nārādhanāya hi bhavanti parasya puṁso

nārādhanāya hi bhavanti parasya puṁso

bhaktyā tutoṣa bhagavān gaja-yūtha-pāya

I think that wealth, family, beauty, austerity, learning, power of the senses, splendor, power, power of the body, effort, intelligence, karma, jñāna or aṣṭāṅga-yoga cannot satisfy the Lord. The Lord was satisfied with the king of the elephants by his devotion to the Lord.

You are not pleased by offerings of great wealth or other things. You are not pleased with birth in a good family (abhijana), strength of the senses (ojas), splendor (tejas), power (prabhāva), exertion (pauruṣa), or karma, jñāna or aṣṭāṅga-yoga. How can I satisfy you? By bhakti the Lord was satisfied. The past tense is used to indicate that one need not search out any further proof. This is your nature. Also the extraordinary power of bhakti is indicated. I have a trace of bhakti by the mercy of Nārada, and this must please you.

|| 7.9.10 ||

viprād dvi-ṣaḍ-guṇa-yutād aravinda-nābha-

pādāravinda-vimukhāt śvapacaṁ variṣṭham

manye tad-arpita-mano-vacanehitārtha-

prāṇaṁ punāti sa kulaṁ na tu bhūrimānaḥ

I consider a dog-eater who has dedicated everything—mind, words, activities, wealth and life—to the Supreme Lord superior to a brāhmaṇa has all twelve items of the previous verse but who is averse to the lotus feet of the Lord. He purifies his whole family, whereas the so-called respectable person does not.

What else needs to be said? One should consider absence or presence of bhakti. I consider a dog-eater superior to a brāhmaṇa without bhakti, what to speak of kṣatriyas and others, even if endowed with the twelve items mentioned in the previous verse. What to speak of the brāhmaṇa with only seven or eight, or three or four of those items. And what to speak of a brāhmaṇa with none of those qualifies. Or the twelve qualities can be those mentioned in Sanat-sujāta:

Jñānañ ca satyañ ca damaḥ śrutañ ca,

hy amātsaryaṁ hrīs titikṣānasūyā

yajñaś ca dānañ ca dhṛtiḥ śamaś ca

mahāvratā dvādaśa brāhmaṇasya 

 

The twelve vows of a brāhmaṇa are knowledge, truth, mind control, sense control, hearing, disinterestedness, shyness, tolerance, lack of envy, sacrifice, charity, fortitude, and peacefulness.

 

The dog-eater with bhakti is far superior. The verse specifically speaks of a brāhmaṇa who is averse to the lotus feet of the Lord. The dog-eater who has offered his mind, actions (īhitam), wealth (artha), words and life to the Lord is superior. How is he superior? He purifies his whole family whereas a person who is respected by the people does not purify even himself, what to speak of his family. Śrīdhara Svāmī says that these qualities without bhakti produce only pride.

|| 7.9.11 ||