddhi me parÄm. Thus the jÄ«va, or living entity, is actually praká¹›ti, or the marginal energy of the Supreme Lord. Being associated with material energy, he tries to lord it over the material nature. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (15.7):

mamaivÄá¹Å›o jÄ«va-loke
 jÄ«va-bhÅ«taḥ sanÄtanaḥ
manaḥ-á¹£aṣṭhÄnÄ«ndriyÄṇi
 praká¹›ti-sthÄni kará¹£ati

“The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.â€

By endeavoring to dominate material nature, the living entity simply struggles hard for existence. Indeed, he struggles so hard to enjoy himself that he cannot even enjoy the material resources. Thus he is sometimes called praká¹›ti, or jÄ«va, for he is situated in the marginal potency. When the living entity is covered with the three modes of material nature, he is called jÄ«va-saá¹jñita. There are two kinds of living entities: one is called ká¹£ara, and the other is aká¹£ara. Ká¹£ara refers to those who have fallen down and become conditioned, and aká¹£ara refers to those who are not conditioned. The vast majority of living entities live in the spiritual world and are called aká¹£ara — they are in the position of Brahman, pure spiritual existence. They are different from those who have been conditioned by the three modes of material nature.

Being above both the ká¹£ara and aká¹£ara, Lord Kṛṣṇa, VÄsudeva, is described in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (15.18) as Puruá¹£ottama. The impersonalists may say that VÄsudeva is the impersonal Brahman, but actually the impersonal Brahman is subordinate to Kṛṣṇa, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (14.27): brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhÄham. That Kṛṣṇa is the source of the impersonal Brahman is also confirmed in Brahma-saá¹hitÄ (5.40): yasya prabhÄ prabhavato jagadaṇá¸a-koá¹­i. The impersonal Brahman is nothing but the effulgence or bodily rays of Kṛṣṇa, and in those bodily rays there are innumerable universes floating. Thus in all respects VÄsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, is the Supreme Lord, and Lord Åšiva is very satisfied with those who are completely surrendered to Him. Complete surrender is desired by Kṛṣṇa, as He indicates in the last chapter of Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (18.66): sarva-dharmÄn parityajya mÄm ekaá¹ Å›araṇaá¹ vraja.

The word sÄká¹£Ät, meaning “directly,†is very significant. There are many so-called devotees, but actually they are only karmÄ«s and jñÄnÄ«s, for they are not directly devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The karmÄ«s sometimes offer the results of their activities to Lord VÄsudeva, and this offering is called karmÄrpaṇam. These are considered to be fruitive activities, for the karmÄ«s consider Lord Viṣṇu to be one of the demigods like Lord Åšiva and Lord BrahmÄ. Because they consider Lord Viṣṇu to be on the same level with the demigods, they contend that surrendering to the demigods is as good as surrendering unto VÄsudeva. This contention is denied herein because if it were true, Lord Åšiva would have said that surrender unto him, Lord VÄsudeva, Viṣṇu or BrahmÄ is the same. However, Lord Åšiva does not say this because he himself surrenders unto VÄsudeva, and whoever else surrenders unto VÄsudeva is very, very dear to him. This is expressed herein openly. The conclusion is that a devotee of Lord Åšiva is not dear to Lord Åšiva, but a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa is very dear to Lord Åšiva.