दृढभक्तिः स्थिरप्रज्ञो नासद्ग्राही न दुर्वचाः।
निस्तन्द्रिरप्रमत्तश्च स्वदोषपरदोषवित्॥
dṛḍha-bhaktiḥ sthira-prajño nāsad-grāhī na durvacāḥ
nistandrir apramattaś ca sva-doṣa-para-doṣavit
dṛḍha-bhaktiḥ = He was firmly devoted to the Supreme Lord, His elders and other worshippable persons; sthira-prajñaḥ = He possessed unshakable knowledge of the truths [concerning reality]; na = He was not; asat-grāhī = eager for materialistic sense enjoyment; durvacāḥ = He was neither harsh in speech; nistandriḥ = nor lazy; apramattaḥ ca = He was not inattentive to scriptural teachings; sva-doṣa-para-doṣavit = He was aware of His and others’ defects.
He was firmly devoted to the Supreme Lord, His elders and other worshippable persons. He possessed unshakable knowledge of the truths [concerning reality]. He was not eager for materialistic sense enjoyment. He was neither harsh in speech nor lazy. He was not inattentive to scriptural teachings. He was aware of His and others’ defects.
Lord Rāma’s unshakable knowledge of the truths [concerning reality] were due to His firm devotion. Therefore, He was not eager for materialistic sense enjoyment or the association of materialist people. And consequently, He was not inattentive to the scriptural teachings [pertaining to spiritual upliftment].1 A person of this world observes others’ faults, not his own. But Lord Rāmacandra was not like that. He observed others’ and His own defects. He will recollect the following about [an incident concerning His dealing with] Bharata thus:
māṁ nivartayituṁ yo ’sau citrakūṭam upāgataḥ
śirasā yācato yasya vacanaṁ na kṛtaṁ mayā
“[I would like to meet Bharata] who came to Citrakūṭa to make Me return [to Ayodhyā and rule My father’s kingdom] and who bowed His head down and begged Me [to return to Ayodhyā. But] I did not do what He requested.” (Rāmāyaṇa 6.124.19)
NOTE. Lord Rāma demonstrated that unflinching devotional service to the Supreme Lord and His pure devotee representatives naturally brings about realized scriptural knowledge and detachment from materialism and materialists:
yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ
“Only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed.” (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.23)
vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ
janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam
“By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.7)
It should also be noted that Śrī Rāma is actually free from all defects, for the Nārada-pañcarātra describes the Supreme Personality of Godhead as nirdoṣa-pūrṇa-guṇa-vigrahaḥ (“He possesses nondefective and perfect qualities and forms”).2
The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.77.31-32) repeatedly notes that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is free from the defects found in the living entities of this world.
kva śoka-mohau sneho vā bhayaṁ vā ye ’jña-sambhavāḥ
kva cākhaṇḍita-vijñāna-jñānaiśvaryas tv akhaṇḍitaḥ
“How can lamentation, bewilderment, material affection or fear, all born out of ignorance, be ascribed to the infinite Supreme Lord, whose perception, knowledge and power are all similarly infinite?”
yat-pāda-sevorjitayātma-vidyayā
hinvanty anādyātma-viparyaya-graham
labhanta ātmīyam anantam aiśvaraṁ
kuto nu mohaḥ paramasya sad-gateḥ
“By virtue of self-realization fortified by service rendered to His feet, devotees of the Lord dispel the bodily concept of life, which has bewildered the soul since time immemorial. Thus they attain eternal glory in His personal association. How, then, can that Supreme Truth, the destination of all genuine saints, be subject to illusion?”
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī and Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explain in their commentary to Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 2.1.246-248 that the Supreme Lord exhibits some of the defects found in the conditioned souls only out of His affection for His selflessly affectionate devotees. It should be noted that in those circumstances alone, they actually turn out to be actually virtues. The same when exhibited by conditioned souls are certainly defects, and therefore they are referred to as “defects” in this verse. These were the defects that Lord Śrī Rāma was aware of, both in Him and in others. This is to teach a particular lesson to us that we should not be eager to find fault with others, but we should also be eager to find fault with ourselves. The Lord demonstrates basic human virtues through personal demonstration.
1. It is to be understood that all of this is just Lord Rāma’s demonstration to the conditioned souls of how they should become increasingly absorbed in vairāgya, vidyā and bhakti-yoga, which constitute the core common duties of all participants of the system of varṇāśrama-dharma. See Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.11.8-12. In His incarnation as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He revealed these teachings in greater and vivid detail. Readers are requested to read the great authorized biography Caitanya-caritāmṛta with the annotated translation of Śrīla Prabhupāda to better appreciate and understand this subject.
2. This verse is quoted in Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa’s Govinda-bhāṣya 3.2.31. See also the Sūkṣmā-ṭīkā on it.