9.98
vipra kahe,--murkha ami, sabdartha na jani
suddhasuddha gita padi, guru-ajna mani’
SYNONYMS
vipra kahe—the brahmana replied; murkha ami—I am illiterate; sabda-artha—the meaning of the words; na jani—I do not know; suddha-asuddha—sometimes correct and sometimes not correct; gita—the Bhagavad-gita; padi—I read; guru-ajna—the order of my spiritual master; mani’-accepting.
The brahmana replied, “I am illiterate and therefore do not know the meaning of the words.
Sometimes I read the Bhagavad-gita correctly and sometimes incorrectly, but in any case I am doing this in compliance with the orders of my spiritual master.”
PURPORT
This is a good example of a person who had become so successful that he was able to capture the attention of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu even while reading the Bhagavad-gita incorrectly.
His spiritual activities did not depend on material things such as correct pronunciation.
Rather, his success depended on strictly following the instructions of his spiritual master yasya deve para bhaktir
yatha deve tatha gurau
tasyaite kathita hy arthah
prakasante mahatmanah “Only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed.”(Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.23) Actually the meaning of the words of the Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam are revealed to one strictly following the orders of the spiritual master.
They are also revealed to one who has equal faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
In other words, being faithful to both Krsna and the spiritual master is the secret of success in spiritual life.