गभीरोऽप्यश्रान्तं दुरधिगमपारोऽपि नितराम्
अहार्यां मर्यादां दधदपि हरेरास्पदमपि ।
सतां स्तोमः प्रेमण्युदयति समग्रे स्थगयितुं
विकारं न स्फारं जलनिधिरिवेन्दौ प्रभवति ॥
gabhīro’py aśrāntaṁ duradhigama-pāro’pi nitarām
ahāryāṁ maryādāṁ dadhad api harer āspadam api |
satāṁ stomaḥ premaṇy udayati samagre sthagayituṁ
vikāraṁ na sphāraṁ jala-nidhir ivendau prabhavati ||
(Dāna-keli-kaumudī: 4; cited in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.4.270)
“Although deep and without rest, although of unintelligible extremity and completely immoveable, although possessing limits, and although an abode of Hari, the multitude of sādhus, like the ocean, when complete prema arises, like the moon, are unable to conceal swelling and transformation.”
Commentary
The sādhus are ‘deep‘ (gabhīra), that is, inscrutable, just as the ocean is unfathomable, because they hide their prema. They are ‘without rest’ (aśrānta) in that they are ever-engaged in service to Hari, just as the ocean is without end in its existence and internal movement. The sādhus are ‘immoveable’ (ahāryāṁ) in that they are unwavering in their one-pointedness upon Hari just as the ocean is immoveable and indestructible. The sādhus are ‘of unintelligible extremity’ (duradhigama-pāraḥ) yet also described as ‘possessing limits’ (maryādāṁ dadhad) because although they are possessed of endless qualities, just as the ocean’s shores are so greatly afar that they are imperceptible and effectively impossible to reach, the sādhus act as though they do not have endless qualities and attribute their qualities to exceptions in their character so as to conceal their qualities and hearts from the public and preclude any possible instance of showing impudence to others. The sādhus are ‘abodes of Hari’ (harer āspadam), just as the ocean, that is, the ocean of milk, is the abode of Hari [i.e., Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣnu], in that they have attained a manifestation (sphūrti) of Hari in their hearts, yet they conceal this and do not make a display of any external transformations as a result of this, just as Viṣṇu is not visible from the shore of the ocean of milk. Yet when prema manifests fully in the hearts of sādhus, the sādhus cannot conceal the upwelling of bhāvas this causes and the transformations it produces, just as the ocean cannot refrain from swelling and exhibiting waves when the full moon, its son, arises and shines beautifully in full, that is, in a manner most befitting Hari’s līlā of lying upon the ocean.