Devanagari
त्वं भक्तियोगपरिभावितहृत्सरोज
आस्से श्रुतेक्षितपथो ननु नाथ पुंसाम् ।
यद्यद्धिया त उरुगाय विभावयन्ति
तत्तद्वपु: प्रणयसे सदनुग्रहाय ॥ ११ ॥
Verse text
tvaṁ bhakti-yoga-paribhāvita-hṛt-saroja
āsse śrutekṣita-patho nanu nātha puṁsām
yad-yad-dhiyā ta urugāya vibhāvayanti
tat-tad-vapuḥ praṇayase sad-anugrahāya
Synonyms
tvam
—
unto You
;
bhakti
—
yoga — in devotional service
;
paribhāvita
—
being one-hundred-percent engaged
;
hṛt
—
of the heart
;
saroje
—
on the lotus
;
āsse
—
You reside
;
śruta
—
īkṣita — seen through the ear
;
pathaḥ
—
the path
;
nanu
—
now
;
nātha
—
O my Lord
;
puṁsām
—
of the devotees
;
yat
—
yat — whichever
;
dhiyā
—
by meditating
;
te
—
Your
;
urugāya
—
O multiglorious
;
vibhāvayanti
—
they specifically think of
;
tat
—
tat — the very same
;
vapuḥ
—
transcendental form
;
praṇayase
—
do You manifest
;
sat
—
anugrahāya — to show Your causeless mercy .
Translation
O my Lord, Your devotees can see You through the ears by the process of bona fide hearing, and thus their hearts become cleansed, and You take Your seat there. You are so merciful to Your devotees that You manifest Yourself in the particular eternal form of transcendence in which they always think of You.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O Lord! You, who are approached by being heard about, seen and directly served, enter and remain in the lotus of your devotee’s hearts infused with bhakti-yoga. Much praised Lord! By your mercy, you bestow to them spiritual bodies appropriate to the mood they cultivate during sādhana.
Bhakti, even without jṣāna, delivers one from material existence. But more than that, by bhakti the Lord becomes dependent on the devotee. Bhāvita means “infused with.” Amara-koṣa says bhāvita means infused in all three genders. You sit on the lotus in the devotees’ hearts infused completely (pari) with bhakti-yoga. Or the phrase can mean “in the devotees’ hearts, manifested by bhakti-yoga.” Bhāvita is the past participle form. Bhakti-yoga is the cause of the Lord’s manifesting himself. You enter the hearts of the devotees and remain there (āsse). You do not leave. This is confirmed by verse 5. nāpaiṣi nātha hṛdayāmburuhāt sva-puṁsām: you do not give up the lotus of the devotee’s heart. Your path is first being heard about from the mouth of guru, then seen and then directly served. By this path you are brought to the devotees’ lotus hearts. The implication is that the devotees know this path of sādhana-bhakti well. The consequent implication is that the person who desires to attain the Lord should understand this path. Even without hearing, the devotees meditate on your various forms (vapuḥ) using their minds. You reveal (praṇayase) those forms to the devotee. This is the meaning according to Śrīdhara Svāmī. Or your devotees doing sādhana concentrate on their spiritual form according to their mood of love using their minds, and you have them attain (praṇayase) their spiritual bodies. You become dependent on your devotee.
Purport
The statement here that the Lord manifests Himself before the devotee in the form in which the devotee likes to worship Him indicates that the Lord becomes subordinate to the desire of the devotee — so much so that He manifests His particular form as the devotee demands. This demand of the devotee is satisfied by the Lord because He is pliable in terms of the transcendental loving service of the devotee. This is also confirmed in
Bhagavad-gītā
(4.11)
:
ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham.
We should note, however, that the Lord is never the order supplier of the devotee. Here in this verse it is particularly mentioned:
tvaṁ bhakti-yoga-paribhāvita.
This indicates the efficiency achieved through execution of matured devotional service, or
prema,
love of Godhead. This state of
prema
is achieved by the gradual process of development from faith to love. On faith one associates with bona fide devotees, and by such association one can become engaged in bona fide devotional service, which includes proper initiation and the execution of the primary devotional duties prescribed in the revealed scriptures. This is clearly indicated herein by the word
śrutekṣita.
The
śrutekṣita
path is to hear from bona fide devotees who are conversant with Vedic wisdom, free from mundane sentiment. By this bona fide hearing process, the neophyte devotee becomes cleansed of all material rubbish, and thus he becomes attached to one of the many transcendental forms of the Lord, as described in the
Vedas.
This attachment of the devotee to a particular form of the Lord is due to natural inclination. Each and every living entity is originally attached to a particular type of transcendental service because he is eternally the servitor of the Lord. Lord Caitanya says that the living entity is eternally a servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, every living entity has a particular type of service relationship with the Lord, eternally. This particular attachment is invoked by practice of regulative devotional service to the Lord, and thus the devotee becomes attached to the eternal form of the Lord, exactly like one who is already eternally attached. This attachment for a particular form of the Lord is called
svarūpa-siddhi.
The Lord sits on the lotus heart of the devotee in the eternal form the pure devotee desires, and thus the Lord does not part from the devotee, as confirmed in the previous verse. The Lord, however, does not disclose Himself to a casual or unauthentic worshiper to be exploited. This is confirmed in
Bhagavad-gītā
(7.25)
:
nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ.
Rather, by
yoga-māyā,
the Lord remains concealed to the nondevotees or casual devotees who are serving their sense gratification. The Lord is never visible to the pseudodevotees who worship the demigods in charge of universal affairs. The conclusion is that the Lord cannot become the order supplier of a pseudodevotee, but He is always prepared to respond to the desires of a pure, unconditional devotee, who is free from all tinges of material infection.