vibhvyas tavÄmá¹›ta-kathoda-vahÄs tri-lokyÄḥ
pÄdÄvane-ja-saritaḥ Å›amalÄni hantum
ÄnuÅ›ravaá¹ Å›rutibhir aá¹…ghri-jam aá¹…ga-saá¹…gais
tīrtha-dvayaṠśuci-ṣadas ta upaspṛśanti
vibhvyaḥ - are able; tava - Your; amá¹›ta - nectarean; kathÄ - of the topics; uda-vahÄḥ - the water-bearing rivers; tri-lokyÄḥ - of the three worlds; pÄda-avane - from the bathing of Your lotus feet; ja - born; saritaḥ - rivers; Å›amalÄni - all contamination; hantum - to destroy; ÄnuÅ›ravam - consisting of the process of hearing from bona fide authority; Å›rutibhiḥ - with the ears; aá¹…ghri-jam - consisting of (the holy rivers) generated from Your lotus feet; aá¹…ga-saá¹…gaiḥ - by direct physical contact; tÄ«rtha-dvayam - these two kinds of holy places; Å›uci-á¹£adaḥ - those who are striving for purification; te - Your; upaspṛśanti - they approach to associate with.
The nectar-bearing rivers of discussions about You, and also the holy rivers generated from the bathing of Your lotus feet, are able to destroy all contamination within the three worlds. Those who are striving for purification associate with the holy narrations of Your glories by hearing them with their ears, and they associate with the holy rivers flowing from Your lotus feet by physically bathing in them.
ÅšrÄ«la ViÅ›vanÄtha CakravartÄ« ṬhÄkura states, ÄnuÅ›ravaá¹ guror uccÄraṇam anuÅ›rÅ«yante: “One should hear about Kṛṣṇa by hearing from the spiritual master.†The bona fide spiritual master describes the pastimes, potencies and incarnations of the Personality of Godhead to his disciple. If the spiritual master is bona fide and if the disciple is sincere and obedient, then the communication between guru and disciple is just like nectar, both for the guru and the disciple. Ordinary persons cannot even imagine the special pleasure experienced by the devotees of the Lord. Such nectarean speaking and hearing destroys all contamination within the heart of a conditioned soul, the primary contamination being the desire to live without serving Kṛṣṇa.
The other nectar described here is caraṇÄmá¹›ta, the nectarean waters that bathe the Lord’s feet. Lord VÄmanadeva bathed His own lotus foot by kicking a hole in the universal covering so that the sacred Ganges water washed His toes and fell into the universe. The YamunÄ River also washed Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet when the Lord appeared on this planet five thousand years ago. Kṛṣṇa sported daily with His boyfriends and girlfriends in the YamunÄ River, and consequently that river is also caraṇÄmá¹›ta. One should therefore try to take bath in the Ganges or YamunÄ.
Every morning in ISKCON temples, the lotus feet of the Deity of Kṛṣṇa are bathed, and the water thus sanctified is also called caraṇÄmá¹›ta, the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet. ÅšrÄ«la PrabhupÄda taught his disciples and followers to come before the Deities each morning and drink three drops of the caraṇÄmá¹›ta from the Deities’ bathing.
In all these ways one can purify his heart and relish spiritual bliss. When one is fixed on the platform of spiritual bliss, then one does not take another birth in the material world. In this verse the word Å›uci-á¹£adaḥ is significant: one must engage in the purified activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One must learn to serve the Lord from the bona fide spiritual master, whose instructions one should accept without speculation. Those who are attached to the phantasmagoria of this world sometimes concoct their own whimsical concepts of God. But only from the bona fide spiritual master can we get perfect and pure knowledge about the Supreme Personality of Godhead and devotional service to Him. Such knowledge may be found in all the books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami PrabhupÄda.
