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Chapter
7. Knowledge of the Absolute
TEXT 16
catur-vidha bhajante mam
janah sukrtino 'rjuna
arto jijnasur artharthi
jnani ca bharatarsabha
SYNONYMS
 catuh-vidhah--four
kinds of; bhajante--render services; mam--unto Me; janah--persons;
su-krtinah--those who are pious; arjuna--O Arjuna; artah--the
distressed; jijnasuh--the inquisitive; artha-arthi--one who
desires material gain; jnani--one who knows things as they are;
ca--also; bharata-rsabha--O great one amongst the descendants
of Bharata.
TRANSLATION
O best among
the Bharatas [Arjuna], four kinds of pious men render devotional service
unto Me--the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he
who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.
PURPORT
Unlike the miscreants,
these are adherents of the regulative principles of the scriptures, and
they are called sukrtinah, or those who obey the rules and regulations
of scriptures, the moral and social laws, and are, more or less, devoted
to the Supreme Lord. Out of these there are four classes of men--those
who are sometimes distressed, those who are in need of money, those who
are sometimes inquisitive, and those who are sometimes searching after
knowledge of the Absolute Truth. These persons come to the Supreme Lord
for devotional service under different conditions. These are not pure devotees
because they have some aspiration to fulfill in exchange for devotional
service. Pure devotional service is without aspiration and without desire
for material profit. The Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu defines pure devotion
thus:
anyabhilasita-sunyam jnana-karmady-anavrtam
anukulyena krsnanu-silanam bhaktir uttama
"One should
render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Krsna favorably
and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive activities
or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service."
When these
four kinds of persons come to the Supreme Lord for devotional service and
are completely purified by the association of a pure devotee, they also
become pure devotees. As far as the miscreants are concerned, for them
devotional service is very difficult because their lives are selfish, irregular
and without spiritual goals. But even some of them, by chance, when they
come in contact with a pure devotee, also become pure devotees.
Those who
are always busy with fruitive activities come to the Lord in material distress
and at that time associate with pure devotees and become, in their distress,
devotees of the Lord. Those who are simply frustrated also come sometimes
to associate with the pure devotees and become inquisitive to know about
God. Similarly, when the dry philosophers are frustrated in every field
of knowledge, they sometimes want to learn of God, and they come to the
Supreme Lord to render devotional service and thus transcend knowledge
of the impersonal Brahman and the localized Paramatma and come to the personal
conception of Godhead by the grace of the Supreme Lord or His pure devotee.
On the whole, when the distressed, the inquisitive, the seekers of knowledge,
and those who are in need of money are free from all material desires,
and when they fully understand that material remuneration has nothing to
do with spiritual improvement, they become pure devotees. As long as such
a purified stage is not attained, devotees in transcendental service to
the Lord are tainted with fruitive activities, and they search after mundane
knowledge, etc. So one has to transcend all this before one can come to
the stage of pure devotional service.
  
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