Text 12
brahmovāca
tvayā me ’pacitis tāta
kalpitā nirvyalīkataḥ
yan me sañjagṛhe vākyaṁ
bhavān mānada mānayan
brahmā — Lord Brahmā; uvāca — said; tvayā — by you; me — my; apacitiḥ — worship; tāta — O son; kalpitā — is accomplished; nirvyalīkataḥ — without duplicity; yat — since; me — my; sañjagṛhe — have completely accepted; vākyam — instructions; bhavān — you; māna-da — O Kardama (one who offers honor to others); mānayan — respecting.
Lord Brahmā said: My dear son Kardama, since you have completely accepted my instructions without duplicity, showing them proper respect, you have worshiped me properly. Whatever instructions you took from me you have carried out, and thereby you have honored me.
Lord Brahmā, as the first living entity within the universe, is supposed to be the spiritual master of everyone, and he is also the father, the creator, of all beings. Kardama Muni is one of the Prajāpatis, or creators of the living entities, and he is also a son of Brahmā. Brahmā praises Kardama because he carried out the orders of the spiritual master in toto and without cheating. A conditioned soul in the material world has the disqualification of cheating. He has four disqualifications: he is sure to commit mistakes, he is sure to be illusioned, he is prone to cheat others, and his senses are imperfect. But if one carries out the order of the spiritual master by disciplic succession, or the paramparā system, he overcomes the four defects. Therefore, knowledge received from the bona fide spiritual master is not cheating. Any other knowledge which is manufactured by the conditioned soul is cheating only. Brahmā knew well that Kardama Muni exactly carried out the instructions received from him and that he actually honored his spiritual master. To honor the spiritual master means to carry out his instructions word for word.