Devanagari
ज्ञानं गुह्यतमं यत्तत्साक्षाद्भगवतोदितम्
अन्ववोचन् गमिष्यन्त: कृपया दीनवत्सला: ॥ ३० ॥
Verse text
jṣānaṁ guhyatamaṁ yat tat
sākṣād bhagavatoditam
anvavocan gamiṣyantaḥ
kṛpayā dīna-vatsalāḥ
Synonyms
jṣānam
—
knowledge
;
guhyatamam
—
most confidential
;
yat
—
what is
;
tat
—
that
;
sākṣāt
—
directly
;
bhagavatā uditam
—
propounded by the Lord Himself
;
anvavocan
—
gave instruction
;
gamiṣyantaḥ
—
while departing from
;
kṛpayā
—
by causeless mercy
;
dīna
—
vatsalāḥ — those who are very kind to the poor and meek .
Translation
As they were leaving, those bhakti-vedāntas, who are very kind to poor-hearted souls, instructed me in that most confidential subject which is instructed by the Personality of Godhead Himself.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Though I was a boy, I had developed prema for the Lord. I was humble, sinless, filled with faith, sense-controlled, and was willing to serve. The sages, most affectionate to the fallen, as they were about to depart, taught me the most confidential knowledge of pure bhakti, which was taught by the Lord himself.
Purport
A pure Vedāntist, or a
bhakti-vedānta,
instructs followers exactly according to the instructions of the Lord Himself. The Personality of Godhead, both in the
Bhagavad-gītā
and in all other scriptures, has definitely instructed men to follow the Lord only. The Lord is the creator, maintainer and annihilator of everything. The whole manifested creation is existing by His will, and by His will when the whole show is finished He will remain in His eternal abode with all His paraphernalia. Before the creation He was there in the eternal abode, and after the annihilation He will continue to remain. He is not, therefore, one of the created beings. He is transcendental. In the
Bhagavad-gītā
the Lord says that long, long before the instruction was imparted to Arjuna, the same was instructed to the sun-god, and in course of time, the same instruction, being wrongly handled and being broken, was again instructed to Arjuna because he was His perfect devotee and friend. Therefore, the instruction of the Lord can be understood by the devotees only and no one else. The impersonalist, who has no idea of the transcendental form of the Lord, cannot understand this most confidential message of the Lord. The expression “most confidential” is significant here because knowledge of devotional service is far, far above knowledge of impersonal Brahman.
Jṣānam
means ordinary knowledge or any branch of knowledge. This knowledge develops up to the knowledge of impersonal Brahman. Above this, when it is partially mixed with devotion, such knowledge develops to knowledge of Paramātmā, or the all-pervading Godhead. This is more confidential. But when such knowledge is turned into pure devotional service and the confidential part of transcendental knowledge is attained, it is called the most confidential knowledge. This most confidential knowledge was imparted by the Lord to Brahmā, Arjuna, Uddhava, etc.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
They gave knowledge to me who had developed prema-bhakti for the Lord (tasya evam anuraktasya). This knowledge was revealed directly by the Lord, son of Devakī (bhagavatoditam). Jṣāna-śāstra has a prevalence of monistic jṣāna. Confidential scripture (śāstra-guhyam) consists of a predominance of jṣana mixed with some bhakti. More confidential scripture (śāstra-guhyataram) is that which predominantly bhakti with a little mixture of jṣāna. Most confidential scripture (śāstra-guhyatamam) is pure bhakti, which was given to Uddhava and Brahmā in the Bhāgavatam and to Arjuna in the Gītā by the Lord. Contemplating that they would depart the next day (gamiṣyantaḥ), the sages taught (anvavocan) him the most confidential knowledge, pure bhakti.