तत्तु लौकिकसद्बन्धुबुद्ध्या प्रेम भयादिजम् ।
विघ्नं निरस्य तद्गोपगोपीदास्येप्सयार्जयेत् ॥
tat tu laukika-sad-bandhu-buddhyā prema bhayādi-jam |
vighnaṁ nirasya tad-gopa-gopī-dāsyepsayārjayet ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.217)
“With the mentality of an excellent kinsmen of the world in relation to him [viz., Kṛṣṇa], one should overcome the obstruction [to prema for Kṛṣṇa] produced by fear and so forth, and with the desire to attain the servitude of those gopas and gopīs [who are so dear to Kṛṣṇa], one should verily acquire prema [for him].”
Commentary
tam eva vaktuṁ prathamaṁ sādhana-prakāram āha—tat tv iti | tat prema tu teṣāṁ gopānāṁ gopīnāṁ ca dāsyasya īpsayā prāptum icchayā arjayet sādhayet | evaṁ durlabhatara-dravyepsayā paramaṁ sakāmatvaṁ tad-dravya-tattva-vicāreṇa ca parama-mahāniṣkāmatāyām eva paryavasānaṁ, niṣkāmatvaṁ ca param ūhyam bhagavad-bhakti-mahodadhau sarva-virodha-pravāha-jāta-lopāpatteḥ | etac ca prāg-uddiṣṭam evāsti | kiṁ ca tat pāda-sarojayor viṣayayor laukikī lokānusāriṇī pati-putrādi-rūpā yā satī uttamā sauhārda-parā buddhiḥ, sati vā uttame bandhau yā buddhir matiḥ tayā, yad vā laukiko yaḥ sad-bandhuḥ tasminn iva sa evāyam iti vā buddhyā kṛtvā, bhayāder jāyata iti tathā taṁ vighnaṁ nirasya nirjitya | ādi-śabdāt gauravāviśvāsa-lajjādi | anyathā pāramaiśvaryādi-dṛṣṭyā bhaya-gauravādy-utpattyā prema-hāny-āpatteḥ | tac ca prāg-uktam eva | ata eva padma-purāṇe bhakter lakṣaṇam uktam idam—‘ananya-mamatā viṣṇau mamatā prema-saṁyutā | bhaktir ity ucyate bhīṣma-prahlādoddhava-nāradaiḥ ||’
(Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“To explain that [i.e., the prema discussed in earlier verses] specifically, he first describes the manner of the sādhana [for attaining that prema]: tat tu … [i.e., he speaks this verse]. With the desire to attain (īpsayā) the servitude of those gopas and gopīs [i.e., with the desire to attain the opportunity to engage in service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa as his beloved gopas and gopīs do, or, with the desire to serve Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s beloved gopas and gopīs], verily one should acquire (arjayet) prema for him. The great desirousness (sakāmatvam) [that exists] as a result of thus desiring to attain this very difficult to attain object [i.e., the prema found in Vraja], as per deliberation on the essential nature of that object, is to be inferred to have a culmination only in the highest, supreme desirelessness (niṣkāmatā), and to [thus] be the greatest desirelessness (niṣkāmatvam), on account of the occurrence of the effected dissolution of all currents of contradiction in the great ocean of bhakti to Bhagavān [i.e., although it seems to be contradictory to say that those who have a great desire to attain something very rare and difficult to attain are actually desireless (niṣkāma), they are in fact so because the object they seek to attain is prema-bhakti, which is the ultimate state of desirelessness (niṣkāmatvam); this apparent contradiction in one being both greatly desirous of prema-bhakti and supremely desireless because prema-bhakti is of such nature thus becomes dissolved in a manner akin to how a small stream becomes dissolved into a vast ocean]. This [point] was also certainly stated earlier. Moreover, [one should acquire prema for him by] overcoming (nirasya) the obstruction (vighnam) [to prema for him] that arises from fear and so forth [‘with the mentality of an excellent kinsmen of the world’ (laukika-sad-bandhu-buddhyā), that is,] (1) with an excellent (sat), affectionate (bandhu) attitude (buddhi) towards him (tat), that is, in relation to the object of his lotus feet, which is ‘worldly’ (laukika), that is, in keeping with [the norms of] the world, in the form of a master, son, or otherwise [i.e., with an excellent, affectionate attitude towards Śrī Kṛṣṇa wherein he is regarded as a person is regarded in the world as being one’s master, son, or otherwise], or, (2) with the mentality (buddhi) [present] in an excellent (sat) kinsmen (bandhu) [which is ‘worldly’ (laukika), that is, in keeping with the norms of the world in that one regards him as one’s master, son, or otherwise], or, alternately, (3) with, that is, fostering, an attitude (buddhi) [in relation to him] like [one does] in relation to someone who is an excellent (sat) worldly (laukika) kinsmen (bandhu) [i.e., fostering in relation to Kṛṣṇa the attitude that one fosters in relation an excellent kinsmen in the world], or, (4) [with, that is, fostering, the attitude (buddhi)] that he verily is that [i.e., that he really is an excellent (sat) worldly (laukika) kinsmen (bandhu) [of one’s own in the world]. By the word ‘and so on’ (ādi) [i.e., by the mention of the obstructions to prema of ‘fear and so on’], reverence, a lack of trust, shyness, and the like are referred to. [One overcomes the obstructions to prema of fear, reverence, a lack of trust, shyness, and the like ‘with the mentality of an excellent kinsmen of the world’ (laukika-sad-bandhu-buddhyā), that is, (1) by thinking Kṛṣṇa to be one’s master, son, friend, beloved, or otherwise in an excellent and affectionate manner as kinsmen and so on think of one another in the world, (2) by thinking oneself to be an excellent kinsmen of Kṛṣna as one is such a kinsmen to others in the world, (3) by thinking Kṛṣṇa to be like an excellent kinsmen of oneself in this world, or (4) by thinking Kṛṣṇa to verily be an excellent kinsmen of oneself in this world] because of the occurrence of the diminishing of prema as a result of the generation of fear, reverence, and so on as a consequence of observation of [his] paramount Godliness (Pāramaiśvarya) and the like otherwise [i.e., if one does not have this ‘mentality of an excellent kinsmen of the world’ (laukika-sad-bandhu-buddhi) in relation to Kṛṣṇa, then one is prone to consider his paramount Godliness (Pāramaiśvarya), and this produces fear, reverence, and so on, all of which cause obstruction to prema for him]. This, furthermore, was certainly described earlier [e.g., in BB 2.5.76]. [Also,] Therefore, this is said to be a characteristic of bhakti in Padma Purāṇa, ‘My-ness (mamatā) [i.e., affectionate possessiveness] in relation to Viṣṇu that is filled with prema [for Viṣṇu] and free from my-ness in relation to anything else is said to be bhakti [i.e., prema-bhakti] by Bhīṣma, Prahlāda, Uddhava, and Nārada.’”