कुमारा ऊचुः
योऽन्तर्हितो हृदि गतोऽपि दुरात्मनां त्वं
सोऽद्यैव नो नयनमूलमनन्त राद्धः ।
यर्ह्येव कर्णविवरेण गुहां गतो नः
पित्रानुवर्णितरहा भवदुद्भवेन ॥४६॥

kumÄrÄ Å«cuḥ
yo 'ntarhito há¹›di gato 'pi durÄtmanÄá¹ tvaá¹
so 'dyaiva no nayana-mÅ«lam ananta rÄddhaḥ
yarhy eva karṇa-vivareṇa guhÄá¹ gato naḥ
pitrÄnuvarṇita-rahÄ bhavad-udbhavena

 kumÄrÄḥ Å«cuḥ - the KumÄras said; yaḥ - He who; antarhitaḥ - not manifested; há¹›di - in the heart; gataḥ - is seated; api - even though; durÄtmanÄm - to the rascals; tvam - You; saḥ - He; adya - today; eva - certainly; naḥ - of us; nayana-mÅ«lam - face to face; ananta - O unlimited one; rÄddhaḥ - attained; yarhi - when; eva - certainly; karṇa-vivareṇa - through the ears; guhÄm - intelligence; gataḥ - have attained; naḥ - our; pitrÄ - by our father; anuvarṇita - described; rahÄḥ - mysteries; bhavat-udbhavena - by Your appearance.


Text

The KumÄras said: Our dear Lord, You are not manifested to rascals, even though You are seated within the heart of everyone. But as far as we are concerned, we see You face to face, although You are unlimited. The statements we have heard about You from our father, BrahmÄ, through the ears have now been actually realized by Your kind appearance.

Purport

The so-called yogÄ«s who concentrate their mind or meditate upon the impersonal or void are described here. This verse of ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam describes persons who are expected to be very expert yogÄ«s engaged in meditation but who do not find the Supreme Personality of Godhead seated within the heart. These persons are described here as durÄtmÄ, which means a person who has a very crooked heart, or a less intelligent person, just opposite to a mahÄtmÄ, which means one who has a broad heart. Those so-called yogÄ«s who, although engaged in meditation, are not broad-hearted cannot find the four-handed NÄrÄyaṇa form, even though He is seated within their heart. Although the first realization of the Supreme Absolute Truth is impersonal Brahman, one should not remain satisfied with experiencing the impersonal effulgence of the Supreme Lord. In the Īśopaniá¹£ad also, the devotee prays that the glaring effulgence of Brahman may be removed from his eyes so that he can see the real, personal feature of the Lord and thus satisfy himself fully. Similarly, although the Lord is not visible in the beginning because of His glaring bodily effulgence, if a devotee sincerely wants to see Him, the Lord is revealed to him. It is said in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ that the Lord cannot be seen by our imperfect eyes, He cannot be heard by our imperfect ears, and He cannot be experienced by our imperfect senses, but that if one engages in devotional service with faith and devotion, then God reveals Himself.

Here the four sages Sanat-kumÄra, SanÄtana, Sanandana and Sanaka are described as actually sincere devotees. Although they had heard from their father, BrahmÄ, about the personal feature of the Lord, only the impersonal feature, Brahman, was revealed to them. But because they were sincerely searching for the Lord, they finally saw His personal feature directly, which corresponded with the description given by their father. They thus became fully satisfied. Here they express their gratitude because although they were foolish impersonalists in the beginning, by the grace of the Lord they could now have the good fortune to see His personal feature. Another significant aspect of this verse is that the sages describe their experience of hearing from their father, BrahmÄ, who was born of the Lord directly. In other words, the disciplic succession from the Lord to BrahmÄ and from BrahmÄ to NÄrada and from NÄrada to VyÄsa, and so on, is accepted here. Because the KumÄras were sons of BrahmÄ, they had the opportunity to learn Vedic knowledge from the disciplic succession of BrahmÄ, and therefore, in spite of their impersonalist beginnings, they became, in the end, direct seers of the personal feature of the Lord.