upatiá¹£á¹hasva puruá¹£aá¹
bhagavantaá¹ janÄrdanam
sarva-bhÅ«ta-guhÄ-vÄsaá¹
vÄsudevaá¹ jagad-gurum
upatiá¹£á¹hasva - just try to worship; puruá¹£am - the Supreme Person; bhagavantam - the Personality of Godhead; janÄrdanam - who can kill all the enemies; sarva-bhÅ«ta-guhÄ-vÄsam - living within the core of the heart of everyone; vÄsudevam - VÄsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, who is all-pervading and is the son of Vasudeva; jagat-gurum - the spiritual master and teacher of the whole world.
With these words, KaÅ›yapa Muni tried to pacify his wife. Aditi made her appeal to her material husband. Of course, that is nice, but actually a material relative cannot do anything good for anyone. If anything good can be done, it is done by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, VÄsudeva. Therefore, KaÅ›yapa Muni advised his wife, Aditi, to begin worshiping Lord VÄsudeva, who is situated in everyone’s heart. He is the friend of everyone and is known as JanÄrdana because He can kill all enemies. There are three modes of material nature — goodness, passion and ignorance — and above material nature, transcendental to material nature, is another existence, which is called Å›uddha-sattva. In the material world, the mode of goodness is considered the best, but because of material contamination, even the mode of goodness is sometimes overpowered by the modes of passion and ignorance. But when one transcends the competition between these modes and engages himself in devotional service, he rises above the three modes of material nature. In that transcendental position, one is situated in pure consciousness. Sattvaá¹ viÅ›uddhaá¹ vasudeva-Å›abditam (BhÄg. 4.3.23). Above material nature is the position called vasudeva, or freedom from material contamination. Only in that position can one perceive the Supreme Personality of Godhead, VÄsudeva. Thus the vasudeva condition fulfills a spiritual necessity. VÄsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahÄtmÄ sudurlabhaḥ. When one realizes VÄsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he becomes most exalted.
ParamÄtmÄ (VÄsudeva) is situated in everyone’s heart, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ. The Lord says:
teá¹£Äá¹ satata-yuktÄnÄá¹
bhajatÄá¹ prÄ«ti-pÅ«rvakam
dadÄmi buddhi-yogaá¹ taá¹
yena mÄm upayÄnti te
“To those who are constantly devoted and who worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.†(Bg. 10.10)
īśvaraḥ sarva-bhÅ«tÄnÄá¹
há¹›d-deÅ›e ’rjuna tiá¹£á¹hati
“The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna.†(Bg. 18.61)
bhoktÄraá¹ yajña-tapasÄá¹
sarva-loka-maheśvaram
suhá¹›daá¹ sarva-bhÅ«tÄnÄá¹
jñÄtvÄ mÄá¹ Å›Äntim á¹›cchati
“The sage who knows Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.†(Bg. 5.29)
Whenever one is perplexed, let him take shelter of the lotus feet of VÄsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, who will give the devotee intelligence to help him surpass all difficulties and return home, back to Godhead. KaÅ›yapa Muni advised his wife to seek shelter at the lotus feet of VÄsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, so that all her problems would be very easily solved. Thus KaÅ›yapa Muni was an ideal spiritual master. He was not so foolish that he would present himself as an exalted personality, as good as God. He was actually a bona fide guru because he advised his wife to seek shelter at the lotus feet of VÄsudeva. One who trains his subordinate or disciple to worship VÄsudeva is the truly bona fide spiritual master. The word jagad-gurum is very important in this regard. KaÅ›yapa Muni did not falsely declare himself to be jagad-guru, although he actually was jagad-guru because he advocated the cause of VÄsudeva. Actually, VÄsudeva is jagad-guru, as clearly stated here (vÄsudevaá¹ jagad-gurum). One who teaches the instructions of VÄsudeva, Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ, is as good as vÄsudevaá¹ jagad-gurum. But when one who does not teach this instruction — as it is — declares himself jagad-guru, he simply cheats the public. Kṛṣṇa is jagad-guru, and one who teaches the instruction of Kṛṣṇa as it is, on behalf of Kṛṣṇa, may be accepted as jagad-guru. One who manufactures his own theories cannot be accepted; he becomes jagad-guru falsely.