ते च सर्वे जनाः पूर्वदृष्टसर्वविलक्षणाः ।
केनापि हृतहृद्वित्तास्तद्भावव्याकुला इव ॥
तेषां दर्शनमात्रेण तादृशं भावमाप्नुवन् ।
te ca sarve janāḥ pūrva-dṛṣṭa-sarva-vilakṣaṇāḥ |
kenāpi hṛta-hṛd-vittās tad-bhāva-vyākulā iva ||
teṣāṁ darśana-mātreṇa tādṛśaṁ bhāvam āpnuvan |
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.23–24)
“[Gopa Kumāra describes his experience of first entering Goloka:] All those people [in Goloka], furthermore, were different from everyone I had seen before [elsewhere]. They were as though they had had the wealth of their hearts stolen by someone and were overcome by bhāva for him [i.e., for he who had stolen their hearts]. Just by the sight of them, I acquired a similar bhāva.”
Commentary
te ca tatratyāḥ kīdṛśāḥ? ity apekṣāyām āha—te ceti | pūrva-dṛṣṭebhyaḥ sarvebhyo vilakṣaṇāḥ | ayam arthaḥ—teṣu vartamānaṁ rūpa-guṇa-mahimādikaṁ kutrāpy anyatra keṣv api nāsti | ataḥ kena dṛṣṭāntādinā kathayitvā tad bodhayituṁ śakyam? iti | evaṁ sāmānyena sarvato’dhika-bahu-vidhotkṛṣṭatādhikyam uddiśya viśeṣenāpy āha—kenāpīti | hṛtaṁ coritaṁ hṛt cittam eva vittaṁ yeṣāṁ te | iva sadā prema-bhareṇonmanastvāt | atas tasya hṛd-vittāpahārakasya bhāvena ceṣṭayā tad-viṣayaka-premṇā vā vyākulā iva | iveti tat-kālaṁ tat-tattva-nirdhārāśakteḥ |
(Excerpt from the Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“In expectation of [the question], ‘And what were those [people] there like?’ he says te ca … [i.e., he speaks this verse]. They were different from everyone I had seen before. The meaning is this: the beauty, qualities, greatness, and so on present in them does not exist in anyone else anywhere else. So, by describing [them] with what illustration or otherwise is it possible to convey this? Thus [i.e., for the sake of giving some initial description], in general he describes [them] by means of [stating] a distinguishing characteristic [of theirs] related to the profusion of [their] numerous types excellence greater than [that of] all others: kenāpi … [i.e., he speaks the second half of the verse]. [He describes them as] They the wealth of whose hearts (hṛt) had been stolen (hṛta). [The word] ‘As though’ (iva) is [spoken in this regard] because of [their] always being of unsteady mind [i.e., these residents of Goloka’s always being excited, or, eagerly desirous, or, agitated, or perplexed with regard to Kṛṣṇa] on account of an abundance of prema [for Kṛṣṇa]. Thus, because of the bhāva, that is, the activity, of him [i.e., Kṛṣṇa], the stealer of the wealth of [their] hearts, or, because of [their] prema relating to him, they were as though overcome. [The word] ‘As though’ (iva) is [intended to be applied again in regard to this second description of the residents of Goloka] because of [Gopa Kumāra’s] inability to ascertain the nature of that [i.e., of state of mind they were in] at that time [i.e., at the time of his just arriving for the first time in Goloka].”