कामाभिकाममनु यः प्रपतन्प्रसङ्गात् ।
कृत्वात्मसात् सुरर्षिणा भगवन् गृहीतः
सोऽहं कथं नु विसृजे तव भृत्यसेवाम् ॥२८॥
evaá¹ janaá¹ nipatitaá¹ prabhavÄhi-kÅ«pe
kÄmÄbhikÄmam anu yaḥ prapatan prasaá¹…gÄt
ká¹›tvÄtmasÄt surará¹£iá¹‡Ä bhagavan gá¹›hÄ«taḥ
so 'haá¹ kathaá¹ nu visá¹›je tava bhá¹›tya-sevÄm
1 times this text was mentioned in purports to other texts: LSB(1)
evam - thus; janam - people in general; nipatitam - fallen; prabhava - of material existence; ahi-kÅ«pe - in a blind well full of snakes; kÄma-abhikÄmam - desiring the sense objects; anu - following; yaḥ - the person who; prapatan - falling down (in this condition); prasaá¹…gÄt - because of bad association or increased association with material desires; ká¹›tvÄ ÄtmasÄt - causing me (to acquire spiritual qualities like himself, ÅšrÄ« NÄrada); sura-ṛṣiá¹‡Ä - by the great saintly person (NÄrada); bhagavan - O my Lord; gá¹›hÄ«taḥ - accepted; saḥ - that person; aham - I; katham - how; nu - indeed; visá¹›je - can give up; tava - Your; bhá¹›tya-sevÄm - the service of Your pure devotee.
My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, because of my association with material desires, one after another, I was gradually falling into a blind well full of snakes, following the general populace. But Your servant NÄrada Muni kindly accepted me as his disciple and instructed me how to achieve this transcendental position. Therefore, my first duty is to serve him. How could I leave his service?
As will be seen in later verses, even though PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja was directly offered all the benedictions he might have desired, he refused to accept such offerings from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. On the contrary, he asked the Lord to engage him in the service of His servant NÄrada Muni. This is the symptom of a pure devotee. One should serve the spiritual master first. It is not that one should bypass the spiritual master and desire to serve the Supreme Lord. This is not the principle for a Vaiṣṇava. Narottama dÄsa ṬhÄkura says:
tÄá¹…dera caraṇa sevi bhakta-sane vÄsa
janame janame haya, ei abhilÄá¹£a
One should not be anxious to offer direct service to the Lord. ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu advised that one become a servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord (gopÄ«-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dÄsa-dÄsÄnudÄsaḥ). This is the process for approaching the Supreme Lord. The first service should be rendered to the spiritual master so that by his mercy one can approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead to render service. While teaching RÅ«pa GosvÄmÄ«, ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu said, guru-kṛṣṇa-prasÄde pÄya bhakti-latÄ-bÄ«ja: one can achieve the seed of devotional service by the mercy of the guru, the spiritual master, and then by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. This is the secret of success. First one should try to please the spiritual master, and then one should attempt to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead. ViÅ›vanÄtha CakravartÄ« ṬhÄkura also says, yasya prasÄdÄd bhagavat-prasÄdo. One should not attempt to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead by concoction. One must first be prepared to serve the spiritual master, and when one is qualified he is automatically offered the platform of direct service to the Lord. Therefore PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja proposed that he engage in the service of NÄrada Muni. He never proposed that he engage directly in the service of the Lord. This is the right conclusion. Therefore he said, so ’haá¹ kathaá¹ nu visá¹›je tava bhá¹›tya-sevÄm: “How can I give up the service of my spiritual master, who has favored me in such a way that I am now able to see You face to face?†PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja prayed to the Lord that he might continue to engage in the service of his spiritual master, NÄrada Muni.
