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Prabhupāda
TEXT 23
One who offers Me respect but is envious in the body of others and thereby a separatist, such person never attains peace of mind on account of his inimical behavior to other living entities.
PURPORT
In this verse, two words: bhūteṣu baddha-vairasya (b-h-u-t-e-s-u b-a-d-d-h-a v-a-i-r-a-y-a-s-y-a) and dviṣataḥ para-kāye (d-w-i-s-a-t-a-h p-a-r-a k-a-y-e). Dviṣataḥ para-kāye means "envious of other's body," and bhūteṣu baddha-vairasya means "firmly being convinced to think or feel inimically for other bodies." One who is in such situation of mentality, he never gets any happiness. The devotee's vision, therefore, must be very perfect. He should ignorant the bodily distinction. He should see only the presence of the part and parcel of the Supreme Lord and the Lord Himself in His plenary expansion of Supersoul. That is the vision of a pure devotee. The bodily expression of the particular type of a living entity is always ignored by the devotee.
In other words, it is expressed that the Lord is always anxious to deliver the conditioned souls, who have been encaged with this material body to be delivered. And the devotees are expected to carry the message of the Lord or the desire of the Lord to such conditioned souls and enlighten them with Kṛṣṇa consciousness so that they may be elevated to the transcendental spiritual life and the mission of their life may be successful. Of course, such thing is not possible to living entities lower than the human being, but at least in the human society it is possible that the living entity can be enlightened with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Even to the living entities who are less, I mean to say, lower than the human being, they can also be raised in Kṛṣṇa consciousness by many other methods. For example, Śivānanda Sena, a great devotee of Lord Caitanya, he delivered even a dog by taking attention of the dog and supplying him prasādam. So prasādam, distribution of prasādam, or remnant of foodstuff of the Lord, to the ignorant mass of people, even to the animals, gives chance for such living entities to be elevated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And factually it happened that the same dog, when it met Lord Caitanya in Purī, it is understood that he was liberated from material condition.
In other words, it is especially mentioned here that a devotee must be free from all kinds of violence [jīvāhiṁsā]. Lord Caitanya has especially recommended that a devotee cannot commit violence to any living entities. Sometimes the question is raised that vegetable, they have got also life. But the devotees take vegetables as their foodstuff, that is all right. But taking some leaves or twigs from a tree or plant does not mean that killing the plant. Taking some fruits from the tree does not mean killing the tree. So... And besides that, jīvāhiṁsā means that every living entity has to pass through a particular type of body according to his past karma; and although every living entity is eternal, he should not be disturbed in his gradual evolutionary process. So devotee has to execute exactly the principles of devotional service and must know that however insignificant a living entity may be, there is presence of the Lord. This universal presence of the Lord must be realized by a devotee. That is an essential fact.
TEXT 24
TRANSLATION
I am never pleased by such worship of My Deities in the temple by persons who are ignorant of My presence in all living entities although he worships with proper rituals and paraphernalia, My dear mother.
PURPORT
There are sixty-four different kinds of prescription for worshipping the Deity in the temple, and they are called herein uccāva, uccāva..., uccāvacair dravyaiḥ, uchava chair dravyai (u-c-h, c-h-a-v-a c-h-a-i-r; dravyai, d-r-a-v-y-a-i) uccāvacair dravyaiḥ. For worshiping the Deity in temple, there are many things offered to the Deity, valuable or less valuable. As it is prescribed in Bhagavad-gītā [9.26] that "The devotee who offers Me even a small flower, a little water, a small fruit, I accept." The real purpose is to exhibit one's loving devotion to the Lord, not the goods. If one has not developed that loving devotion to the Lord and simply superficially he arranges to offer many kinds of foodstuff, fruits, flowers gorgeously but if he has no devotion, real devotion of love towards the Lord, the Lord does not accept such things. We cannot bribe the Personality of Godhead. He is so great that our bribing to the Lord has no value. Neither He has got any scarcity. He is full in Himself, what we can offer Him? Everything is produced by Him. The only thing is that we offer to show our love and gratitude to the Lord.
So this gratitude and love for God can be exhibited by a pure devotee who knows very well that the Lord lives in every living entity. As such, the temple worship means distribution of prasādam. Not that you create one temple in your private apartment or private room and you offer something to the Lord and then you eat. Of course, that is better than such persons who simply cook foodstuff and eat without understanding the relationship with the Supreme Lord; they are just like animals. But the devotee who wants to elevate himself to the higher level of understanding must know that the presence of the Lord is there in every living entity. And, as it is stated in the previous verse, that one should be compassionate to other living entities. A devotee should be worshipful to the Lord, friendly to persons who are on the same level, and must be compassionate to the ignorant. So one's compassion to the living entities ignorant has to be exhibited by distribution of prasādam. Therefore, distribution of prasādam to the ignorant mass of people is essential for persons who offer many things to the Personality of Godhead.
Really love and devotion is accepted by the Lord. As if many valuable foodstuff be presented to a person and if the person is not hungry, all such things becomes useless for him. Similarly, we may offer many valuable things to the Deity, but if we have no real sense of devotion, real sense of Lord's presence everywhere, that means we are lacking in devotional service; and in such state of ignorance, we cannot offer anything for being accepted by the Lord.
TEXT 25
TRANSLATION
Performing his prescribed duties, a man should worship the Deity of Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only so long as he does not realize Me as present in his own heart as well as in the heart of other living entities.
PURPORT
Worship of the Deity of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is prescribed herewith even for persons who are simply discharging their prescribed duties. As we have explained before this, that there are prescribed duties of different classes of men—the brāhmaṇas, the vaiśyas, the kṣatriyas, the śūdras—and different āśramies [sic]—brahmacari, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsi. So as they have got different prescribed duties, so by the result of such prescribed duties one has to worship the Deity of the Lord, and such worship of the Deity of the Lord is not successful till one does not appreciate the presence of the Lord in every living entities. In other words, one should not be simply satisfied by discharging his duties properly. He has to realize his relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the relationship of all other living entities with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If he does not understand this truth of his relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then even though he properly discharges his prescribed duties, it is to be understood that simply he is laboring without any profit.
The words sva-karma-kṛt is very significant in this verse (s-w-a k-r-m-a k-r-i-t). Sva-karma-kṛt means one who is engaged in discharging his prescribed duties. It is not that because one has become a devotee of the Lord or one is engaged in devotional service, therefore he should give up his prescribed duties. In other..., Purpose is that in the name of devotional service nobody should be a lazy man. He has to execute devotional service by the result of his prescribed duties. So sva-karma-kṛt means one should discharge his duties also. They should not neglect the duties prescribed for him.
TEXT 26
As blazing fire of death, I cause great fear to him who makes the least discrimination between himself and another living entities by differential outlook.
PURPORT
There are differentiation of body of many varieties of living entities. A devotee should not make distinction between one living entity with another on account of such differentiation of body. A devotee's outlook should be that the soul and Supersoul, both of them are equally present in all such different varieties of bodies.
TEXT 27
Therefore, through charitable gifts and attention as well as through friendly behavior and by viewing all alike, one should propitiate Me abiding in all creatures as their very Self.
PURPORT
It should not, however, be misunderstood that because the Supersoul is dwelling within the heart of a living entity, that individual soul living along with the Supersoul has become equal with Him. This equality of the Supersoul and the individual soul is misconceived by the impersonalist. Here it is distinctly mentioned that the individual soul should be recognized in relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the method of worshiping the individual soul is described here either by charitable gifts or friendly behavior without any separatist outlook. The impersonalist sometimes accepts a poor individual soul as daridra-nārāyaṇa, that Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has become poor. This is contradiction because the Supreme Personality of Godhead is a full with all kinds of opulences. So He can agree to live along with the poor soul or even an animal, but that does not mean that He has become a poor.
There are two words in Sanskrit language: sevā (s-e-v-a) and dāya (d-a-y-a). Sevā is meant for the superior, and dāya or giving charitable gifts or to become compassionate is to the inferior. So we cannot treat the Supreme Personality of Godhead as inferior, subject to our charitable gifts. When we give charity, we give charity to a person who is inferior in, I mean to say, material or economic condition. Charity is not given to a rich man. Similarly, it is explicitly said here that dāna-mānavi [dāna-mānābhyam]. Māna or respect is offered to the superior, and charity is offered to the inferior. So the living entities, according to different result of his fruitive activities, may become, I mean to say, rich or poor, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead is unchangeable; He is always full with six opulences. So because we have to treat a living entity equally, it does not mean that we shall treat him as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. To become compassionate and friendly does not mean that we should falsely elevate somebody to the exalted position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We should not, at the same time, misunderstand that the Supersoul situated in the heart of an animal like hog and the Supersoul situated in the heart of a living entity like a learned brāhmaṇa are different. The Supersoul in all the living entities are the same Supreme Personality of Godhead. By His omnipotency, He can live anywhere and He can create His Vaikuṇṭha situation everywhere. That is His inconceivable potency. Therefore, the Nārāyaṇa, one…, when He is living in the heart of an animal like hog does not become a hog-Nārāyaṇa. He is Nārāyaṇa always without touching the body of the hog.
TEXT 28
TRANSLATION
Living entities are superior to the inanimate objects, O my auspicious mother, and above them, living entities who have got life symptom are better. Animals with consciousness are better than them, and still better than them are those who have developed sense perception.
PURPORT
The..., in the previous verse, it has been explained that living entities should be honored by charitable gifts and friendly behavior; and in this verse and the following verses, the description of different grades of living entities are given so that one has to know where to behave friendly ways and where to behave simply by giving charities. For example, there is a tiger. That tiger is also a living entity and a part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is living in the heart of the tiger as Supersoul. So does it mean that we have to treat with the tiger in a friendly manner? No, certainly not. But we have to treat him in a different way by giving him charity of prasādam. We have got personal experience that there are many saintly persons in the jungles and they treat the tigers also, not in friendly way, but they supply foodstuff to the tiger, prasādam, and they come and take and go away. Just like to the dog. According to Vedic system, a dog is not allowed to enter into the house, within the house, because he is uncleanliness. Cats and dogs, being unclean, they are not allowed within the compartment of a gentleman, but they are so trained...
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...or assume that even if a person acquires some knowledge in the matter of advancement of spiritual upliftment, circumstantially he is prone to forget it. Not to speak of the child but those who are elderly persons, they should be very much careful to protect their sense of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and avoid unfavorable circumstances so that they may not forget their business.