रजोभिः समसङ्ख्याताः पार्थिवैरिह जन्तवः ।
तेषां ये केचनेहन्ते श्रेयो वै मनुजादयः ॥
प्रायो मुमुक्षवस्तेषां केचनैव द्विजोत्तम ।
मुमुक्षूणां सहस्रेषु कश्चिन्मुच्येत सिध्यति ॥
मुक्तानामपि सिद्धानां नारायणपरायणः ।
सुदुर्लभः प्रशान्तात्मा कोटिष्वपि महामुने ॥
rajobhiḥ sama-saṅkhyātāḥ pārthivair iha jantavaḥ |
teṣāṁ ye kecanehante śreyo vai manujādayaḥ ||
prāyo mumukṣavas teṣāṁ kecanaiva dvijottama |
mumukṣūṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścin mucyeta sidhyati ||
muktānām api siddhānāṁ nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇaḥ |
sudurlabhaḥ praśāntātmā koṭiṣv api mahāmune ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.14.3–5; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.189; Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.2.186, 2.2.207, 2.5.178; Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 106; Bhakti Sandarbha: 134, 186, 273; Prīti Sandarbha: 35, 100; Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.19.151)
“Living beings here [i.e., in the material world] are similar in enumeration to the particles of dust on the earth [i.e., they are innumerable]. Among them, there are certainly some human beings and so forth who strive for virtue (śreyas) [i.e., who follow dharma and take up other means to attain otherworldly happiness]. O best of the twice born, among them, some very few are even seekers of mukti, and among thousands of seekers of mukti, someone may become liberated and [someone among thousands of such liberated persons may] succeed [i.e., attain siddhi]. O great sage, even among crores of even muktas and siddhas, someone of completely peaceful mind whose complete shelter is Nārāyaṇa is extremely rare to find.”
Commentary
Śrīdhara Svāmī comments that these three verses show the rarity of bhakti (bhakter durlabhatvaṁ prapañcayati—rajobhir iti tribhiḥ). He further comments that “may become liberated” (mucyeta) means free from attachment to home and so forth (mucyeta gṛhādi-saṅgād vimucyate) and “succeed” (sidhyati) means to know the reality (sidhyati tattvaṁ jānāti). Sanātana Gosvāmī accepts these two readings but offers alternatives as well: he comments that “may become liberated” (mucyeta) means may become liberated from saṁsāra (saṁsārān mukto bhavet), and “succeed” (sidhyati) means to attain a share of ānanda in the form of experience one’s own svarūpa, or, “may become liberated” (mucyeta) means may become a jīvan-mukta (mucyeta jīvan-mukto bhavet), and “succeed” (sidhyati) means merges into the ocean of the highest ānanda, namely, Bhagavān (sidhyati bhagavati paramānanda-samudre līyate). He adds that in the aforementioned jīvan-mukti state, there is only experience of a share of ānanda in the form of experience of one’s svarūpa, while in the siddhi state, there is superiority to the former state of jīvan-mukti because of [there occurring also] experience of a special form of ānanda (evaṁ jīvan-muktatve svarūpānubhava-rūpānandāṁśa-mātrānubhavā, siddhatve cānanda-viśeṣānubhavena pūrvato’sya śraiṣṭhyaṁ). He further notes that even in this so-called merging into Bhagavān, the jīva retaining separate existence from Bhagavān is the intended sense because a plurality of siddhas are spoken of in the following verse [i.e. SB 6.14.5] (Bhagaval-layatve’pi pṛthak-sthity-abhiprāyeṇottara-śloke siddhānām iti bahutvam). Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, following suit, considers the muktas mentioned in SB 6.14.5 to be jīvan-muktas and the siddhas to be those who have attained sālokya and so forth, that is, any of the five types of mukti. Superior and most rare amongst them all, he says, is the Nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇaḥ, one who is desirous solely of service to Nārāyaṇa (nārāyaṇa-sevā-mātrākāṅkṣī sudurlabhaḥ), because he alone is praśāntātmā, that is, free from all distress (sarvopadrava-rahitaḥ), on account of having complete and superlative fixity in Bhagavān (nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇaḥ sudurlabha eva yataḥ sa eva praśāntātmā prakṛṣṭa-bhagavat-tattva-niṣṭhā-variṣṭha ity arthaḥ).