Text 274
sthāvara-jaṅgama dekhe, nā dekhe tāra mūrti
sarvatra haya nija iṣṭa-deva-sphūrti
sthāvara-jaṅgama — movable and inert; dekhe — he sees; nā — not; dekhe — sees; tāra — its; mūrti — form; sarvatra — everywhere; haya — there is; nija — his own; iṣṭa-deva — worshipable Lord; sphūrti — manifestation.
“The mahā-bhāgavata, the advanced devotee, certainly sees everything mobile and immobile, but he does not exactly see their forms. Rather, everywhere he immediately sees manifest the form of the Supreme Lord.”
Due to his deep ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa, the mahā-bhāgavata sees Kṛṣṇa everywhere and nothing else. This is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.38): premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti.
As soon as a devotee sees something — be it movable or inert — he immediately remembers Kṛṣṇa. An advanced devotee is advanced in knowledge. This knowledge is very natural to a devotee, for he has already read in the Bhagavad-gītā how to awaken Kṛṣṇa consciousness. According to Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.8):
raso ’ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ
praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu śabdaḥ khe pauruṣaṁ nṛṣu
“O son of Kuntī [Arjuna], I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable oṁ in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.”
Thus when a devotee drinks water or any other liquid, he immediately remembers Kṛṣṇa. For a devotee there is no difficulty in awakening Kṛṣṇa consciousness twenty-four hours a day. Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore says here:
sthāvara jaṅgama dekhe nā dekhe tāra mūrti
sarvatra haya nija iṣṭa-deva-sphūrti
A saintly person, an advanced devotee, sees Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours a day and nothing else. As far as movable and inert things are concerned, a devotee sees them all as transformations of Kṛṣṇa’s energy. As Lord Kṛṣṇa states in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.4):
bhūmir āpo ’nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca
ahaṅkāra itīyaṁ me bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā
“Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego — all together these eight constitute My separated material energies.”
Actually nothing is separate from Kṛṣṇa. When a devotee sees a tree, he knows that the tree is a combination of two energies — material and spiritual. The inferior energy, which is material, forms the body of the tree; however, within the tree is the living entity, the spiritual spark, which is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. This is the superior energy of Kṛṣṇa within this world. Whatever living thing we see is simply a combination of these two energies. When an advanced devotee thinks of these energies, he immediately understands that they are manifestations of the Supreme Lord. As soon as we see the sun rise in the morning, we arise and set about doing our morning duties. Similarly, as soon as a devotee sees the energy of the Lord, he immediately remembers Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. This is explained in this verse: sarvatra haya nija iṣṭa-deva-sphūrti.
A devotee who has purified his existence through devotional service sees only Kṛṣṇa in every step of life. This is also explained in the next verse, which is a quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.2.45).