गोप्य: कामाद्भयात्कंसो द्वेषाच्चैद्यादयो नृपा: ।
सम्बन्धाद्वृष्णय: स्नेहाद्यूयं भक्त्या वयं विभो ॥
gopyaḥ kāmād bhayāt kaṁso dveṣāc caidyādayo nṛpāḥ |
sambandhād vṛṣṇayaḥ snehād yūyaṁ bhaktyā vayaṁ vibho ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.1.30)
“[Nārada Ṛṣi to Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja:] O King, the gopīs through amorous desire, Kaṁsa through fear, kings such as Caidya [i.e., Śiśupāla] through hatred, the Vṛṣṇis and Paṇḍavas through affection based on relationship, and we through bhakti [attained a destination related to Īśvara, as described in the previous verse].”
Commentary
tān āha—gopya iti |
(Bhāvārtha-dīpikā)
“He [i.e., Nārada] describes them in this verse (gopyaḥ …) [i.e., he gives examples of persons who attained a destination related to Īśvara through each of the bhāvas mentioned in the previous verse].”
atha bahavas tad-gatiṁ gatā ity atra nidarśayam āha—gopya iti | gopya iti sādhaka-carīṇāṁ gopī-viśeṣāṇāṁ pūrvāvasthām evāvalambyocyate | vayam iti yathā śrī-nāradasya hi ‘prayujyamāne mayi tāṁ śuddhāṁ bhāgavatīṁ tanum’ ity-ādy-ukta-rītyā pārṣada-dehatve siddhe tena svayaṁ vayam iti pūrvāvasthām avalambyocyate | tatraiva vaidhī bhaktiḥ | adhunā labdha-rāgasya tasya ‘na mayy ekānta-bhaktānāṁ guṇa-doṣodbhavā guṇāḥ,’ ‘guṇa-doṣa-dṛśir doṣo guṇas tūbhaya-varjitaḥ’ iti nyāyena vidhy-anadhīnā rāgātmikaiva virājata iti | ata eva tad-gatiṁ gatāḥ iti teṣāṁ phala-prāpter apy atītatva-nirdeśaḥ | atra tā gopya ivādhunikyaś ca tad-guṇādi-śravaṇenaiva tad-bhāvā bhaveyuḥ | yathoktam—‘śruta-mātro’pi yaḥ strīṇāṁ prasahyākarṣate manaḥ | uru-gāyoru-gīto vā paśyantīnāṁ ca kiṁ punaḥ ||’ iti | athavā pārṣada-carasyāpi caidyasyāgantukopadravābhāsa-nāśa-darśanenaiva sādhakatva-nirdeśaḥ | sambandhād yaḥ sneho rāgas tasmād vṛṣṇayo yūyaṁ ca ity ekam | ‘tasmād vairānubandhena’ ity-ādau ‘kāmāt’ ity ādau coktasyaivārthasyodāharaṇa-vākye’smin tad-aikārthyāvaśyakatvāt, ‘pañcānām’ iti vakṣyamāṇānurodhāt, ubhayatrāpi sambandha-snehayor dvayor api vidyamānatvāc ca sambandha-grahaṇaṁ rāgasyaiva viśeṣatva-jñāpanārtham | gopīvad atrāpi sādhaka-carā vṛṣṇi-viśeṣāḥ pāṇḍava-sambandhi-viśeṣāś ca pūrvāvasthām avalambya sādhakatvena nirdiṣṭāḥ | ataḥ sambandhaja-snehe’pi tad-abhiruci-mātraṁ jñeyam | bhaktyā vihitayā, asyā eva pratilabdhatvena bhāva-mārgaṁ nirdeṣṭum upakrāntatvāt |
(Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā; Bhakti Sandarbha: 321)
“Now, here [i.e., in this verse] Nārada illustrates [the statement at the end of the previous verse], ‘Many have attained a destination related to him [i.e., Īśvara]: gopyaḥ …. ‘The gopīs’ (gopyaḥ) is said in reference only to the prior state of particular gopīs who were formerly sādhakas [i.e., it does not refer to nitya-siddha gopīs]. In regard to [the word] ‘we’ (vayam), because the existence of Śrī Nārada’s figure of an associate (pārṣada) [of Śrī Bhagavān] was established [at the time he made this present statement under discussion here in SB 7.1.30] as per the manner stated [by Śrī Nārada] in [SB 1.6.28], ‘When I was being united with that pure figure related to Bhagavān [i.e., the form of an associate (pārṣada) of Bhagavān], the body [made] of the five elements, the commenced (prārabdha) karma of which was exhausted, fell away,’ [the word] ‘we’ (vayam) [in SB 7.1.30] is said in reference only to his own prior state [i.e., his state prior to receiving his present body, which is that of an associate of Bhagavān]. Vaidhī-bhakti existed only there [i.e., it was only prior to his attainment of the body of an associate of Bhagavān that he performed vaidhī-bhakti, and it is such vaidhī-bhakti that is alluded to by the word bhaktyā in SB 7.1.30]. Now having attained rāga, he has purely rāgātmikā [-bhakti] that is independent of injunction (vidhi) as per the principle [stated by Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa in SB 11.20.36], ‘Bhaktas one-pointed upon me have no qualities [i.e., merits or sins] born of qualities or faults [i.e., born of observance of injunctions and neglect of prohibitions],’ and [as stated in SB 11.19.45] ‘Seeing qualities and faults [in others] in a fault, whereas being free from [seeing] them both is a quality.’
“Therefore, in [the statement in SB 7.1.29] ‘attained a destination related to him’ (tad-gatiṁ gatāḥ), even their attainment of that result [i.e., the attainment of a destination related to Īśvara by those mentioned in the verse] has the specification of being in the past. [Thus, it is indicated that] Here [i.e., in SB 7.1.30], those of the present day [i.e., sādhakas of the present day] as well, like those gopīs [i.e., like the aforementioned gopīs who performed sādhana and attained siddhi], can become possessed of that bhāva [i.e., can attain the bhāva of a gopī] just by hearing of their qualities and so forth [alt., just by hearing of Kṛṣṇa’s qualities and so forth], as it is said [in SB 10.90.26], ‘[… Kṛṣṇa,] Who forcibly attracts the minds of women just when heard about, or when sung about in many ways with many songs, and how much more [does he do so] of those [women] who see [him in person]?’
“Alternately, even the former associate (pārṣada) Caidya [i.e., Śiśupāla] has the specification of being a sādhaka [in the aforementioned verses] only out of regard for the destruction of the semblance of his incidental hostility [i.e., the hostility he incidentally fostered towards Bhagavān following the curse he received from the four sages Sanat and so forth].
“‘The Vṛṣṇis (Vṛṣṇayo) and you all (yūyam) [attained a destination related to Īśvara] through affection (sneha), that is, rāga, based on relationship (sambandha)’—[when the verse is understood] as such, there is one [illustration, and not two, given by the phrase sambandhād vṛṣṇayaḥ snehād yūyaṁ]. (1) Because of the necessity of oneness in meaning of the examples in this statement with the meaning of the statements tasmād vairānubandhena … [i.e., SB 7.1.25] and kāmāt … [i.e., SB 7.1.29, where, in both cases, five bhāvas are mentioned], (2) because of uniformity with the forthcoming [statement] pañcānām … [in SB 7.1.31, i.e., because of the forthcoming specific mention of five bhāvas in SB 7.1.31 in reference to the discussion that began from SB 7.1.25], and (3) because of the existence of the two, that is, relationship (sambandha) and affection (sneha), in them both [i.e., in both the Vṛṣṇis and Pāṇḍavas], the usage of [the word] ‘relationship’ (sambandha) is for the purpose of making known the specificity of [the Vṛṣṇis’ and Pāṇḍavas’] rāga [i.e., ‘affection’ (sneha)]. In this case as well, like the [aforementioned] gopīs, particular Vṛṣṇis and particular relatives of the Paṇḍavas who were formerly sādhakas are specified [in this verse] as being sādhakas on the basis of [their] prior state [i.e., their state prior to attaining siddhi]. Therefore, even in regard to [their] affection born of [familial] relationship [with Śrī Kṛṣṇa], only special taste (abhiruci) for that [type of rāga] is to be understood [i.e., the mention in the verse of affection (sneha) based on relationship (sambandha) refers not to the rāga of the Vṛṣṇi and Pāṇḍavas itself but to special taste for that rāga in Vṛṣṇis and relatives of the Pāṇḍavas who were sādhakas].
“‘By bhakti’ (bhaktyā) means by that [bhakti] which is enjoined [i.e., by vaidhī-bhakti] because of its being aforesaid to designate the path of bhāva as being attainable by that [i.e., the bhakti mentioned in the verse under discussion, SB 7.1.30, refers to vaidhī-bhakti, and the verse indicates that vaidhī-bhakti is a means by which ‘the path of bhāva,’ that is, a particular bhāva for Bhagavān, e.g., that of a servant, can be attained, as the aforementioned example of Śrī Nārada, the speaker of the verse, indicates].”