तं सुखाराध्यमृजुभिरनन्यशरणैर्नृभि: ।
कृतज्ञ: को न सेवेत दुराराध्यमसाधुभि: ॥
taṁ sukhārādhyam ṛjubhir ananya-śaraṇair nṛbhiḥ |
kṛtajñaḥ ko na seveta durārādhyam asādhubhiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.19.36; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 153)
“What grateful person would not worship he who is easily propitiated by persons who are sincere and of undivided shelter yet difficult to propitiate for the unvirtuous [i.e., those who are the opposite]?”
Commentary
ṛjubhir akuṭilair ata eva ananya-śaraṇaiḥ | asādhubhis tato’nyādṛśaiḥ | kṛtajñaḥ śaraṇāgati-mātre sukhārādhyatā-vijñaḥ, puruṣārtha-catuṣṭaya-dātṛtvāt | tad evaṁ sati ko na seveta? tasyaiva sevā-parityāgena tat-tad-anyad vāñched ity arthaḥ |
(Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā)
“[Bhagavān is easily propitiated by persons who are] ‘Sincere,’ (ṛjubhiḥ), that is, not crooked, and thus ‘of undivided shelter’ (ananya-śaraṇaiḥ) [i.e., are those who have taken sincerely shelter in him one-pointedly]. [Bhagavān, on the contrary, is very difficult to propitiate] ‘For the unvirtuous’ (asādhubhiḥ), that is, those who are of another type [i.e., those who lack the qualities of sincerity and being one-pointedly fixed in Bhagavān’s shelter]. ‘A grateful person’ (kṛtajñaḥ) is an adept knower of [Bhagavān’s] being easily propitiated just by śaraṇāgati on account of [his] being a bestower of the four puruṣārthas [upon those who simply take shelter in him]. The sense is this [i.e., the mentality of such a grateful person is as follows:] ‘Thus, when he is such, who would not worship [him]? Who would abandon service to him specifically and desire anything other than that?’”
ataḥ sa sadaivārādhayitum ucita ity āha—tam iti | kṛtajñaḥ śaraṇāgata-pālanābhijñaḥ | asādhubhir anṛjubhir anya-śaraṇaiś ca |
(Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“Therefore, he [i.e., Bhagavān] is indeed forever fit to be propitiated . Thus, he says tam … [i.e., he speaks this verse]. ‘A grateful person’ (kṛtajñaḥ) is an adept knower of [Bhagavān’s] protection of those who take shelter [in him] (śaranāgatas). ‘The unvirtuous’ are those who are not sincere and of shelter in others [i.e., those who do not take shelter in Bhagavān].”