तावद्भयं द्रविणदेहसुहृन्निमित्तं
शोक: स्पृहा परिभवो विपुलश्च लोभ: ।
तावन्ममेत्यसदवग्रह आर्तिमूलं
यावन्न तेऽङ्घ्रिमभयं प्रवृणीत लोक: ॥
tāvad bhayaṁ draviṇa-deha-suhṛn-nimittaṁ
śokaḥ spṛhā paribhavo vipulaś ca lobhaḥ |
tāvan mamety asad-avagraha ārti-mūlaṁ
yāvan na te’ṅghrim abhayaṁ pravṛṇīta lokaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.9.6)
“So fear, grief, longing, humiliation, and immense greed on account of wealth, the body, and companions, and so the false [alt., wicked] temperament of ‘mine’—the root of distress—remain as long as a person does not embrace your fearless feet.”
Commentary
draviṇādau vidyamāne bhayaṁ, gate śokaḥ, punaś ca spṛhā, tataḥ paribhavaḥ, tathāpi vipulo lobhas tṛṣṇā, punaḥ kathañcit prāpte mamety-asad-āgrahaḥ | ārti-mūlaṁ bhaya-śokādeḥ kāraṇam | na pravṛṇīta nāśrayet | tvat-pādāśrayaṇa-mātreṇa bhayādi-nivṛttiḥ, kiṁ punas tvat-prakāśe satīti bhāvaḥ |
(Bhāvārtha-dīpikā)
“When wealth and so forth are present, there is fear [of losing them]. When they are gone, there is grief [because of their absence], again longing [to regain them], and then humiliation [because of lacking them and it being difficult to regain them]. Still, there is immense greed, that is, strong desire [to regain them]. [Even] When they are regained to some extent, there is again the unreasonable [alt., wicked] obstinacy of [them being] ‘mine’, [which is] the root of distress, that is, the cause of the fear, grief, and so forth [aforementioned]. ‘Does not embrace’ (na pravṛṇīta) means does not take shelter in. The cessation of fear and so forth occurs only by taking shelter in your feet, and all the more when you become [personally and directly] manifest. This is the purport.”
na pravṛṇīta śaraṇa-mātratvena nāśrayeta |
(Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā)
“‘Does not embrace’ (na pravṛṇīta) means does not take shelter in as one’s only refuge.”
nanu te’pi strī-putra-draviṇādimantaś cet saṁsāriṇa eveti tatra nahi nahīti sva-rasanā-daṁśam āha—tāvad iti | draviṇādy-āsakti-hetukaṁ bhayaṁ saṁsāra ity arthaḥ | tasyaiva prapañcaṁ śoka ity ādi tāvad eva, yāvat tavāṅghriṁ prabhutvādi-bhāvena na pravṛṇīta | prakarṣeṇa varaṇe sati tvayy āsaktyā draviṇādy-āsaktir nivartata iti bhāvaḥ | yadi ca draviṇādāv āsakto’pi kaścid bhakto bhavet, tadāpi naiva cintety āha—mamety asad-āgrahas tāvad evārti-mūlaṁ saṁsāra-kāraṇaṁ yāvad iti | tavāṅghreḥ sevyatvena varaṇa-mātra eva draviṇāsakty-āder utkhāta-daṁṣṭroraga-daṁśasyeva nārti-mūlatvam ity agre ca vakṣyate—tāvad rāgādayaḥ stenā ity atra yāvat kṛṣṇa na te janeti | tāvac-chabdasya dvi-pāṭha-balād vyākhyātam | evaṁ ca, “ye tu tvadīya” ity anena ratimantaḥ, “tāvad bhayam” ity ardhenānartha-nivṛttimantaḥ, “tāvan mama” ity ardhenānivṛttānarthās trividhā api bhaktā na saṁsāriṇa ity uktam |
(Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“[A question is raised:] ‘Well, if they too [i.e., the aforementioned bhaktas of Bhagavān] have wives, sons, and wealth, then they are certainly saṁsārīs [i.e., jīvas bound in saṁsāra].’ To this, the speaker [i.e., Śrī Brahmā] speaks this verse (tāvad …) bitting his own tongue, [indicating,] ‘No, no [that is not so].’ Fear caused by attachment to wealth and so forth is [itself] saṁsāra [i.e., the basis of the perpetuation of saṁsara; objects of attachment are not]. This is the meaning. Grief and so forth, its [i.e., such fear based on attachment’s] own expansion, remain as long as one does not embrace your feet with the bhāva of mastership and so forth [i.e. with the sense of them having mastery over oneself and all]. When acceptance [of them] happens in full, then by attachment to you, attachment to wealth and so forth recede. This is the purport. And even if some bhakta should become attached to wealth and so forth, then still there is no worry [i.e., cause for concern], as the speaker says, ‘So the false [alt., wicked] temperament of ‘mine’—the root of distress, that is, the cause of saṁsāra—[remains only as long as a person does not embrace your fearless feet].’ Just by acceptance of your feet as being the proper recipient of service, attachment to wealth and so forth is, like the bite of a defanged serpent, no longer a root [i.e., cause] of distress, as ahead it will said [in SB 10.14.36], ‘So attachment and so forth remain thieves only as long as people do not become your own, O Kṛṣṇa.’ This explanation has been given on the strength of the two readings [i.e., occurrences in the verse] of the word tāvat [“so long as”]. In this way too it is stated that bhaktas even of [all of the following] three types are not saṁsārīs [i.e., jīvas bound within saṁsāra]: (1) those possessed of rati, [described] by the phrase ye tu tvadīya [in the previous verses], (2) those whose anarthas have reached cessation (nivṛtti), [described] by the [first] half [of the present verse] tāvad bhayam …, and (3) those whose anarthas have not reached cessation, [described] by the [second] half [of the present verse] tāvan mama ….”