Devanagari
विरक्तश्चेन्द्रियरतौ भक्तियोगेन भूयसा ।
तं निरन्तरभावेन भजेताद्धा विमुक्तये ॥ ६१ ॥
Verse text
viraktaś cendriya-ratau
bhakti-yogena bhūyasā
taṁ nirantara-bhāvena
bhajetāddhā vimuktaye
Synonyms
viraktaḥ ca
—
completely renounced order of life
;
indriya
—
ratau — in the matter of sense gratification
;
bhakti
—
yogena — by the process of devotional service
;
bhūyasā
—
with great seriousness
;
tam
—
unto Him (the Supreme)
;
nirantara
—
constantly, twenty-four hours daily
;
bhāvena
—
in the topmost stage of ecstasy
;
bhajeta
—
must worship
;
addhā
—
directly
;
vimuktaye
—
for liberation .
Translation
If one is very serious about liberation, he must stick to the process of transcendental loving service, engaging twenty-four hours a day in the highest stage of ecstasy, and he must certainly be aloof from all activities of sense gratification.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
While being completely detached from enjoyment of the senses and liberation, one must worship the Lord constantly with profuse bhakti at the stage of bhāva to attain the position of an associate of the Lord in prema.
He who is detached from artha, dharma, kāma, and liberation (indicated by the word ca), must constantly worship the Lord, devoid of obstacles of jṣāna and karma, with bhāva such as dāsya in order to attain special liberation (vimuktaye), being an associate of the Lord with prema.
Purport
There are different stages of perfection according to different persons’ objectives. Generally people are
karmīs,
for they engage in activities of sense gratification. Above the
karmīs
are the
jṣānīs,
who are trying to become liberated from material entanglement.
Yogīs
are still more advanced because they meditate on the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And above all these are the devotees, who simply engage in the transcendental loving service of the Lord; they are situated seriously on the topmost platform of ecstasy.
Here Dhruva Mahārāja is advised that if he has no desire for sense gratification, then he should directly engage himself in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. The path of
apavarga,
or liberation, begins from the stage called
mokṣa.
In this verse the word
vimuktaye,
“for liberation,” is especially mentioned. If one wants to be happy within this material world, he may aspire to go to the different material planetary systems where there is a higher standard of sense gratification, but real
mokṣa,
or liberation, is performed without any such desire. This is explained in the
Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu
by the term
anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam,
“without desire for material sense gratification.” For persons who are still inclined to enjoy material life in different stages or on different planets, the stage of liberation in
bhakti-yoga
is not recommended. Only persons who are completely free from the contamination of sense gratification can execute
bhakti-yoga,
or the process of devotional service, very purely. The activities on the path of
apavarga
up to the stages of
dharma, artha
and
kāma
are meant for sense gratification, but when one comes to the stage of
mokṣa,
the impersonalist liberation, the practitioner wants to merge into the existence of the Supreme. But that is also sense gratification. When one goes above the stage of liberation, however, he at once becomes one of the associates of the Lord to render transcendental loving service. That is technically called
vimukti.
For this specific
vimukti
liberation, Nārada Muni recommends that one directly engage himself in devotional service.