na svargaṁ nāpunar-bhavam
tulayāma lavenāpi
na svargaṁ nāpunar-bhavam
bhagavat-saṅgi-saṅgasya
martyānāṁ kim utāśiṣaḥ
We do not compare attainment of Svarga or liberation to even a moment’s association with a devotee, what to speak of comparing it to the enjoyments of this life.
“You said you were contaminated by māyā. You pray for devotee association to conquer māyā. Then, why don’t you just directly take liberation?” They answer with this verse. The meaning is this. All desirable benedictions including Svarga and liberation have been experienced. But the association of devotees is experienced to be thousands of times better than Svarga or liberation because with devotee association one can experience the sweetness of talks about your form and qualities. That is millions of times superior to the happiness of Svarga and the happiness of your impersonal form as Brahman.
nāhaṁ vasāmi vaikuṇṭhe na yogi-hṛdaye ravau
mad-bhaktā yatra gāyanti tatra tiṣṭhāmi nārada
I do not live in Vaikuṇṭha, in the hearts of the yogīs, or inside the sun. Rather, my dear Nārada, I am present wherever my devotees sing about me. Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa 92.21
Though you give all happiness to others, the devotee gives you the highest happiness. Thus we pray for devotee association.
|| 4.30.35 ||
yatreḍyante kathā mṛṣṭās
tṛṣṇāyāḥ praśamo yataḥ
nirvairaṁ yatra bhūteṣu
nodvego yatra kaścana
In that association, pure topics of the Lord are discussed, from which all hankerings cease. In that association, there is no hostility to any living being. In that association there is no agitation.
Devotee association is recommended at all times and places for the siddha-bhaktas and the sādhaka-bhaktas. Yatra means “in the association of those devotees.” Yataḥ means “from that discussion.”
|| 4.30.36 ||
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