Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9 Verse 14

[bilva]

Chapter 9. The Most Confidential Knowledge

TEXT 14
satatam kirtayanto mam
yatantas ca drdha-vratah
namasyantas ca mam bhaktya
nitya-yukta upasate

SYNONYMS
satatam--always; kirtayantah--chanting; mam--Me; yatantah ca--fully
endeavoring also; drdha-vratah--with determination; namasyantah ca--
offering obeisances; mam--unto Me; bhaktya--in devotion; nitya-yuktah--
perpetually engaged; upasate--worship.

TRANSLATION
Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination,
bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with
devotion.

EXPLANATION
The mahatma cannot be manufactured by rubber-stamping an ordinary
man. His symptoms are described here: a mahatma is always engaged in
chanting the glories of the Supreme Lord Krsna, the Personality of
Godhead. He has no other business. He is always engaged in the
glorification of the Lord. In other words, he is not an impersonalist.
When the question of glorification is there, one has to glorify the
Supreme Lord, praising His holy name, His eternal form, His
transcendental qualities and His uncommon pastimes. One has to glorify
all these things; therefore a mahatma is attached to the Supreme
Personality of Godhead.
One who is attached to the impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord,
the brahmajyoti, is not described as mahatma in the Bhagavad-gita. He
is described in a different way in the next verse. The mahatma is
always engaged in different activities of devotional service, as
described in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, hearing and chanting about Visnu,
not a demigod or human being. That is devotion: sravanam kirtanam
visnoh, smaranam, and remembering Him. Such a mahatma has firm
determination to achieve at the ultimate end the association of the
Supreme Lord in any one of the five transcendental rasas. To achieve
that success, he engages all activities--mental, bodily and vocal,
everything--in the service of the Supreme Lord, Sri Krsna. That is
called full Krsna consciousness.
In devotional service there are certain activities which are called
determined, such as fasting on certain days, like the eleventh day of
the moon, Ekadasi, and on the appearance day of the Lord, etc. All
these rules and regulations are offered by the great acaryas for those
who are actually interested in getting admission into the association
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the transcendental world. The
mahatmas, great souls, strictly observe all these rules and
regulations, and therefore they are sure to achieve the desired
result.
As described in the second verse of this chapter, this devotional
service is not only easy, but it can be performed in a happy mood. One
does not need to undergo any severe penance and austerity. He can live
this life in devotional service, guided by an expert spiritual master,
and in any position, either as a householder or a sannyasi, or a
brahmacari; in any position and anywhere in the world, he can perform
this devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus
become actually mahatma, a great soul.

Following is a quotation by Swami Gaurangapada:
"Just like all things are packed inside the cupboard, the whole of
creation is situated within the divine body of Lord Gauranga Krishna."

Please chant Nityananda, Gauranga and Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, and
perform the perpetual worship of the Supreme Lord.