Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 5 - Chapter 1 - Verse 20


Sanskrit:

स वै भवाँल्लोकनिरीक्षणार्थ-मव्यक्तलिङ्गो विचरत्यपिस्वित् ।योगेश्वराणां गतिमन्धबुद्धि:कथं विचक्षीत गृहानुबन्ध: ॥ २० ॥

ITRANS:

sa vai bhavāḻ loka-nirīkṣaṇārthamavyakta-liṅgo vicaraty api svityogeśvarāṇāṁ gatim andha-buddhiḥkathaṁ vicakṣīta gṛhānubandhaḥ

Translation:

Is it not a fact that your good self is the direct representative of Kapiladeva, the incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead? To examine people and see who is actually a human being and who is not, you have presented yourself to be a deaf and dumb person. Are you not moving this way upon the surface of the world? I am very attached to family life and worldly activities, and I am blind to spiritual knowledge. Nonetheless, I am now present before you and am seeking enlightenment from you. How can I advance in spiritual life?

Purport:

Although Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa was playing the part of a king, he had been informed by Jaḍa Bharata that he was not a king nor was Jaḍa Bharata deaf and dumb. Such designations were simply coverings of the spirit soul. Everyone must come to this knowledge. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (2.13): dehino ’smin yathā dehe. Everyone is encased within the body. Since the body is never identical with the soul, the bodily activities are simply illusory. In the association of such a sādhu as Jaḍa Bharata, Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa came to the awareness that his activities as a royal authority were simply illusory phenomena. He therefore agreed to receive knowledge from Jaḍa Bharata, and that was the beginning of his perfection. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet. A person like Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa, who was very inquisitive to know the value of life and the spiritual science, must approach a personality like Jaḍa Bharata. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam (Bhāg. 11.3.21). One must approach a guru like Jaḍa Bharata, a representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to inquire about the goal of human life.