titiká¹£avaḥ kÄruṇikÄḥ
suhá¹›daḥ sarva-dehinÄm
ajÄta-Å›atravaḥ Å›ÄntÄḥ
sÄdhavaḥ sÄdhu-bhÅ«á¹£aṇÄḥ
titiká¹£avaḥ - very forbearing; kÄruṇikÄḥ - merciful; suhá¹›daḥ - who are well-wishers; sarva-dehinÄm - to all living entities; ajÄta-Å›atravaḥ - without enemies; Å›ÄntÄḥ - peaceful; sÄdhavaḥ - following the injunctions of the Å›Ästra; sÄdhu-bhÅ«á¹£aṇÄḥ - who are decorated with good character.
“ ‘Devotees are always tolerant, forbearing and very merciful. They are the well-wishers of every living entity. They follow the scriptural injunctions, and because they have no enemies, they are very peaceful. These are the decorations of devotees.’
This is a quotation from ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (3.25.21). When the sages, headed by Åšaunaka, inquired about Kapiladeva, the incarnation of Godhead, SÅ«ta GosvÄmÄ«, who was the topmost devotee of the Lord, quoted talks about self-realization between Vidura and Maitreya, a friend of VyÄsadeva’s. During these talks the topic of Lord Kapila had come up, and at that time Maitreya had repeated Kapiladeva’s discussions with His mother, wherein the Lord states that attachment to material things is the cause of conditioned life. When a person becomes attached to transcendental things, he is on the path of liberation.
