Devanagari
नाहमात्मानमाशासे मद्भक्तै: साधुभिर्विना ।
श्रियं चात्यन्तिकीं ब्रह्मन् येषां गतिरहं परा ॥ ६४ ॥
Verse text
nāham ātmānam āśāse
mad-bhaktaiḥ sādhubhir vinā
śriyaṁ cātyantikīṁ brahman
yeṣāṁ gatir ahaṁ parā
Synonyms
na
—
not
;
aham
—
I
;
ātmānam
—
transcendental bliss
;
āśāse
—
desire
;
mat
—
bhaktaiḥ — with My devotees
;
sādhubhiḥ
—
with the saintly persons
;
vinā
—
without them
;
śriyam
—
all My six opulences
;
ca
—
also
;
ātyantikīm
—
the supreme
;
brahman
—
O brāhmaṇa
;
yeṣām
—
of whom
;
gatiḥ
—
destination
;
aham
—
I am
;
parā
—
the ultimate .
Translation
O best of the brāhmaṇas, without saintly persons for whom I am the only destination, I do not desire to enjoy My transcendental bliss and My supreme opulences.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O brāhmaṇa! Without the devotees, who take shelter of only me, I do not desire to enjoy my own bliss by my six great qualities.
“How much are the devotees your object of affection?” Listen. I am called ātmārāma because I enjoy. But I do not desire that enjoyment (ātmānam) without the devotees. More than my own bliss from my svarūpa, I desire the bliss from the svarūpas of my devotees. Though both of us have spiritual forms, the mature form of the spiritual function called mercy exists in the bhakti within the devotee, since it is the essence of the cit-śakti, since it gives bliss even to my svarūpa, and since it attracts my svarūpa. I eternally possess my six great qualities but, without the devotees, I consider these to be barren. I am the one object (gatiḥ) of those devotees.
Purport
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is self-sufficient, but to enjoy His transcendental bliss He requires the cooperation of His devotees. In Vṛndāvana, for example, although Lord Kṛṣṇa is full in Himself, He wants the cooperation of His devotees like the cowherd boys and the
gopīs
to increase His transcendental bliss. Such pure devotees, who can increase the pleasure potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are certainly most dear to Him. Not only does the Supreme Personality of Godhead enjoy the company of His devotees, but because He is unlimited He wants to increase His devotees unlimitedly. Thus, He descends to the material world to induce the nondevotees and rebellious living entities to return home, back to Godhead. He requests them to surrender unto Him because, unlimited as He is, He wants to increase His devotees unlimitedly. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is an attempt to increase the number of pure devotees of the Supreme Lord more and more. It is certain that a devotee who helps in this endeavor to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead becomes indirectly a controller of the Supreme Lord. Although the Supreme Lord is full in six opulences, He does not feel transcendental bliss without His devotees. An example that may be cited in this regard is that if a very rich man does not have sons in a family he does not feel happiness. Indeed, sometimes a rich man adopts a son to complete his happiness. The science of transcendental bliss is known to the pure devotee. Therefore the pure devotee is always engaged in increasing the transcendental happiness of the Lord.