अधोक्षजालम्भमिहाशुभात्मनः
शरीरिणः संसृतिचक्रशातनम् ।
तद्ब्रह्मनिर्वाणसुखं विदुर्बुधा-
स्ततो भजध्वं हृदये हृदीश्वरम् ॥
adhokṣajālambham ihāśubhātmanaḥ
śarīriṇaḥ saṁsṛti-cakra-śātanam |
tad brahma-nirvāṇa-sukhaṁ vidur budhās
tato bhajadhvaṁ hṛdaye hṛd-īśvaram ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.7.37)
“The wise know the impure mind’s contact with Adhokṣaja [i.e., Bhagavān] to be destructive of the cycle of saṁsāra for an embodied being in this world and to be [inclusive of] the bliss of immersion (nirvāṇa) in Brahman. Therefore, you all should worship the Lord of the heart in the heart.”
Commentary
nanu brahma-nirvāṇa-sukham eva puruṣārtha-sāra iti prasiddhiḥ | satyaṁ, tad api adhokṣaja-saṁyoga-sukha evāntarbhavatīty āha—adhokṣajasyālambhaṁ manasā īṣat sparśam sākṣāt prāptiṁ vā saṁsṛti-cakrasya śātanaṁ nivartakaṁ vidur jānanti | tad eva brahma-nirvāṇa-sukhaṁ ca adhokṣajasyaiva brahmatvāt tac-caraṇa-mādhuryānubhavasyaiva paramānanda-rūpatvena nirvāṇa-sukha-rūpatvāt, tatra dāsyādi-bhāvatvena mamatā-viśeṣotthaṁ tu sukham adhikam apāram eva yathā sarva-jana-subhage paramāhlādake candre dṛṣṭe yaḥ svābhāvika ānandaḥ, tasmāt koṭi-guṇita ānandaḥ sva-putre khoḍāndha-vadhire’pi sarva-jana-durbhage’pi mamatotthaḥ syād ito bhagavati dāsyādi-bhāvavattve para-brahmaṇi svarūpottha eva paramānandāvadhis tatraiva yadi mamatotthe’pi syāt, tadā kiṁ vaktavyam ānanda-pārāvāra-paraḥ-sahasra-sammarda-madhya-pātitva-saubhāgyotkarṣaḥ mahāmahattvam | ata evoktaṁ—‘yā nirvṛtis tanu-bhṛtāṁ’ ity-ādi | anyatra ca—‘brahmānando bhaved eṣa cet parārdha-guṇīkṛtaḥ | naiti bhakti-sukhāmbodheḥ paramāṇu-tulām api ||’ iti | adhokṣajālambam iti pāṭhe adhokṣaja ālambo viṣayālambano yatra tam arthād dāsya-sakhyādi-rasam | hṛd-īśvaraṁ hṛdaya-nātham iti dāsyādi-bhāva-viśiṣṭā bhaktir vyañjitā |
(Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“[An objection is raised:] ‘Well, it is well known that the bliss of immersion (nirvāṇa) in Brahman is verily the highest of all aims of embodied beings (puruṣāṛthas).’ [To that it is said,] True. [Yet] That too is indeed included in the bliss of connection with Adhokṣaja [i.e., Bhagavān]. Thus, he says that the wise know contact with Adhokṣaja, that is, slight touch [of Adhokṣaja] with the mind, or, direct attainment [of Adhokṣaja], to be destructive (śātanam) of the cycle of saṁsāra. That itself [i.e., contact with Adhokṣaja] is also the bliss of immersion (nirvāṇa) in Brahman because of Adhokṣaja himself’s being Brahman and experience of the sweetness (mādhurya) of his feet being a form of the bliss of immersion (nirvāṇa) on account of [that experience’s] being a form of the highest bliss. In this regard, the bliss that arises from a special form of my-ness (mamatā) on account [its] being a bhāva of servitude (dāsya) or otherwise in regard to him [i.e., Adhokṣaja, viz., Bhagavān] is verily [even] more immense [lit., boundless, than the bliss of immersion (nirvāṇa) in unqualified (nirviśeṣa) Brahman]. As the bliss arising from my-ness (mamatā) that can occur at the sight of even of one’s own crippled, blind, and deaf son who is unpleasant [to look at] for all people [in general] is a crore of times greater than the natural bliss that can occur when the moon, which is pleasant to all people and [in general] a cause of great delight, is seen, so when one is possessed of a bhāva such as servitude (dāsya) in relation to Bhagavān, who is Parabrahman, there occurs the apogee of the highest bliss, which arises verily from the essential nature [of Bhagavān, i.e., there occurs far greater bliss than one experiences if one perceives Parabrahman without any specific bhāva of servitude, friendship, or otherwise in relation to him], and if that [bhāva] shall arise from my-ness (mamatā) specifically in relation to him, then what is to be said? That superlative greatness is the excellence of the fortune of being forced to fall into the midst of the impact [of the waves] of many thousands of oceans of bliss. Thus, it is said [in SB 4.9.10], ‘O Lord, that bliss which can arise for embodied beings from meditation upon your lotus feet or through hearing narratives of persons who are your own does not occur even in [realization of] Brahman, your own [all-pervading] greatness. How then could it occur for [the devas of Svarga,] those who [all eventually] fall from airplanes slashed by the sword of death [i.e., time]?’ Elsewhere [i.e., in BRS 1.1.38] also [it is said], ‘If this bliss of Brahman [i.e., the bliss of the experience of Brahman] were accumulated for a parārddha [i.e., half of the lifespan of Brahmā—fifty quadrillion years], it would [still] not be equal to even an infinitesimal droplet of the ocean of the joy of bhakti.’ In a variant reading, there is Adhokṣajālambam, meaning, that in which the support—the viṣayālambana—is Adhokṣaja, that is, the rasa of dāsya, sakhya, or otherwise. By [the mention of], ‘Lord of the heart’ (Hṛd-īśvaram), bhakti possessed of a bhāva of dāsya or otherwise is suggested.”