SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM - Prabhupada

14 Srimad-Bhigavatam (Canto 7, Ch.lThis has nothing to do with partiality. When l(rI;ta says te§drit satatayuktanambhajatdrit priti-puroakaml dadami buddhi-yogarit tam, thisindicates that l(rI).a is prepared to give bhakti-yoga to everyone, but onemust be capable of receiving it. That is the secret. Thus when a personexhibits wonderful devotional activities, a thoughtful man understandsthat l(rI).a has been more favorable to this devotee.This is not difficult to understand, but envious persons do not acceptthat l(rI;ta has bestowed His favor upon a particular devotee in accordancewith his advanced position. Such foolish persons become enviousand try to minimize an advanced devotee's activities. That is notVaiI).avism. A VaiI;tava should appreciate the service rendered to theLord by other VaiI).avas. Therefore a V aiI;tava is described in Srimad­Bhiigavatam as nirmatsara. V aiI).avas are never envious of otherVaiI;tavas or of anyone else, and therefore they are called nirmatsan'imsatdm.As Bhagavad-gitd informs us, one can understand how one is saturatedwith sattva-gulJa, rajo-gury,a or tamogury,a. In the examples givenherewith, fire represents the mode of goodness. One can understand theconstitution of a container for wood, petrol or other inflammable substancesby the quantity of the fire. Similarly, water represents rajo-gur:m,the mode of passion. A small skin and the vast Atlantic Ocean both containwater, and by seeing the quantity of water in a container one canunderstand the size of the container. The sky represents the mode of ignorance.The sky is present in a small earthen pot and also in outer space.Thus by proper judgment one can see who is a devatd, or demigod, andwho is an asura, Yaka or Rakasa according to the quantities of sattvagury,a,rajo-gury,a and tamo-gury,a. One cannot judge whether a person is adevatd, an asura or a Rakasa by seeing him, but a sane man can understandthis by the activities such a person performs. A general descriptionis given in the Padma Purar:m: vu-bhaktab, smrto daiva dsuras tadviparyayab,.A devotee of Lord ViI).u is a demigod, whereas an asura orYaka is just the opposite. An asura is not a devotee of Lord ViI).u; instead,for his sense gratification he is a devotee of the demigods, bhiltas,pretas and so on. Thus one can judge who is a devatd, who is a Rakasaand who is an asura by how they conduct their activities.The word dtmdnam in this verse means paramdtmdnam. The