सालोक्यसार्ष्टिसामीप्यसारूप्यैकत्वमप्युत ।
दीयमानं न गृह्णन्ति विना मत्सेवनं जना: ॥
sālokya-sārṣṭi-sāmīpya-sārūpyaikatvam apy uta |
dīyamānaṁ na gṛhṇanti vinā mat-sevanaṁ janāḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.29.13; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.603; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.28; Bhakti Sandarbha: 234; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 1.4.207, 2.6.270, 2.9.268, 2.19.173, 3.3.189)
[Kapiladeva to Devahūti:] “Without my service, people [i.e., those imbued with nirguṇa-bhakti to me] do not accept even sālokya, sārṣṭi, sāmīpya, sārūpya, or ekatva [i.e., sāyujya] even when [these are] offered [to them by me].”
Commentary
ahaitukītvam eva viśeṣato darśayati—janā madīyāḥ | sālokyādikam apy uta, api dīyamānam api na gṛhṇanti mat-sevanaṁ vineti gṛhṇanti cet, tarhi mat-sevanārtham eva gṛhṇanti, na tu tad-artham evety arthaḥ | sārṣṭiḥ samānaiśvaryam | ekatvaṁ bhagavat-sāyujyaṁ brahma-sāyujyaṁ ca | anayos tal-līnātmakatvena tat-sevanārthatvābhāvād agrahaṇāvaśyakatvam eveti bhāvaḥ |
(Excerpt from the Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā; Bhakti Sandarbha: 234)
“He shows the causelessness [of nirguṇa bhakti-yoga] in particular [in SB 3.29.13]: ‘People, that is, those who are my own, do not even accept even sālokya and so on even when offered [by me to them] without my service. Thus, if they do accept them, then they accept them only for the sake of my service, and not rather, solely for their sake [i.e., for the sake of such forms of mokṣa in and of themselves].’ This is the meaning. Sārṣṭi means equal aiśvarya [i.e., opulence, capability, etc., to that of Bhagavān]. Ekatva [lit., “oneness”] refers to Bhagavat-sāyujya [i.e., absorption in Bhagavān] and Brahma-sāyujya [i.e., absorption in Brahman]. There is a definitive necessity of non-acceptance of these [in the case of bhaktas with nirguṇa-bhakti] because of the impossibility of [their] being means to his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] service on account of their being constituted of dissolution into him [i.e., into Bhagavān, or, into Brahman, whereby it becomes impossible to render any service to Bhagavān]. This is the purport.”
ambudhau gaṅgāmbhaso gatir iti dṛṣṭānta-vyañjitam arthaṁ spaṣṭayann ukta-lakṣaṇa-bhakti-matāṁ janānāṁ niṣkāmatvaṁ kaimutya-nyāyenāha sālokyaṁ mayā sahaikasmin loke vāsam | sārṣṭiṁ samānaiśvaryam | sāmīpyaṁ nikaṭa-vartitvam | sārūpyaṁ samāna-rūpatvam | ekatvaṁ sāyujyam | uta api dīyamānam api na gṛhṇanti kutas tat-kāmaneti bhāvaḥ | mat-sevanaṁ vineti kecid gṛhṇanti cen mat-sevārtham eva gṛhṇantīty arthaḥ |
(Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“Clarifying the meaning indicated by the illustration of ‘like the flow of the water of the Gaṅgā towards the ocean,’ he [i.e., Kapiladeva] describes with a fortiori logic (kaimutya-nyāya) the desirelessness (niṣkāmatva) of persons possessed of bhakti of the stated characteristics [i.e., of the nirguṇa-bhakti aforementioned in SB 3.29.11–12]: they do not accept even sālokya, residing with me in the same plane (loka), sārṣṭi, [possessing] equal opulence [to mine], sāmīpya, being near [me], sārūpya, having the same form [as me], or ekatva, oneness [with me], that is, sāyujya, absorption [into me], even when [these are] offered [to them by me]. Where [then] is [their] desire for these [i.e., if my bhaktas do not accept these things even when I personally offer them to them, then what question is there of my bhaktas having any desire for these things]? This is the purport. In regard to ’without my service’ (mat-sevanaṁ vinā), [it should be understood that] if some [of my bhaktas do] accept [these things], they accept them only for the sake of my service [and not for any other reason]. This is the meaning.”