तदेव मन्यते भक्तेः फलं तद्रसिकैर्जनैः ।
भगवत्प्रेमसम्पत्तौ सदैवाव्यभिचारतः ॥

tad eva manyate bhakteḥ phalaṁ tad-rasikair janaiḥ |
bhagavat-prema-sampattau sadaivāvyabhicārataḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.3.165)

“It [i.e., nāma-saṅkīrtana] itself is [also] considered the fruit of bhakti [i.e., of prema] by persons who are connoisseurs of it because of it being always unfailing in manifesting prema for Bhagavān.”

Commentary

aho kiṁ vaktavyam? śreṣṭhaṁ sādhanam iti sādhyam api tad eva kaiścin manyate ity āhuḥ—tad eveti, nāma-saṅkīrtanam eva | … nanu sarveṣām api sādhana-bhakti-prakārāṇāṁ premaiva phalam ity abhipretam satyaṁ nāma-saṅkīrtane sati premṇaḥ avaśyam-bhāvitvāt upacāreṇa tad eva phalaṁ manyata ity āhuḥ—bhagavad iti | 
(Excerpt from the Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā)

“Aho! What more is to be said? It is the most excellent sādhana, and it itself is also considered by some the sādhya as well. Thus this verse is spoken. … [An objection may be raised:] ‘Well, prema is the fruit of every type of sādhana-bhakti [i.e., not just nāma-saṅkīrtana, and thus there is no basis for this statement about nāma-saṅkīrtana being even the fruit of bhakti itself].’ [To this objection it is said:] True, [but] because of prema being inevitable [i.e., inevitably attained] when nāma-saṅkīrtana occurs, it is considered the fruit [of bhakti] in a figurative sense, and thus the second half of the verse is spoken [i.e., the reason for the figurative statement that nāma-saṅkīrtana is the fruit of prema-bhakti is given here: nāma-saṅkīrtana is always an unfailing cause of prema for Bhagavān manifesting, and something that invariably causes another thing is sometimes figuratively said to be a result or equivalent of that thing, as in the well-known statement āyur ghṛtam, “ghee is life.”].”

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