tapo-vidyÄ-vrata-dharÄn
jñÄna-vidhvasta-kalmaá¹£Än
paramaṛṣīn brahma-niṣṭhÄn
loka-pÄlaiÅ› ca pÅ«jitÄn
sadas-patīn atikramya
gopÄlaḥ kula-pÄá¹sanaḥ
yathÄ kÄkaḥ puroá¸ÄÅ›aá¹
saparyÄá¹ katham arhati

 tapaḥ - austerity; vidyÄ - Vedic knowledge; vrata - severe vows; dharÄn - who maintain; jñÄna - by spiritual understanding; vidhvasta - eradicated; kalmaá¹£Än - whose impurities; parama - topmost; á¹›á¹£Ä«n - sages; brahma - to the Absolute Truth; niṣṭhÄn - dedicated; loka-pÄlaiḥ - by the rulers of the planetary systems; ca - and; pÅ«jitÄn - worshiped; sadaḥ-patÄ«n - leaders of the assembly; atikramya - passing over; gopÄlaḥ - a cowherd; kula - of His family; pÄá¹sanaḥ - the disgrace; yathÄ - as; kÄkaḥ - a crow; puroá¸ÄÅ›am - the sacred rice cake (offered to the demigods); saparyÄm - worship; katham - how; arhati - deserves.


Text

How can you pass over the most exalted members of this assembly — topmost sages dedicated to the Absolute Truth endowed with powers of austerity, divine insight and strict adherence to severe vows, sanctified by knowledge and worshiped even by the rulers of the universe? How does this cowherd boy, the disgrace of His family, deserve your worship, any more than a crow deserves to eat the sacred puroá¸ÄÅ›a rice cake?

Purport

The great commentator ÅšrÄ«dhara SvÄmÄ« has analyzed ÅšiÅ›upÄla’s words as follows. The term go-pÄla means not only “cowherd†but also “protector of the Vedas and the earth.†Similarly, kula-pÄá¹sana has a double meaning. ÅšiÅ›upÄla intended it to mean “the disgrace of His family,†which is its meaning when divided as above. But the word may also be analyzed as ku-lapÄm aá¹sana, giving a totally different meaning. KulapÄm indicates those who prattle with crooked words contrary to the Vedas, and aá¹sana, derived from the verb aá¹sayati, means “destroyer.†In other words, he was praising Lord Kṛṣṇa as “He who vanquishes all misguided and frivolous speculations about the nature of truth.†Similarly, although ÅšiÅ›upÄla wanted to compare Lord Kṛṣṇa to a crow with the words yathÄ kÄkaḥ, these words may also be divided yathÄ a-kÄkaḥ. In that case, according to ÅšrÄ«la ÅšrÄ«dhara SvÄmÄ«, the word kÄka is a combination of ka and Äka, which indicate material happiness and misery. Thus Lord Kṛṣṇa is akÄka in the sense that He is beyond all material misery and happiness, being on the pure, transcendental platform. Finally, ÅšiÅ›upÄla was right in saying the Lord Kṛṣṇa does not deserve merely the puroá¸ÄÅ›a rice cake, offered to the lesser demigods as a substitute for the heavenly beverage soma. In fact, Lord Kṛṣṇa deserves to receive everything that we possess, since He is the ultimate proprietor of everything, including ourselves. Thus we should give Lord Kṛṣṇa our life and soul, not merely a ritualistic offering of rice cakes.