महत्सेवां द्वारमाहुर्विमुक्ते-
स्तमोद्वारं योषितां सङ्गिसङ्गम् ।
महान्तस्ते समचित्ताः प्रशान्ता
विमन्यवः सुहृदः साधवो ये ॥
ये वा मयीशे कृतसौहृदार्था
जनेषु देहम्भरवार्तिकेषु ।
गृहेषु जायात्मजरातिमत्सु
न प्रीतियुक्ता यावदर्थाश्च लोके ॥
mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes
tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam |
mahāntas te sama-cittāḥ praśāntā
vimanyavaḥ suhṛdaḥ sādhavo ye ||
ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā
janeṣu dehambhara-vārtikeṣu |
gṛheṣu jāyātmaja-rātimatsu
na prīti-yuktā yāvad-arthāś ca loke ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.5.2–3; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.17, 69; Bhakti Sandarbha: 186; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.82)
“Service to the mahats is said to be the door to mukti of various types, and attachment to those who are attached to women [is said to be] the door to darkness. The mahāntas [lit., ‘the great’] are they who are of equal mind, tranquil, free from anger, friendly, and virtuous, and alternately, they who (1) have made affection [i.e., prema] for me, Īśa, their aim, (2) [they] who are unpossessed of affinity for homes, wives, children, friends, and persons fixed upon affairs related to bodily maintenance, and (3) [they] who are possessed of only so much wealth [as is necessary] in this world.”
Commentary
mokṣa-bandhayor nidānam āha—mahat-sevām iti | tamasaḥ saṁsārasya dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ ye saṅginaḥ, teṣāṁ saṅgam | mahatāṁ lakṣaṇam āha sārdhena—mahānta iti | sādhavaḥ sadācārāḥ |
(Bhāvārtha-dīpikā)
“He [i.e., Ṛṣabhadeva] describes the causes of liberation (mokṣa) and bondage: mahat-sevām … [i.e., he speaks SB 5.5.2] . Attachment to those who are attached to women is the door to darkness, that is, saṁsāra. He describes the characteristics of the mahats with one and a half [verses]: mahānta …. ‘Virtuous’ (sādhavaḥ) means properly conducted.”
atra jñāna-mārge brahmānubhavino mahānto bhakti-mārge labdha-bhagavat-premāṇo mahānta iti lakṣaṇa-sāmānyam iti jñeyam |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 186)
“In this regard, on the path of jñāna, one who has experience of Brahman is a mahānta, and on the path of bhakti, one who has attained prema for Bhagavān is a mahānta. In this way a commonality in characteristics to be understood.”
manuṣya-dehād evoddhāro’dhaḥpātaś ca bhavatīti | tayoḥ kāraṇam api manuṣya-dehe’stīty āha—mahad iti | vimukter vividha-mukteḥ | brahma-saukhyaṁ hy anantam iti pūrvokter brahma-saukhyasya ca nirviśeṣa-saviśeṣa-brahma-sambandhitvena dvaividhyān muktir api sāyujyaṁ bhaktimat-pārṣadatvaṁ ceti dvividhā vi-śabdād vyākhyeyā | mahadbhyo’pi dvividhā brahmopāsakā bhagavad-upāsakāś ca | teṣāṁ lakṣaṇaṁ tantreṇaivāha—sama-cittā abheda-darśinaḥ, akuṭila-cittāś ca | praśāntāḥ praśamādi-yuktāḥ, bhagavan-niṣṭhā-buddhayaś ca ‘śamo man-niṣṭhatā buddheḥ’ iti bhagavad-ukteḥ | vimanyava ity ādi viśeṣaṇa-trayam ubhayatra tulyārtham | sādhavaḥ para-doṣāgrāhiṇaḥ |
(Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“Deliverance and downfall both occur by means of the human body. The cause of them both too is present in the human body [i.e., in human life]. Thus, he says mahad … [i.e., he speaks this verse]. [The word] Vimukteḥ refers to mukti of various types. On account of the twofoldness of the bliss of Brahman based on [its] being related to undifferentiated (nirviśeṣa) [Brahman] or differentiated (saviśeṣa) Brahman as per the previous statement [in SB 5.5.1], ‘The infinite bliss of Brahman,’ mukti too being twofold, that is, [its being either] sāyujya or [that of] being an associate (pārṣada) [of Bhagavān] possessed of bhakti, is to be explained [in this case] on the basis of the prefix vi [in the word vimukteḥ i.e., in this verse the word vimukti should be understood to refer to multiple types of mukti because the ‘bliss of Brahman’ spoke of in the previous verse refers to multiple types of mukti]. The mahats too are twofold: [they are either] upāsakas (seekers) of Brahman or upāsakās of Bhagavān. He describes their characteristics specifically with tantra [i.e., with an intended double meaning of words, that is, by means of using the words employed to describe the characteristics of mahats with two different intended senses, one for the mahats who are upāsakas of Brahman, and the other for the mahats who are upāsakas of Bhagavān]. ‘Of equal mind’ (sama-cittāḥ) refers to seers of non-distinction [in reference to upāsakas of Brahman] and to those of non-crooked heart [in reference to upāsakas of Bhagavān]. ‘Tranquil’ (praśāntāḥ) refers to those possessed of quietness [of mind] and those whose intellect has fixity upon Bhagavān as per the statement of Bhagavān [in SB 11.19.36], ‘“Equanimity is fixity upon me of the intellect.’ The three qualifiers [then stated in the verse] beginning with ‘free from anger’ (vimanyavaḥ) [i.e., followed by ‘friendly’ (suhṛdaḥ) and ‘virtuous’ (sādhavaḥ)] have the same meaning [in reference to both types of mahats]. ‘Virtuous’ (sādhavaḥ) refers to those who do not take in the faults of others.”