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Chapter 7: Knowledge of the Absolute

Bg 7.20
TEXT 20
kamais tais tair hrta-jnanah
prapadyante 'nya-devatah
tam tam niyamam asthaya
prakrtya niyatah svaya
SYNONYMS
kamaih—by desires; taih—by those; taih—by those; hrta—distorted; jnanah—knowledge; prapadyante—surrender; anya—other; devatah—demigods; tam—that; tam—that; niyamam—rules; asthaya—following; prakrtya—by nature; niyatah—controlled; svaya—by their own.
TRANSLATION
Those whose minds are distorted by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.
PURPORT
Those who are freed from all material contaminations surrender unto the Supreme Lord and engage in His devotional service. As long as the material contamination is not completely washed off, they are by nature nondevotees. But even those who have material desires and who resort to the Supreme Lord are not so much attracted by external nature; because of approaching the right goal, they soon become free from all material lust. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is recommended that whether one is free from all material desires, or is full of material desires, or desires liberation from material contamination, or is a pure devotee and has no desire for material sense gratification, he should in all cases surrender to Vasudeva and worship Him.
It is said in the Bhagavatam that less intelligent people who have lost their spiritual sense take shelter of demigods for immediate fulfillment of material desires. Generally, such people do not go to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, because they are in particular modes of nature (ignorance and passion) and therefore worship various demigods. Following the rules and regulations of worship, they are satisfied. The worshipers of demigods are motivated by small desires and do not know how to reach the supreme goal, but a devotee of the Supreme Lord is not misguided. Because in Vedic literature there are recommendations for worshiping different gods for different purposes (e.g., a diseased man is recommended to worship the sun), those who are not devotees of the Lord think that for certain purposes demigods are better than the Supreme Lord. But a pure devotee knows that the Supreme Lord Krsna is the master of all. In the Caitanya-caritamrta it is said that only the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, is master and all others are servants. Therefore a pure devotee never goes to demigods for satisfaction of his material needs. He depends on the Supreme Lord. And the pure devotee is satisfied with whatever He gives.

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Copyright (c) 1972 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada