बिले बतोरुक्रमविक्रमान्ये न शृण्वतः कर्णपुटे नरस्य जिह्वासती दार्दुरिकेव सूत न चोपगायत्युरुगायगाथाः
bile batorukrama-vikramān ye na śṛṇvataḥ karṇa-puṭe narasya jihvāsatī dārdurikeva sūta na copagāyaty urugāya-gāthāḥ
Synonyms
bile—snake holes; bata—like; urukrama—the Lord, who acts marvelously; vikramān—prowess; ye—all these; na—never; śṛṇvataḥ—heard; karṇa-puṭe—the earholes; narasya—of the man, jihvā—tongue; asatī—useless; dārdurikā—of the frogs; eva—exactly like that; sūta—O Sūta Gosvāmī; na—never; ca—also; upagāyati—chants loudly; urugāya—worth singing; gāthāḥ—songs..
Translation
One who has not listened to the messages about the prowess and marvelous acts of the Personality of Godhead and has not sung or chanted loudly the worthy songs about the Lord is to be considered to possess earholes like that of the snakes and a tongue like that of the frogs.
Purport
Devotional service of the Lord is rendered by all limbs or parts of the body. It is the transcendental dynamic force of the spirit soul; therefore a devotee is engaged one hundred percent in the service of the Lord. One can engage in devotional service when the senses of the body are purified in relation with the Lord, and one can render service to the Lord with the help of all senses. As such, the senses and the action of the senses are to be considered as impure or materialistic as long as they are employed in sense gratification only. The purified senses are engaged not in sense gratification but in the service of the Lord in toto. The Lord is the Supreme with all senses, and the servitor who is part and parcel of the Lord also has the same senses. Service of the Lord is the completely purified use of the senses, as it is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. The Lord imparted instructions with full senses, and Arjuna received them with full senses, and thus there was a perfect exchange of sensible and logical understanding between the master and the disciple. Spiritual understanding is nothing like an electrical charge from the master to the disciple, as it is foolishly claimed by some propaganda-mongers. Everything is full of sense and logic, and the exchange of views between the master and disciple is possible when the reception is submissive and real only. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that one should receive the teaching of Lord Caitanya with intellect and full senses so that one can logically understand the great mission.
In the impure state of a living being, the respective senses are fully engaged in mundane affairs. If the ear is not engaged in the service of the Lord by hearing about Him in the Bhagavad-gītā or in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, certainly the holes of the ear will be filled up with some rubbish. Therefore the messages of the Bhagavad-gītā and the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam should be preached all over the world very loudly. That is the duty of a pure devotee who has actually heard about them from the perfect sources. Many want to speak something to others, but because they are not trained up to speak on the subject matter of Vedic wisdom they are all speaking nonsense, and the people are receiving them with no sense. There are hundreds and thousands of sources for distributing mundane news of the world, and people of the world are also receiving them. Similarly, the people of the world should be taught to hear the transcendental topics of the Lord, and the devotee of the Lord must speak loudly so that they can hear. The frogs loudly croak, with the result that they invite the snakes to eat them. The human tongue is especially given for chanting the Vedic hymns and not for croaking like the frogs. The word asatī used in this verse is also significant. Asatī means a woman who has become a prostitute. A prostitute has no reputation for good womanly qualities. Similarly, the tongue, which is given to the human being for chanting the Vedic hymns, will be considered a prostitute when it is engaged in the matter of chanting some mundane nonsense.