Devanagari
स एव भक्तियोगाख्य आत्यन्तिक उदाहृत: ।
येनातिव्रज्य त्रिगुणं मद्भावायोपपद्यते ॥ १४ ॥
Verse text
sa eva bhakti-yogākhya
ātyantika udāhṛtaḥ
yenātivrajya tri-guṇaṁ
mad-bhāvāyopapadyate
Synonyms
saḥ
—
this
;
eva
—
indeed
;
bhakti
—
yoga — devotional service
;
ākhyaḥ
—
called
;
ātyantikaḥ
—
the highest platform
;
udāhṛtaḥ
—
explained
;
yena
—
by which
;
ativrajya
—
overcoming
;
tri
—
guṇam — the three modes of material nature
;
mat
—
bhāvāya — to My transcendental stage
;
upapadyate
—
one attains .
Translation
By attaining the highest platform of devotional service, as I have explained, one can overcome the influence of the three modes of material nature and be situated in the transcendental stage, as is the Lord.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The highest state of existence is called bhakti, by which one surpasses the three guṇas and attains prema for me.
Then why do they perform bhakti? They perform bhakti because it gives the highest result. Āyantika means the state at the very end. It indicates the most excellent result. “But ātyantika means merging in Brahman.” This ātyantika is called bhakti (bhakti-yogākhyaḥ), for sometimes bhakti is also called apavarga, Brahman or nirvāṇa.
apavargaśca bhavati yo ’sau bhagavaty-ananya-nimitta-bhakti-yoga-lakṣaṇa
That bhakti-yoga, devotional service to Lord Vāsudeva, is the real path of liberation (apavarga). SB 5.19.20
tad brahma-nirvāṇa-sukhaṁ vidur budhās
Those who are wise understand the happiness of Brahman or nirvāna. SB 7.7.37
harāvaikāntikīṁ bhaktiṁ mokṣam āhur manīṣiṇaḥ
The wise say that pure bhakti to the Lord is mokṣa.
bhaktir asya bhajanaṁ tad ihāmutropādhi-nairāsyenāmuṣmin manaḥ kalpanam etad eva naiṣkarmyam
Bhakti to the Lord means worship concentrating the mind on the Lord with rejection of objects of this world and the next. It is the state without karma (naiskārmya). Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad
”But liberation from the bondage of the three guṇas alone is famous as the final result.” That is true. That is a by-product of bhakti. Thus the verse says, “By bhakti one surpasses the guṇas.” But surpassing the guṇas is achieved without seeking it, since simply by taking shelter of the Lord’s feet the ocean of saṁsāra becomes as small as the water in calf’s hoof print. And by that bhakti one attains prema directed to me (madbhāvāya).
Purport
Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, who is supposed to be the leader of the impersonalist school of philosophers, has admitted in the beginning of his comments on
Bhagavad-gītā
that Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is beyond the material creation; except for Him, everything is within the material creation. It is also confirmed in the Vedic literature that before the creation there was only Nārāyaṇa; neither Lord Brahmā nor Lord Śiva existed. Only Nārāyaṇa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, is always in the transcendental position, beyond the influence of material creation.
The material qualities of goodness, passion and ignorance cannot affect the position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; therefore He is called
nirguṇa
(free from all tinges of material qualities). Here the same fact is confirmed by Lord Kapila: one who is situated in pure devotional service is transcendentally situated, as is the Lord. Just as the Lord is unaffected by the influence of the material modes, so too are His pure devotees. One who is not affected by the three modes of material nature is called a liberated soul, or
brahma-bhūta
soul.
Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā
is the stage of liberation.
Ahaṁ brahmāsmi:
“I am not this body.” This is applicable only to the person who constantly engages in the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa and is thus in the transcendental stage; he is above the influence of the three modes of material nature.
It is the misconception of the impersonalists that one can worship any imaginary form of the Lord, or Brahman, and at the end merge in the Brahman effulgence. Of course, to merge into the bodily effulgence (Brahman) of the Supreme Lord is also liberation, as explained in the previous verse.
Ekatva
is also liberation, but that sort of liberation is never accepted by any devotee, for qualitative oneness is immediately attained as soon as one is situated in devotional service. For a devotee, that qualitative equality, which is the result of impersonal liberation, is already attained; he does not have to try for it separately. It is clearly stated here that simply by pure devotional service one becomes qualitatively as good as the Lord Himself.