मातर्गोपकिशोरं तं त्वञ्च रासरसाम्बुधिम् ।
तत्प्रेममोहिताभिः श्रीगोपीभिरभितो वृतम् ॥
अमूषां दास्यमिच्छन्ती तादृशप्रेमभङ्गिभिः ।
नित्यं भजस्व तन्नामसङ्कीर्तनपरायणा ॥
mātar gopa-kiśoraṁ taṁ tvañ ca rāsa-rasāmbudhim |
tat-prema-mohitābhiḥ śrī-gopībhir abhito vṛtam ||
amūṣāṁ dāsyam icchantī tādṛśa-prema-bhaṅgibhiḥ |
nityaṁ bhajasva tan-nāma-saṅkīrtana-parāyaṇā ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.7.154–5)
“The adolescent cowherd, the ocean of the rasa of rāsa, surrounded on all sides by the beautiful gopīs enchanted by prema for him—O Mother, you too should always worship him with similar means of prema [i.e., with means of prema similar to those of the gopīs’ prema], desiring servitude to them [i.e., to the gopīs] and being absorbed in saṅkīrtana of his name.”
Commentary
tasya kiṁ mukhyaṁ lakṣaṇam ity apekṣāyām āha—tasya gopa-kiśorasya yāni nāmāni teṣām yad vā tat prasiddhaṁ yat kṛṣṇeti nāma tasya saṅkīrtanam uccaiḥ susvara-madhura-gāthayā kīrtanaṁ tat-parāyaṇā satī | tadaiva tādṛśa-prema-bhajana-prakāra-lakṣaṇaṁ tādṛśa-prema-sampatti-lakṣaṇaṁ ceti bhāvaḥ |
(Excerpt from the Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“‘What is the primary characteristic of that [i.e., of the bhajana you are directing me to perform]?’ In anticipation of this [question], Parīkṣit Mahārāja said, “be absorbed in saṅkīrtana,” that is, resonant kīrtana with fine tunes and sweet verses of the names of the adolescent cowherd, or his well-known name ‘Kṛṣṇa.’ This alone is the defining characteristic of such prema-bhajana and so also the characteristic of the attainment of such prema. This is purport.”