Text 187
dui-jane premāveśe karena krandane
prabhu-guṇe bhṛtya vikala, prabhu bhṛtya-guṇe
dui-jane — both of them; prema-āveśe — in loving ecstasy; karena krandane — were crying; prabhu-guṇe — by the qualities of the Lord; bhṛtya — servant; vikala — transformed; prabhu — the Lord; bhṛtya-guṇe — by the qualities of the servant.
Then both the Lord and His servant began to cry in ecstatic love. Indeed, the Lord was transformed by the qualities of His servant, and the servant was transformed by the qualities of his master.
The Māyāvādī philosophers say that the living entity and the Supreme Lord are nondifferent, and therefore they equate the transformation of the living entity with the transformation of the Lord. In other words, Māyāvādīs say that if the living entity is pleased, the Lord is also pleased, and if the living entity is displeased, the Lord is also displeased. By juggling words in this way, Māyāvādīs try to prove that there is no difference between the living entity and the Lord. This, however, is not a fact. In this verse Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī explains: prabhu-guṇe bhṛtya vikala, prabhu bhṛtya-guṇe. The Lord and the living entity are not equal, for the Lord is always the master, and the living entity is always the servant. Transformation takes place due to transcendental qualities, and it is thus said that the servant of the Lord is the heart of the Lord, and the Lord is the heart of the servant. This is also explained by Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.11):
ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham
mama vartmānuvartante manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ
“As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.”
The Lord is always eager to congratulate the servant because of the servant’s transcendental qualities. The servant pleasingly renders service unto the Lord, and the Lord also very pleasingly reciprocates, rendering even more service unto the servant.