Devanagari
ज्ञानं यदाप्रतिनिवृत्तगुणोर्मिचक्र -
मात्मप्रसाद उत यत्र गुणेष्वसङ्ग: ।
कैवल्यसम्मतपथस्त्वथ भक्तियोग:
को निर्वृतो हरिकथासु रतिं न कुर्यात् ॥ १२ ॥
Verse text
jṣānaṁ yad āpratinivṛtta-guṇormi-cakram
ātma-prasāda uta yatra guṇeṣv asaṅgaḥ
kaivalya-sammata-pathas tv atha bhakti-yogaḥ
ko nirvṛto hari-kathāsu ratiṁ na kuryāt
Synonyms
jṣānam
—
knowledge
;
yat
—
that which
;
ā
—
up to the limit of
;
pratinivṛtta
—
completely withdrawn
;
guṇa
—
ūrmi — the waves of the material modes
;
cakram
—
whirlpool
;
ātma
—
prasādaḥ — self-satisfaction
;
uta
—
moreover
;
yatra
—
where there is
;
guṇeṣu
—
in the modes of nature
;
asaṅgaḥ
—
no attachment
;
kaivalya
—
transcendental
;
sammata
—
approved
;
pathaḥ
—
path
;
tu
—
but
;
atha
—
therefore
;
bhakti
—
yogaḥ — devotional service
;
kaḥ
—
who
;
nirvṛtaḥ
—
absorbed in
;
hari
—
kathāsu — in the transcendental topics of the Lord
;
ratim
—
attraction
;
na
—
shall not
;
kuryāt
—
do .
Translation
Transcendental knowledge in relation with the Supreme Lord Hari is knowledge resulting in the complete suspension of the waves and whirlpools of the material modes. Such knowledge is self-satisfying due to its being free from material attachment, and being transcendental it is approved by authorities. Who could fail to be attracted?
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
If jṣāna, the path approved for attaining the Lord, which creates indifference to the multitude of material guṇas, arises and is followed by satisfaction of the self, which creates complete detachment from the guṇas, then bhakti-yoga should arise. Experiencing bliss in bhakti, how can that person not have attraction for topics of the Lord?
Purport
According to
Bhagavad-gītā
(10.9)
the characteristics of pure devotees are wonderful. The complete functional activities of a pure devotee are always engaged in the service of the Lord, and thus the pure devotees exchange feelings of ecstasy between themselves and relish transcendental bliss. This transcendental bliss is experienced even in the stage of devotional practice (
sādhana-avasthā
), if properly undertaken under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master. And in the mature stage the developed transcendental feeling culminates in realization of the particular relationship with the Lord by which a living entity is originally constituted (up to the relationship of conjugal love with the Lord, which is estimated to be the highest transcendental bliss). Thus
bhakti-yoga,
being the only means of God realization, is called
kaivalya.
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī quotes the Vedic version (
eko nārāyaṇo devaḥ, parāvarāṇāṁ parama āste kaivalya-saṁjṣitaḥ
) in this connection and establishes that Nārāyaṇa, the Personality of Godhead, is known as
kaivalya,
and the means which enables one to approach the Lord is called the
kaivalya-panthā,
or the only means of attainment of Godhead. This
kaivalya-panthā
begins from
śravaṇa,
or hearing those topics that relate to the Personality of Godhead, and the natural consequence of hearing such
hari-kathā
is attainment of transcendental knowledge, which causes detachment from all mundane topics, for which a devotee has no taste at all. For a devotee, all mundane activities, social and political, become unattractive, and in the mature state such a devotee becomes uninterested even in his own body, and what to speak of bodily relatives. In such a state of affairs one is not agitated by the waves of the material modes. There are different modes of material nature, and all mundane functions in which a common man is very much interested or in which he takes part become unattractive for the devotee. This state of affairs is described herein as
pratinivṛtta-guṇormi,
and it is possible by
ātma-prasāda,
or complete self-satisfaction without any material connection. The first-class devotee of the Lord attains this stage by devotional service, but despite his loftiness, for the Lord’s satisfaction he may play the voluntary part of a preacher of the Lord’s glory and dovetail all into devotional service, even mundane interest, just to give the neophytes a chance to transform mundane interest into transcendental bliss. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has described this action of a pure devotee as
nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate.
Even mundane activities dovetailed with service to the Lord are also calculated to be transcendental or approved
kaivalya
affairs.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
“It is improper take shelter of one deity at the end of life after taking shelter of someone else for one’s whole life. How can it be proper to make the person who has always worshipped some devatā develop devotion to the Lord at the end?”
Such worshippers of devatās are actually very low, because even the worshippers of brahman take to the worship of the Lord. The progression is shown in this verse.
When (yad) there arises jṣāna, which destroys the multitude of whirlpools of the guṇas, which brings satisfaction of the self, by which there is detachment from material enjoyment, and which is the path approved for merging, then bhakti-yoga arises.
One should not worry that one cannot attain association of devotees since that mercy is spontaneous, as explained previously. By the mercy of the Lord, Sanaka and others attained bhakti. By the mercy of devotees, persons such as Śukadeva attained bhakti through kīrtana and other processes. Who absorbed in the happiness of bhakti (nirvṛtaḥ) would not have attachment (ratim) for topics of the Lord? This means that the person without attachment for the topics of the Lord is not happy at all. Here the superiority of pure bhakti to karma, jṣāna, yoga and worship of devatās is shown. And whatever they aim to achieve in those processes is accomplished by bhakti alone. And for all those persons practicing various methods, the highest result (prema) is finally attained by only bhakti. Thus pure bhakti which disregards karma and jṣāna, without any of those desires, whose principle activities are hearing, glorifying and remembering the Lord, is the method of producing prema. This is the opinion of Śukadeva. Among those methods, chanting the name of the Lord is the supreme method. Thus five items (karma, jṣāna, yoga, bhakti and prema) have been delineated. This is the meaning of the section in summary.