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ŚB 3.3.20

Devanagari

स्‍निग्धस्मितावलोकेन वाचा पीयूषकल्पया ।
चरित्रेणानवद्येन श्रीनिकेतेन चात्मना ॥ २० ॥

Text

snigdha-smitāvalokena
vācā pīyūṣa-kalpayā
caritreṇānavadyena
śrī-niketena cātmanā

Synonyms

snigdha — gentle; smita-avalokena — by a glance with a sweet smile; vācā — by words; pīyūṣa-kalpayā — compared to nectar; caritreṇa — by character; anavadyena — without flaw; śrī — fortune; niketena — residence; ca — and; ātmanā — by His transcendental body.

Translation

He was there in His transcendental body, the residence of the goddess of fortune, with His usual gentle and sweetly smiling face, His nectarean words and His flawless character.

Purport

In the previous verse it is described that Lord Kṛṣṇa, being situated in the truths of Sāṅkhya philosophy, is detached from all kinds of matter. In the present verse it is described that He is the residence of the goddess of fortune. These two things are not at all contradictory. Lord Kṛṣṇa is detached from the variegatedness of the inferior nature, but He is in eternal, blissful enjoyment of the spiritual nature, or His internal potency. One who has a poor fund of knowledge cannot understand this distinction between the external and internal potencies. In Bhagavad-gītā, the internal potency is described as the parā prakṛti. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa also, the internal potency of Viṣṇu is described as parā śakti. The Lord is never detached from the association of parā śakti. This parā śakti and her manifestations are described in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.37) as ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ. The Lord is eternally joyful and cognizant in the taste derived from such transcendental bliss. Negation of the variegatedness of the inferior energy does not necessitate negation of the positive transcendental bliss of the spiritual world. Therefore the Lord’s gentleness, His smile, His character and everything related to Him are all transcendental. Such manifestations of the internal potency are the reality, of which the material shadow is only a temporary representation from which everyone with proper knowledge must be detached.