Chapter 27

Verse 18 (SB 11.27.18)

SB 11.27.17

SB 11.27.19

SB 11.27.18 • मूल श्लोक

भूर्यप्यभक्तोपाहृतं न मे तोषाय कल्पते । गन्धो धूप: सुमनसो दीपोऽन्नाद्यं च किं पुन: ॥ १८ ॥

Transliteration

bhūry apy abhaktopāhṛtaṁ na me toṣāya kalpate gandho dhūpaḥ sumanaso dīpo ’nnādyaṁ ca kiṁ punaḥ

Synonyms (Word-for-Word)

bhūri — opulent; api — even; abhakta — by a nondevotee; upāhṛtam — offered; na — does not; me — My; toṣāya — satisfaction; kalpate — create; gandhaḥ — fragrance; dhūpaḥ — incense; sumanasaḥ — flowers; dīpaḥ — lamps; anna-ādyam — foodstuffs; ca — and; kim punaḥ — what to speak of.

Translation

“Even very opulent presentations do not satisfy Me if they are offered by nondevotees. But I am pleased by any insignificant offering made by My loving devotees, and I am certainly most pleased when nice presentations of fragrant oil, incense, flowers and palatable foods are offered with love.”

Bhaktivedanta Purport

By Śrīla Prabhupāda

The Lord has stated in the previous verse that even a little water offered with love and devotion gives Him great pleasure. Therefore the words kiṁ punaḥ indicate the Lord’s complete happiness when a suitably opulent offering is made with love and devotion. But an opulent offering made by a nondevotee cannot please the Lord. As Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains, the rules and regulations concerning Deity worship and the listing of offenses against the Deities are all meant for helping one avoid precisely this kind of disrespectful or neglectful attitude toward the Personality of Godhead in His Deity form. In fact, all offenses against the Deity are based upon irreverence and disregard for the Lord’s position as master, and thus upon disobedience to His orders. Since one must worship the Deity with reverence, one should offer opulent presentations to the Deity with love, for such presentations both enhance the respectfulness of the worshiper and help him avoid offenses in his worship.