etÄvÄn eva loke 'smin
puá¹saḥ svÄrthaḥ paraḥ smá¹›taḥ
ekÄnta-bhaktir govinde
yat sarvatra tad-īkṣaṇam
etÄvÄn - this much; eva - certainly; loke asmin - in this material world; puá¹saḥ - of the living entity; sva-arthaḥ - the real self-interest; paraḥ - transcendental; smá¹›taḥ - regarded; ekÄnta-bhaktiḥ - unalloyed devotional service; govinde - to Govinda; yat - which; sarvatra - everywhere; tat-Ä«ká¹£aṇam - seeing the relationship with Govinda, Kṛṣṇa.
In this verse the words sarvatra tad-īkṣaṇam describe the highest perfection of devotional service, in which one sees everything with reference to Govinda’s activities. The highly elevated devotee never sees anything unrelated to Govinda.
sthÄvara-jaá¹…gama dekhe, nÄ dekhe tÄra mÅ«rti
sarvatra haya nija iá¹£á¹a-deva-sphÅ«rti
“The mahÄ-bhÄgavata, the advanced devotee, certainly sees everything mobile and immobile, but he does not exactly see their forms. Rather, everywhere he immediately sees manifest the form of the Supreme Lord.†(Cc. Madhya 8.274) Even in this material world, a devotee does not see materially manifested things; instead he sees Govinda in everything. When he sees a tree or a human being, a devotee sees them in relation to Govinda. Govindam Ädi-puruá¹£am: Govinda is the original source of everything.
īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-Änanda-vigrahaḥ
anÄdir Ädir govindaḥ
sarva-kÄraṇa-kÄraṇam
“Kṛṣṇa, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes.†(Brahma-saá¹hitÄ 5.1) The test of a perfect devotee is that he sees Govinda everywhere in this universe, even in every atomic particle (aṇá¸Äntara-stha-paramÄṇu-cayÄntara-stham). This is the perfect vision of a devotee. It is therefore said:
nÄrÄyaṇa-mayaá¹ dhÄ«rÄḥ
paÅ›yanti paramÄrthinaḥ
jagad dhana-mayaá¹ lubdhÄḥ
kÄmukÄḥ kÄminÄ«-mayam
A devotee sees everyone and everything in relationship with NÄrÄyaṇa (nÄrÄyaṇa-mayam). Everything is an expansion of NÄrÄyaṇa’s energy. Just as those who are greedy see everything as a source of money-making and those who are lusty see everything as being conducive to sex, the most perfect devotee, PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja, saw NÄrÄyaṇa even within a stone column. This does not mean, however, that we must accept the words daridra-nÄrÄyaṇa, which have been manufactured by some unscrupulous person. One who actually envisions NÄrÄyaṇa everywhere makes no distinction between the poor and the rich. To single out the daridra-nÄrÄyaṇa, or poor NÄrÄyaṇa, and reject the dhani-nÄrÄyaṇa, or rich NÄrÄyaṇa, is not the vision of a devotee. Rather, that is the imperfect vision of materialistic persons.
Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Seventh Canto, Seventh Chapter, of the ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam, entitled “What PrahlÄda Learned in the Womb.â€