Text 12
paryuṣṭayā tava vibho vana-mālayeyaṁ
saṁspārdhinī bhagavatī pratipatnī-vac chrīḥ
yaḥ su-praṇītam amuyārhaṇam ādadan no
bhūyāt sadāṅghrir aśubhāśaya-dhūmaketuḥ
paryuṣṭayā — worn out; tava — Your; vibho — almighty Lord; vanamālayā — by the flower garland; iyam — she; saṁspārdhinī — feeling competitive; bhagavatī — the female counterpart of the Personality of Godhead; prati-patnī-vat — just like an envious co-wife; śrīḥ — Lakṣmīdevī, the goddess of fortune; yaḥ — which Supreme Lord (Yourself); su-praṇītam — (so that it may be) properly executed; amuyā — by this; arhaṇam — the offering; ādadan — accepting; naḥ — our; bhūyāt — may they be; sadā — always; aṅghriḥ — the lotus feet; aśubha-āśaya — of our impure desires; dhūma-ketuḥ — the fire of destruction.
O almighty Lord, You are so kind to Your servants that You have accepted the withered flower garland that we have placed on Your chest. Since the goddess of fortune makes her abode on Your transcendental chest, she will undoubtedly become agitated, like a jealous co-wife, upon seeing our offering also dwelling there. Yet You are so merciful that You neglect Your eternal consort Lakṣmī and accept our offering as most excellent worship. O merciful Lord, may Your lotus feet always act as a blazing fire to consume the inauspicious desires within our hearts.
In Bhagavad-gītā (9.26) it is stated:
patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam
aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ
Lord Kṛṣṇa gratefully and happily accepts even the most meager offering from His loving devotee. Lord Kṛṣṇa is conquered by the love of His pure devotees, just as a father is easily conquered by the most insignificant gift offered by his loving child. Unless a transcendentalist completely gives up the impersonal conception of life, he cannot make such a loving offering to the Lord. The process of meditation upon the Supersoul within the heart, called dhyāna-yoga, is not as pleasing to Kṛṣṇa as bhakti-yoga, or devotional service, because in dhyāna, or meditation, the yogī is trying to satisfy himself (and not the Lord) by attaining mystic powers. Similarly, in order to acquire material benefits from the Lord, ordinary people worship God in temples, churches and mosques. But one who desires actual spiritual perfection must be enlivened to always chant and hear the glories of the Lord. Such devotional enthusiasm is motivated by love of Godhead and is devoid of any selfish expectation.
The Lord is so kind that He neglects His own eternal consort, Lakṣmī, and gives preference to His humble devotee, just as a man will neglect the loving embrace of his wife when his affectionate child approaches him with a gift. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has pointed out that any garland worn by the Lord cannot be faded because all of the Lord’s personal paraphernalia is completely transcendental and spiritually opulent. Similarly, there is no possibility that mundane jealousy could appear in the character of the goddess of fortune, who is as transcendental as Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself. Therefore the statements of the demigods are to be understood as humorous words inspired by intense love of Godhead. The demigods enjoy the protection of Lakṣmī and, ultimately, of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, and due to their confidence in their loving relationship with the Lord and His consort they feel free to speak in a joking way.