पूर्णं वर्षसहस्रं मे विषयान् सेवतोऽसकृत् ।
तथापि चानुसवनं तृष्णा तेषूपजायते ॥
तस्मादेतामहं त्यक्त्वा ब्रह्मण्यध्याय मानसम् ।
निर्द्वन्द्वो निरहङ्कारश्चरिष्यामि मृगैः सह ॥
pūrṇaṁ varṣa-sahasraṁ me viṣayān sevato’sakṛt |
tathāpi cānusavanaṁ tṛṣṇā teṣūpajāyate ||
tasmād etām ahaṁ tyaktvā brahmaṇy adhyāya mānasam |
nirdvandvo nirahaṅkāraś cariṣyāmi mṛgaiḥ saha ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 9.19.18–19)
“[Mahārāja Yayāti to his wife Devayānī:] I have spent a full one thousand years enjoying objects of the senses continuously, and still desire for them arises constantly [i.e., it has not been extinguished in the least]. Therefore, giving that up and fixing my mind on Brahman, I shall roam with the deer free from duality and free from self-conceit.”
Commentary
tasmāt kāmānām upabhogena kāmāśānter aham etāṁ viṣaya-tṛṣṇāṁ tyaktvā brahmaṇi mānasam ādhyāya śītoṣṇādi-dvandair anabhibhūto dehātma-bhrama-rahitaś ca mṛgais saha cariṣyāmi vanaṁ praviśāmīty arthaḥ |
(Bhāgavata-candrikā-ṭīkā of Vīrarāghava Ācārya)
“Therefore, because of the non-extinguishment of desire by enjoying objects of desire, I shall give up that, meaning, [I shall give up] desire for objects of the senses, fix my mind on Brahman, and, not being overpowered by the dualities of heat and cold and so on, and being free from the delusion of that the self is the body, I shall roam with the deer, that is, I shall enter the forest. This is the meaning.”
viṣayābhiniveśasya kāla-durjayatve’ham eva dṛṣṭānta ity āha—pūrṇam iti | nanu tarhi kasmāt tasyā upaśamaḥ? tatra bhagavad-rūpa-guṇādau mano nidhānād ity āha—mānasam ādhāyeti nirākārasya dhyānaṁ na sambhavatīti sākāre brahmaṇīty arthaḥ | ‘bhāgavatīṁ gatiṁ lebhe’ ity agretanokteś ca | mṛgaiḥ saheti etāvantaṁ kālaṁ bhavatyāḥ krīḍā-mṛgaḥ san gṛhāṅgane nṛtyam akaravam, ataḥ paraṁ tu vane mṛgaiḥ kṛṣṇasāraiḥ sahaivaṁ kṛṣṇa-līlā-magno nartiṣyāmīti bhāvaḥ |
(Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“[Mahārāja Yayāti to his wife Devayānī:] I myself am the example in regard to absorption in objects of the senses being unconquerable [even] for Time. [Devayānī asks:] ‘Well, then how will its [i.e., desire’s] pacification come about?’ [He replies:] By fixing the mind on the figure, qualities, and so forth of Bhagavān. Thus, he says, ‘Fixing [my] mind.’ Meditation on something without form [however] is not possible. Thus, ‘On Brahman possessed of form’ is the meaning [of the word Brahman in the verse]. [This is so] Also because of the statement ahead [in SB 9.19.25], ‘He attained a destination related to Bhagavān [i.e., the position of an associate possessed of prema in Śrī Bhagavān’s abode].’ Regarding ‘with deer’ (mṛgaiḥ saha), the purport is, ‘All this time, I have been dancing in the courtyard of the house as a toy deer of yours. From now on, however, I shall similarly dance in the forest with the deer, that is, the black-spotted antelope (kṛṣṇasāra) [or, perhaps, with those for whom Kṛṣṇa is the essence (sāra)], absorbed in Kṛṣṇa’s līlā.”
brahmaṇi bhagavati mānasam ādhāya tad-dhyāna-paro bhūtvā mṛgaiḥ mṛgavan nirabhimānibhiḥ mahānubhāvaiḥ saha ||
(Siddhānta-pradīpa-ṭīkā)
“Fixing my mind on Brahman, that is, Bhagavān, meaning, being absorbed in meditation upon him, [I shall roam] with the deer, that is, with the high-minded (mahābhāvas) who are free from self-conceit like deer.”
śītoṣna-kṣut-pipāsādi-dvandveṣu kathaṁ brahmaṇi manaḥ sthiraṁ syāt tatrāha—nirdvandva iti | nanu tad api kathaṁ syāt tatrāha—niraham iti, dehādy-ātmābhimāna-rahita ity arthaḥ |
(Excerpt from the Bāla-prabodhinī-ṭīkā)
“[Devayānī may ask Mahārāja Yayāti:] ‘How shall your mind become steady upon Brahman in the midst of the dualities of heat and cold, hunger and thirst, and so on?’ To that, he says, ‘free from dualities’ (nirdvandvaḥ) [i.e., he will tolerate them and remain content in their midst]. [Devayānī may then ask:] ‘Well, how shall even that come about?’ To that, he says, ‘Free from self-conceit’ (nirahaṅkāraḥ), meaning, free from the the conceit of the self being the body or otherwise.”