सर्वत्र खलु दृश्यन्ते साधवो धर्मचारिणः।
शूराः शरण्याः सौमित्रे तिर्यग्योनिगतेष्वपि॥
sarvatra khalu dṛśyante sādhavo dharmacāriṇaḥ
śūrāḥ śaraṇyāḥ saumitre tiryag-yoni-gateṣv api
sarvatra = everywhere; khalu = indeed; dṛśyante = are seen; sādhavaḥ = saints; dharmacāriṇaḥ = who follow dharma; śūrāḥ = and who are heroes; śaraṇyāḥ = fit to be taken shelter of; saumitre = O son of Sumitrā-devī; tiryak-yoni-gateṣu = in the lower species of life; api = even.
O son of Sumitrā-devī, saints who follow dharma and who are heroes fit to be taken shelter of, are indeed seen everywhere, even in the lower species of life!
1 A vulture is a mere bird and belongs to a lower species of life. One should not consider it impossible for such a bird to develop so much intelligence that he could consciously serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and even give up his life for the Lord’s sake!
2 A living entity can attain sixty out of the sixty-four primary qualities of Lord Kṛṣṇa when he becomes fully liberated from material existence. The sixty-four primary qualities of the Original Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa are enumerated in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 2.1.23-29. Our readers are strongly encouraged to go through Chapters 21 and 22 of Prabhupāda’s summary study of Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu entitled The Nectar of Devotion to educate themselves of these qualities under discussion.
3 Italics by Prabhupāda himself.
“Everywhere” means “in every species of life.”
Śrī Rāma implies that one should not wonder how this [king of vultures] who belonged to a lower species of life could develop such intelligence.1
NOTE. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.12.3-8, Lord Kṛṣṇa points out that in the process of exclusive devotional service unto Him, there is absolutely no consideration of higher species or lower species—every being can attain salvation or pure love of Godhead if he or she or it engages in exclusive devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
These Bhāgavatam verses are presented herewith along with purports by Prabhupāda’s disciples to help the reader understand this topic:
sat-saṅgena hi daiteyā yātudhānā mṛgāḥ khagāḥ
gandharvāpsaraso nāgāḥ siddhāś cāraṇa-guhyakāḥ
vidyādharā manuṣyeṣu vaiśyāḥ śūdrāḥ striyo ’ntya-jāḥ
rajas-tamaḥ-prakṛtayas tasmiṁs tasmin yuge yuge
bahavo mat-padaṁ prāptās tvāṣṭra-kāyādhavādayaḥ
vṛṣaparvā balir bāṇo mayaś cātha vibhīṣaṇaḥ
sugrīvo hanumān ṛkṣo gajo gṛdhro vaṇikpathaḥ
vyādhaḥ kubjā vraje gopyo yajña-patnyas tathāpare
“In every yuga many living entities entangled in the modes of passion and ignorance gained the association of My devotees. Thus, such living entities as the Daityas, Rākṣasas, birds, beasts, Gandharvas, Apsarās, Nāgas, Siddhas, Cāraṇas, Guhyakas and Vidyādharas, as well as such lower-class human beings as the vaiśyas, śūdras, women and others, were able to achieve My supreme abode. Vṛtrāsura, Prahlāda Mahārāja and others like them also achieved My abode by association with My devotees, as did personalities such as Vṛṣaparvā, Bali Mahārāja, Bāṇāsura, Maya, Vibhīṣaṇa, Sugrīva, Hanumān, Jāmbavān, Gajendra, Jaṭāyu, Tulādhāra, Dharma-vyādha, Kubjā, the gopīs in Vṛndāvana and the wives of the brāhmaṇas who were performing sacrifice.”
PURPORT. The Lord has mentioned devotees such as the gopīs in Vṛndāvana and also demons like Bāṇāsura to illustrate how He comes under the control of those who surrender to Him. It is understood that devotees like the gopīs and others mentioned here obtained pure love of Kṛṣṇa, whereas the demons generally obtained only salvation. Many demons were purified by association with devotees and came to accept devotional service to the Lord as the most important among the various activities in their lives, but the exalted devotees like Prahlāda and Bali Mahārāja know nothing except devotional service, which they accept as their very life. Still, the reformed demons are also mentioned so that readers of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam will understand the enormous benefits one may achieve by associating with devotees of the Lord.
The demon Vṛtrāsura was the pious King Citraketu in his previous life, during which he associated with Śrī Nārada Muni, Śrī Aṅgirā Muni and Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa. Prahlāda Mahārāja, being the son of Hiraṇyakaśipu, is considered a Daitya, or demon. Yet while still in the womb of his mother, Kayādhū, he associated with Nārada Muni by sound vibration. The demon Vṛṣaparvā was abandoned by his mother at birth, but he was raised by a muni and became a devotee of Lord Viṣṇu. Bali Mahārāja associated with his grandfather Prahlāda and also with Lord Vāmanadeva. Bali Mahārāja’s son, Bāṇāsura, was saved by association with his father and Lord Śiva. He also associated with Lord Kṛṣṇa personally when the Lord cut off all but two of his one thousand arms, which had been awarded as a benediction by Lord Śiva. Understanding the glories of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Bāṇāsura also became a great devotee. The demon Maya Dānava constructed an assembly house for the Pāṇḍavas and also associated with Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, eventually achieving the shelter of the Lord. Vibhīṣaṇa was a pious-natured demon, the brother of Rāvaṇa, and he associated with Hanumān and Rāmacandra.
Sugrīva, Hanumān, Jāmbavān and Gajendra are examples of animals who achieved the mercy of the Lord. Jāmbavān, or Ṛkṣarāja, was a member of a race of bears. He personally associated with Lord Kṛṣṇa, fighting with Him over the Syamantaka jewel. The elephant Gajendra in a previous life had association with devotees, and at the end of his life as Gajendra he was personally saved by the Lord. Jaṭāyu, the bird who at the cost of his own life assisted Lord Rāmacandra, associated with Śrī Garuḍa and Mahārāja Daśaratha as well as other devotees in rāma-līlā. He also personally met with Sītā and Lord Rāma. According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, the association that the Gandharvas, Apsarās, Nāgas, Siddhas, Cāraṇas, Guhyakas and Vidyādharas had with the devotees is not very prominent and does not need to be mentioned. Vaṇikpatha is a vaiśya, and his story is mentioned in the Mahābhārata in connection with the pride of Jājali Muni.
The importance of association with devotees is illustrated in the story of Dharma-vyādha, the nonviolent hunter, as described in the Varāha Purāṇa. In a previous life he somehow became a brahma-rākṣasa, or brāhmaṇa ghost, but was eventually saved. In a previous Kali-yuga he had the association of a Vaiṣṇava king named Vāsu. The lady Kubjā associated directly with Lord Kṛṣṇa, and in her previous birth she had associated with Śrī Nārada Muni The gopīs of Vṛndāvana rendered service to saintly persons in their previous births. Having had ample association with devotees, they became gopīs in Vṛndāvana in their next lives and associated with the eternally liberated gopīs who had descended there. They also had association with Tulasī-devī, or Vṛndā-devī. The wives of the brāhmaṇas performing sacrifice had association with women sent by Lord Kṛṣṇa to sell flower garlands and betel nuts and heard about the Lord from them.
te nādhīta-śruti-gaṇā nopāsita-mahattamāḥ
avratātapta-tapasaḥ mat-saṅgān mām upāgatāḥ
“The persons I have mentioned did not undergo serious studies of the Vedic literature, nor did they worship great saintly persons, nor did they execute severe vows or austerities. Simply by association with Me and My devotees, they achieved Me.”
PURPORT. Study of the Vedic literature, worship of those who teach the śruti-mantras, acceptance of vows and austerities, etc., as mentioned previously, are helpful processes that please the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In this verse, however, the Lord again explains that all such processes are secondary to the essential process of associating with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His pure devotees. By other processes one may gain the association of the Lord and His devotees, which will actually give the perfection of life. The word mat-saṅgāt can also be read as sat-saṅgāt, with the same meaning. In the reading mat-saṅgāt (“from association with Me”), mat is also understood to indicate “those who are Mine,” or the devotees. Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī mentions that a pure devotee can advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness by his own association, since simply by associating with his own activities and consciousness, he associates with the Lord.
How one should associate with the Supreme Lord is clear from the following excerpt from Prabhupāda’s purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.12.24:
The last instruction of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā is that one should give up everything and should follow in the footsteps of the Lord alone. Less intelligent persons do not agree to this great instruction of the Lord, as ill luck would have it, but one who is actually intelligent catches up this sublime instruction and is immensely benefited. Foolish people do not know that association is the cause of acquiring qualities. Association with fire makes an object hot, even in the material sense. Therefore, association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead makes one qualified like the Lord. As we have discussed previously, one can achieve seventy-eight percent of the godly qualities by the Lord’s intimate association.2 To follow the instructions of the Lord is to associate with the Lord. The Lord is not a material object whose presence one has to feel for such association.3 The Lord is present everywhere and at all times. It is quite possible to have His association simply by following His instruction because the Lord and His instruction and the Lord and His name, fame, attributes and paraphernalia are all identical with Him, being absolute knowledge. Mahārāja Parīkṣit associated with the Lord even from the womb of his mother up to the last day of his valuable life, and thus he acquired all the essential good qualities of the Lord in all perfection.